Stuart has blogged about Haidt's struggle to train his inner elephant.
I am also very interested by Haidt's discussion of our ability to come up with rational explanations for why the elephant is behaving in the way it is. You have a gut feeling, then you (subconsciously) make up a `rational' reason why you feel that way.
Why do we feel the need to explain logically `why' we feel a particular way?
We do or we don't. Then if we rationally think we should be thinking another way, we have to try train the inner elephant.
The big problem is... We don't know we are lying to ourselves, we think the reason we feel things is rational.
How do you best raise the veil of self-deception?
Hang out with people who like being blunt (not all the time). Work with people who make you feel uncomfortable about the way you do things (not all the time), and consciously search out people who disagree with you.
Hmmm, sound like a life of discomfort. But... better than living behind a veil?
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