Self Mythology & Critical Thinking 🌟

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In this video essay, I explore self-mythology through the writing of Doris Lessing, and how the narratives we inherit: social, cultural, collective, can obscure parts of ourselves we fail to notice. Drawing on Lessing’s reflections on herd mentality, I look at how easily we outsource our thinking, our language, and even our sense of self.

This essay also turns toward what it might mean to resist that pull:
to become more critical without becoming hardened,
to step out of the herd without retreating into isolation,
and to meet ourselves with a deeper sense of self-acceptance.

Along the way, I reflect on memory, symbolism, language, and observation and ask how attention itself might be a quiet form of resistance.

0:00 Doris Lessing Talking on Dreams
1:40 Self Mythology
3:50 Skillshare
05:30 Truth In Fiction
11:43 Conformity
18:57 Algorithms
27:41 Sophie Calle
31:00 Outro
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References & Works Mentioned

Books & Essays
• Doris Lessing, The Prisons We Choose to Live Inside
• Marcel Proust, In Search of Lost Time
• Carl Jung, Man and His Symbols

Artist
• Sophie Calle , The Hotel

Talk
• Adam Aleksic (The Etymology Nerd) - Why Are People Starting to Sound Like ChatGPT? (TED Talk)
https://www.ted.com/talks/adam_aleksic_why_are_people_starting_to_sound_like_chatgpt

My Instagram - josephinewritess
My Substack and personal essays - https://writesjosephine.substack.com 💌 Josephine Podcast is now live ONLY on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/1gCEAmSpBbzsRky8JC0idi?si=190d667ef8774a26&nd=1&dlsi=3c3b459b0cd740e2