A short while ago I shared a
model with Andrew which painted polarity in terms of masculine and feminine. Now, in the actual topic, it occurred to me that while it sounds lovely on paper it has no practical use. The feedback of our resident
Prince confirmed those feelings and so I think any further deliberation deserves its own thread.
What is mental masturbation? It's what happens when the mind runs wild but doesn't produce anything of worth. My post is a great example. It's well constructed, mostly consistent, and from that point its easily defensible. However, what can you do with it?
It works as a thought experiment. In my case it helped me gain an understanding of polarity which served me to an extent... But it's an understanding I could've gained without constructing the model at all. In fact, as I've had more firsthand experiences it's become less relevant, as in I haven't referred back to it at all since starting my disciplines in earnest. If it was founded on solid principles that wouldn't be the case. The principles would become easier to grasp and utilize but they would never become irrelevant.
Take the
The Foci Exercise-it's a basic emotional control tool that everything else is built upon. You ignore it at your own peril-no matter who you are or what path you walk, you will need to be able to leverage your emotions in order to be effective long-term. Excluding that from your foundation puts you on shaky ground. It's a lot easier to start there than it is to shoot ahead only to rubberband back because of an emotional hang up.
The one good thing about all this is that it can calibrate the mind to accept what currently lies beyond its scope. At that stage it's less masturbation than it is an experiment, the difference being that you don't get attached to the model, you just immerse yourself in it until you can see the world as the model presents it. From there you can either step out of it or deconstruct it from within to gain a deeper understanding.
Being that this is the Steve Pavlina forum, most of you are probably familiar with identity constructs and overidentification. For that reason I won't go in depth, I'll only say this: overidentification is what happens when you make a concept part of you and you zoom in so close that you lose sight of the larger you. This is one of the primary dangers of mental masturbation-it limits your growth. At some point you will have to expand beyond what you call "truth" but since you think it's part of you your own progress is viewed as a threat.
The other potential downfall is that gurus and religious leaders can use it against you. All they have to do is create an emotional hook alongside a vague mental construct, usually one that's familiar but unique enough to get you thinking, "this time will be different!" Once you're in you do the overidentification yourself. Even if your critical mind kicks in all they have to do to shut it down is remind you that getting out means destroying yourself. It's an effective lie because it's based on a half truth: your concept of self has to change to break its hold.
For me, the key to breaking out of this pattern was pragmatism: do what works, period. Stop doing what doesn't work or is clearly flawed. Leave everything that cannot be confirmed for when it can. That doesn't mean I've completely stopped the mental wankery, obviously, there's more to it I've left to uncover, but it does mean that when I see what I'm doing I move in a different direction. That's an important first step-being able to change course puts you in position to never walk that road, period.