On the other hand, I see this post as more about examining the exact mechanism underlying this error we make.
Yes, though an important part of it is also tackling the means by which the algorithm can be swiftly undone from the inside. Nate’s tools are oriented more to the object level of a specific “should”, whereas I focus more on exposing the assumptions and social imprints that cause us to develop shoulds in the first place.
For example, with Nate’s tools I could have deconstructed the idea that “I should be doing something right now”, but they would likely not have led me to discovering the underlying idea of “I should be taking things seriously”, and the underlying imprinted-by-example meaning of “taking things seriously = freaking the fork out about them”.
To be fair, I’m sure there’s context to Nate’s tools I’m leaving out, and I occasionally do use things somewhat like them with clients, not as an ongoing approach but more as a preparatory stage in learning the Work, to show them the illogicality of a “should” they might be clinging to. (e.g. to demonstrate why “I should have done X yesterday” is based strictly on imaginary hypotheticals)
But in the long run, I consider logical disputation to mostly be useful as a tool for identifying experiential counterpoints to the emotion-backed aliefs that drive the process. You can’t (directly) reason yourself out of what you were never (directly) reasoned into.
Yes, I agree that you are focusing more on how to see the mistake in a meta-way, instead of an outside view as Nate do.
Though I don’t think your example of the distinction is exactly the right one: the idea from Nate of banning “should” or cashing out “should” would be able IMHO to unearth the underlying “I should be taking things seriously” apply the consequentialist analysis of “you will not be measured by how you felt or who you punished. You will be measured by what actually happened, as will we all” (paraphrasing). What I feel is different is that the Way provide a mean for systematically findind this underlying should and explaining it from the inside.
Nonetheless, I find both useful, and I am better for having the Curse of the Counterfactual in my mental toolbox.
What I feel is different is that the Way provide a mean for systematically findind this underlying should and explaining it from the inside.
I notice that I am confused, because I’m not at all clear how Nate’s conceptual model would have helped me find the body-memory of my mother screaming at me about some deadline as a child. In contrast, using the Work to surface my objection to not doing something led me to that memory in a few minutes without me needing to do any particular analysis, consequentialist or otherwise.
This isn’t to say that his approach is wrong, just that it’s incomplete. Notably, it doesn’t provide any guards against confabulating your “explanations” of what your thought process is. When you use analytical reasoning to understand yourself, the answers are often wrong because the thing that is actually causing your response is rarely based on any sort of analysis, rather than simple pattern matching. (In the specific example above, my brain was pattern matching “important thing I’m supposed to do → stress about it, don’t allow yourself to do anything else, and call it taking things seriously, or else you’re a bad person”.)
Finding patterns like this requires observation of what your body and mind are doing, while disengaging from attempts to logically “explain” things, since patterns like these trivially hijack your analytical reasoning (e.g. by tricking you into defining what you’re doing as “taking things seriously” rather than “freaking out”).
Yes, though an important part of it is also tackling the means by which the algorithm can be swiftly undone from the inside. Nate’s tools are oriented more to the object level of a specific “should”, whereas I focus more on exposing the assumptions and social imprints that cause us to develop shoulds in the first place.
For example, with Nate’s tools I could have deconstructed the idea that “I should be doing something right now”, but they would likely not have led me to discovering the underlying idea of “I should be taking things seriously”, and the underlying imprinted-by-example meaning of “taking things seriously = freaking the fork out about them”.
To be fair, I’m sure there’s context to Nate’s tools I’m leaving out, and I occasionally do use things somewhat like them with clients, not as an ongoing approach but more as a preparatory stage in learning the Work, to show them the illogicality of a “should” they might be clinging to. (e.g. to demonstrate why “I should have done X yesterday” is based strictly on imaginary hypotheticals)
But in the long run, I consider logical disputation to mostly be useful as a tool for identifying experiential counterpoints to the emotion-backed aliefs that drive the process. You can’t (directly) reason yourself out of what you were never (directly) reasoned into.
Yes, I agree that you are focusing more on how to see the mistake in a meta-way, instead of an outside view as Nate do.
Though I don’t think your example of the distinction is exactly the right one: the idea from Nate of banning “should” or cashing out “should” would be able IMHO to unearth the underlying “I should be taking things seriously” apply the consequentialist analysis of “you will not be measured by how you felt or who you punished. You will be measured by what actually happened, as will we all” (paraphrasing). What I feel is different is that the Way provide a mean for systematically findind this underlying should and explaining it from the inside.
Nonetheless, I find both useful, and I am better for having the Curse of the Counterfactual in my mental toolbox.
I notice that I am confused, because I’m not at all clear how Nate’s conceptual model would have helped me find the body-memory of my mother screaming at me about some deadline as a child. In contrast, using the Work to surface my objection to not doing something led me to that memory in a few minutes without me needing to do any particular analysis, consequentialist or otherwise.
This isn’t to say that his approach is wrong, just that it’s incomplete. Notably, it doesn’t provide any guards against confabulating your “explanations” of what your thought process is. When you use analytical reasoning to understand yourself, the answers are often wrong because the thing that is actually causing your response is rarely based on any sort of analysis, rather than simple pattern matching. (In the specific example above, my brain was pattern matching “important thing I’m supposed to do → stress about it, don’t allow yourself to do anything else, and call it taking things seriously, or else you’re a bad person”.)
Finding patterns like this requires observation of what your body and mind are doing, while disengaging from attempts to logically “explain” things, since patterns like these trivially hijack your analytical reasoning (e.g. by tricking you into defining what you’re doing as “taking things seriously” rather than “freaking out”).