Subjective Reality - 1
A bonded intrinsic committed relationship implies, that both partners share a common reality.
A bonded intrinsic committed relationship implies, that both partners share a common reality.
The conflicts of my examples in the entries 271 and 272 are extreme situations, because one partner is an emotional moron. But those examples illustrate the extreme situation, when each partner in a relationship has a different reality, is ignorant of the reality of the other, either denies the existence of the reality of the other or rejects it as unsuitable for himself to adapt and compromise. The meaning of the shared realities of mature people will be the topic of another entry.
The woman's reality is based upon her value system, that having a physical relationship is inseparably connected with sharing and intrinsic commitment, and that from the beginning of physical intimacy on, both have mutual obligations to each other. One of these obligation is to consult each other and share decisions and never ever force solitary decisions upon the other. Her reality is determined by her strong sensitivity for abstract and complex emotions like dignity, respect, equality, humiliation and such.
In the man's reality determined by his impaired abstract thinking, every woman in a relationship is a friend with benefits, if there is not marriage, and if he accepts any obligation, it is the one not to cheat. He has no doubt, that he is justificed to decide alone, because he is a single man and therefore she is not a part of his life, but only a peripheral addition to it.
Every time, when he imposes a solitary decision upon her without consulting her, she feels extremely hurt, while he believes to be a good man doing nothing wrong.
In the worst case, they both are clueless about each other's reality. They both project their own reality upon the other and take it for granted, that the other has the same reality. Therefore they have wrong expectations of each other.
She is extremely hurt, because she perceives his behavior as betrayal and she considers him as a jerk, as selfish and abusive. He is annoyed about her incomprehensible behavior, because he cannot understand, that she has reacted in a logical way to his behavior. The visible behavior of a person can be immediately understandable as the pain and outrage after having been hurt, while it would appear puzzling and weird to someone ignorant of her pain.
This couple has reached an impasse and a dead end. Each other's behavior based upon the subjective reality is hurting or disturbing, and neither of them knows why.
Theoretically, they could either both become friends with benefits, or both become committed. But this is not a real solution.
The woman's reality is based upon her value system, that having a physical relationship is inseparably connected with sharing and intrinsic commitment, and that from the beginning of physical intimacy on, both have mutual obligations to each other. One of these obligation is to consult each other and share decisions and never ever force solitary decisions upon the other. Her reality is determined by her strong sensitivity for abstract and complex emotions like dignity, respect, equality, humiliation and such.
In the man's reality determined by his impaired abstract thinking, every woman in a relationship is a friend with benefits, if there is not marriage, and if he accepts any obligation, it is the one not to cheat. He has no doubt, that he is justificed to decide alone, because he is a single man and therefore she is not a part of his life, but only a peripheral addition to it.
Every time, when he imposes a solitary decision upon her without consulting her, she feels extremely hurt, while he believes to be a good man doing nothing wrong.
In the worst case, they both are clueless about each other's reality. They both project their own reality upon the other and take it for granted, that the other has the same reality. Therefore they have wrong expectations of each other.
She is extremely hurt, because she perceives his behavior as betrayal and she considers him as a jerk, as selfish and abusive. He is annoyed about her incomprehensible behavior, because he cannot understand, that she has reacted in a logical way to his behavior. The visible behavior of a person can be immediately understandable as the pain and outrage after having been hurt, while it would appear puzzling and weird to someone ignorant of her pain.
This couple has reached an impasse and a dead end. Each other's behavior based upon the subjective reality is hurting or disturbing, and neither of them knows why.
Theoretically, they could either both become friends with benefits, or both become committed. But this is not a real solution.
Even when the woman has enough insight to find out, that he is an emotional moron and not a jerk, and that he does not intent to hurt her due to having not the slightest comprehension, that and why she feels hurt, and even if she can see, that in his way of thinking, there is no commitment without marriage, this does not mean, that becoming a friend with benefits is emotionally an option for her. She would only exchange one extreme pain, that of being disrespected and betrayed by the refusal to be a partner in making decisions, with the other extreme pain of hurting her dignity and self-respect by allowing a man to use her body without giving her the respect of commitment. She would jump from the frying pan into the fire.
Therefore she is trapped in a relationship, that will always be painful.
In entry 272 I described the mechanisms, how the emotional moron with impaired abstract thinking is trapped by his own impairment and immune to being influenced by the woman. With the man described there, the relationship is doomed, he will never stop to hurt her without knowing, what he does. He is moron variety A, who lacks trust and who attributes failure to others rather than to himself.
But there can be a different kink of the emotional moron with impaired abstract thinking, I will call him variety B.
