Faulkner, Lao Tzu, Richard Bach & Tao Te Ching also contemplated "Self"

Others far beyond my considerations concerning "self awareness" have some very interesting reflections on "Knowing Ones Self" . I hope they will inspire you!

Lao Tzu - He who knows others is wise. He who knows himself is enlightened.

William Faulkner - Don't bother just to be better than your contemporaries or predecessors. Try to be better than yourself.

Tao Te Ching - Knowing others is intelligence; knowing yourself is true wisdom. Mastering others is strength; mastering yourself is true power.

Richard Bach - We wait all these years to find someone who understands us, I thought, someone who accepts us as we are, someone with a wizard's power to melt stone to sunlight, who can bring us happiness in spite of trials, who can face our dragons in the night, who can transform us into the soul we choose to be. Just yesterday I found that magical Someone is the face we see in the mirror: It's us and our homemade masks.

How is our online self different from our face to face self

Have you noticed personally or in the media that individuals who are on the internet or represent themselves on the internet are often quite different in person or reality from what they represent on the internet?

I often asked myself if this is because we tend to want to remove the rough edges, present our best "profile" or maybe even lie or "stretch the truth" about ourselves, even if only a little.

Specifically I am thinking of the blatant falsehoods depicted on dating sites. I must laugh because of many friends with stories of meeting someone in person only to question why they don't look like their picture online. And they state some lame excuse like; "Oh that was my high school picture" (and they are 42) or "that was a few years ago", when it is a clear misrepresentation of what they look like now.

So it makes me wonder what else in their profile, web site, face book, blog or whatever is inaccurate, false or simply "not true"?

I did read in psychology that people when remembering their past often tend to remember it "not how it actually was" but more often "how they wanted it to be" which can sometimes be dramatic or completely different. They say it is to assist the individual in dealing with the way life is, the choices they have made and "live with themselves and their choices".

At times reliving events from my past with family and friends it is amazing how individuals can have such "contrasting" memories of the same event.

I am wondering if "reinventing" ourselves online is healthy, unhealthy or both?

Do you see me when I pass you?

I decided to conduct an experiment. I randomly chose 10 people who walked passed me within 10 feet and whether or not they made eye contact. Once they walked passed, I requested to poll them on why they saw me or not. Specifically I recorded their gender, age and why they did or did not make eye contact (or see me).

My poll included 4 females and 6 males who agreed to be polled. The males polled were age 20-42. The females polled were age 19-40.

Here are my following conclusions from this poll:

• 4 out of the 6 Males made eye contact.
• 1 out of the 4 Females made eye contact.

Males more often made eye contact based on the following reasons:

1. It’s friendly and should be done.
2. Cultural reasons such as awareness/safety.

Males that did NOT make eye contact gave the single following reason:

1. They were simply preoccupied.

Females more often did NOT make eye contact based on the following reasons:

1. Cultural issues regarding safety and previous familiarity with someone.
2. Preoccupied with their own thoughts and technological distractions such as I-pod, phone, etc.

Females that DID make eye contact gave the single following reason:

1. Simply awareness regarding safety.

My conclusion from this limited poll is that males are driven by a male hierarchy and a need for self preservation. Technology and preoccupation are components but do not over-ride the more primal behaviors.

At least in these situations the females feel relatively safe, so are preoccupied with their own thoughts and comforts. They do have a limited awareness of surroundings due to safety but are more likely to see you if they know you and ignore you if they don't.