people who are so uncommitted to rationality that they will shy away from any depressing idea
I don't think that's a fair characterization at all.
There are lots of things worth protecting. You can want to protect some things and not care so much about others.
Beyond the Reach of God is part of a sequence designed to inspire people to care about a particular thing in a particular way. And I heartily endorse that goal. But that line "this post was written for those who have something to protect" is powerful specifically because it acknowledges that this is coming with a huge cost. Wrapping your brain around the sheer horror of the world is hard. Lonely dissent is hard. Radically changing your worldview is hard. Translating all of this into a meaningful course of action that actually benefits the thing you care about is hard.
That line of that post comes right after Eliezer has acknowledged that it will make you less happy. And whether or not happiness is the only thing you care about, most people are going to care about it significantly. And even if you make that sacrifice, you might fail to translate your new beliefs into meaningful actions. (Edit: Actually, I think a big reason the conversation about death was depressing was because there was no corresponding action to take to fix it, and for me to explain such a course of action would have required a huge bridging of inferential distance which would have sounded condescending and made them tune out. Engaging the depressing fact will only seem to be a rational choice if that inferential distance has already been crossed).
I think people should want to protect the future, more than they want to ensure their own happiness (and possibly that of their children). But most people don't. It's not that they don't have anything to protect, they just don't have something they consider worth sacrificing their happiness to protect.
I think people should want to protect the future, more than they want to ensure their own happiness (and possibly that of their children). But most people don't.
I don't want to protect the future much more than I want to protect my future. I prefer to put all my resources into increasing the likelihood that I, personally, will be there to enjoy that future - even before putting resources into ensuring it will be a good one.
I'm not sure if I understand you correctly; do you mean that I "should" want to protect The Future (of humanity/etc) significantly beyond my own future? If so, what exactly do you mean by should, and why?
I think I have problems with this:
Do you actually think that's true?
I honestly don't think I do. I think there are horrible truths that can wreck your life if you're not prepared to deal with them. I think it may *usually* be best if you self-modify to be able to handle them, so that you don't run into trouble later. But to say there's NO difference ignores the fact that your emotional reaction to things is ALSO part of reality.
I like the idea behind it but I don't think I can really endorse it. I'm struggling because I'd like to incorporate it into my project, but it feels too wrong. And while I'm okay with chopping up lengthy sequence posts to so they can be read out loud, rewriting this to match my beliefs... well, it's not exactly a crime against humanity but it's technically not the Litany of Gendlin anymore which ruins some ritual-oomph. (And the part that I'd most want to change is the last two lines, which are the most powerful part)
Ideally it would communicate: "Lying to yourself will eventually screw you up worse than getting hurt by a truth," instead of "learning new truths has no negative consequences."
This distinction is particularly important when the truth at hand is "the world is a fundamentally unfair place that will kill you without a second thought if you mess up, and possibly even if you don't."
EDIT TO CLARIFY: The person who goes about their life ignoring the universe's Absolute Neutrality is very fundamentally NOT already enduring this truth. They're enduring part of it (arguably most of it), but not all. Thinking about that truth is depressing for many people. That is not a meaningless cost. Telling people they should get over that depression and make good changes to fix the world is important. But saying that they are already enduring everything there was to endure, seems to me a patently false statement, and makes your argument weaker, not stronger.
Potential change I can think of that doesn't wreck it too much and keeps it similar enough that I don't feel too bad: "Not owning up to it will only make things worse." Artistically I think it might be better to change the wording to something like "Refusing to admit it will only make things worse," but then the change becomes big enough that I feel kinda wrong again.
Maybe refer to it as Litany of Gendlin', to distinguish it while staying classy.
SECOND EDIT: It's become pretty clear, looking a collection of comments, that Typical Mind Fallacy is at work here. Some people value truth and emotional response differently. My problem is that a) *I* value emotional response as the end, and my preference for truth, while extremely useful, is only there to facilitate emotional response in myself and others. b) I know there will be other people at the event in question who share my position.
In any case, I'd like advice from the people who believe the Litany is inaccurate (or at least are able to model people who believe that) on how to handle the situation.