Nosce teipsum

THE great delusion of our time –

https://twitter.com/MagazineAmplify/status/1307620346208509952

Nope.

(Also the reminder isn’t “friendly” but that’s another subject.)

Sure, in lots of ways we know more about ourselves than anyone else does, not least because we care more than anyone else does. But by the same token we also distort what we think we know about ourselves, also because we care more than anyone else does.

And there are some things – important things – we can’t know about ourselves as well as other people do. We can’t know how we come across to other people as well as other people do.

A second point: even if we are unusually good at self-knowledge, even if we do make every effort to correct for ego and vanity and self-protection, there is still nothing magic about knowledge-of-self that means we can be something impossible if we believe it fiercely enough. We can fantasize, but we can’t do magic. We can’t become the Chrysler building or a typhoon or a cheeseburger by thinking or believing.

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