Struggling with Introspection

[nanite1018]

Thank you Miovas and whyNOT for responding (I was busy yesterday, sorry).

Miovas, you are correct that I am struggling with optional values. It seems like there "should be" an ideal set of values that you would arrive at, one set of decisions that would rationally maximize your life. However, given that we only have so much time and intellectual capacity, I suppose it would be impossible to go through the work necessary to find out what that set would be exactly, after all many of the variables are simply too complex to be able to handle effectively (exactly what physique you should find appealing, exactly what to eat at a given moment in time, etc.), and so the choice has to be made by best-guess approximations (which is what you are discussing when you talk about a class of options, in which ever member furthers my life and is rational) and some set of other criteria (for a volitional consciousness which has emotions for example, this would individual preferences).

whyNOT, you are correct on a number of points:

1) I do view things, such as Objectivism, from a "coolly" logical point of view, and give no weight to emotion where intellectual matters are concerned (like philosophy, science, etc.). Unfortunately, that tends to bleed into every area of my life, which makes introspection exceedingly difficult (I intellectualize and rationalize almost as easily as I breathe, haha).

2) I do not like having to make choices, they are extremely difficult for me (because I feel I do not have the requisite information to make a correct decision). My career is up in the air, even my assortment of majors, minors, and certificates I'm going for (I'm in college, 2nd year) is still in flux. Hell, I stand in front of the jelly section of the supermarket for 10 minutes trying to pick between the various jellies, jams, and spreads available (how am I supposed to pick one if I've never had them before?!). So yeah, spoiled for choice might be a good way to describe me.

Your point about flourishing is a good one, and one which I hadn't really considered before. Thinking about it now (as in the above) I conclude that for a finite consciousness with emotions, flourishing is the primary goal/value.

Now just to work out how I'll flourish... haha. Thanks to you both for your help coming to terms with this issue.

[Thomas M. Miovas Jr.]

Now just to work out how I'll flourish... haha. Thanks to you both for your help coming to terms with this issue.

It's definitely possible to over-intellectualize choices in life, especially on a daily bases. If it takes you too long to pick out a jelly at the supermarket, just think what else you could be using that time for. So long as you have the pro-man's life range, go by what you like. I mean, even with your choices problem, you wouldn't pick rat poison over grape jelly to spread on your toast, would you?

There are people who dig more deeply into what to eat, counting not only calories but also other nutritional values (vitamins and minerals), but they didn't get that way overnight, and I wouldn't do that depending on the value of my time. I'm not a health nut, and I don't mean any offense by that term, but I try to eat nutritional foods and snacks and try to keep the weight down (not so good lately). The role of one's emotions is so that you can experience your value hierarchy first-hand instead of doing an explicit mental calculation. It's an automatized process. I mean, unless you were going for a bike race, you wouldn't study in detail how to ride a bike -- just keep your balance and point it in the right direction. Likewise, once you have thought through your value hierarchy, I'm not recommending going on auto-pilot, but give it a little thought and then enjoy your selections.

And when you are going through college, it is hard to be specific on things you haven't studied yet, that's when you ask a guidance counselor My university had a core curriculum, so I took those courses and chose my electives according to what I wanted to study -- what I would enjoy digging into. Sometimes I think college is overrated anyhow -- my degrees never landed me a job I learned a lot, but it wasn't very practical in translating it into a better job. I'd have been financially better off staying with my job before going off to college. The point is, enjoy the experience while you are there. Get your degree, but also have fun. And don't turn yourself into a human calculator for everyday things.