[From Chris Cherpas (981030.1430 PT)]
Bill Powers (981030.1055 MST)--
As for doing the Test on yourself, ...
There, you might find some information that had
been missing in your cognitive model of yourself.
I'm interested in hearing any general thoughts
you may have on "doing the Test on yourself,"
insofar as it would seem to be of considerable
practical value, and may have special properties
that distinguish it from doing the Test on someone
else. For example, I imagine that some self-generated
disturbances might put the control of (perceiving
that you are) performing the Test in conflict with
keeping the affected controlled variable in control,
a kind of Heisenberg Principle of introspection
(although it's not clear to me what role position and
momentum play in the analogy).
Best regards,
cc
[From Bill Powers (981031.1220 MST)]
Chris Cherpas (981030.1430 PT)--
As for doing the Test on yourself, ...
There, you might find some information that had
been missing in your cognitive model of yourself.
I'm interested in hearing any general thoughts
you may have on "doing the Test on yourself,"
insofar as it would seem to be of considerable
practical value, and may have special properties
that distinguish it from doing the Test on someone
else. For example, I imagine that some self-generated
disturbances might put the control of (perceiving
that you are) performing the Test in conflict with
keeping the affected controlled variable in control,
a kind of Heisenberg Principle of introspection
(although it's not clear to me what role position and
momentum play in the analogy).
I said that a bit tongue-in-cheek. I think that self-help is difficult. It
takes an independent observer to call attention to things that are not in
the central focus of awareness, as in the method of levels. I think that
the desire to handle one's own psychotherapy may come from lack of any
external observer one can respect or trust (or both). If you do it
yourself, you know you can avoid embarrassment, shame, humiliation, and all
those other unhappy feelings that accompany most real progress.
Best,
Bill P.