motivation

"What is it that really motivates you: this need to fly or the fear to stop?" — Spider One, 'When Worlds Collide'

"Life is about excitement. Live life by doing what excites you." — Shawn Hartnell


Motivation is the devil that makes us do it.

Motivation is perceived at different levels. On one level, motivation is seen as the situation we're in: "I did it because he put a gun to my head." On another, it's perceived as the desired outcome of that situation: In the example before, that would be simply to not have extra holes. At a still deeper level, motivation is the emotions involved: in the case given, fear. Finally, at the deepest level, motivation is the most fundamental drives we have: the need to stay alive. (See also: fire)

Awareness of Motivation

Our Own

Most of the time we are completely unaware of our true motivation for doing anything. Our motivation is part of a system of mechanisms which has kept a pattern of matter moving and producing copies. Many things we do just don't make sense from a logical, individualistic standpoint. Some motivation is learned and acts on us subconsciously through mental habits. (Note here, the force of habit itself is a motivation.)

Most of our attributions that we assign to our motivations is just bullshit we make up after the fact. This is our biggest hurdle in understanding our motivation as we tend to believe and analyze these justifications and rationalizations rather than looking at what we do and the reasons anyone could possibly want to do it.

The usefulness of our ability to determine our own motivations is dependent upon our level of personal evolution and how honest we are with ourselves. The more evolved we are as a person, the deeper the level of motivation we can understand. Being honest with ourselves helps keep us from thinking that imagination and wishful thinking are actually forms of valid introspection.

Other People's

"When you know what motivates a person, you can influence them. When you know what motivates yourself you can change your own behavior." —Kevin Hogan

See also: mind reading.

See Also

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