also: thanks for activating the edit!

FIXED: “…than the same idea communicated as succinctly, accurately, and as easily as possible without the tacked on “credentials”.

Might there be an “edit post” feature you could activate on your blog? Also, in case you were wondering, I’m still working on getting the gender post up. Considering the controversial nature of the topic, I’ve been trying to make it as well-balanced, clear and unambiguous as possible.

Exactly! Followed with that feeling of “I knew I’m as mentally capable as anyone else and this goes to prove it”, sort of deal (at least for me).

“I think that there is so much inherent resistance to it, though, that it took those guys – and may take others – a LOT of thinking just to reach that understanding.”

I would hazard a guess that it is because realizing that one is as capable as the person one looks up to/imitates fully places the “burden” of self-actualization and self-responsibility on oneself. One progresses from thinking “oh, well the GREAT Einstein discovered this law, so it must be correct!” and, thus living in the shadow of that person and the boundaries he/she defined to “Einstein was as human as I so it is up to me to critically analyze his thoughts/theories and see if they describe a reality that I can agree with” sort of thing.

“…and I imagine gave it some “academic” credibility by being able to tie it to a Western tradition.”

Yeah and there is this. I’ve noticed that people have a strong tendency to ascribe an idea dressed up in specialized vocabulary and related to important figures/”deep”-sounding schools of thought more importance than the same idea communicated as succinctly, accurately, and as easily as possible without the tacked on “credentials” attached.

You don’t really have to read up on existentialism. It’s just a bunch of windy introspection about one critical point – that we have the freedom to reinvent ourselves. And you want to talk about rough reading? Yeah – it’s really not worth the effort if you can truly understand that point. I think that there is so much inherent resistance to it, though, that it took those guys – and may take others – a LOT of thinking just to reach that understanding. For people who are already very introspective and “metacognitive”, I think it comes easily. That philosophy, what I’ve learned about it, did help me better articulate some of my intuitions around identity, and I imagine gave it some “academic” credibility by being able to tie it to a Western tradition.

“Before I meditated, a cloud was a cloud and a tree was a tree. During meditation, a cloud was not a cloud and a tree was not a tree. Once I achieved perfect meditation, a cloud was again a cloud and a tree was again a tree.”

This seems to reflect well your emphasis on people engaging in actions not because they know no better, but rather because they consciously understand why they wish to do something. With such a straightforward point I really can’t disagree. If people can come to understand the inherent subjectivity of their own ideas and their equal validity to everyone else’s subjective ideas, then it would go along way towards people understanding the concept of Culture ZERO – existential “potential” or “sea of ideas”. However, it is also necessary to note the two types of thinking, inwardly-recursive and outwardly-recursive (as I call them). Inwardly-recursive thinking is thinking that *accepts* a boundary (questioned or unquestioned) as a basis for future thinking. Outwardly-recursive or transcending thinking is thinking that *ignores* a boundary as a basis for future thinking (thinking outside the box). If people are not aware of these two fundamental ways of thinking, it will be easy for them to fall into the “reverse conformism” trap you mentioned. I’ll have to check out existentialism in more detail. I usually avoid reading different philosophical systems for no other reasons than that I figure things out on my own faster than wading through all the jargon/academia surrounding any topic, when I do figure it out on my own it means more to me, and I just like discovering and thinking things through on my own before “comparing notes”.