CHAPTER 4 Self, Life and Enlightenment It is comforting for us to feel that we know ourselves enough to function optimally in any given situation without having to introspect further than we deem necessary for immediate survival. We would rather not go around digging things up that we prefer to forget anyway. Let sleeping dogs lie, if it’s not broken let’s not fix it sort of attitude especially if we were managing without it so far. Some are on a genuinely successful growth path making great successes of almost all aspects of their lives. Regardless of where we are, our current lifestyles success levels are directly dependent on how much we really know ourselves. The differential between the actual and authentic us primarily account for the lifestyle we lead today. Our mental, spiritual, emotional, soulful, psychological and physiological capacities are directly influenced by our self awareness levels. Who we are is told by our life stories, those that we tell as they relate and correlate our true life stories. They have a clear distinction with our life histories. Ivor Goodson’s view is that a life …show more content…
Objectifying this, coupled with experienced real life challenges and the dogma in us influences our progression. It forms strong foundations that energize us in our inner core and throughout our future journey. In the process, we realise a much deeper understanding of how we function in relation to our realities. It is critical for us to chat pathways that originate and ground, found and emerge, navigate and emancipate and finally implement and transform those challenges residing in us that hold us back. This comprehensive approach borrows from strengths and capacities, simultaneously learning from subsequent imbalances. It is inclusive and emphasises some aspects that are omitted in most self-awareness design
As a person goes through life he or she may wonder “Who am I?” and “What is my purpose?” The objective of this paper is to allow me to reflect and critically analyze who I am as a person. In this paper, I will discuss my social location and identity, my life experiences and my privileges and disadvantages.
A person’s personal identity builds his or her identity based on what others say about him or herself (Stewart, 2012). Because, I surrounded myself with more positive people and began reading about how my
The Enlightenment was created in France in the 1700’s. It was a movement in Europe that was about applying reason to all aspects of life. During this movement, Philosophers used five concepts that they built upon to create the Enlightenment; reason, nature, happiness, progress, and an envy for England's glorious revolution and their bill of rights. The Enlightenment was a European movement that sparked and challenged new ideas about the relationship of common people to their governments. Over a period of time Enlightenment ideas spread outside of Europe and created a change of governments around the globe.
Alcibiades and Socrates try to figure out what the self really is because in order to cultivate it they would have to know what it is. As mentioned
Through accepting oneself, people can discover more about the person they
The Era of Enlightenment was a cultural movement in Europe that favored reason in place of belief. It challenged the accepted views of the time which, in turn, endangered the power of absolute rulers and their system of government. This era influenced a majority of the European population, however, the monarchs of the time did not exemplify those same ideals. Catherine II of Russia’s views on serfs and peasants are a great example of a ruler defying the enlightenment movement. In her “Decree on Serfs” she states that “serfs and peasants...owe their landlords proper submission and absolute obedience in all matters” , essentially saying that serfs of the time should be completely obedient to their masters (Doc. 6).
During the Renaissance people began to stray away from the Catholic Church, and began thinking for themselves. While doing so people began to reconnect to old Roman traditions. Subsequently, the Enlightenment was born soon after. The Enlightenment was a new way of thinking also known as The Age Of Reason. John Locke and Thomas Hobbes are two famous philosophers from the Enlightenment that are known for having two different view on government.
The environment in which an individual grows up in can affect life greatly. Our surroundings influence one’s personality, self-expression, and individuality, otherwise known as identity. Finding one’s true self is the most grueling stage of life and expectations of family and society make the process even harder. One’s true identity can sometimes clash with hopes of others, thus breaking tradition and/or family ties. Pressure to change will always be present, but staying true to uniqueness will prevail.
I think this is a critical thing when finding self-discovery. An example from the text relating to this is “‘Why do we listen to our hearts’ the boy asked when they made camp that day. ‘Because, wherever your heart is, that is where you’ll find your treasure.’ “The alchemist is trying to tell Santiago that listening to his heart can lead him to what he is destined to find, his treasure. Sometimes we have doubts and feel like trying to pursue our personal legends isn’t worth it.
How others see you is influenced by material, social, and physical constraints. This causes a tension between how much control you have in constructing your own identity and how much control or constraint is exercised over you. How we see ourselves and how others see us differ in many ways, but is an important factor of our identity. “A Lesson Before Dying”,
This paper describes and analyzes a life review interview with an older adult. The purpose of this paper is to discuss, record and reflect on an older adult’s life in order to evaluate them on the last stage of Erik Erickson’s theory of psychosocial development; integrity versus despair. This paper will also focus on the elements of a life review as well as the reflections of the interview on the part of the author. JC is a seventy-seven year old white male who lives by himself in New York City. He was born in London, England, and was an only child.
In Mcleod’s article, it said that people “‘think about, evaluate, or perceive’ themselves” (Mcleod 1). Mcleod talks, in the article, about how people thinking, evaluating, and perceiving about themselves is call self-concept. Whenever people think about themselves, most of the time, people are confused about whether or not they are pursuing right actions for their future, especially people with low self-esteem . Furthermore, people get more confused if their actions dramatically differ from others. However, again, people’s actions determine who they are, so even if their actions are dramatically different from others, it may be a path for that person’s success.
Self-awareness crates a chance for everyone to make necessary changes in his/her behaviors and beliefs. While you’re improving your self-awareness, your personal thoughts and interpretations will start to
According to Heidegger, leading an authentic life, exercising the freedom to create a meaningful existence and continually grow is possible and should be sought after. The alternative is living an inauthentic life, that can be summarized as giving up the freedom, accept conventionality, and think of only the present. The relation of authenticity to the well-being of an individual is also hinted in his works in terms of guilt. He suggests that most individuals don't exercise the personal freedom they have, which leads to guilt. (Zimmerman, 1981).
Most people want to improve themselves in some way, whether it is to lose weight or give up smoking or increase their confidence. Self-improvement is something that we carry out over a life time, but it is a task that can require a lot of motivation. Keeping your motivation levels up and steady can be a job in itself. In order to achieve the motivation required for self-improvement, we need to look at the three keys that will help us succeed in our goals. 1) INSPIRATION