If you turn it inside out, it can be considered an answer to a certain kind of depression. So many people reach certain points in their life where they begin to feel kinda disassociated and detached. At that point they look at all of these things they are doing and go "these are performances, these are roles, this is NOT me!" (as best exemplified in that song that goes "this is not my beautiful house"). And having this feeling of being surrounded by a performance that is not-you can make you feel trapped or caged by an external force. Someone in that position may no longer be sure that they have a real self, or not know how to value the different parts of themselves. So that person would still be panicked if they were told "these performances are just part of you, there is a real self"... on the other hand, tell someone in that panicked state that we ARE the performances, and maybe you open them up to an idea of agency - the idea that they own the performance and can redraft it - that if they are performing a role the role is within their own ownership, doesn't have to be dictated by society, can be rewritten, etc.
Also, sometimes it can be a helpful mindset to try on when trying to let go of negative behaviors. There is a thread in cultural discussion that suggests that whatever comes easiest to us, whatever we "do naturally," is our true self. But behaviors wear pathways in the brain that make them feel as if they "come naturally." So someone who is trying to rewrite those pathways and leave behind a well worn but negative behavior could welcome the idea that various behaviors are equally real/unreal, because that would justify letting go of the "natural" seeming negative behavior. Focus on a "true self" might have led that person to see their negative behavior as "true" and then have led them to an unhappy cognitive place that by seeking out a more positive behavior they were being "untrue."
Sorry for the proliferation of quote marks, I know they're a sign of lazy writing.
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branchandroot
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Date: 2009-10-29 06:06 pm (UTC)Also, sometimes it can be a helpful mindset to try on when trying to let go of negative behaviors. There is a thread in cultural discussion that suggests that whatever comes easiest to us, whatever we "do naturally," is our true self. But behaviors wear pathways in the brain that make them feel as if they "come naturally." So someone who is trying to rewrite those pathways and leave behind a well worn but negative behavior could welcome the idea that various behaviors are equally real/unreal, because that would justify letting go of the "natural" seeming negative behavior. Focus on a "true self" might have led that person to see their negative behavior as "true" and then have led them to an unhappy cognitive place that by seeking out a more positive behavior they were being "untrue."
Sorry for the proliferation of quote marks, I know they're a sign of lazy writing.