Ian: Realised that I am the instinctual passions… as a fact not a concept.
Ok exciting now… stoked to see these conversations happening… now I can add to this that now I finally experientially understand what the part that is the social identity is… so now I can understand what a belief is and that underneath all the malleable and in a way semantically different surface identities is the same feeling being doing my thing… and I really feel like that part of me is not only anonymous but also blind…
Hi Ian,
This is a great description of knowing something as a concept versus knowing it from your own experience.
I usually take it for granted that people would know (at least partially) what feelings/ instinctual passions mean experientially and what the social identity consists of, but ever so often they tell me that it is not clear. So I do appreciate that you know it experientially and also describe it well.
Ian: It was great to explore the conflict, but also what nailed it was this bit from Henry about competitor –
Henry: That means that you and I fall somewhere within that 50,000 pecking order, with thousands above and below us (link)
Ian: And I could see in the same way all national pride is the same feeling, and all national anger is the same anger… so is the feeling of winning or losing… whether you are a winner at music or pole-vaulting or nose-picking or a loser at being a lawyer or scientific research or tennis or cards…
Yes. Yesterday I posted ‘Vineeto’s’ description how ‘she’ experienced the 2000 Olympic Games’ opening show (on TV) and how ‘she’ then experienced nationalism, including the accompanying vibes. (link)
And you expanded this understanding to anger per se, to competition, to the various identities people adopt and call their own. By the way, this includes being an ‘actualist’ as an identity and its accompanying pride, shame and imagined ranking.
Ian: I’m not worried at all about being the best basketball player because I have no identity as a basketball player, but I do want to feel like I’m winning at my job and winning at creating music… the feeling is the same…
But also if I did play a game of basketball, I would most likely be playing to win… but I have no big belief that for example basketball is the be all and end all… meaning that I don’t have a strong sense of importance and therefore survival imbued into the activity or anything related to it…
And in the cases where I do have a strong belief system I do feel strongly about those things.
Well, now that you discover the various belief- and identification patterns you can identify them and decline them (or investigate them if necessary) and thus have them no longer rule your life and thus prevent you from enjoying life and appreciating this moment of being alive.
Ian: But now I can see what is social identity and belief layered like icing on top of the real player… the instinctual being…
Ok great this is great… moving forward! (link)
Indeed … “moving forward!” – what a joy.
Cheers Vineeto