The Knife that Cuts itself
According to the Veda’s, who make up the principles for the yogic life, an individual should practice nonviolence to the body.
Although this makes practical sense, I keep repeating self-destructive behavior.
After years of habit building — I understand Nietzsche quote:
“There is a false saying: “How can someone who can’t save himself save others?” Supposing I have the key to your chains, why should your lock and my lock be the same?”
The Life Improvement Trend
Take any book, and you will find problems in there.
People take pride in solving our dilemmas with life.
The modern hero has slain his dragons in overcoming himself, attaining mastery and recognition in the process.
Deep down, we wait for the call to adventure.
Instead of having a population of wanders, society came up with the idea of self-preparation.
Hence education dubs awareness, perseverance, and intelligence as the virtues necessary to conquer life’s’ obstacles.
Awareness
Ancient wisdom, philosophy, quantum physics, and psychology are in agreement that consciousness is fundamental to reality.
They conclude that men’s perspective on life is inherently distorted.
The idea is to accept faculties outside of our control.
In Buddhism, this acceptance translates to non-attachment practices. When an individual embraces that perpetual change in the world, he will be liberated from suffering. The Buddha believed that pain derives from the idea that somethings are meant forever, like relationships, personality, modes of thinking, ownership, the body, reputation, and wealth. Because we cling on these abstract properties, we miss the beauty of every passing moment.
The Stoics have a rational approach. When a person can identify which parts of his life are within his control and which aren’t; he embraces the way of life. The aim is to complete self-reliance by mastering one’s reaction to external events. Through daily meditation on the locus of control: pleasures, conviction, interactions, absence, and abundance; one identifies the limitations of personal influence.
According to Daoists, people can’t grasp all of creation. Even after years of rigorously studying the connection between the different systems in flora and fauna, scientists are still baffled by nature’s ability to stabilize itself. Laozi dubbed such a sophisticated system the Dao, which lies beyond men’s understanding. Inspired by water, Daoists practice three forms of action: deliberate action, effortless action, and no action. The rationale is to adjust the course of action which best fits the circumstances of the moment, by following the natural law — the Dao, the path of least resistance.
Perseverance
Keep your thoughs possitive because your thought become your words. Keep your words possitive because your words become your behaviour. Keep your behaviour possitive because your behaviour becomes your habits. Keep your habits possitive because your habits become your values. Keep your values possitive because your values become your destiny. — the Buddha
Self-development gurus believe in the power of cycles.
Inspired by nature, who is constant flux, men had to learn to adjust the pattern of his life to bring forth the desired change.
Hence we usually start changing after we implement an insight about life.
We are taught that conditioning the body by a reward and punishment system works well.
We believe that when a person attains self-made healthy principles, he will live a meaningful and fulfilling life — this does not imply a comfortable or happy life.
Interesting note, most sages, and masters never left any specific written instructions to repeat their process as they identified their journey as unique.
Hence they teach through stories, not praise or instruction.
Intelligence
Jordan Peterson* argues that technically there is no correlation between consciousness and IQ.
It has always bothered me that you find successful, loving, healthy, and intelligent folk in the waiting rooms of a psychologist or psychoanalyst.
Have we become so focused on our strengths to challenge the world, that we forget the shadow side which accompanies them?
The distance between a madman and a genius is measured by success. — Bruce Feirstein
Sometimes I wonder, how much we are blinded by the halo bias, in which we like people because of their achievements and directly connect that to having a friendly character.
Take, for example, Thomas Edison; he electrocuted an elephant to prove that Nikola Tesla’s Alternative Current system (AC) was much more dangerous than his Direct Current system (DC).
Not to make Nikola Tesla a saint; as he believed that eugenics would be universally accepted in 2100, a system that tries to optimize the human gene pool by excluding certain genetic groups judged to be inferior and promoting other genetic groups judged to be superior to procreate.
Do we want to be, what Malcolm Gladwell calls, outliers, people who achieved enormous heights of success by using orthodox methods?
Many people want success, but if it requires alienating yourself from humanity to achieve what is unimaginable, would you still want it?
Do you have to sacrifice your sanity to achieve mastery or boils it down to having a good education, having a strong character, and meeting the right people at the right time?
Can we build ourselves up from the ground?
Final thoughts
Despite all my effort for personal growth, I have come to learn to accept that being rooted in reality has nothing to do with being successful.
Whereas books and mentors can give you specific clues or directions, at the end of the day, you are alone by yourself.
You can meditate for years, exercise daily, have the entire world believe and love you, and still, feel like a piece of shit.
Look at the list of teenagers who kill themselves or musicians who belong to the 27 Club.
My conclusion is that aiming to build ‘successful’ habits is not enough for profound change; only diligent exploration will give your life meaning.
This blogpost is # 21 of the 30 days creative writing challenge.
*watch minute 3.15 of the youtube video.
