disassociating?

phydaux · #1 04-06-2007, 08:33 PM

So tell me about disassociating...

The only thing I know about it involves "Ego Reduction" where you disassociate your sense of "self" from the things around you.

Stuff like:

"I am not my car. My car is simply a tool I use to transport myself from place to place. My car contributes nothing to my worth as a human..."

From there you continue to disassociate your "self" from everything around you, until finally you even disassociate yourself from your own body, realizing that your body is simply the "house" that the self lives in.

Am I understanding this correctly, and is there value in this?

BigBuffet · #2 04-06-2007, 10:24 PM

I wouldn't go as far as that. It's a combination of not being results oriented and being dispassionate.

In other words, make the reads and plays you think are best, but move on to the next hand, session, or tournament
win or lose. Play like a scientist looking through a microscope. A win is a win. A bad beat becomes "Hmm, interesting...".

Poker Plan · #3 04-09-2007, 04:00 PM

[ QUOTE ]

Am I understanding this correctly, and is there value in this?

[/ QUOTE ]

Yes and yes.

But be aware- it's (potentially) a VERY, VERY dangerous path to travel. You are basically going to question your whole life up until this point of introspection. You are going to learn to undo and rewire the neuro pathways that you spent years shaping. Think very carefully before embarking on the journey.

Ian

phydaux · #4 04-09-2007, 09:17 PM

Plan,

I agree. This is the sort of thing cults use to brainwash impressionable late teens & twenty-somethings.

You reduce the Ego by questioning your attachments. Is my attachment to my car vaulable? Most people would agree that it isn't, although it might take some people a while to come to that conclution.

The issue starts when you examine your attachments to those you are in relationships with. How important are they? If they aren't important, then go and give away all your possesions and become a monk. Or go and sell all your possessions, give the moeny to the cult and go live in their commune.

But if those relationships are important, then you conclude that everything else (your job, your car, your house) is just a tool you can use to serve those relationships.

Poker Plan · #5 04-10-2007, 04:55 AM

If more people could travel just a short way down this path- there would be an end to over-consumerism, etc. But then another set of problems would kick in- if the world-wide demand for all the "tat" that people convince themselves they need, was to slow right down- what happens to the production lines, the marketing departments, the sales teams.

Our whole world is geared towards materialism and feeding the ego. It is beneficial )on a personal level) I believe, to not subscribe to that way of thinking- but if too many people jumped on (or off as the case may be) the bandwagon- Boom. Global economy would collapse. But it's never going happen, so nothing to worry about.

A lot of this is why I find poker so fascinating. If you can't dissassociate (to some extent)- you're going to lose money or at the least, play with some level of frustration and negative emotion. If you do dissassociate- you need to give thought to hgow to channel and control that away from the table. Or one day you wake up with no soul- and no one around you. As I see it- poker is the ultimate lesson in learing to achieve a balance- but the line is infinitely thin. This is why I will stick at poker for the rest of my life- nothing to do with the money (but it would come in handy)- it's the personal lessons (some of the hardest) that it teaches you.

Sorry to ramble.

Ian

DonkBluffer · #6 04-10-2007, 06:21 AM

[ QUOTE ]

From there you continue to disassociate your "self" from everything around you, until finally you even disassociate yourself from your own body, realizing that your body is simply the "house" that the self lives in.

[/ QUOTE ]
Who or what lives in the body? Who is conscious of what? Can you be conscious of what you are?
Mmmmm. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

kiddcheckers · #7 04-22-2007, 06:45 AM

you are not your f'ing khakis.

demon102 · #8 04-23-2007, 02:32 AM

Anyone know any good resources about this books ect. that I can study. I was always facinated by this concept but didnt know what it was called and have been trying to work this way of thinking into my mind, but feel Ive only reached the tip so far.

DWarrior · #9 04-23-2007, 01:18 PM

[ QUOTE ]
If more people could travel just a short way down this path- there would be an end to over-consumerism, etc. But then another set of problems would kick in- if the world-wide demand for all the "tat" that people convince themselves they need, was to slow right down- what happens to the production lines, the marketing departments, the sales teams.

Our whole world is geared towards materialism and feeding the ego. It is beneficial )on a personal level) I believe, to not subscribe to that way of thinking- but if too many people jumped on (or off as the case may be) the bandwagon- Boom. Global economy would collapse. But it's never going happen, so nothing to worry about.

A lot of this is why I find poker so fascinating. If you can't dissassociate (to some extent)- you're going to lose money or at the least, play with some level of frustration and negative emotion. If you do dissassociate- you need to give thought to hgow to channel and control that away from the table. Or one day you wake up with no soul- and no one around you. As I see it- poker is the ultimate lesson in learing to achieve a balance- but the line is infinitely thin. This is why I will stick at poker for the rest of my life- nothing to do with the money (but it would come in handy)- it's the personal lessons (some of the hardest) that it teaches you.

Sorry to ramble.

Ian

[/ QUOTE ]

Isn't this the same thing as getting better at poker? If everyone jumped on the bandwagon and got serious about educating themselves, the game would become unprofitable.

Erik Blazynski · #10 04-23-2007, 11:00 PM

Well this association with the things that you own is by design. If you study the work of edward bernays, you find that modern advertisement is geared towards creating a desire in a person that did not exist. Prior to this people bought things because they needed them, now people buy things because they are told that they want them, and their value is derived from a possession.

Bernays is a very interesting study. There is a film called "century of the self" if you can find it there is great value.

-Erik