Critical Self-Consciousness

I once asked a professor of philosophy what is philosophy about, she said “philosophy is about radically critical self-consciousness�. I have decided that CT (Critical Thinking) is the first important step on to this stage of critical self-consciousness. CT is philosophy light.

Our mind tends to be dominated by the ego and the group when we have not yet become critically self-conscious. I am not an expert in these matters (such has never hindered me from expressing my considered opinion) but from the things I read regarding critical self-consciousness they make sense to me.

Ego influences me by:
I think it is true therefore it is.
I want it to be true therefore it is.

Group influences me by:
The group name identifies me.
The group influences my associations.
The group is us and the other group is them.
What we do is good what they do is bad.

I suspect that the ego domination was the natural human condition during early evolution and slowly the ego morphed (transformed) into a group in some areas of consciousness (focused attention).

I think that Madison Avenue (advertising agencies) and the oligarchy (non elective group running the nation in that group’s interest) have learned to manipulate our egocentric and sociocentric characteristics for the advantages of marketing interests. Our ego drives us to buy the BIG car and our group drives us to dominate the other group in the interest of our group.

‘To be critical’ is often, I think, confused with ‘to be negative’. To be critical is to stop, think, analyze, and seek comprehension and possible improvement. To be critically self-conscious is to focus the critical effort inward with the self as the object of criticism.

I think that most of our personal and international tragedies are a direct result of our lack of critical self-consciousness.

Is that a ‘bunch of baloney’ or do you find truth contained therein?

I think that we can do a much better job building a better society if we developed a critical self-consciousness. What do you think?

interesting food for thought. I will try to expand on your post later.

How will you get around the ego?
Won't the ego be the worst critic of all?

Joesus

Ego: master of self-illusion, ignorance, and limiting experience

The most important job the ego has is to control anxiety that paradoxically the ego has created. With a sense of time there comes a sense of termination and with this sense of death comes anxiety that the ego embraces and gives the “me� time to consider how not to have to encounter anxiety.

The ego determines what thoughts, situations, and feelings create anxiety; then focuses upon avoiding these anxiety inducers. The ego ‘vaccinates’ the organism for anxiety by allowing small amounts of inducers to reach consciousness. It skews perception and limits action to avoid anxiety.

The ego grows in strength by limiting the child’s inner biological drives. This is a mechanism for self-deception. This is what psychology calls neurosis. The basic humanization process is itself is neurosis. We are all neurotic to one degree or another.

The child develops motives for action based upon a family context. The child inhibits it’s inner world in an effort to satisfy the need to fit into the family world of what are mysterious symbolic meaning. Therein lay the mechanism for conscience. When the child says “I’ll punish myself now� s/he is affirming a life-long attitude to be guided by conscience determined by ego that makes the organism in command over “the anxiety of his whole sense of being, of life and death.�

The child keeps control by following a formula of following his or her conscience; “then and only then is he safe from annihilation.� One’s motives are buried deeply within the unconscious and veiled by ignorance of the self and guarded by the ego into a strong degree of self-ignorance. Therein lay the inhibition to self-reliance that Emerson found to be so very important.

You still haven't answered my question. You gave me somewhat of a description of ego, but this does not free one from the conditioning of ego.

It seems to me that in order to free ones self from the conditioning of ego, one must return the mind to the state prior to the conception of ego. In my line of thinking, ego did not exist before the mind became aware of the concept, or rather invented the concept.

Excellent. And how would you return the mind to the innocence of its preconditioned being?

If I knew I would be at one with the Godhead I like to think that meditation will help to remove the sociosclerosis (that is a Flex original) of my mind. I like to believe that meditation is an etymological tool--hopefully one that will help me get beyond all of this thinking and believing by discovering the origin of the ego

Stilling the mind, or taking it below the surface level of conditioning is the first step to expanding awareness. It is here that the mind begins to let go of conditioning because at deeper levels of thought the conditions are vague and unimportant.

I hesitate to say so, because I have experience both ends of the spectrum, and have not found one to be greater than the other. I have had complete attachment to ego and no connection to the Godhead, and I have experience complete connection with the Godhead (temporarily) by abandoning ego if only for a second.

I have been finding recently that the for me, the greatest pleasure comes from a balance of the two. Who knew that the eightfold path or the Golden Mean could be applied to enlightenment as well I have recently acknowledged that it does not have to be one or the other. One does not have to be solely attached to the ego or solely free of the ego; there is another option, one can be aware of both the ego, and of the One. I am not quite sure how to put it into words, but it is sort of like being aware of everything and nothing all at once.

There was a moment in the movie, "Little Buddha" Where Siddhartha (Keanu Reeves) was staring out across the river after several years as an recluse, and a boat was drifting past. On the boat was a Teacher with his student. Siddhartha overheard the Teacher say to the student, "If you tune the strings too tight they will break, and if you tune them too loose, the instrument will not play at all."
This was his moment of revelation when he decided it was not by trying to remove himself from reality that he was going to find spiritual enlightenment.

