Philosophy will help you understand
In philosophy there is such a thing as “categorical thinking”.
This means that such people will think broadly and perceive the world as it really is. However, there is a contradictory concept - “categorical person”. This indicates that he is accustomed to limiting his perception. A person creates a completely different world around himself, which includes only certain comfortable and relatively correct things. At the same time, the surrounding reality does not interest him - it is vicious, vast, complex and difficult to understand. The meaning of “categorical” speaks for itself. A person adheres to a certain position in life, a certain type of thinking. The category he chose is optimal and correct.
Here are some examples:
- There are no boundaries between good and evil. In such a person's world there are either good or bad people.
- There are no millions of shades, because there is only black and white, red and blue, yellow and green.
- There are no other clothes other than those chosen by a categorical person. This could be a formal suit, jeans with a T-shirt or skirts. The very thought that one day he will have to diversify his wardrobe evokes disgust, fear and even hatred in him. And all the people who dress differently live completely wrong.
How to behave?
Let's imagine that a categorical boss has already driven you crazy, but you cannot leave your job or transfer to another department. In this case, you need to understand how to react to different conflict situations.
It is worth noting that often categorical people quickly become aggressive. Your task is to remain extremely calm. There is no need to incite conflict. As many psychologists say, this is what categorical people seek—argument and discussion.
Every time you start to get nervous, you need to remind yourself that you can’t convince a person. That he clearly stands in his position, and it will be easier for you to redo the work than to get involved in a conflict.
Try to immediately smooth out unpleasant moments. Control your behavior, your gaze, and the intonation you use in conversation.
Some categorical people begin to impose their opinions. You try to avoid the conversation, but they continue to stir up conflict. What to do in such cases? Again, don't be nervous. Say that you will go to the toilet, throw out your emotions there, imagine how you will take revenge, but go into battle with such a person with a clear head. You will need eloquence. Smile, don't ignore. Don't respond with short answers such as "I agree with you." It won't help. Try to tell in vivid colors how you were wrong.
If you cannot tolerate categoricalness, then get out of such relationships: work or personal. Remember that people don't change, and over time this character trait will become simply unbearable.
Beliefs
Categoricalism manifests itself in different ways. For example, a person may be convinced of something. For example, he is sure that the sun rises in the south. You can give him a thousand arguments, scientific research. But he will remain unconvinced.
What to do in such cases? If a person is categorical in his beliefs, then do not incite conflict. As soon as you find out that he has a different opinion from yours, simply walk away from the conversation. Say you were wrong or that you don't have time for discussion. It will be difficult for you to conflict with a person whose main argument is “because I know.”
If such a person is your close relative or partner, then it is better to break off the relationship. No matter how hard it may be, no matter how well you live together, sooner or later such categoricalness will become unbearable for you.
Conversations
There is another type of categorical people. They prefer to express their opinions only in lively discussions. However, their judgments may change from one conversation to another. For example, yesterday a man argued with a colleague that there is no God, and today he shouts to his sister that He exists. This does not mean that he has problems with thinking or a split personality.
In this case, categoricalness is a way to have fun. A person likes conflict, the nervous state of his opponent. If his opponent quickly changes his mind, then he will be uninteresting and bored.
How to behave with such people? It's better to stop communicating with them. Of course, this situation is not as deplorable as when a person cannot even explain his point of view, but only shouts that he is right, but you still cannot get along with him.
What a categorical girl she is
Women's nature is flexible, accepting and pliable, but this does not mean that it is weak. Water, with all its flexibility and fluidity, can destroy and destroy; this element is sometimes frightening and terrible. But it is also beneficial: it fills with life, quenches thirst, and gives energy for growth and restoration.
When we follow our feminine nature, we receive its strength and power, energy for creation! However, some qualities destroy a woman’s yin and create a huge number of problems in her life. One of these qualities is categoricalness.
Categoricalism is a woman’s conviction that her worldview is the only accurate and true one, that her values are the most important, and that her mind follows certain “correct” standards.
This can manifest itself both in spirituality (“my God and my values are real”) and everyday life (“my cosmetics are objectively better than others”). Usually, such women foam at the mouth to prove that they are right, or smile condescendingly (“Oh, you poor, stupid thing”), or feel sorry for the “unenlightened.”
Do you think we are talking about some categorical women, distant and unknown? Let's look frankly at our life.
