I think this is right. The question then becomes whether our subconscious is 'ours.' I'm not sure what to think about this!
After all, take a phobia -- something we are a passive victim of (e.g., a fear of the dark). We suffer from phobias like we suffer from diseases, and it wouldn't make much sense to 'give someone credit' or blame them for having a phobia.
At the same time, I think phobias could also be described as things unfolding in our subconscious. Maybe there is a subconscious association of the dark with loneliness, for example.
But if that is right, then phobias and epiphanies are the same sort of thing! I don't know how to feel about that. What do you think?
It's fascinating to think about how our subconscious influences our fears and sudden realizations. But whether our subconscious is really ours or shaped by something else is a mystery. This could be a great topic for your next post!
Thanks for leaning into this topic and bringing me along with you! I want to approach your question, "What is the hard work of epiphany?" as its own essay for Psych Bites. I'll just add that I am interested in 'epiphany' because it straddles that line between agent/receiver, activity/passivity, as you've described. Both nausea and epiphany have a latency to them which sometimes disturbs our causal thinking (was it something I ate? etc.) and this latent effect gives us room to wander.
Perhaps an analogy to gardening would fit in here: we make an effort, hope for the right conditions, but we know not to convince the soil or force the seed...good growth in good time 🙏
And such a cool line to straddle! It's really quite interesting. I believe Harry Frankfurt makes the point that part of what makes us special as humans is our ability to step back from desires/mental states and call them into question. For him, that's part of what makes us different from animals or non-agents. Yet it is quite ironic that some of the most human parts of our mental lives, e.g., love and epiphanies, are things we simply cannot step back from.
I have to admit that I don't completely understand the garden analogy -- this makes me all the more excited for the coming psych bites post!
Epiphanies do often feel random, but I think they usually occur from something that has been unfolding in our subconscious for a while.
I think this is right. The question then becomes whether our subconscious is 'ours.' I'm not sure what to think about this!
After all, take a phobia -- something we are a passive victim of (e.g., a fear of the dark). We suffer from phobias like we suffer from diseases, and it wouldn't make much sense to 'give someone credit' or blame them for having a phobia.
At the same time, I think phobias could also be described as things unfolding in our subconscious. Maybe there is a subconscious association of the dark with loneliness, for example.
But if that is right, then phobias and epiphanies are the same sort of thing! I don't know how to feel about that. What do you think?
It's fascinating to think about how our subconscious influences our fears and sudden realizations. But whether our subconscious is really ours or shaped by something else is a mystery. This could be a great topic for your next post!
Thanks for leaning into this topic and bringing me along with you! I want to approach your question, "What is the hard work of epiphany?" as its own essay for Psych Bites. I'll just add that I am interested in 'epiphany' because it straddles that line between agent/receiver, activity/passivity, as you've described. Both nausea and epiphany have a latency to them which sometimes disturbs our causal thinking (was it something I ate? etc.) and this latent effect gives us room to wander.
Perhaps an analogy to gardening would fit in here: we make an effort, hope for the right conditions, but we know not to convince the soil or force the seed...good growth in good time 🙏
And such a cool line to straddle! It's really quite interesting. I believe Harry Frankfurt makes the point that part of what makes us special as humans is our ability to step back from desires/mental states and call them into question. For him, that's part of what makes us different from animals or non-agents. Yet it is quite ironic that some of the most human parts of our mental lives, e.g., love and epiphanies, are things we simply cannot step back from.
I have to admit that I don't completely understand the garden analogy -- this makes me all the more excited for the coming psych bites post!