Micah Zarin's Blog

People often say things like “know yourself,” but the obvious question is: why should I care? Why does self-understanding matter? Most of the time life moves forward whether or not you stop to think about what you feel or why you think the way you do. You can still go to work, eat dinner, or hang out with friends. On the surface, nothing seems to demand introspection. So it’s fair to ask: what is actually at stake here?

The role of introspection is that it turns automatic processes into material you can think about. Your mind is constantly generating thoughts, emotions, and impulses. Without introspection, they operate silently in the background, and you act on them without question. For example, if I feel anxious before speaking, I might avoid situations that require speaking. That choice feels natural. But if I introspect, I notice that my anxiety is not just a vague sense of dread. It is tied to particular beliefs, like “people will judge me” or “I will lose track of what I’m saying.” Once I see that clearly, I can evaluate it. Are people really likely to judge me as harshly as I assume? And even if they do, is that judgment as catastrophic as my reaction suggests? These questions only arise because introspection gives me access to the details of the anxiety.

In other words, introspection provides the conditions for learning. Without it, there is only reaction. With it, I can treat my experiences as information. This matters because experiences are not just random; they reveal my values, my fears, my assumptions. If you never introspect, you will never see those patterns. And if you never see them, then your life is guided by tendencies you don’t recognize.