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0 pointsmarginalia_nu4y ago0 comments

> Of course we are responsible for all of our actions, however, we often act against our better judgement.

Isn't this just a matter of confusion about what is in our best interest?

When we act against our best interest, it's often because we fail to accurately gauge the outcome of our actions. We may postpone going to the dentist because it seems like a bad idea, or have a bunch of cake because it seems like a good idea; but with the clarity of looking at these things in the past, it's evident that we got it wrong. We should have gone to the dentist and ignored the siren call of cake.

For whatever reason, it seems like a lot of people are just not doing this. They keep looking to the promises from the future, but completely ignore what they know from the past; so they keep repeating the same short sighted mistakes over and over and over again.

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johtso4y ago

Acrasia. We severely discount things, positive or negative, that may happen a way off into the future. We struggle to make a "later problem" into a "now problem". The difficulty is that many of life's challenges require action over a period of time.

I also think, speaking from personal experience, our minds have an amazing ability to avoid thinking about things that are difficult or unpleasant. This can mean that we neglect to do things we should be doing (or do the things that cause us harm) not because those things are infact actually okay behaviours, but because we're not even thinking properly about the consequences. We're just doing.

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0 pointsmarginalia_nu4y ago0 comments

> Of course we are responsible for all of our actions, however, we often act against our better judgement.

Isn't this just a matter of confusion about what is in our best interest?

0 comments

johtso4y ago

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse