The only time I think about it is when people ask me things like: "Are you a believer?" I don't know how to answer the question. — WISDOMfromPO-MO
I am not being a post-modernist. I am not saying that labels are or are not an oppressive cultural construct. I am being pragmatic when I ask: Do most of these labels really accurately describe many of us, and wouldn't we be able to think more clearly and better understand ourselves without them? — WISDOMfromPO-MO
You could simply tell the truth and say that you haven't put much thought into it. — praxis
It's axiomatic that we social animals do not want to be so unique that we don't resemble anyone else. We don't really want to be "one of a kind" — Bitter Crank
Just because something is natural does not mean it is a good idea or should be a high priority. — WISDOMfromPO-MO
I am not convinced that people would not benefit from getting in touch more with their own interiority and worrying less about what jigsaw puzzle piece they are and where in the external puzzle they fit. — WISDOMfromPO-MO
There are plenty of other labels that I find to be problematic. — WISDOMfromPO-MO
Or would eliminating labels like "believer" and "non-believer" cause a public mental health epidemic, a poorly functioning society, and an individual and group-level existential crisis? — WISDOMfromPO-MO
On the other hand, just because something like wanting to belong is natural doesn't make it something to lament and overcome. — Bitter Crank
I am, and you, I should think, are also an inner directed person. — Bitter Crank
A shortage of labels makes it difficult to think clearly about one's self and about other people. — Bitter Crank
We are, I think, much more alike than we are different — Bitter Crank
I don't think that being in tune with one's interiority means being a complete narcissist and filtering everything through one's self. — WISDOMfromPO-MO
I believe that it means finding what transcends the self and connects all of us. — WISDOMfromPO-MO
Do you mean autotelic? — WISDOMfromPO-MO
I started this thread by suggesting that we are overdoing it. — WISDOMfromPO-MO
But do you reckon that categories work to begin with? From my experience, it is possible to move from one category to the other, so I think things can be more fluid than that. That's largely why I don't find labels that useful, since when we apply a label, we pretend that so and so can only be that way, as we have labelled them.No. Inner directed people rely more on their own, developed beliefs, priorities, and self-confidence to decide what they should do. They tend not to care so much about what other people think they should do. Other directed people tend to reference their peers, authorities, social norms, and so forth to get directions about what to do next. It isn't all one or all the other. Of course, we all rely on our own sense, and the sense of the group, when we make decisions. It's a matter of emphasis. — Bitter Crank
I think there is a difference though. The independent one seems to me to be inherently superior (not in an existential sense) to the other one, because the independent one can achieve a degree of freedom that is unavailable to the other one. In other words, he seems to have a "skill" that the other lacks. Am I wrong about this?The independent soul and his different drummer can be terribly mistaken about their marching orders. — Bitter Crank
Hmm I don't think such labels work very well. I think people are a lot more fluid than the labels. The labels may be pragmatically useful at various times, but they don't really tell us about who those people really are, or what they're really thinking. It just allows us, in some limited circumstances, to predict behaviour."Narcissistic personality disorder", to use a currently popular label, is much more precise. — Bitter Crank
The labels may be pragmatically useful at various times, but they don't really tell us about who those people really are, or what they're really thinking. It just allows us, in some limited circumstances, to predict behaviour. — Agustino
Hmm I don't think such labels work very well. — Agustino
The independent one seems to me to be inherently superior (not in an existential sense) to the other one, because the independent one can achieve a degree of freedom that is unavailable to the other one. In other words, he seems to have a "skill" that the other lacks. Am I wrong about this? — Agustino
People are not static, so I never fully know who they really are. Always learning.So, if you don't identify and yes, label behaviors, traits, tendencies, fluidity, and all that, how is it that you eventually get to know who people "really are"? — Bitter Crank
Depends on the circumstance. Usually, we choose to behave in a predictable manner because (1) it's easier, and (2) it makes interacting with others easier. We (or I) generally don't like people who don't behave in a predictable manner.Sure, there is some fluidity in behavior, but behaviors are not so fluid that we can never guess what someone is going to do next. — Bitter Crank
I doubt it. Everything improves with practice. There were many things I wasn't supposed to be good at, and yet, I did become good at them.Some mavericks who are very independent thinkers characteristically end up not getting the results they want because they are just not very good at being independent. — Bitter Crank
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