Understanding Abstraction

How Cognitive Processing Shapes Our Goals and Self-Perception

The Power of Abstraction in Conceptual Thinking

Abstraction is the mental, cognitive process of isolating and identifying the fundamental characteristics of an object or concept. Abstractions are essential for conceptualizing reality as it enables humans the ability to think and communicate about objects and ideas at higher levels than concrete, immediate sensory experiences.

The Journey of Self-Discovery Through Abstraction

Imagine a young man has a goal, a big, hairy, audacious one. Perhaps it's becoming a movie star, and he remembers wanting it since he was young. He's built a life, an identity, around pursuing this goal; everything is aligned and integrated toward achieving it. But something feels off. When he goes to audition, his hand is unsteady, and more than once, this causes him to miss out on the part. He loathes questioning it, fearing it's just the telltale signs of jitters. For years, he tells himself that "doubt could lead it all to nothing."

However, when he finally allows himself to sit down and think about it, he sets the problem down in his mind and consciously picks it apart, identifying each of the components. Imagine he comes across the component of the goal that is a happy childhood experience of play-acting in front of his parents, and he realizes the underlying source of the goal was, in fact, a moment of recognition between his father and him of a shared metaphor embodied by the play. That, in actuality, has been what he really wanted to replicate.

Integrating New Understandings into Life Goals

With this knowledge, the young man may choose to continue on the previous course, in essence, rejecting this self-knowledge, perhaps out of fear of the "I told you so's" from his peers. Or he could integrate this understanding into a new, more appropriate goal, one that is aligned with his true desires.

He reflects and studies, integrating all that he has learned so far with this new understanding and after a grueling couple of months he sets for himself a new goal shaped into a desire to write and produce plays. It is a hard road, no harder than the previous goal, and the heights of success are not so dramatic, but there is also something new, a passion that inspires his work to previously unknown heights. And for the rest of his life, his moment-to-moment experience of himself is one of self-assurance, a deep sense of rightness; his hand is no longer unsteady.

Embracing Abstraction for Personal Growth

Had the man known what abstraction was he would know that the outcome is not to be feared because the knowledge that conscious abstraction gives can only be beneficial, possibly adding years towards working towards his true goal.