self-thoughts

what is a self-thought?

a self-thought is any thought a person has about themselves. any figment of self-perception, any persistent set of attitudes one holds towards oneself in terms of personal identity, of the ego.

what's wrong with self-thoughts?

nothing. there's nothing "wrong" with the self-thought itself. it's how we treat it that could pose a problem, but even then, to call it an issue might be too binary. it rather produces a certain phenomenon.

occasionally, i will encounter a person who appears to be closed-minded. and close-mindedness is essentially a consequence of "fixation on the known." close-minded people are more attached to what they believe to be true, what they "know" to be true than open-minded people. this naturally makes them less receptie to alternative views, and they are quick to categorically dismiss things that are outside of their experience.

in terms of self-thoughts, attachment to these self-thoughts is kind of self-possessive. by fixating on a certain view of yourself, a certain idea of what kind of person you are, you become that person. that's all there is to it. and what we imagine to be a consistent personality is just based on self-thoughts that are more deeply ingrained.

it is kind of like DNA, a self-replicating molecule. but in this case, self-sustaining. if you believe you are a certain way, or have a certain trait, and believe it deeply enough, the thought becomes self-sustaining. your behavior, your experiences seem to confirm the fact. and over time this develops into personality, the identity, the ego.