Categorical attitude in different areas of life
Many people who deal with self-centered bosses believe that categoricalness is a sign of narrow-mindedness. Well, to some extent this is true. Some bosses try to use this trait to raise their leadership status, show influence and indicate that they are superior to other employees. But this is unlikely to give an effective result. Few people want to work with a categorical boss.
This character trait may be appropriate in the case of communication between an adult and a younger person. Let's say your parents categorically forbid you to get a tattoo at the age of 15. This is justified, since at this age the character is unstable, and there is no guarantee that by the age of 20 the drawing made on the body will still be relevant.
If categoricalness is manifested in communication between equal people, then the person shows disrespect or tries to put himself above the interlocutor.
In relationships between loved ones, unpleasant moments are often forgiven. It is better to remain silent and agree than to spoil the relationship. However, categoricalness is not a character trait that will go away on its own. On the contrary, such people become unbearable over time.
What's hiding?
In psychology, categoricalness is a character trait that hides self-doubt. Often individuals with this trait are self-centered. Often, over time, categorical people realize that they were wrong somewhere. This is fine. Remembering their reactions, they feel ashamed or even sad.
Psychologists cannot clearly answer the question of what categoricalness hides. They are more prone to self-doubt.
Life position
Most people say, “She’s too opinionated!” The meaning of the phrase is often attributed to elderly people who are accustomed to living by old rules and are not ready to accept all the changes in the world.
Do not under any circumstances confuse confidence in yourself and your life with categoricalness. Such people know for sure that all their actions and decisions are the only correct ones, even if they entail serious consequences or cause a conflict.
Be careful, they are not familiar with personal space and the right to choose. On the contrary, these people strive to give yet another “practical” advice, which may not be needed at all. So what does a categorical person mean? This is the one who does not give freedom to his loved ones and friends. He always knows how to do the right thing, and is offended if others do not follow his advice.
He cannot be convinced of anything, even if he really needs help. If categorical people believe that traditional medicine helps cure cancer, then they will never go to an oncologist, but will drink infusions and decoctions. If they think that accounting is the only worthy profession, then all their relatives and friends should have studied for it.
How to get rid of categoricality?
1. Make important and effective decisions for your life and your development (core beliefs):
- For me, the truth, the truth, is more important than my own, perhaps not the most perfect, opinion.
- I accept, I admit, I am not God. Like any other person, I can make mistakes; I don’t know and be able to do everything. But I don’t worry about it, I forgive myself for my imperfections and constantly learn.
- Multivariance is always better and more effective than one-sidedness, limitedness, and single-variance.
- I want to grow and develop in everything, and for this I need different views on the same thing, a deep understanding of the point of view of other people who may be more competent and enlightened than me in some matters.
- I am interested in other people and their point of view, thanks to my receptivity and attentiveness I constantly enrich my inner world and become wiser.
- A wise person knows how to listen and hear any interlocutor, and he does this calmly, with inner acceptance of other people. I want to become a wise person.
- I want to control myself, and not flare up like a match with anger and irritation. I want to control myself, and not be a slave to my emotions and my pride.
- I don't want to be vulnerable, foaming at the mouth and defending that I'm wrong. I want to feel confident and dignified in any case, and even if my point of view turns out to be not the best, I have a thousand reasons to respect myself.
- Whether I’m right or wrong, I’ll still win, even if I’m wrong and the other person is right. Thanks to him, I expand my views, learn new things, become wiser, and as a result, I’m constantly growing and improving.
2. As mentioned above, find the foundations of your pride and remove them. Pride is the worst advisor, and categoricalness is the worst tool for building any relationship.
Ideally, in order to defeat pride and categoricalness, you need to remind yourself more often that you did not create this world and its Laws, you did not create your own soul and body, and you did not sculpt other people either, and therefore you know about everything that surrounds you and that inside you is only what you have learned in just a few decades. And the world in which you were born and live has existed for millions and billions of years.
In addition, there are many people who live longer than you, not to mention the one who created this world and your soul, I mean the Creator. A wise person always leaves for himself a huge field for learning new things, realizing that he knows and can do billions of times less than his Creator. The wise man always remembers that his main role in this world is the role of a student in relation to God and this life, and he never claims that he managed to at least know something to the end, his goal is to always improve, to be open to learning and learning new things.