Moron A is convinced not to do anything wrong, and attributes all her incomprehensible behavior to her flaws. What he does not know, does not exist. He does not trust her. Whatever she says, he doubts it, because he suspects her of having a hidden agenda of attempting to take advantage and dominate him. He thinks that she exaggerates as a part of her agenda. When she attempts to tell him, that she feels very hurt by his behavior, he reinterprets this as if she said that she feels a tiny bit uncomfortable. But most of the time he is not bothered to listen at all, because from a flawed person he does not expect anything worth listening. That is, why he cannot help it but to start the spiral of causing her more and more pain and interpreting her more and more devastated behavior as her being more and more flawed.
Moron B is very different. He has accepted that his impairment makes it sometimes very difficult to understand people's abstract and complex reasoning and emotions. He is aware that he has the problem and needs supportive people to explain things to him with patience. He acknowledges, that her reality is sometimes different from his, because of her abstract and his concrete thinking. He does not blame his failure on others, he does not project his own deficit on the woman as her flaw.
When she tells him, that she feels pain, because he had excluded her from the decision, he takes this at face value. He accepts, what she tells him, without doubting it, even though he takes being friends with benefits so much for granted, that he himself also does not expect from her to consult him prior to a decision. He neither doubts the magnitude or her pain nor that he is the cause, even though he did not intend it. He is willing to take responsibility.
He attempts to understand her explanations, but even if he cannot, he asks her, what she expects him to do. He does not want to cause her pain. He is an emotional moron and his abstraction ability is impaired, but caring for her is important for him. He cares for her wellbeing without projecting, and due to his being limited by concrete thinking, his guidance in caring is her feedback, what of his conduct is good and what is painful for her.
If he does not understand, what betrayal, commitment, obligation, responsibility mean in the world of abstract thinking, then he just asks her for instructions of how to treat her. In this example, they can agree on a simple rule, that whenever there is something to decide, they talk about it first and that he never decides anything without consulting her. Slowly, rule by rule, he can learn to behave exactly like a committed partner, even though he cannot understand the abstract concept of intrinsic commitment.
This can work, but only, if he entrusts himself without restrictions and hesitations to her guidance.
Not all emotional morons are doomed to remain alone or drive a woman into despair, but when they have the additional affliction of narcissism and distrust, then it means disaster for the woman.
Therefore she is trapped in a relationship, that will always be painful.
In entry 272 I described the mechanisms, how the emotional moron with impaired abstract thinking is trapped by his own impairment and immune to being influenced by the woman. With the man described there, the relationship is doomed, he will never stop to hurt her without knowing, what he does. He is moron variety A, who lacks trust and who attributes failure to others rather than to himself.
But there can be a different kink of the emotional moron with impaired abstract thinking, I will call him variety B.
- He fully trusts the woman and takes at face value, what she says.
- He acknowledges his limitation in understanding her abstract way of thinking and feeling.
- She is very important to him and he acknowledges and admits it.
Moron A is convinced not to do anything wrong, and attributes all her incomprehensible behavior to her flaws. What he does not know, does not exist. He does not trust her. Whatever she says, he doubts it, because he suspects her of having a hidden agenda of attempting to take advantage and dominate him. He thinks that she exaggerates as a part of her agenda. When she attempts to tell him, that she feels very hurt by his behavior, he reinterprets this as if she said that she feels a tiny bit uncomfortable. But most of the time he is not bothered to listen at all, because from a flawed person he does not expect anything worth listening. That is, why he cannot help it but to start the spiral of causing her more and more pain and interpreting her more and more devastated behavior as her being more and more flawed.
Moron B is very different. He has accepted that his impairment makes it sometimes very difficult to understand people's abstract and complex reasoning and emotions. He is aware that he has the problem and needs supportive people to explain things to him with patience. He acknowledges, that her reality is sometimes different from his, because of her abstract and his concrete thinking. He does not blame his failure on others, he does not project his own deficit on the woman as her flaw.
When she tells him, that she feels pain, because he had excluded her from the decision, he takes this at face value. He accepts, what she tells him, without doubting it, even though he takes being friends with benefits so much for granted, that he himself also does not expect from her to consult him prior to a decision. He neither doubts the magnitude or her pain nor that he is the cause, even though he did not intend it. He is willing to take responsibility.
He attempts to understand her explanations, but even if he cannot, he asks her, what she expects him to do. He does not want to cause her pain. He is an emotional moron and his abstraction ability is impaired, but caring for her is important for him. He cares for her wellbeing without projecting, and due to his being limited by concrete thinking, his guidance in caring is her feedback, what of his conduct is good and what is painful for her.
If he does not understand, what betrayal, commitment, obligation, responsibility mean in the world of abstract thinking, then he just asks her for instructions of how to treat her. In this example, they can agree on a simple rule, that whenever there is something to decide, they talk about it first and that he never decides anything without consulting her. Slowly, rule by rule, he can learn to behave exactly like a committed partner, even though he cannot understand the abstract concept of intrinsic commitment.
This can work, but only, if he entrusts himself without restrictions and hesitations to her guidance.
Not all emotional morons are doomed to remain alone or drive a woman into despair, but when they have the additional affliction of narcissism and distrust, then it means disaster for the woman.
