{"id":2699,"date":"2021-02-27T11:06:55","date_gmt":"2021-02-27T11:06:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/2021\/02\/27\/memory-content-and-affect-2\/"},"modified":"2021-02-27T11:06:55","modified_gmt":"2021-02-27T11:06:55","slug":"memory-content-and-affect-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/2021\/02\/27\/memory-content-and-affect-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Memory: Content and Affect"},"content":{"rendered":"

The trick is to retain the content so that one can rehearse it if one wishes, but without re-enacting the affect, unless one wishes.  Let me explain.<\/span><\/p>\n

Suppose one recalls a long-past insult to oneself, and feels anger<\/em> in the present as a result. The anger is followed by regret<\/em> at not having responded in kind. (L'esprit de l'escalier.<\/em>) And then perhaps there is disgust<\/em> at oneself for having remained passive, for not having stood up to the aggressor and asserted oneself. This may be followed by annoyance<\/em> with oneself for allowing these memorial affects  to arise one more time despite one's assiduous and protracted inner work. Finally, pessimism<\/em> supervenes concerning the efficacy of attempts at self-improvement and mind control.  <\/span><\/p>\n

Well, welcome to the human predicament.  Buck up, never give up. We are not here to slack off and have a good time. This world is preparatory and propadeutic if not penal. That is the right way to think of it. Live and strive. Leben und streben! Streben bis zum Sterben!<\/em>  There is no guarantee that the "long, twilight struggle" will open out into  light.   For there are two twilights, one that leads to dawn, the other to dusk. But we live better if we believe in the advent of the first.<\/span><\/p>\n

Judge your success not by how far you have to go, but how far you've come.<\/span><\/p>\n

Inquire and aspire.  What Plato has Socrates say about inquiry (intellectual self-improvement) in response to Meno's Paradox is adaptable to aspiration (moral self-improvement).<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

And therefore we ought not to listen to this sophistical argument about the impossibility of inquiry: for it will make us idle; and is sweet only to the sluggard; but the other saying will make us active and inquisitive. (Plato, Meno<\/em>, 81a-81e)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The trick is to retain the content so that one can rehearse it if one wishes, but without re-enacting the affect, unless one wishes.  Let me explain. Suppose one recalls a long-past insult to oneself, and feels anger in the present as a result. The anger is followed by regret at not having responded in … Continue reading “Memory: Content and Affect”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39,206,250,221,72,291],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2699","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-human-predicament","category-memory","category-pragmatism","category-psychology-and-personality-typology","category-sage-advice","category-sermons"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2699","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2699"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2699\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2699"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2699"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2699"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}