With meditation and enlightenment there is a balance between the relative and the absolute that can be achieved where one is "In the world but not of it."

But to return the mind to the innocence of preconceptions and habit, it must be allowed to experience something greater than habit or it will have nothing to exchange habit for. A conditioned mind does not walk away from conditioning without having something that is greater to replace it with, and that stillness allows the mind and the body to become coherent and cohesive at deeper levels of experience and thought. It is here that the mind can escape the influences and begin to understand greater thought in the voice of the greater Self.

This inner voice is vibration from your Father consciousness, the
wisdom center of you Grand Cosmic Self. For this reason it does not
speak to you with words to be heard by your ears, it is a voice to be
felt, a vibration so sweet an unmistakable as the music of the
spheres.

The fact that my voice must be felt, not heard, may seem
disappointing at first if you have occasionally tried to feel my
inner guidance and been unable to separate it from the confusion of
the self. This difficulty has arisen because you have not treated the
mind and body as one , and because negative emotions have dulled your
state of consciousness, thereby dulling your receptivity to the
delicately refined vibrations of the spirit.

Here is another reason for total stillness. With repeated, faith-
filled practice, you can resharpen your sensitivity to the point
where my voice really does vibrate in your surface mind like a
beatiful note of music, ringing loud and clear, having not a single
doubt that you have heard its message with unmistakable accuracy.

Regardless of the extent to which noise from the surface mind is
interfering with your ability to "hear" your still small voice, this
loving Father-Mother voice is always trying to rescue you from
difficult situations with its all-encompassing knowledge.

Just as your body is able to be fully cognizant of many things at
once, through the complexities of the senses, so your submerged mind,
with its unlimited capacity, is fully cognizant of all the unseen and
seen, the hidden and the obvious, an it can lend this full awareness
to you with speed incredible to mortal consciousness.

This inner wisdom-center is your personal Secret Place, the Secret
Place of the Most High, and if you want to become fully conscious of
it, abiding in the shadow of its almight protection, you need only to
be still -- very, very, very still -- and practice the long-lost art
of "listening".

The Door of Everything (Pages 154-156)

Keanu Reeves as Siddhartha eh? Gotta love Hollywood

That is not The Door of Everything by Ruby Nelson is it?

It is

This is the only copy of it I can find online--definitely not a hundred something pages

The Door of Everything

The paperback is about 4"x6" with a normal size print and is 180 pages

Hey Joesus, I want you to check out this song and let me know what you think.

http://www.ronniedaymusic.com/idontbelieve...0Number%201.mp3

I think who ever wrote it has been inspired to look beneath the surface appearances of religion.

Mi hermano wrote and recorded it in his bedroom~

It’s a Judgment Call

Most decisions we have to make are judgment calls. A judgment call is made when we must make a decision when there is no “true� or “false� answers. When we make a judgment call our decision is bad, good, or better.

Many factors are involved: there are the available facts, assumptions, skills, knowledge, and especially personal experience and attitude. I think that the two most important elements in the mix are personal experience and attitude.

When we study math we learn how to use various algorithms to facilitate our skill in dealing with quantities. If we never studied math we could deal with quantity on a primary level but our quantifying ability would be minimal. Likewise with making judgments; if we study the art and science of good judgment we can make better decisions and if we never study the art and science of judgment our decision ability will remain minimal.

I am convinced that a fundamental problem we have in this country (USA) is that our citizens have never learned the art and science of good judgment. Before the recent introduction of CT into our schools and colleges our young people have been taught primarily what to think and not how to think. All of us graduated with insufficient comprehension of the knowledge, skills, and attitude necessary for the formulation of good judgment. The result of this inability to make good judgment is evident and is dangerous.

I am primarily interested in the judgment that adults exercise in regard to public issues. Of course, any improvement in judgment generally will affect both personal and community matters.

To put the matter into a nut shell:
1. Normal men and women can significantly improve their ability to make judgments.
2. CT is the domain of knowledge that delineates the knowledge, skills, and intellectual character demanded for good judgment.
3. CT has been introduced into our schools and colleges slowly in the last two or three decades.
4. Few of today’s adults were ever taught CT.
5. I suspect that at least another two generations will pass before our society reaps significant rewards resulting from teaching CT to our children.
6. Can our democracy survive that long?
7. I think that every effort must be made to convince today’s adults that they need to study and learn CT on their own. I am not suggesting that adults find a teacher but I am suggesting that adults become self-actualizing learners.
8. I am convinced that learning the art and science of Critical Thinking is an important step toward becoming a better citizen in today’s democratic society.

Perhaps you are not familiar with CT. I first encountered the concept about five years ago. The following are a few Internet sites that will familiarize you with the matter.

http://www.freeinquiry.com/critical-notes.html

http://64.233.161.104/search?q=cache:mkodB...s&ct=clnk&cd=11

http://www.chss.montclair.edu/inquiry/fall95/weinste.html

http://www.criticalthinking.org/resources/.../glossary.shtml

http://www.doit.gmu.edu/inventio/past/disp...ng03&sID=eslava