Pin (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} pinfx) wrote,@ 2009-03-23 23:06:00 |
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Honesty and K.O.S.
The beauty of LiveJournal is that posting is an active construction of social identity. Regardless of the outcome, you can always learn a lot about yourself when you sit in front of the computer and think of what you want to write and how to write it.
Every time I write a post on LJ, I get halfway through and suddenly realize I'm trying to project a certain type of social image along with the actual content of what I'm writing. Sometimes this is acceptable, but half the time I end up scrapping my post and not posting anything. This is something I've always struggled with. On the one hand, trying to appeal to people with some sort of value and hoping they will accept me/like me, and on the other, breaking down the bullshit that is the by-product of those attempts.
My icon on here used to be a quote from Bruce Lee: "To know oneself is to study oneself in action with another person."
Quotes like this seem to get more insightful as you grow older, especially as you learn to spot projected images both from other people and yourself. With experience, most people become more attuned to when others are saying or doing something to give off a certain impression. Less people, I think, can apply the same enhanced perception to themselves.
In some cases I've realized that my projected image is not just for other people, but for myself as well. If a projected image- by its inherent meaning- is something that is dishonest, and if my own identity is based on my interaction with others, then my projected image will in turn influence my own self-perception. So when I am writing an LJ post and I stop to think "wtf are you writing Pin?", what I'm doing is capturing and understanding how I want to be looked at by others. In doing so, I can clarify those aspects of a projected image confusing my self-perception and attain a better understanding of why I want to be perceived as such. This is a new revelation for me, since I always thought that it was self-honesty that led to honesty with others in a linear fashion, whereas now I understand this relationship to be a two-way street. The benefit of this understanding is not only honest self-expression, but a more honest self-assessment when it comes to social identity.
Now that's some serious knowledge of self.
Cheers,
Pin
The beauty of LiveJournal is that posting is an active construction of social identity. Regardless of the outcome, you can always learn a lot about yourself when you sit in front of the computer and think of what you want to write and how to write it.
Every time I write a post on LJ, I get halfway through and suddenly realize I'm trying to project a certain type of social image along with the actual content of what I'm writing. Sometimes this is acceptable, but half the time I end up scrapping my post and not posting anything. This is something I've always struggled with. On the one hand, trying to appeal to people with some sort of value and hoping they will accept me/like me, and on the other, breaking down the bullshit that is the by-product of those attempts.
My icon on here used to be a quote from Bruce Lee: "To know oneself is to study oneself in action with another person."
Quotes like this seem to get more insightful as you grow older, especially as you learn to spot projected images both from other people and yourself. With experience, most people become more attuned to when others are saying or doing something to give off a certain impression. Less people, I think, can apply the same enhanced perception to themselves.
In some cases I've realized that my projected image is not just for other people, but for myself as well. If a projected image- by its inherent meaning- is something that is dishonest, and if my own identity is based on my interaction with others, then my projected image will in turn influence my own self-perception. So when I am writing an LJ post and I stop to think "wtf are you writing Pin?", what I'm doing is capturing and understanding how I want to be looked at by others. In doing so, I can clarify those aspects of a projected image confusing my self-perception and attain a better understanding of why I want to be perceived as such. This is a new revelation for me, since I always thought that it was self-honesty that led to honesty with others in a linear fashion, whereas now I understand this relationship to be a two-way street. The benefit of this understanding is not only honest self-expression, but a more honest self-assessment when it comes to social identity.
Now that's some serious knowledge of self.
Cheers,
Pin
