“I don’t know what I want, but I know I want it.”
Does this strike a chord with anyone else? This thought arose while I was driving the other day and has not left. It echoes similar to how it feels to act against one’s values (if such a thing exists). I wrote about this in my last post. There’s a level of latent dissatisfaction that follows us when we act contrary to our values. This feels like that.
I am wandering a supermarket searching for a specific puzzle piece bound to never find one that fits. Our natural inclination is to search harder ; comb through every aisle, dismantle all the exterior barriers, and cross every crevasse in hopes of discovering it. “I’ll know it when I see it” we might say to ourselves.
It seems logical enough if we approach the concept of “us” as a continuous entity. A belief that when we remove all physical and social influences upon us, there would be something uniquely “us” remaining. I think you can see where I’m going with this.
What if the slot for the puzzle piece is fluctuating at the same, or faster, rate than we are exploring.
It is beginning to feel like that. Especially when one has not acted in line, or even considered the core values that narrow down our choices. As I think deeper about core values, I have narrowed down this to be their reason. Without them, we are exposed to a near infinite set of choices. The point of these values, wherever they may originate from, is to narrow down this set into sustainable chunks. It is to make sense of the infinitude of life’s choices.
Where do our values originate from? The theory of mimesis states, much in support of Sartre, that we are but an amalgamation of things we subconsciously imitate or emulate. The introduction of subconscious processes makes me wary. Yet, this makes sense on the surface.
Yet another interesting question to ponder.