OfPonderingWandering

A brief intro to Self-Fufilling Prophecies and Ego death.

The Self-Fulfilling Prophecy 

How do we cause problems for ourselves? Through our mindset. Another binge of HealthyGamerGG has brought me this beautiful term that I would like to share and expand with you today. Many of our problems are not caused by the universe nor external forces, but rather arise from us and our mindset. An example I will call a lot in this post is the idea of being a ‘Loser.’ Once we get this thought within our head, we may interpret incoming stimulus as additional evidence for this concept. Thereby, reinforcing it within our heads and causing us pain. This is the idea of the Self-Fulfilling Prophecy. 

In order to combat the Self-Fulfilling Prophecy, we must begin to unravel how it works. Firstly, we will discuss some Cognitive Processes that I believe may play a role in the Self-Fulfilling Prophecy. 

Confirmation Bias. 

It is much easier for us humans to grasp positive (exists) concepts rather than negative (absent) concepts. For example, ‘It is night outside.’ is much more intuitive than ‘it is not day outside.’ Hence, by the same token, it is easier for us to confirm our views and easily interpret data that aligns with our opinions than to process data that contradicts our viewpoint. This is the confirmation bias, and it plays a role within the Self-Fulfilling Prophecy. Once we have a certain identity within our head, we are predisposed to interpret incoming information as affirmations of our condition. For example, let’s say someone calls you a ‘loser’ out on the street, on the same day that you coincidentally have low performance but you are well known for high performance; with a promotion coming up. Despite the overwhelming positive evidence, we are predisposed to associate (what our mind loves to do) the two independent events together. Thereby, we reinforce the idea of being a loser in our mind, even with the overwhelming evidence that suggests otherwise. That is the power of the confirmation bias in play, yet, it is not the only cognitive process behind our suffering. 

Availability Heuristic. 

Another cognitive process to keep in mind is that of the availability heuristic (Heuristic, a rule of thumb). Drawing on my first-year psychology classes, this heuristic posits that we form judgments of probability based on events that are most readily available for recall. An example I was shown at school is the likelihood of death from a shark attack versus falling aeroplane debris. Statistically speaking, there are more deaths by falling debris rather than sharks (Don’t quote me on this). Yet, in our minds, we think shark attacks are more common, likely due to overrepresentation in media (both journalistic and entertainment). So clearly, the ‘type’ of data can influence our thinking. The Availability Heuristic further posits that familiar, recent, and distinct datapoints are more likely to fuel bias. 

Again, relating back to being called a loser and the work performance example. Being called a loser is hopefully an uncommon event for everyone, thereby making it a distinct experience that stands out in memory. Now, when we perform poorly at work, due to the recency of this distant experience, we call upon it to aid in contextual understanding of our work performance. And unfortunately, this leads us to the conclusion that we are a loser. This then creates a concept within our mind. Which we will explore in the next section. 

Concept Driven Thinking. 

Already, from what we see with our example of confirmation bias and the availability heuristic. Our mind is influenced to filter out reality in a certain ‘goal’ driven way. These goals cherry-pick incoming information to ensure that the goals remain infallible. Our minds use a sort of deductive reasoning. Like the tip of a pyramid, we use a central concept (I am a loser) that then cascades down to contextually explain other occurrences near the base of the pyramid (poor work experience).

This leads to Concept-Driven Thinking. Once we have an idea of what we think we are within our head (ie loser). We use that notion to guide how we interpret incoming information, usually with a strong unconscious preference for the ‘proof’ category rather than the ‘against’ category. 

