DavidM comments on Meditation, insight, and rationality. (Part 1 of 3) - Less Wrong

35 Post author: DavidM 28 April 2011 08:26PM

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Comment author: DavidM 28 April 2011 11:35:07PM 0 points [-]

Honesty without limit is unhelpful, but in many contexts, the value of honesty at the margin tends to be high, which is why I'd say it's great advice.

Are there times where there is something that would be painful to admit, but you don't realize until later that it was weighing on you? I wonder whether you would find doing an active search for such things beneficial (in the right social contexts).

Comment author: Jonathan_Graehl 29 April 2011 01:20:50AM 0 points [-]

Are there times where there is something that would be painful to admit, but you don't realize until later that it was weighing on you?

Yes, of course. Sometimes I'm too focused to notice in the moment.

Focus (actually trying to perform well at a given task) has its advantages. Maybe it's possible to train (or cue with some external trick) brief moments of global or introspective thinking, but quickly returning to the flow if adjustment isn't needed. Probably there's both a trade-off and a happy medium.

Comment author: Jonathan_Graehl 29 April 2011 12:59:10AM 0 points [-]

I haven't tried it much in real time; mostly post-mortem. I guess I could experiment with low-stakes cases (nearly anything with strangers in the city).