LEARNINGS IN UNDERSTANDING THE SELF
THE SELF IN DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVES
UNPACKING THE SELF
Sociology
Anthropology
Western Thought
Eastern Thought
Psychology
Sociology is the study of society. And along the study is the discovery to a new definition of self or how we build who we are through the people we encounter every day.
One factor is the modernity--the generation of the people so-called as 'millenials'. Where in, from having the dependence in the family, it went to feeling the convenience by relying on self.
Overall, this is the perspective where you see through yourself inside and outside and how your environment affected you and made impact to you to become the person you are right now.
Psychology is the study of human mind. And this study is the most critical one because of its broad scope. Yet it does help us a lot to know who we really are by what we think, what we act, and what we say.
As a whole, it is important to always be yourself because a one-by-one comparison of self to another can build insecurity and finally failing on knowing how to appreciate yourself.
In this perception, it is strongly believed that a person's 'self' is a step-by-step progress as we grow up from infant to adulthood. Eventually being able to differentiate our me-self and I-self. And throughout the progress, psychologists say that we tend to develop awareness on our real self versus our ideal self.
This includes the discussions about our analytical self, monotheistic self, individualistic self, and our materialistic self.
This perspective has been the most clever for me that it was able to categorize our 'self' in the shortest possible definition without a submeaning and unwanted definitions.
This perspective talks about the perceptions of various contexters such as Brahma, Buddha, Confucius, Tao, and Chuang-Tzu. Mostly the beliefs of Chinese and neighboring nations.
Well, they believe that 'self' should be defined as one the should be embedded in relationships and through spiritual development.
Anthropology is the study of human beings. And again, along the study is the discovery to a new perspective about ourselves.
This perspective points out that ourselves is mold and affected by the origin of the environment we habit--the cultural traditions, the social practices, as well as the other factors that then influence us how we viee relationship, how we show personality traits, how we value achievements, and how we express emotions.
Physical Self
Digital Self
Spiritual Self
Political Self
Economic Self
In this section, 'self' was given an emphasis by focusing on its outward and inward perception. You see, it was discussed that according to philosophers, beauty is an objective quality of a person wherein you could even conclude your own impression about a person by criticizing their appearances. But actually, there are various debates about what true beauty is but its important to know that acceptance and sincerity is what matters the most.
Well, it was also discussed how our sexual selves work by understanding how it triggers our stimulus and how crucial these stimulus are. In connection with this, of course, since sexual arousals are common at our age, contraceptives were also taught; may it be natural or artificial. And I do believe that prevention is always better than cure. Good thing it was a part of the discussion.
Thus, maturity is essential and proper mindset should be present if we really wanna take care of our physical selves.
The digital self. Or should I say, the alternative universe. The perfect place for people who seek a whole new different persona that the society will accept. The world of masks and uncertainty.
And then, cyberbullying is the worst. And it is important that we gain consciousness and awareness to what we post and share. Because it's either you or the viewers of you might get affected.
Here lies the most critical part of ourselves. Addiction to technology and social media secretly exposes who we truly are. But how? Obviously, by means of how you react to one's post. You insecure? By how you share different things. You tryna seek attention? Well, probably more other possibilities.
As per my learning, I understood that this topic talks about how firm we stand for our nationality no matter what it is by showing awareness and concern on its issues, happenings, and problems by of course, relying on the factual sources.
This then gives way to knowing a nationality's strengths and weaknesses and how they cope with it.
This part tackles about how much we consume things. Specifically, how does it benefit us and our supplier. And how does having this kind of mindset affects our personality and view in life. Because as far as I've learned, the more you get what you want, the more your standards get high to the extent that you can no longer take being with something or someone that doesn't satisfy you.
Sometimes, we become conscious of the things that we have and what we don't have. Even though it's not as necessary as it is, we tend to find satisfaction in materials things. And that's what we call our economic self.
This one's a heavy topic. Well, we all have different beliefs as an individual. And as for me, identifying the self spiritually will only have two fall under three categories: one, spiritually strong; two, spiritually weak; and number three, no spirit at all.
Although there are various religions existing out there, what matters is that we all know who is the reason of our existence and survival today, and that's our God.
Believing in God doesn't mean possessing the spirit. The spirit only start to live once you work on it. And that's for me. On the other hand, it's important to give heed and respect to other people's beliefs because it all gives us the sense of understanding and camaraderie.