I do get that “Keep your identity small” is good advice, in general. But I think that not all identities are created equal, e.g.:
“I eat healthy food” vs. “I am a vegetarian”
or
“I keep fit” vs. “I am a cyclist”.
The second element of each of those pairs is much riskier thant the first one because it can hinder updating on new information (new studies about the benefits of different diets or about different exercise methods).
And since identity can be an effective (albeit somewhat dangerous) tool to shape one’s behaviour it could make sense to look a bit deeper into which types of identities are more and which are less problematic for your world view.
Therefore I would not see all types of identiy as a Dark Lord.
I think my answer to Vladimir would be along these lines. I definitely see the issues with identities. Even more when they come from others people, as mentioned for example here or here. Yet I do believe that building identities yourself is a good step forward. As is not having too specific an identity.
That being said, I probably agree that playing with identities is partly a dark art. But somehow, it seems to me the most reliable way to build these automatic system 1 responses the way we want them.
I do get that “Keep your identity small” is good advice, in general. But I think that not all identities are created equal, e.g.:
“I eat healthy food” vs. “I am a vegetarian”
or
“I keep fit” vs. “I am a cyclist”.
The second element of each of those pairs is much riskier thant the first one because it can hinder updating on new information (new studies about the benefits of different diets or about different exercise methods).
And since identity can be an effective (albeit somewhat dangerous) tool to shape one’s behaviour it could make sense to look a bit deeper into which types of identities are more and which are less problematic for your world view.
Therefore I would not see all types of identiy as a Dark Lord.
I think my answer to Vladimir would be along these lines. I definitely see the issues with identities. Even more when they come from others people, as mentioned for example here or here. Yet I do believe that building identities yourself is a good step forward. As is not having too specific an identity.
That being said, I probably agree that playing with identities is partly a dark art. But somehow, it seems to me the most reliable way to build these automatic system 1 responses the way we want them.