It's more of a neurotic addictive compulsion and ego seeking behavior than something that is desirable as a sense of fulfillment. These neurotic addictive behaviors (checking social sites, compulsively reading random things, chewing tobacco, drinking alcohol, sleeping) dominate most of my non-mandatory, un-allocated time. Everything else is just a yawning void of nothing, including my wife and 3 kids. Not for lack of…
I remember reading this in college and coming away with the feeling that what he was proposing was impossible. I didn't know what my Abilities were and how they relate to the others around me such that I can use them effectively. Not only that I didn't even know what I desire aside from food and sex. Luckily I was on a career trajectory and had quite a bit of experience ahead of me so I took solace in the idea that w…
5 years out of college; seem to be coming to a similar conclusion...
It's more of a neurotic addictive compulsion and ego seeking behavior than something that is desirable as a sense of fulfillment. These neurotic addictive behaviors (checking social sites, compulsively reading random things, chewing tobacco, drinking alcohol, sleeping) dominate most of my non-mandatory, un-allocated time. Everything else is just a yawning void of nothing, including my wife and 3 kids. Not for lack of…
Hey man, I feel the exact sane way. Though I usually don't care enough to actually get Licenses and stuff, because I don't give enough of a damn to get them.
I've done tons of extremely stupid things just to do them, but I genuinely don't care or really give a shit. They're just "things" that I've done. I've never really understood how people genuinely enjoy things like skiing, hiking, skydiving. Ive done them just fine and meh.
I'd be sceptical of life advice from somebody who committed suicide.
For the record, he did so at the age of 67, facing both failing health and the loss of that which he seemed value most (his ability to write). While you can argue (with no small amount of validity) that his life choices contributed to this decline, his decision to take leave of life seems consistent with his views expressed herein on being true to oneself and one's calling, and he does seem to have fit plenty of life into those 67 years...
I remember reading this in college and coming away with the feeling that what he was proposing was impossible. I didn't know what my Abilities were and how they relate to the others around me such that I can use them effectively. Not only that I didn't even know what I desire aside from food and sex. Luckily I was on a career trajectory and had quite a bit of experience ahead of me so I took solace in the idea that w…
I think a large part of the problem is that when people talk about finding "happiness" they are actually talking about "winning at life". Which is impossible of course. Every time that you do something that you think will make you happy, and you ask yourself 'is this it?' you allready know the answer, because someone who's satisfied wouldn't ask 'is this it?'. And if you spend years thinking about "finding happiness"…
In my personal experience, I agree, it's a misunderstanding of what happiness is, that causes people to miss the mark when trying to find it. Happiness isn't something you find, it's something you make. The universe is meaningless, it exists, devoid of any reason of its own, and yet, it exists. Your job, when trying to become a happy person, is to find your own meaning, and work at that, until you master it.
I remember reading this in college and coming away with the feeling that what he was proposing was impossible. I didn't know what my Abilities were and how they relate to the others around me such that I can use them effectively. Not only that I didn't even know what I desire aside from food and sex. Luckily I was on a career trajectory and had quite a bit of experience ahead of me so I took solace in the idea that w…
I think a large part of the problem is that when people talk about finding "happiness" they are actually talking about "winning at life". Which is impossible of course. Every time that you do something that you think will make you happy, and you ask yourself 'is this it?' you allready know the answer, because someone who's satisfied wouldn't ask 'is this it?'. And if you spend years thinking about "finding happiness"…
I noticed that a lot of people (including myself) condition happiness on something. For example "when I get my degree, I'll be happy" or "if I get in a relationship with this person, I'll be happy" or whatever their desire is. However, such events always lie in the future: You always postpone your happiness and never actualize it. And even when the desires are actually satisfied, they quickly stop being a source of happiness and new desires take their place.
Why not be happy right now? The right way to go about it is that you tell yourself "I am pursuing my goal and I am happy, right now, to do so." It is incredible how this changes the quality of life, plus you can detect problems with yourself and the environment early because if you can't be happy with your present situation at all, it's time to change something.
terryf has a fantastic comment, but what end are you talking about, death? A good way of figuring out what you value is considering if you die tomorrow, why wouldn't you (assuming you aren't suicidal). If you really don't matter either way then why not just do the thing that feels good?
Well that's essentially what I do - with an over current of dread. I think if I could afford it I would probably be a habitual heroin user. From what I read, it seems to push all of the same biochemical "happiness" and "fulfillment" buttons as all of the other relationship/activity/experience things that people like to do, albeit with some side effects.
Hahaha. Easily said by someone who has never done opiates. Drugs aren't the creme de la creme either. Nothing grand stays grand. Drugs come with tolerance and general malaise.
Profound, yes, but also pretty much as old as time. "Don't do something, be someone." "The journey is more important than the destination." Etc. etc. Maybe new to folks who're used to a goal-obsessed environment. Nice to see that more people are opening up to it.
Thompson is not exactly saying that the journey is more important than the destination ; he's saying that as we grow and change and experience different things, we become another person, and therefore the destination is irrelevant. The goal we may have had when we started, doesn't change, but we do, and so it's unlikely that we desire it as much as we did or thought we did. We can't "make it" because there is indeed…
> The meaning of life is to grow.
That's exactly the message on "the journey is more important than the destination".