There is a profound irreconcilability or dissonance between first-and third-person perspectives on the self once objectified and valued. This dissonance shapes behaviors in crucial ways, as individuals try to reconcile their own and others’ putative representations about them. These two representational systems are always at some odds or in conflict, always in need of readjustment. It is so because these systems are open, and they do not share the same informational resources: direct, permanent, and embodied for the first-person perspective on the self; indirect, more fleeting, and disembodied for the third-person perspective on the self.
A main property of this dissonance is that it tends to feed into itself and can reach overwhelming proportions in the life of individuals. More often than not, this dissonance is a major struggle, expressed in the nuisance of self-conscious behaviors that hinder creativity and the smooth “flow” of interpersonal exchanges.
Others in Mind, p. 41
Terry Elliott on 28 Jan 14Part of me disagrees vwehemently with this and part not so much. The disagree part says that lifelong learner is baked into the DNA. You don't have to take in 'on' because it is already 'in'. Another part of me says that we can devise algorithms for pursuing our own curiosity, we can take that task on personally.
messified - now that's a good word.
