| quite an interesting concept to examine here...
I'm not going to pretend to be intimately familiar with every detail of the mechanics that drives self awareness, self identity, or self control. I will however work with what I have percieved within myself.
To start with, I find the concept that there are 3 parts that make up a persons mental structure to be an acceptable model to speak from for the sake of discussion. A physical aspect that deal with the body in general and it's needs, an intelectual ascpet that deals with the nescecities of logic, planning, stradegy, memory, and ultimately decision making. And the third part that seems to hold sway over ethical and moral aspects of how one deals with the world.
I will be up front about the fact that I personally am not always in logical control of my actions. Sometimes despite the fact that I decide to do / not do something I find myself acting contrary to that decision. My internal perceptions give me the impression that on of the other parts of my 'being' has in fact trumped my logical self. Wether it is in pursuit of a something that will give some sort of physical stimulus, or as the result of a moral conflict, I have found myself on occation doing things that go contrary to my very firm choices. Also at times I have found myself doing things without the nescecity of higher thought at time, such as pulling up a blanket in the night, or even going into the bathroom. That may start another debate, but I am putting it here for reference.
To assume that self control is merely used to stop something or get something moving is a very narrow view. Self control seems to be to be not just a matter of going against impulses, but also guiding impulses into directed action that are already heavy with momentum or moving in a desired general direction. The means to do this are aquired in time by self awareness and learning what and where to place mental influence.
Since there is no physical reference for mental activity that would prove functional for such a process I find myself at times dealing with multi-dimensional (sometimes 3 dimentions aren't sufficent) imagery to give me reference, whereas other times it is simply a sense of pressures and counterpressures. The end result though is the fact that I am indeed having one part of my mental self working to manipulate another.
That is my assesment and opinion at this time, do with it what you will. |