Quests & the «Damaged» Self
The «Equilibrium» Problem…
It is not possible to operate the Feel Good without a minimum of self-esteem.
If you have had a good-enough childhood and avoided traumatization (or recovered from it), self-esteem is not problematic. Until personal maturity is developed, self-esteem can easily be hurt e.g. by normal failure or ill-considered rejection, by well-deserved criticism or unfair disparagement. However, the hurt is usually temporary, because remedial action is taken to regain equilibrium. You either turn your mind to something enjoyable, or talk it over with supportive friends, or try again, or try something else.
Unfortunately, persistent low self-esteem may be associated with an unresponsive «feeling bad» state that interferes with normal functioning. The person wants to feel good: is desperate to feel good. However, a fundamental precondition for the is simply lacking. 
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...& Its Solution
When self-esteem is damaged beyond easy repair, and this is not uncommon, equilibrium cannot be developed using , however, well they might otherwise suit the person. The in the quadrant do, however, provide a solution because they only require belief.
- While requires self-awareness, simply asserting beliefs about oneself is easy. With a little more effort you can understand, learn, repeat and apply a sophisticated doctrine about «the self».
- is possibly easier because the self is dismissed and protected via maximum detachment. So whether the spiritual experiences are genuine or not becomes irrelevant from your personal perspective and in social terms.
Belief is something that can be privately managed and maintained against others as a powerful shield against hurt and fearful reality. Belief works best when it is part of a doctrine, and when that doctrine is shared either by many others, or by a small group that also provides reinforcement and social support.
The «Immersion» Problem…
It is not possible to allow immersion and find your way successfully while «» without recourse to the imagination. As well as counter-intuitive leaps, there must be tolerance for the mysterious emergence of thoughts, or the absence of thought. Dependence on the imagination is naturally far greater in where a person becomes utterly entangled in a drawn out and tumultuous process.
Failure or distrust of the imagination is a feature of rigid personality structures developed to keep traumatic experiences at bay. A free-roaming imagination is intolerable because it generates nightmares, paranoid anxieties and fears of going mad: all of which make immersion and entanglement intolerable.
...and Its Solution
Immersion in reality via observation is far more certain, safe and socially supported than using imagination. So the discretionary interaction are unlikely to lead to confusion, disruption or disintegration in the ramifications of the real world.
- does not target marginal cases of distress, but looks out for the worst and most blatant cases of social neglect and personal misfortune. For a damaged person, providing practical help creates an unequivocal sense of immersion.
- involves observing and following given duties, rules and procedures whose completion is evidence of the right immersion in reality. Being under personal auspices, it is more controllable and straightforward than .
If in either there has been a misjudgement, and reality suddenly becomes complicated and threatening, disconnection is possible and a new focus can be sought just by looking.
- Now for something different: consider the way the TET suggests a special place for «right» in human existence.
Originally posted: 27-Jul-2012.