[ExI] The Old Dope Peddler

[udend05 at aol.com]

>I think that learning to solve your own issues is important in many
cases. Instantly "solving" people's problems could be very counter
productive in the long term as without some kind of internal struggle,
would people ever develop a very complex or solid identity?

I would sincerely love you to unpack that first sentence a bit more, to articulate the thoughts behind it.
(Is the alternative counter-intuitive? Is it only an intuition in the first place? How are you thinking that?)
   As to the second, I think that raises a pragmatic issue: the person might not develop a solid identity 
based on their problems (or their ability to solve them), but they might develop an excellent foundation
on the basis of a sound mental well-being, if life were to go on without those problems.
   Is there some virtue in solving your own problems that isn't outweighed by the practical consideration of
a 'successful life' (again: however that may be construed) based on mental and emotional equilibrium?
Of course, the history of the idea that we need suffering to be completely who we are is a long one and is,
I think, religious in origin.
   Do we need suffering to be all that we can be? Is mental pain and anguish necessary to our individual
evolution? Does routine irrational thinking and its consequences have a special place in our developmental
process? If so, what? Are we sentimentally bound to it? What would development without these things
look like?
Best,
Damian U.
 
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.extropy.org/pipermail/extropy-chat/attachments/20100624/ab73474b/attachment.html>