Post by taylorHesselbach on Aug 10, 2011 1:08:08 GMT -5
It isn’t an over exaggeration to say that the mystery of the human psyche is one of the most difficult puzzles to remotely understand. Endless variables ranging from where a person lives to sleeping habits can dramatically affect an individuals thoughts, behavior and personality. So to manage such a daunting prospect as understanding this incredibly expansive study psychologists (along with other specific scientists I don’t know the name of) break it all down into many different and specific areas looking at the core or foundations of their influence. William Deresiewicz is one of those scientists I can’t name; he wrote an article on The Chronicle review analyzing one of those specific areas. The general question “What does the contemporary self want?” refers to the motivations of the current individual. Such a question seems almost infinitely conflicting to me; Deresiewicz seems to convey in his article the contemporary self wants simple acknowledgment by modern means of technology due to insecurities.
He later focuses on the motivations of solitude in relation to past time periods specifically romanticism and modernism to the current post modernism. Simply put he explains the motivations of general humanity’s past leading to the present as “once a prophet of God and then a poet of Nature, is now a novelist of self” each in relevance to a time period in chronological order.
My perspective offers only personal experience with the current conclusion that we novel ourselves, to which I agree. I believe there is a relation between the seemingly exponential growths of technology to our seemingly exponential urge to advertise ourselves to as many people as possible. Although I do disagree with his conclusion on the compulsions development; the urge isn’t a new development resulting from growing technology; it’s been an underlying trait of human personality since the beginning. The urge always present only to be exposed and expanded recently due to the communicating developments of modern technology. Looking at the past its easy to see people have worked with what they had to novel themselves only less obvious because of the limitations of technology at the time. Some so absolved in themselves they resisted the general motivations of their time to novel themselves. For example most entertainers ranging hundreds of year; resisting the claimed motivations of their time periods, whether they were musicians, magicians, actors or whatever were mainly motivated by the prospect of advertising themselves; to be famous. This I believe is an eternal trait of human nature always present now to be expanded until the end of our time, or technologies time.
He later focuses on the motivations of solitude in relation to past time periods specifically romanticism and modernism to the current post modernism. Simply put he explains the motivations of general humanity’s past leading to the present as “once a prophet of God and then a poet of Nature, is now a novelist of self” each in relevance to a time period in chronological order.
My perspective offers only personal experience with the current conclusion that we novel ourselves, to which I agree. I believe there is a relation between the seemingly exponential growths of technology to our seemingly exponential urge to advertise ourselves to as many people as possible. Although I do disagree with his conclusion on the compulsions development; the urge isn’t a new development resulting from growing technology; it’s been an underlying trait of human personality since the beginning. The urge always present only to be exposed and expanded recently due to the communicating developments of modern technology. Looking at the past its easy to see people have worked with what they had to novel themselves only less obvious because of the limitations of technology at the time. Some so absolved in themselves they resisted the general motivations of their time to novel themselves. For example most entertainers ranging hundreds of year; resisting the claimed motivations of their time periods, whether they were musicians, magicians, actors or whatever were mainly motivated by the prospect of advertising themselves; to be famous. This I believe is an eternal trait of human nature always present now to be expanded until the end of our time, or technologies time.