Any attempt to change what “I” believe, or optimize for what “I” want, forces a confrontation of the fact that there are multiple, contradictory things that could reasonably be called “beliefs,” or “wants,” coexisting in the same mind.
I have found the same and in response, have learned to habitually refer to “myself” as “ourselves” and “I” as “We”, in internal dialogues. This feels very helpful, but we don’t have clear-cut ideas of how to test whether it actually is.
My own response has been to train myself into treating “I want/believe/think/expect/etc X” and “I don’t want/believe/think/expect/etc not-X” as different propositions which I can’t derive from one another.
I have found the same and in response, have learned to habitually refer to “myself” as “ourselves” and “I” as “We”, in internal dialogues. This feels very helpful, but we don’t have clear-cut ideas of how to test whether it actually is.
My own response has been to train myself into treating “I want/believe/think/expect/etc X” and “I don’t want/believe/think/expect/etc not-X” as different propositions which I can’t derive from one another.