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Ask HN: Name one idea that changed your life

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Re: Ask HN: Name one idea that changed your life

#541

Post by js8 »

Rationality is self-contradictory, and part of your own motivations will always be irrational.

As a consequence, at some level, you have to stop worrying about economic consequences of your actions on you. It is, in particular, rejection of utility maximization as a human motivator, because there has to be something more, something that cannot be measured.

And empirically, it seems that people who we recognize as creators or inventors have mostly not done the things they have done for pure economic profit, but they have been driven by something else, that cannot be explained in economic terms.

Also related to this is my earlier comment: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22964404

Re: Ask HN: Name one idea that changed your life

#542

Post by ninjakeyboard »

hexaga wrote: post #379
didroe wrote: post #300

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While there are obvious flaws with the analogy (like any analogy), I think the comparison with eyesight (or touch, etc.) is about making people think of the mind as more of a sensory organ. One that gives you input that may or may not be useful to you, rather than as something that defines you. I don't really see that as a dissociative practice, but more as the prerequisite for being able to start on the long term jo…

From my perspective, thoughts are the sensory experience of 'my mind moving'. Similar to arm movements - when you move your arm, where does the motion come from? I'm reminded of a time in my childhood when I realized that I could consciously direct my eyes without turning my head. I was struck with wonder at the time, having not known such a thing was possible, because nobody told me . I still remember it vividly by…

But does the dog have a buddha nature?

Re: Ask HN: Name one idea that changed your life

#545

Post by ninjakeyboard »

purerandomness wrote: post #142

The idea that your mind is not you . That "thinking", as a process, is just a tool of your body, just like eyesight, for example. Listening to meditation and mindfulness practitioners like Jon Kobat-Zinn and Eckhart Tolle, I found it absolutely groundbreaking, for myself, to realize that the mind is an instrument that needs training and tuning, and sometimes can lead you astray, and can't be trusted unconditionally.…

This whole thread is great. It's amazing how many people seem to be gaining the same inner wisdom I've found, of disidentifying with the mind, yet feeling more whole with all of who I am in the moment.

Re: Ask HN: Name one idea that changed your life

#546

Post by vehementi »

I forget where I got it from - a biography of an old professor I think

And the way he explained not holding on to things was "I had my turn being 19. I had my turn being 40. Now it's my turn to be 85". I did those things, nothing can change that -- I don't need to keep doing them lest I lose my worth or something.

Re: Ask HN: Name one idea that changed your life

#548

Post by hutzlibu »

Giving, without expecting something in return.

I used to be very calculating, if I do this, what will I get from person X, what will person Y think of me.

Now I just do, what I want. What I think and feel is right. And I give freely, of what I have. Sharing feels good.

Re: Ask HN: Name one idea that changed your life

#549

Post by kalonis »

There are no adults in the room (https://letterstoanewdeveloper.com/2019/08/12/there-are-no-a...)

During my career I was always looking for some senior developer to guide me in my work. I was hoping someone has figured everything out and could tell me whether my solutions where good or bad. It frustrated me that most of them did not really have a clue and could not help me. I blamed it to my company which would not invest the money to hire really good senior developers and switched employers. I hoped to find better learning opportunities there (which I thought meant better guiding). But it was the same everywhere: The people who I thought had everything figured out seemed to be just as clueless as me.

It took me some time to realize this is the norm. There is no one who has the perfect understanding of everything. There is a lot of uncertainty to any solution you try out. Accepting the uncertainty and acting accordingly is the true meaning of "seniority".

Re: Ask HN: Name one idea that changed your life

#550

Post by chadcmulligan »

TwelveNights wrote: post #315

We may harm ourselves or others around us for nothing but the feeling of control in our lives. I remember reading somewhere that eating disorders were an example of simultaneously losing and gaining control and, though I haven't had an eating disorder before, I could see how the same logic could apply to other actions.

I have come to the conclusion that pretty well everything negative in human society is about control - religion, business, management, politics, even, as you say, food. It's all about some one doing something that makes me uncomfortable, so I have to control it, once you realise this it's very freeing.
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