Originally Posted by UnbornBuddha
I meant to get at this sooner, anyways first I have to blatantly state that I don't adhere to the notion of an ego. The reason this is important to first state is because it will affect the interpretive outlook, as I interact with the information. Anyways, moving on. I myself never been on twitter, so it's hard for me to imagine the layout, but perhaps it's like a dumb down version of facebook, not to say facebook as a whole is very percipient.
Social media is like anything, a gift and a curse, it can be used for interacting with those that one doesn't on a daily basis, due to distances, and other reasons. It allows one to reach large audiences, and its an excellent way to communicate. Unfortunately, with interaction there can always be disagreements, especially among strangers. As for the conflict being an inherent motivator for growth, or a possible propulsion toward it I somewhat agree. It is important to examine our ideals and deconstruct them. There was a Greek philosopher, can't recall his name at the moment, that stated that to conquer our egos we must not have shame. So he would willingly humiliate himself, so as to conquer shame. I think at times he would go a bit astray, by masturbating in public, but who I am to say what's too far, I don't necessarily care for social convention. But I like his ideas, and your presentation summarized some of this principles.
Now do I believe conflict to be the means to abolish our own self-obsession? That is hard to say, indeed conflict is an inherent force in the universe, as to what position it plays in our lives that is for one to decide. Some people never use it to look upon their own inclinations, but others are constantly in conflict, and do indeed learn from it, but they still are in conflict. I wholeheartedly agree, that examination of the components that one has built oneself should be continually reflected upon, but on another hand while external phenomena do shape our mind's axis, I believe what is central to the authenticity of knowing oneself is to be able to discriminate what is the difference between one's thoughts, and the thoughts and ideas given to us by our parents, society, etc. It is important because we then become defendants and proclaimers of ideologies that for example we learned from social media. Not even our own. I also don't believe in arguing, per se, I've come to find it serves no purpose, although it is critical to keep an open mind, one can always learn. Those are my thoughts. Thank you.
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