Sunday, January 15, 2012

Name and pronoun

We were given names when we were born, most of us also have family names
When did the name become pronouns such as I, you, and he/she or even plural we, you, and they?
What happened during the switch or how did we learn to pronouns?
Infants and little children use their or others' name to identify self such as "jack wants cookie" or "mommy went to the store". They don't understand the concepts of I, you and he/she.
I guess we learned in school that "I am jack" and jack become I.
To have pronouns, it requires 3 different positions in mind, first person, second person, and third person. This organization should occur at higher abstract level because the persons have to be able to interchange, like I can change the first person (real, ideal, etc), change the second person, and change the third person. Like a concept house can be applied to different houses, or a car can be applied to different cars.

Pronouns are a very high level of abstraction, a prototype
it has a very high level of generalization and it's the way our mind work
we regulate prototype or apply rules to prototype and develop attitude about them
how to treat the first person, second person, third person.
how to invest emotion in first person, second person, third person
subjects, objects, phenomenon, real are all type of high abstract prototype
We usually treat natural objects as IT, third person objects
We usually treat passive sentient being, like plant or passive animals as IT or in some cases you/she
We usually use the first person and second person with objects who can give back, like people

So, what looks like stabile maturity or adulthood is created by having this high level of abstraction
subjects, objects, and the theory about them. The more abstract the theory the more it covers but the less specific.

"Areas of infantilism" - we are at the mercy of ingrained, inappropriate semantic reactions.
Blinded by prejudice, hijacked by trauma inside their heads.
The picture of reality created inside our heads by the lack of consciousness of abstracting process is a delusional world, a never-never land, full of prejudice. (Language in Thought and Action)

So, we must be aware of the process of abstraction, but we also must be aware of our attitude toward the prototype. Some suggest to see things from 3rd person view like the way children see. The reasons are that there is objectivity and less subjective hijack and prejudice blindness.

we identify with with the name of pronouns "I" or when other people talk about "you"  or some third party talk about "he", anytime we recognize that they are talking about ME. Imagine you hear someone talk about somebody and you may join the conversation talking about him. Let's assume that you hear people talk about you, it is the same you that you react to in your mind. We identify with that person, could be I, you, he, or our name. Let's imagine people are praising somebody and it's you, you may recognize it and feel good about it. Let's imagine people are talking bad about you, you may recognize that person and feel bad because I AM THAT PERSON. WE IDENTIFY WHEN WE MAKE BELIEVE THEM TO COME TRUE.

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