Notes on the "Self"

Removing the Self

While everyone needs a method of stabilization, not every one feels they need a self. Sometimes it seems like an encumbrance. But the lack of a sense of self appears to be intrinsically dangerous.

Without sensitivity, a person is free to do almost anything. Morality and integrity lose meaning.

If a person is ready to function as an automaton or as an agent, the demand to exercise a sense of self diminishes and it may seem that only a minimal individuality is required.

The self is often seen as a source of weakness to be somehow overcome. Stimulant drugs have an energizing but depersonalizing effect, but their repeated use leads to destabilization and eventually psychotic disintegration.

It is evident that many in powerful positions are tempted to expect people to serve as replaceable cogs or as duty-performing instruments e.g. in the military, in factories and in bureaucracies. All that is required for this loss of self is a suppression of inner feelings. Purely rational processes can lead to outputs that lack psychosocial distinctiveness e.g. assembly-line systems assume that workers are near-identical and fully replaceable.

Y-Axis in TETs

Typologies in THEE are plotted within a field whose context is defined by psychological inputs and social outputs.

Moving up the Y-Axis typically reveals increasing demands for personalization and individualization.

Those Types plotted in the bottom half are impersonal or instrumental in nature, while those in the upper half are more social and psychological. More recently, this has been formalized by zoning of the axis.

Examples of zonal differentiation of Y-Axes:

The desire to progress within the Spiral within other Domains of personal functioning might spark an urge for self-development. If so, this would ultimately lead to possession of a stronger sense of self.

Originally posted:  12-Feb-2016; Last amended:  24-Jun-2016.