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Self Betrayal

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Anylesca

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If you consciously betray your values, what could you possibly do to make it up to yourself?

Recognize the betrayal, make any amends necessary, and stay true to your values going forward.

It may not be easy to implement but it is easy in concept.

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Yea, what TLD said, but I would swap out your word "betray" for the word "breach". In other words, if your (presumably consciously chosen) actions breach (i.e., are inconsistent with) the logic of your (presumably also consciously chosen) values, then you have a contradiction in your thinking, which must be corrected.

To correct such a contradiction once discovered is not so hard, but can take time, just as pulling out an old, rotten stump by the roots can be worrisome. First, identify the contradiction concretely by writing it down succinctly and repeating it aloud; that way, you use all of your tactile, visual, and auditory sensory channels to experience the fact of the contradiction; and you also engage your conceptual and vocal facilities, thereby further concretizing your identification of the contradiction you are attempting to hold, to your detriment. Ideally, share it with a friend, so you can also factor in your sense of another to your understanding. All this will serve to ensure that you are certain that the contradiction exists and cannot be ignored any longer.

Now, decide which of the elements in the contradiction must go, as being inimical to your life.

Finally (and here's the potentially time-consuming part), trace back any inductions/deductions and the like logical connections you have made to the false side of the contradiction. Resolve those connections in favor of the side you have chosen. And, don't recreate the contradiction in your future choices/behavior.

The good news: just like any other form of training, it gets easier as you do it. You can progressively automate the harmonious re-integration of contradictions, and it becomes as natural as breathing, an emotional response that reflects in each moment the long-range purpose your cognitive stance/soul/self/body. Interestingly, the actual process is akin, virtually identical operationally, to that of integrating new data into one's existing conceptual structure, re-factoring dependencies as needed to stay in harmony with Existence. And this, too, can be progressively, emotionally, automated -- where I take "emotional" to be the internal counterpart to my ability to act externally. And I note that my emotions act like subroutines triggered by perceptual stimuli, and that I have a great deal of power to choose which subroutines are created, how they are wired up to my perceptual apparatus, and whether to act on their suggestions or not -- that is my ability to cognitively control my emotions.

Fun stuff.

- ico

Edited by icosahedron
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