3. And of course, it is necessary to eliminate the negative foundations of categoricalness and form new positive qualities. We already have many answers, recommendations and good practices for working on yourself on our website:
And if you decide for yourself that you need the help of a Mentor or Spiritual Healer to overcome categoricalness or to help a loved one with this, write to me. I can give you contacts for individual work.
Is it possible to get rid of categoricalness?
Now you know what it means to be categorical, but is it possible to change? If you look at it from a philosophical point of view, the concept itself is a symbol of selfishness and pride. Such people, as a rule, are closed from the outside world, they think narrowly and live in a limited way. They create boundaries and barriers for themselves that they will never cross. All these dogmas are not supported by anything, except perhaps by personal opinion and confidence that they are the only correct ones.
Dealing with your ego will be difficult and may take years. But when a person realizes that he lives in a vacuum created by himself, he will be able to destroy the barriers in just a few seconds.
How to get rid of categoricalness:
- Learn to compromise. Your opinion is not the only correct one, so try to listen to others and agree with them.
- Immerse yourself in yourself and eradicate all the fears that prevent you from living a full life. For example, a little girl was scolded by her parents for wearing pants, because all ladies wear skirts. When the child grew up, he was convinced that all women in trousers were masculine and rude. The fear of disgracing yourself at school, the fear of having to report to your parents again for your choice left a mark in the subconscious, which is why cliches and dogmas were born.
- Learn to feel other people. You can't just offend or offend someone.
- Don't be afraid to try something new, even if you already have grandchildren. Do you want to learn how to ride a bike without thinking that it is a dangerous sport? Do you want to visit a neighboring country, but are you afraid that they might steal and put you in prison? Get rid of your fears and just take action.
Harsh judgments and statements
A categorical person is one who behaves uncompromisingly
You can easily recognize him in society by paying attention to his behavior and manner of speech. Listen to what your interlocutor is saying and remember his answers
In a conversation, you will not hear certain statements, only a clear opinion, which is expressed with assertiveness and confidence. They always say a strict “no”, without allowing any “buts” or “maybes”. Such people confuse their interlocutors, cutting off their opinion with phrases such as “This is not true,” “It cannot be otherwise.” If a categorical person agrees with you, he will always support “Of course, this is so.”
Certain statements (“It seems to me,” “Probably,” etc.) make the dialogue smoother, softer and calmer. Using categorical phrases turns a discussion into a heated debate
Pay attention, do you want to make excuses or confirm some facts to such a person? A categorical person is a kind of energy vampire who is always open to argument, because he is used to standing his ground, and any interlocutor will try to convince him.
CATEGORICAL
See what “CATEGORICAL” is in other dictionaries:
CATEGORICAL - (from the word category). Certainly certain, as opposed to hypothetical. Dictionary of foreign words included in the Russian language. Chudinov A.N., 1910. CATEGORICAL decisive. definite, unconditional. Dictionary of foreign words,... ... Dictionary of foreign words of the Russian language
categorical - See... Dictionary of synonyms
categorical - oh, oh. catégorique adj., German kategorisch <gr. kategoreo I reproach, I reproach. Determined, unconditional. BAS 1. Remembering his petition for me, he was indignant at Count Neselrode and wrote another letter at the beginning of the week with... ... Historical Dictionary of Gallicisms of the Russian Language
CATEGORICAL - CATEGORICAL, oh, oh. 1. Clear, unconditional, not allowing other interpretations. K. answer. Categorical judgment. 2. Decisive, not allowing objections. K. order. Categorically (adv.) refuse. Ozhegov's explanatory dictionary. S.I. Ozhegov, N.Yu... Ozhegov’s Explanatory Dictionary
CATEGORICAL - (from the Greek kategorein - to express) expressing, affirming; unconditional as opposed to hypothetical. A categorical judgment is a simple statement not bound by any conditions: iron is heavy. Philosophical encyclopedia... ... Philosophical encyclopedia
categorical - • categorical prohibition ... Dictionary of Russian Idioms
categorical - starting from Peter I; see Smirnov 137. Probably through him. kategorisch unconditional, decisive or French. categorique. just as the category is through it. Kategorie or French. category. The source is Greek. κατηγορία accusation from... ... Etymological Dictionary of the Russian Language by Max Vasmer
