How to get into Second Life without really trying

Selby Evans is Thinkerer Melville in Second Life

And now for something completely different.  Existentialism.  This may be part of psychology.  Or it might not be.  We can’t decide. 

In any case, one of the main themes of existentialism is responsibility and choice.  Or, to be more precise, responsibility for choice.   People can’t avoid choosing.  But they can try to escape the responsibility for the choice.

The Devil made me do it.

This kind of discussion tends to sound like ethics or philosophy.  Somber moralizing.  Definitely not the work of the Thinkerer.  So how does it fit in here?

Recall that the Thinkerer is the view from the head.  Ethics, philosophy and somber moralizing are views from on high, looking at people and sermonizing about what they should do.   An objective analysis of people.  Abstract.  Timeless.  God-like. 

You shall be as God, knowing good and evil.–The Serpent.

The view from the head is subjective, concrete, current.  Here I am in this place at this time.  What shall I do?  The question carries its own answer.  I shall choose.  I can pretend that something else is choosing for me.  Claim that I didn’t have any choice.  Claim that I was just following orders, rules, or commandments.  Claim that I merely did what was customary and expected under the circumstances.

But there is no escape from choice.  I choose the something else that gives me orders.   Those claims do not deliver me from choosing.  They merely let me obscure the responsibility for my choice. 

I can also obscure the responsibility of choosing by thoughtless choice.  By not even noticing that I have made a choice.  By not even being aware of the possibilities that are available to my choice.  By making the choice automatically, as a matter of habit. 

Ethics, philosophy, and somber moralizing aside, what difference does it make whether I am aware of choosing or just let it happen?  

Choosing is the first step toward being in charge.

Choosing Slogans and Tips

Background:
Psychology of Thinkering
Zen and Existentialism

Head Talk:  Growing in Decision

Self-direction Clipit

So why should I take responsibility for my choice?

Will Power

Check your strengths
Strengths

Practice in a virtual reality:
How to get into Second Life without really trying

Mealcheck:  Every evening at supper, ask yourself what was the most important choice you made today.  Write the answer.  Save the answers for a month.  Then go back over them.  See if you find a pattern.