I don't really understand why you have such lofty, metaphysical ideas about who you're supposed to be. Seems like a recipe for disappointment to me.
Where else is there to go when you've already thought on more immediate needs?
It’s not the existential dread that I’m questioning, it’s the grandiose idea that “who we are” is some kind of extrinsic riddle to be unlocked, rather than just the manifest sum of how we’re behaving in the world right now.
We have a subconscious urge to seek things of significance while growing bored of what we have the room to take for granted, and when our physical needs are met you instead see philosophers and nihilists take their place.
I don’t know that philosophy should be attempted by clinically depressed people lmao
Ennui is a normal part of the human experience, it doesn’t make us special or complex. It doesn’t mean we’re living some kind of hollow, conventionalized life. It’s just a passing feeling, same as anger, shame, fear etc etc.
Mostly saying that philosophy is likely a sublimated survival instinct.
I agree that makes sense, except - much like our prodigious ability to store fat - it’s become evolutionarily counterproductive.
When you go looking for your identity anywhere other than inwardly, you turn into one of those people who’ll emulate a movie character for months after seeing it in the cinema.
All identity seeking is using your environment to try to identify yourself though, even seeking from within. It's pretty much unavoidable, and we won't see the full extent of where this can really go until someone tries raising a child through VR equipment to such a degree that they never see the outside world.
Not sure what you mean by “using your environment to try to identify yourself”. Do you mean comparing yourself to others?
You said "when you go looking for your identity anywhere other than inwardly", in which I reply that's essentially impossible.
And I’m asking why that’s impossible. When I speak to intrinsic vs. extrinsic I’m more saying that identity ought to be comprised of what we’re actually thinking and feeling, rather than how it might be reflected back to us in others’ opinions.
For example; most of my friends would say that I’m not quick to anger, but I’m just good at hiding it lol
If you wanna know who you are, look at your most recent actions, thoughts and feelings. It’s not more complex than that.
So motivations and cumulative patterns don't matter?
False dichotomy. Motivations are feelings. And patterns are the entire point.
Patterns aren't complex?
My point's over how your most recent actions/thoughts/feelings won't tell you jack shit by itself. Identity may be fluid but the majority of it is cumulatively based.
Maybe I should clarify that when I say recent, I don’t mean last week. I mean what’s temporally relevant. For someone my age, I’d say that’s most of my late teen years and adult life. For someone in their late 50’s or 60’s, it might be the latter half of their adulthood, from 35+
And the patterns are as complex as the person, lol. I’ve never found my own identity particularly difficult to decrypt, but maybe I’m not that complex.
