Today’s interesting background fact: Jeffreyssai has attained some rank in the Bardic Conspiracy by virtue of being a good teacher. Also, in their world, there’s absolutely no such idea as “beisutsukai are not allowed to lie” but they consider it stylish to speak only the literal truth while pulling off a complicated plot—the fact that the adversary will be aware of this and watching makes it extremely difficult, which is why it is considered stylish to actually get away with it.
“Acting” in the sense described here wouldn’t even be considered a special property of the Bardic Conspiracy, just a matter of day-to-day social machiavellianism. It’s only Bardic if you’re doing it to tell a story.
But of course I agree with your post: there’s a huge difference. Maybe we could call it “self-pretending” instead of “self-deception”. The difference is as large as the difference between lying to someone and writing fiction. Yes, there are residual dangers, yes, reading fiction or acting in a play can blend over into your actual belief pool. But to try out an alternative personality, is not to relinquish your art and lose your powers—it’s not like trying to tell yourself a single actual lie.
Maybe we could call it “self-pretending” instead of “self-deception”.
In NLP, it’s called “modeling”. Other schools speak of “acting as-if”.
The key distinction between these concepts and the common conception of self-deception, pretending, or acting, is that when ou are acting-as-if, you are not allowed to signal that you’re only pretending.
That is, you must suspend your own disbelief, for others to suspend theirs.
Excellent post.
Today’s interesting background fact: Jeffreyssai has attained some rank in the Bardic Conspiracy by virtue of being a good teacher. Also, in their world, there’s absolutely no such idea as “beisutsukai are not allowed to lie” but they consider it stylish to speak only the literal truth while pulling off a complicated plot—the fact that the adversary will be aware of this and watching makes it extremely difficult, which is why it is considered stylish to actually get away with it.
“Acting” in the sense described here wouldn’t even be considered a special property of the Bardic Conspiracy, just a matter of day-to-day social machiavellianism. It’s only Bardic if you’re doing it to tell a story.
But of course I agree with your post: there’s a huge difference. Maybe we could call it “self-pretending” instead of “self-deception”. The difference is as large as the difference between lying to someone and writing fiction. Yes, there are residual dangers, yes, reading fiction or acting in a play can blend over into your actual belief pool. But to try out an alternative personality, is not to relinquish your art and lose your powers—it’s not like trying to tell yourself a single actual lie.
In NLP, it’s called “modeling”. Other schools speak of “acting as-if”.
The key distinction between these concepts and the common conception of self-deception, pretending, or acting, is that when ou are acting-as-if, you are not allowed to signal that you’re only pretending.
That is, you must suspend your own disbelief, for others to suspend theirs.