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Paul Grobstein's picture

The causal efficacy of consciousness/stories

Submitted by Paul Grobstein on Sat, 10/18/2008 - 2:30pm.

I'm glad you like the story teller/unconscious story, and agree that it can help us think about interpersonal exchanges and in that respect think more about "mental illness." We'll track that line more next Monday.

But I think there is more to the story than that. Yes, the story teller can provide an explanation for our actions after they occur. But that doesn't make it useful ONLY in explaining ourselves to others. Stories are also significant in motivating future actions; we act differently because of our stories and this may in turn affect our future unconscious actions. And our stories may or may not make sense in terms of our unconscious understandings. When they don't, we feel internal conflicts, and these too may influence our future actions. In short, consciousess/stories are not just "explanations" of things that have happened; they are also significant influences on what happens in the future.

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