Focus Foundry

Now that we know that man should introspect because his emotions are not automatically correct with respect to reality, and that he should do so everytime he feels an emotion — it is time to examine how man introspects.

The word introspect means literally, “to examine oneself” or, “to examine one’s consciousness.” One should train oneself to associate the feeling of an emotion with a need to pause to ask oneself questions. Since one uses emotion as the call to introspect, and emotion is the product of one’s premises, the first question to ask is obvious: “What premise(s) have I held in the past that make me feel this way (in this specific situation)?”

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As discussed in Part 1, introspection is the primary psychological tool by which man improves his character, integrates his knowledge of the world around him, and increases his own happiness.

When should a man use introspection? Ideally, every time he feels an emotion. Introspection is useful to correct or reinforce philosophic premises, and its only indicator for use is the emotional mechanism. Man has no other means of knowing when he should examine himself and his body of knowledge — and every instance of feeling gives him cause to check his premises, and either correct or reinforce his previous conclusions.

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This begins a planned 3-part series on introspection. The first will answer the question “Why introspect?” The second will answer the question “When should you introspect?” The third and final part will answer the question “How do I introspect?”

Introspection is the primary psychological tool by which man improves his character, integrates his knowledge of the world around him, and increases his happiness.

The reason that men should introspect is that men have volition — we do not have instincts like other animals. We can choose our course of action, but that does not automatically mean that our actions are correct. We need to identify the facts of reality and act accordingly in order to live and be happy — but because we can choose a course of action, we can choose the wrong course of action.

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