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Ask HN: What are we even chasing?

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Re: Ask HN: What are we even chasing?

#151

Post by agent008t »

Balgair wrote: post #85

A semi-controversial take for OP and other commenters like OP: Try religion out. These kids of questions and angsts are very normal and very old. Religion has been there to help with this for a very very long time. If not a daily/weekly practice, then the religious texts that you prefer may help. For jews/christians, the Book of Job is a good starting place : https://www.bible.com/bible/1171/JOB.1.MEV (MEV lacks the…

Surely pursuing philosophy would be a better advice than pursuing religion? Religions do tend to include some philosophy but with a lot of mysticism and other stuff thrown in, and the philosophy itself is often not very well thought through. Why not just go for the philosophy itself? Stoicism could be a great start with Seneca's "Letters from a stoic".

Re: Ask HN: What are we even chasing?

#153

Post by cryptonector »

> Our entire lives get spent pursuing outcomes.

Short-term outcomes: satisfy biological and psychological needs now.

Long-term outcomes: satisfy biological and psychological needs later.

Biological needs are pretty obvious (e.g., food).

Psychological needs are less obvious (what makes you happy). These can range from mere entertainment all the way to being creative.

For me the real thing is creation. Being creative makes me happy. Being a good parent makes me happy because that means my children get to be happy, and having and raising children is -for many people- part of what it means to be creative.

> Is there even an end to this?

Yes, there is. Individuals die. Species become extinct. Enjoy the ride, and do good, while it lasts.

Re: Ask HN: What are we even chasing?

#154

Post by bumby »

Waterluvian wrote: post #32

My answer was found by having kids. For me, one of the absolute best things about having kids was that it eliminated all doubt: I now had a 100% crystal clear main quest that trivially answers, "what should I be doing right now?" if I'm ever not sure. Everything else in life, especially my career, is just a side quest now. Why am I working? Before kids I foolishly thought it had something to do with being part of a t…

I've long thought that having kids galvanized a person's purpose in life and that is why people reflect back on how it was some of the best times of their life. This is in spite of the research that shows parents consistently more unhappy while actually raising kids. I think there is are other analogous dichotomies: people in the military, high level athletes, the way people refer to the bombing of England in WW2 as the "good ol' days"[1], etc.

The point is people need a purpose they can rally their life around. They need to feel needed by their society for fulfillment.

[1] See Sebastian Junger's book Tribe

Re: Ask HN: What are we even chasing?

#156

Post by Balgair »

agent008t wrote: post #151
Balgair wrote: post #85

A semi-controversial take for OP and other commenters like OP: Try religion out. These kids of questions and angsts are very normal and very old. Religion has been there to help with this for a very very long time. If not a daily/weekly practice, then the religious texts that you prefer may help. For jews/christians, the Book of Job is a good starting place : https://www.bible.com/bible/1171/JOB.1.MEV (MEV lacks the…

Surely pursuing philosophy would be a better advice than pursuing religion? Religions do tend to include some philosophy but with a lot of mysticism and other stuff thrown in, and the philosophy itself is often not very well thought through. Why not just go for the philosophy itself? Stoicism could be a great start with Seneca's "Letters from a stoic".

Great reccomendation

Re: Ask HN: What are we even chasing?

#157

Post by Balgair »

uptownfunk wrote: post #143
Balgair wrote: post #85

A semi-controversial take for OP and other commenters like OP: Try religion out. These kids of questions and angsts are very normal and very old. Religion has been there to help with this for a very very long time. If not a daily/weekly practice, then the religious texts that you prefer may help. For jews/christians, the Book of Job is a good starting place : https://www.bible.com/bible/1171/JOB.1.MEV (MEV lacks the…

For Hinduism I actually think a great book is Srimad Bhagavatam. But every hindu you ask may end up telling something different.

thanks for the reccomendation

Re: Ask HN: What are we even chasing?

#158

Post by Apreche »

steviesands wrote: post #56
Apreche wrote: post #46

I don't know what anyone else is chasing, but I know precisely what my primary goal is. I want to live a life of idle leisure. I'm 20% of the way to my goal now that I only work 4 days (32 hours) a week. It may be that I don't get to 100% until retirement, if I'm even able to retire at all. It may be that I have a setback and end up working 5 days again. It may be that I get extremely lucky earlier than that. I know…

How did you achieve 4 days a week? Curious to hear about your strategy.

I had a very stable job already that I was perfectly happy to stay at. This meant that if I interviewed at other places I could negotiate from a position of extreme strength.

So I did exactly that. I interviewed at places and when I reached the offer phase I asked for a lot. The first offer I got was not good enough, so I didn't accept it. The next one I was able to convince them to let me work four days. It was written in my offer letter and everything. I signed it, and have been working 32 hour weeks since July.

Re: Ask HN: What are we even chasing?

#159

Post by hn92726819 »

agent008t wrote: post #150
dyingkneepad wrote: post #12

You're supposed to enjoy the journey, not hyper focus on the destination. If the journey is not fun, the destination is not worth it, especially since you may never even get there in the first place.

Who says you are supposed to enjoy the journey? As a trivial example, 'the journey' of studying for an important exam is hard work, and you would enjoy playing video games instead a lot more. But by focusing on the destination and enduring hardship, you ace your exam, which has a massive effect on the rest of your life. Was the destination not worth it?

The journey is all of your life. I believe you should aim for an enjoyable journey [of life], not to be confused with short term journeys and destinations.

In your example, if studying and acing your exam gives you more happiness in the long run (despite less happiness in the short term), it's worth it to suffer a bit now and study. If acing your exam doesn't give you more happiness in the long run, then compare it against the happiness you get if you don't ace it, and make a decision.

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