Self-Evaluation and Reflection

A Case for Placing Emphasis on Self Evaluation and Reflection:

Introduction to the key concepts:

Sometimes when I type out my “Reflections on the Manifestations of Desolation”, obscure reflective posts on Facebook, and think about my concrete relations to others through college, friends and family, I reflect on the reflections which I developed before through the faculties of my understanding. This being the manner in which I develop my being. With that being said, I wanted to share these thoughts to the world. You, my dear reader have the opportunity to provide feedback, encourage further reflections for the community, and develop a healthy sense of discourse.

I have two key points I want to give an introduction to in this post. First being the necessity to reflect on the way we handle our life as social animals and the second being the rising problem of thinking in “absolutes” relating to politics, love and others. I want to begin proposing the necessity for developing a system of thought that places emphasis on reflection.

Our current institutions be it therapy, high school education, college and the workplace, are lacking adequate focus on the reflection. As we witness the rise of far-right extremism, people worship, and the unwillingness to keep check on our opinions, I feel it necessary to begin finding a solution by analyzing the mind of the people which it impacts, things which they lack and so do we all. Reflections develop and mold over time, we can never completely determine causation, only analyze the current clear correlations.

***These thoughts are very elementary, and are subject to change. To be clear up front I am NOT an expert in pyschology, therapeutic programs, etc., I encourage you to seek out an expert if you feel endangered, suicidal, depressed, etc.,***

with that said let’s run down two of the basic key conceptual concerns I have listed.

1. Are the actions I am committing reflective of the intentions I claim they are being done for?

“You can have a certain arrogance, and I think that’s fine, but what you should never lose is the respect for the others.” – Steffi Graf

I as a human-being born out of the irrational wheels of evolution am prone to committing actions where I decieve myself to be the victim and just in my actions. It is much easier to act out of pure unfiltered emotion lashing out at people who express dissent to my personal opinions, than to hang in there to spend that necessary time reflecting on what is the objective reality of the situation I am experiencing.

Throughout my life I have beared witness to many friends, family and strangers on the internet claim their ex-partner, former employer, lost friend and co-workers were assholes who deserve to be discredited without giving a moment to the consideration the alternative options which may give way to clarity. Is it more likely that the complaining subject was 100% the victim of a malignant conspiracy or that both peeople were at some sort of fault?

Our next question will expand on the incoherence of talking in 100% abolutism.

2. Why is expressing “absolutism” in politics, relationships and phenomena very dangerous? (In terms of reflection)

“I could stand in the middle of 5th Avenue and shoot somebody and I wouldn’t lose voters.” – Donald Trump at a campaign rally in Iowa 23 January 2016

Something we have all been exposed to are those people who express absolute loyalty to people, figures and idealogues. There is nothing wrong in itself with holding role models and people you think objectively model what you percieve to be “good” in some way, but this can be taken to a dangerous extreme.

One thing reflection does is counteract the tendency to become stuck in an extremist bubble. The desire to have a sense of community and being is something that is fundamental to being a human-being, but it must be done in a healthy manner. The case I want to get acorss is the fact that this healthy discourse and community building is not taking place in large part due to the undeveloped and discouraged need to reflect and mold our behavior in proper ways.

One thing which is clear when we analyze the behaviors of absolutism is, that the absence of critical thinking and knowledge leads to the barrier of reflection. When one thinks uncritically about certain individuals they are very suspectible to manipulation from all corners.

The matter of reflection in many ways is obtaining that long sought desire to be an independent thinking individual. Letting yourself be swayed by people telling you what to think and how to think leads to you unknowingly be misled into a narrow linear path. That is the problem we have been witnessing rise clearly since the dawn of the mass communication but most clearly through the television and social media, locking the individual in a box where they find a niche that slowly molds them. The escape is rooted in developing reflective capabilites and immersion in media of all forms.

(I will leave it here for now, I aim to reform and develop this further as I obtain more material and form my perspectives)