--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Vaj <vajradh...@...> wrote: > > At the same time, if she could actually see herself as others see her it > would probably too much for her to handle. After all, when you build an > illusory world around yourself for most of your life, it's nigh on impossible > to let it go, so you just keep moving....
Now that is an interesting question isn't it? Why would it be more interesting for a person to see her/himself through the eyes of 'the' others, than to see oneself through her/his own eyes? This reminds me of the 'mirror stage', a stage in the childs development, when it sees itself the first time in a mirror, as others see it. According to Jacques Lacan, a french psychoanalysist and philosopher, it conceives itself as a *whole* for the first time, while all subjective experiences before are only fragmented. In this way, the perception of the others, the image of the child in the mirror, becomes the self-image of the child, which correspondents to the formation of the ego. This self image yet is derived from a location outside itself, the way the 'others' see it. It is therefore also an alienation from itself. According to Lacan, it is the 'I that is not the I', an imaginary I, as we in spiritual terms would call it the ego, not the true Self. The ego, in this theory, is the self reflected through the 'other', the other persons, who are not a homogeneity, but a multitude. As the big Other, it becomes society, law, which in psychoanalysis is represented by the father figure, which also represents language. The 'appeal to majority' fallacy is certainly dirived from the constant attempt to reflect and find oneself in the image of the other. In the psychology of Lacan there is no way to objectify the 'other'. It is an entirely imaginary unit of self-reflection. Apart from this, in yoga philosophy the Self is one unit, and entirely within, always a whole, and the removal of the ego-sense, the self that is reflected in the other, amounts to the final liberation. So, who is to decide what is the 'correct'view of oneself? The majority of the 'others'. As there is no uniformity of opinion, not even on Judy Stein, here on FFL, it i not even clear, as the majority of the lurkers may be different than the majority of active posters. Or the sense of some ethical values, social norms of this society, to which will be appealed, which are again dependend on the country and the prevailing culture and the times. It is difficult to see for people that the opinions they favour are to a great deal derived from the prevailing culture, and that these ideals and values greatly vary in other societies, let's say between India and the west. Anyway, whats the point of this in yoga, seeing youreslf as the others see you, especially if there are not THE others. But this is probably not what you wanted to say.
