Form Vs Essence

Notes

Claim

We can often see a conflict or a mismatch between something's form and essence.

Explanation

A form is the way that something is constructed, how it appears, it's properties or structure. This is not limited to external aspects only, but usually it is focused on that. For example. a form might be how we are perceived by others. Our image, our Instrumental value treats things as means rather than ends value. Prestige, ego, reputation, can all be conceived as part of our form.

Essence on the other hand is the Some things matter for what they are not what they do property. The potential, the authentic part. For example, our essence is usually our identity, our values and beliefs.

Unfortunately, focusing on our image rather than our essence has become very tempting due to the importance of Signaling is displaying qualities to appear worthy or successful - showing others that we are successful, and due to the simplicity of adjusting our form rather than developing our essence Treating measurable metrics as complete truth hides importance.

Why it Matters

When our form is identical to our essence, we get Acting in alignment with your values is authenticity, otherwise, we get intrapersonal conflict.

Not only that focusing on our image sometimes crowds out spending time on developing our essence, it can even actively hurt it. For example, avoiding failures because they are damaging to our image hurts our ability to improve. Our ego is riddled with Overestimating abilities blinds us to genuine risks, Preferring personal benefits blinds us to others' perspectives and Short term bias, while our essence is something which has a longer return on investment.

Catering to our ego instead of cultivating ourselves is one of the reasons many face an existential crisis when their ego is shattered by life, and they discover that without their image they are nothing but an empty shell.

Examples

It is much easier to post about being an environmentalist than actually caring and doing something for the environment. Similarly, doing a plastic surgery to improve your looks is easier than maintaining physical fitness that does the same.

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Open Questions

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Overview

🔼Topic:: Authenticity and Values ◀Origin:: 🔗Link::