In all likelihood, when I’m talking about ‘identification’ I do not actually exactly mean the elephant vs rider concept.
Instead of a S1 vs S2 division, I’m probably actually talking about a S1-S2 vs S1-S2 division (each side has both). But the associations / cultural understandings are clearer when I call it an S1 vs S2 division.
‘S1’ is the thing that keeps scrolling Facebook even as ‘S2’ is having verbal thoughts like ‘maybe I should stop’, but calling that S2 is not entirely accurate. Actually, something in S1 is causing me to have the thought ‘maybe I should stop’ which is also tied to some more subconscious emotion.
Everything I actually do is tied to S1/elephant in some way.
But for some reason, I have divided the elephant into parts I identify with and other parts I don’t.
I cannot tell if I’ve actually addressed your points or not because I’m having trouble with terms. I felt confused by your second paragraph.
If consciousness (S2) is really just the forum for disputes between S1 submodules vying for access to the motor neurons, then you’re mostly only going to become conscious of S1 activity when those modules are in conflict. You could even say S2 is “awareness and attempted arbitration of conflicts between S1 subminds” and so it makes sense that the floating point of view in your head would identify with whatever motor program it has chosen as the correct one, even while the body refuses to listen.
In all likelihood, when I’m talking about ‘identification’ I do not actually exactly mean the elephant vs rider concept.
Instead of a S1 vs S2 division, I’m probably actually talking about a S1-S2 vs S1-S2 division (each side has both). But the associations / cultural understandings are clearer when I call it an S1 vs S2 division.
‘S1’ is the thing that keeps scrolling Facebook even as ‘S2’ is having verbal thoughts like ‘maybe I should stop’, but calling that S2 is not entirely accurate. Actually, something in S1 is causing me to have the thought ‘maybe I should stop’ which is also tied to some more subconscious emotion.
Everything I actually do is tied to S1/elephant in some way.
But for some reason, I have divided the elephant into parts I identify with and other parts I don’t.
I cannot tell if I’ve actually addressed your points or not because I’m having trouble with terms. I felt confused by your second paragraph.
Yeah, maybe a better frame for the thing I want to talk about is disidentifying with parts of yourself that want things that are ego-dystonic.
don’t like it much, seems to divide it between ‘endorsed’ vs ‘unendorsed’ ?
It’s a little different. Endorsing is a conscious activity, but finding something ego-dystonic isn’t.
If consciousness (S2) is really just the forum for disputes between S1 submodules vying for access to the motor neurons, then you’re mostly only going to become conscious of S1 activity when those modules are in conflict. You could even say S2 is “awareness and attempted arbitration of conflicts between S1 subminds” and so it makes sense that the floating point of view in your head would identify with whatever motor program it has chosen as the correct one, even while the body refuses to listen.