While I was high an hour or two ago, I stuck my ipod on shuffle and it came to The Strength to Go On by Rise Against. I had never listened to them very closely before, but I was really in tune with this song. And in the chorus it has the line "what we are is the sum of a thousand lies." When I heard that I thought about what it meant for a while, and came to the conclusion that it was a true statement. Because our egos are made up of how we believe others see us, and how we want others to see us. And so we change our egos to suit these characteristics. So each time we see a new person our ego changes to please this person. So it becomes layers and layers of lies. And I never thought of this before, and it really changes the way I think. I don't really know if this is an arguable point, I just felt the urge to post it on here because it seemed like a true epiphany. Because now I'm going to try to not be the sum of a thousand lies. I put on more Rise Against after hearing this song, and they have some really deep lyrics. If you want to really think while you're high, I'd reccomend them. Even though their instruments are kinda gross punk rock stuff, the lyrics are deep.
You are a blank clone of what is essentially a product of your ancestral self wandering the earth getting stained by the waves of the ever changing world around you. I don't think it's just lies that make you.
Well this is true, but not a truth. Many of us change ourselves to please others. We are pack animals, we strive to be accepted and a part of a group so this is how we accomplish this, but not how everyone accomplishes this. I learned long ago their is no need to care for the judgment of others, it is the judgment of yourself that matters.
Doesn't matter, considering human beings are mindless drones in a world that has no significance whatsoever. Smoke weed!
But do you think that every single person sees in the exact same way? I'm sure they do not. Their view of you has some lie or misconception involved in it. Like your boss- does he see you in the exact same light as your best friend or your mother? It appears to me that everyone will behave differently in the presence of different people regardless of whether or not they intend to. I think it's just a natural reaction to preserve our place in life. Know what I mean? And who we are is not only based upon our view of ourselves but on the views of others. So to me, we really are the sum of a thousand lies.
what i experience is my reality. What i think and beleive manifests itself into my reality, or my truth. I am true to myself. This truth is my truth, and it doesn't matter how anybody else thinks of it. I am the sum of my essence. I am the sum of truth. My sum is the antithesis of a thousand lies. My sum, my soul, my self, is only infinite truth
That is really interesting, how the lies build up by each new person we meet. That's awesome how you came to that conclusion, and there is some truth to it.
You know you make a good point actually, but my boss is my dad! But I don't think it makes us a sum of a thousand lies. I was replying under the assumption that he meant we knowingly change ourselves for others. I don't make the same jokes with my teachers that I do with my friend but that is only because I know that is not their humor. I do this out of respect not to hide myself. They know who I am and how fucked my mind can be. If someone asks me about something or calls me on something I have done in the past I do not play around it to seem different then the way I am. This I had to teach myself though. It is the reaction we are born with or more likely taught as a child, but I feel if someone can't take me for who I am then their is no need for them to associate with me, you know?
be yourself. Don't hide behind a socially acceptable mask. Sure I might avoid swearing around my teachers, but I still act the same person. I used to wear these "masks." Parties are a big place to put these on. "Yo bra," I'd say, giving one kid daps, "Wats poppin g," as i pounded it to another, and all other stupid shit because it felt like it was what i was supposed to do and the proper way to act. There is no proper way to act, only a proper way to be, and that is your essence, your soul. I've learned to be who I am around everyone now, i don't change my sense of humor (otherwise I'd be dumbing myself down 90% of the time) depending on who I'm with. I used to change certain things like that, but I got fed up with that unnatural, tense, conformative feeling of it all. Let it be, so be yourself. Look within to see who you are, not outward. The answer to yourself and anything about yourself never comes from the outside. The more you be yourself, the more others will be themselves around you... you'll notice it happening, too, which is absolutely amazing. To see the truth, honesty and purity. Too bad all people couldn't be true to themselves
As other people have pointed out, some people are going to be more susceptible to this than others. Part of this has to do with the concept of "self-monitoring." Self monitoring here refers to your desire and ability to change their behavior to suit various situations. Self monitoring - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia I suspect that people who have a high need for or ability to self-monitor are going to be the people who are more likely to perceive themselves through the lens of somebody else's opinion of them. For the curious, here's a scale for testing your self-monitoring ability. SELF-MONITORING SCALE
i found that a lot of the questions on that quiz scale were contradictory, so I'm not sure how it could be accurate. For instance: 2. My behavior is usually an expression of my true inner feelings, attitudes, and beliefs. (true) VS 7. When I am uncertain how to act in a social situation, I look to the behavior of others for cues. (false) 16. I'm not always the person I appear to be. (false) If I say that 2 is true, thats, to them, an indication that I self-monitor. However, if i answered true to "2", i couldn't possibly answer true to #7 and #16... since i answered that it was true that my behavior is a true expression of myself, it can't be true that i copy others or am not always who i appear to be. So those two would be false. I answered true to a lot, and false to a lot, because the questions seemed to contradict one another.
Read it again, the "high self monitor" answer for #2 is "false" not "true." This is a common feature in psychometric tests, called "reverse scoring," which is pretty much just there to make sure you're paying attention and not just mindlessly marking all "true" or "false"
oh, i actually just assumed that's how it was done. I though every "true" you answered was a point guess that would explain why i was confused
