steer in the right direction: make things around you better instead of worse, based on your intrinsically motivating discernment … try to make nicer things happen. And get more foresight, perspective, and cooperation as you go, so you can participate in steering bigger things on longer timescales using more information.
This seems kind of like… be a good person, or possibly be good, or do good. And I can’t square it with:
accept that you are irredeemably evil
If you’re irredeemably evil, your discernment is not to be trusted and your efforts are surely futile!
Is jessicata writing as if being a good person implies being thoroughly good in all respects, incapable of evil, perhaps incapable of serious error, perhaps single-handedly capable of lifting an entire society’s ethical standing? That’s a very tall order. I don’t think that’s what “good person” means. I don’t think that’s a reasonable standard to hold anyone to.
Is jessicata writing as if being a good person implies being thoroughly good in all respects, incapable of evil, perhaps incapable of serious error, perhaps single-handedly capable of lifting an entire society’s ethical standing? That’s a very tall order. I don’t think that’s what “good person” means. I don’t think that’s a reasonable standard to hold anyone to .
I think this is in fact the belief of Calvinism though. Have you lied? Then you’re a liar. Have you acted out of jealousy? Then you’re a jealous person. I think for a certain class of people this is obviously the wrong move to make, they’ll descend into self loathing.
For another group of people, this is powerful though. I think this is the intuition behind AA “Hi I’m Matt, and I’m an Alcoholic.” Once I stop running from the fact that its’ in my very nature to want alcohol, I can start consciously working to make the fact that I am an alcoholic have less impact on myself and others (by putting myself in situations that make it easier to choose not to drink, noticing I have to expend willpower when around alcohol, etc). I don’t have wasted motion trying to do the impossible thing of becoming a naturally sober eprson. Similarly, if I realize I’m a sinner, I can stop wasting motion trying to be perfect, and instead work around the fact that this is who I am.
I think the second is certainly a valid motivational strategy that works for people, and for many people probably the best motivational strategy at their current level of development. I think both of these motivational strategies create technical debt in the brain, and there’s a third strategy that involves fluidly be able to switch between identities as well as the recognition they’re an illusion (although I’ve only recently begun to experiment with this strategy for myself.)
This seems kind of like… be a good person, or possibly be good, or do good. And I can’t square it with:
If you’re irredeemably evil, your discernment is not to be trusted and your efforts are surely futile!
Is jessicata writing as if being a good person implies being thoroughly good in all respects, incapable of evil, perhaps incapable of serious error, perhaps single-handedly capable of lifting an entire society’s ethical standing? That’s a very tall order. I don’t think that’s what “good person” means. I don’t think that’s a reasonable standard to hold anyone to.
I think this is in fact the belief of Calvinism though. Have you lied? Then you’re a liar. Have you acted out of jealousy? Then you’re a jealous person. I think for a certain class of people this is obviously the wrong move to make, they’ll descend into self loathing.
For another group of people, this is powerful though. I think this is the intuition behind AA “Hi I’m Matt, and I’m an Alcoholic.” Once I stop running from the fact that its’ in my very nature to want alcohol, I can start consciously working to make the fact that I am an alcoholic have less impact on myself and others (by putting myself in situations that make it easier to choose not to drink, noticing I have to expend willpower when around alcohol, etc). I don’t have wasted motion trying to do the impossible thing of becoming a naturally sober eprson. Similarly, if I realize I’m a sinner, I can stop wasting motion trying to be perfect, and instead work around the fact that this is who I am.
I think the second is certainly a valid motivational strategy that works for people, and for many people probably the best motivational strategy at their current level of development. I think both of these motivational strategies create technical debt in the brain, and there’s a third strategy that involves fluidly be able to switch between identities as well as the recognition they’re an illusion (although I’ve only recently begun to experiment with this strategy for myself.)
[F/X: penny drops]. Thank you.