Hello everyone,

I have spent a considerable amount of time in the past few days
reading, analyzing, and interpreting the works of Nathaniel Branden.
From my understanding, Branden is well-known as a psychologist and
for his books on self-esteem. During the past few days of my
studying I have experienced a remarkable amount of self-discovery
that I would like to share with the group. Prior to my beginning to
read Branden's work I thought myself to be a successful, socially
well-adjusted 26-year old male. I still think these things about
myself, but after reading Branden's work it is apparent to me that I
still have plenty of work to do in developing myself to be as
rational and well-adjusted as I can be. As I have found my
experiences studying Branden's work to be very enlightening and even
life-changing, I would encourage others who have not yet read his
work to consider doing so.

Before I get started with my thoughts about Branden's ideas and how I
have applied them to me I would first like to discuss my thoughts on
sharing the "personal" information I am about to share. Some of the
ideas I am about to share may seem to others to be highly personal,
and a reader might ask the question: "why would Steve share this
with other people on the internet he doesn't even know". A reader
might also think: "I would never share such highly personal thoughts
and experiences as Steve has in such a public forum". Since many
people who are active on the internet seem to be what I would
call "overly cautious" of sharing personal information with others,
these questions are ones I would like to reply to, in hopes that my
answers inspire readers to reconsider their overly-private
disposition.

When considering whether I would share these thoughts openly with
others (or when considering sharing any information with others), I
ask myself if there is possibility of negative consequences to me by
sharing these thoughts. Answering this question can be difficult
sometimes, such as the question: "should one share their financial
information with others?" By my analysis, there seems to be a number
of possible negative consequences that I might be more likely to be
subjected to should I share my personal financial information with
others. For example, if I had a large amount of wealth and shared
this information openly with everyone I knew, some people (given a
large enough sample of people who are aware of my wealth) would
consider taking advantage of me to obtain some of my wealth. To this
point I might reply: "well, if I am not being foolish with my
wealth, and only use it for things that are important to me, no one
would be able to cause me to part with my wealth without my
consent". I think this is a valid reply to such an argument.
However, some of these people, aware of my wealth, may consider
taking my wealth from me by force. This, of course, would make my
life more dangerous, much like carrying a large amount of cash around
on my person, and being flashy with it, in a crowded area. From my
understanding, doing this would make it more likely that I could be
harmed for my cash (i.e. for my wealth).

However, from my analysis, sharing personal thoughts and experiences
is much different than sharing information about wealth. If one
tries to compare the two pieces of information (about wealth and
about experiences), only the former can be stolen. That is, the two
types of information are not comparable in their value to others. If
someone knows that I have had a certain thought, or experienced a
particular feeling, they can not use this information to deprive me
of material wealth.

On the other hand, a person with possession of this knowledge might
use this information to illustrate me to others as a bad person.
That is, if I am convinced of an idea that would result in me being
harmful to other people, the fact that I hold this idea can be
communicated to a large audience with the intent to cause others to
dislike me. Should I be convinced of ideas that are harmful to
others I should be careful about what ideas and experiences I share
with others, for I wouldn't want others to hate me (i.e. socially
preference against me).

Then it is good for me I hold no such views! :)

My question then, for those who are convinced that they should not
share their personal experiences and philosophies with others,
is: "are you convinced of ideas that would motivate you to harm
me?" For example, perhaps you firmly think that your life should be
spent stealing from others, or that you very much enjoy killing
people while they sleep. Certainly I would not want to associate
with you if you hold these views, and I would also communicate to
those I cared about that it is in their best interests to avoid you.
However, how many people, that is, what proportion of people hold
views like this? And even more relevant, if *you*, reading this now,
hold no such harmful or malicious views, what is the harm in sharing
them? Perhaps you will make new friends. Perhaps you and I will
become great friends!

So, I invite everyone reading this to reply to my comments,
especially should they have personal thoughts and experiences to
share that relate to what I am about to share.

Furthermore, on the subject of sharing personal thoughts and
experiences: perhaps a reader would be concerned of being ridiculed
for holding a certain view or feeling a certain emotion at a
seemingly inappropriate time. In reply to this idea, I would
ask: "If you were to share something personal and someone were to
ridicule you, which one of you would look like a fool to everyone
else? You, or the person doing the ridiculing?" Of course, the
plain answer is that any person who ridicules someone else for
sharing personal thoughts with others is seen by others as an
inconsiderate asshole. That would be the name for the ridiculer that
would pop into my mind.

So again, I invite you to share your thoughts and feelings. I
certainly think we can learn from one another.

---
Steve Floyd

[We are asking Steve to delay submitting his next messages - not yet complete,
he has told us, and not likely to be until Thursday or Friday - to delay doing
that until Monday. We are in preparation for our drive to the warm south and
will not be doing any computer work after Friday morning. Therefore for those
wanting to comment on this message, please do so by Thursday afternoon or wait
until at least Sunday so that your message will not be sitting in the queue for
several days waiting for us to process it. **Kitty]