Now, it is through Concept-driven thinking that we arrive at the Self-Fulfilling Prophecy. Where literally, how we think of ourselves determines the problems we receive in life. Those problems then feed back into our guiding concept, reinforcing it. Let’s think of a new example: 

Say you are someone who has a self-concept of awkwardness and social anxiety. You are waiting in line for an interview for a new job. While in line, you remember how terribly anxious you get when talking to people for the first time, and you also remember how first impressions really matter! To worsen the blow, your mind recalls all the times you have ‘screwed up’ first impressions during job interviews. The clerk calls your name and you enter the boss’s office. You begin the interview, and during so, your mind is hyper-vigilant for any clue that might reinforce your central concept of yourself. And ooh! The boss happened to get distracted by a phone notification and all of a sudden, your mind spins in loops about how the boss really doesn’t want to pay attention to you and so on and so forth. You spend the rest of the interview trying to compensate, you lose your flow, and you walk out of the office defeated. This is how Concept-Driven thinking creates problems for us, in essence, this is how Self-Fulfilling prophecies work. We quite literally become Ouroborus, a snake that eats itself. We are stuck within a cycle of judgment and reinforcement. Yet, it is breakable, or at least, reduceable. 

Awareness and Ego Death

Awareness and Ego Death promise us freedom from the Self-Fulfilling Prophecy. In this section, I will outline steps to pursue this path through the lens of inductive reasoning (I hope to touch more upon this in future blogs- I still have quite a bit to learn and test). Firstly, inductive reasoning!

Inductive reasoning states that in order for us to formulate a central idea, which is like the tip of the pyramid. We must first form a solid base of observations and measurements and build upwards from there. In our case, this means that in order to determine who/what we are, we must begin to observe our interactions with the world. For example, we might conclude that we are good at math if we consistently score 90s on math tests and assignments. This style of thinking is different from what we explored in Concept-Driven Thinking, which is more of a top-down approach, ‘I am good at math, therefore I get 90s.’ Whereas, this approach is the opposite, a bottom up approach. 

What is unique about inductive reasoning is its inherent uncertainty which aligns with reality. As I am sure we all know, life is infused with uncertainty. Inductive reasoning allows us to be adaptable to change and overcome uncertainty. Taking from my own life, I would get high 90s in math during Grade 10-11, then in Grade 12 I got humbled with 80s.

Unfortunately, during this time, I got stuck in a Self-Fulfilling Prophecy, ‘I am good at math, therefore I got 90s.’ Then when I ended up with lower grades than expected in Grade 12, I experienced a great deal of stress and self doubt rather than the equanimity that a more bottom-up inductive approach does. The line of thinking like that would look like, ‘Now I get 80s in math, it is not like what I used to get, but that is okay. Times have changed, it’s my final year of highschool, I am a little burnt out. Next time, I will try my best.’ Do you see how different the two lines of thinking are? Now in the inductive reasoning paradigm, it is essential we practice a few things, compassion, acknowledgement, observations, and action. I acknowledge my observations, ‘I have a lower grade than what I am used to.’ I extend compassion towards myself, ‘I am stressed and burnt out.’ Then I end my reasoning with action, ‘Next time, I will try my best.’ There is a key thing here, ‘try my best’ not, ‘I will do better.’ If I were to say the latter, I would be setting myself up for another Self-Fulfilling Prophecy, and we don’t want that.

In this last section I want to dive into the spirituality of living with uncertainty. Inductive reasoning can never permit 100% certainty. This is why we only have scientific theories. Gravity is only a theory, there is a non-zero chance that it stops working tomorrow. This facet of inductive reasoning is powerfully grounding. We can never be 100% certain of what life will give us, of who we are, and of what we are to become. The only thing we have are experiences within the present moment that can guide us to who we are. As we begin to learn this, and as we begin to let go of the past, we can work towards Ego Death. Where in the present moment, we simply become ‘Experiencers.’ No more, no less. That is the power of uncertainty. 

In conclusion, cognitive processes such as self-concepts, the availability heuristic, and the confirmation bias can feed into a Self-Fulfilling Prophecy, where we as individuals create our own problems. However, through shifting our styles of thinking, we can learn to break free of Self-Fullfilling Prophecies, while leaving the door open for potential spiritual growth through simply being.