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The Myth of Making It (2019)

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Re: The Myth of Making It (2019)

#21

Post by katzgrau »

I feel like this is going to get downvoted, but the problem, sincerely, is what you believe.

Money and accolades are bullshit ideas that do not objectively exist. Most of us have just bought into the idea of them.

If you strive to obtain something just because others value it (money, power, recognition), you're going to wind up feeling empty and unsatisfied.

Make your own meaning in this life and resist buying into the impoverished ideas of the world you were born into.

Sounds crazy, but no - chasing other people's idea of value is crazy.

Re: The Myth of Making It (2019)

#22

Post by rufus_foreman »

technothrasher wrote: post #6

My life’s goals when I was a child were to get married, raise a kid, and to own the same Ferrari as Magnum PI. Done, done, and done (although the last one was mostly a bad idea). So I guess according to my standards I made it. The rest now is gravy.

>> although the last one was mostly a bad idea

You did it wrong. Magnum didn't own the Ferrari, he just had a rich friend who let him drive it.

Re: The Myth of Making It (2019)

#23

Post by russelldjimmy »

katzgrau wrote: post #21

I feel like this is going to get downvoted, but the problem, sincerely, is what you believe. Money and accolades are bullshit ideas that do not objectively exist. Most of us have just bought into the idea of them. If you strive to obtain something just because others value it (money, power, recognition), you're going to wind up feeling empty and unsatisfied. Make your own meaning in this life and resist buying into t…

I agree with your comment, and I would like to build on something you said:

> resist buying into the impoverished ideas of the world you were born into.

Instead of “resist”, I might instead say, “see clearly” or “recognise” that these concepts are based on fiction, ultimately (like most concepts). They are useful tools, but we try to make them outlast their purpose. That is when they take over our minds and our lives.

When we observe with absolute attention and awareness, the hollowness of these concepts becomes clear and resisting them won’t even be necessary because we realise there is nothing to resist.

Re: The Myth of Making It (2019)

#24

Post by imetatroll »

katzgrau wrote: post #21

I feel like this is going to get downvoted, but the problem, sincerely, is what you believe. Money and accolades are bullshit ideas that do not objectively exist. Most of us have just bought into the idea of them. If you strive to obtain something just because others value it (money, power, recognition), you're going to wind up feeling empty and unsatisfied. Make your own meaning in this life and resist buying into t…

While this is nice as a thought exercise, not having at least "enough" money is very painful in my experience. As for power and recognition, recognition comes first and then, I suppose, power in terms of ... importance. I'm not at all sure that power is actually important at all. Are people actively pursuing power? Those that do I suspect already have easy access to money and recognition. I cannot relate.

I think that harsh self evaluation is what allowed humans to experience our current state of existence. Maybe we are entering a new phase where competition can ebb and we can evolve towards something more forgiving towards ourselves, but those of us reading this article are trapped by our biology. In other words, the things that I feel seem largely out of my control.

Honestly I don't know why I'm even writing this. In a year or two when I look back I'm sure to feel embarrassed by what I have written. I usually am.

Re: The Myth of Making It (2019)

#25

Post by katzgrau »

russelldjimmy wrote: post #23
katzgrau wrote: post #21

I feel like this is going to get downvoted, but the problem, sincerely, is what you believe. Money and accolades are bullshit ideas that do not objectively exist. Most of us have just bought into the idea of them. If you strive to obtain something just because others value it (money, power, recognition), you're going to wind up feeling empty and unsatisfied. Make your own meaning in this life and resist buying into t…

I agree with your comment, and I would like to build on something you said: > resist buying into the impoverished ideas of the world you were born into. Instead of “resist”, I might instead say, “see clearly” or “recognise” that these concepts are based on fiction, ultimately (like most concepts). They are useful tools, but we try to make them outlast their purpose. That is when they take over our minds and our lives…

> Instead of “resist”, I might instead say, “see clearly” or “recognise”

Thank you, that's definitely a better way of wording it.

Re: The Myth of Making It (2019)

#26

Post by katzgrau »

imetatroll wrote: post #24
katzgrau wrote: post #21

I feel like this is going to get downvoted, but the problem, sincerely, is what you believe. Money and accolades are bullshit ideas that do not objectively exist. Most of us have just bought into the idea of them. If you strive to obtain something just because others value it (money, power, recognition), you're going to wind up feeling empty and unsatisfied. Make your own meaning in this life and resist buying into t…

While this is nice as a thought exercise, not having at least "enough" money is very painful in my experience. As for power and recognition, recognition comes first and then, I suppose, power in terms of ... importance. I'm not at all sure that power is actually important at all. Are people actively pursuing power? Those that do I suspect already have easy access to money and recognition. I cannot relate. I think tha…

> While this is nice as a thought exercise, not having at least "enough" money is very painful in my experience.

Of course. Consider this - when you're poor - it's not specifically money you're after. You want the baseline items to survive, and money is a convenient way of obtaining them.

But your end goal is not the money - it's what you need.

But beyond that, especially in society, the money has a tendency to become the end in itself. Just get lots of money - it must be valuable because it appears others value it.

Same with power and recognition. Lots of people fantasize about promotions because of what it'll do to their self worth as perceived by them and their peers.

So ... it's not a thought experiment. It's the stone cold truth - money and power are the thought experiments.

Re: The Myth of Making It (2019)

#27

Post by circlefavshape »

WalterBright wrote: post #19

If you stop striving towards goals, you die. Your body and mind fall apart. One of the most boring experiences is traveling around and looking at things. I'm happiest when I'm working hard trying to achieve a new goal.

> If you stop striving towards goals, you die. Your body and mind fall apart.

This simply isn't true, Walter, and you know it

Re: The Myth of Making It (2019)

#28

Post by credit_guy »

katzgrau wrote: post #21

I feel like this is going to get downvoted, but the problem, sincerely, is what you believe. Money and accolades are bullshit ideas that do not objectively exist. Most of us have just bought into the idea of them. If you strive to obtain something just because others value it (money, power, recognition), you're going to wind up feeling empty and unsatisfied. Make your own meaning in this life and resist buying into t…

> Money and accolades are bullshit ideas that do not objectively exist.

Here's a different way to look at money. In the 1800's the British were consistently a few decades of everyone else, so that century was also called Pax Britannica. What they had and the rest of the world did not have was a vibrant financial market. London was the banking city of the world. All the money in the world was going through the London banks.

Maybe money does not objectively exist, but it helps tremendously to organize complex societies.

Re: The Myth of Making It (2019)

#29

Post by 127 »

katzgrau wrote: post #21

I feel like this is going to get downvoted, but the problem, sincerely, is what you believe. Money and accolades are bullshit ideas that do not objectively exist. Most of us have just bought into the idea of them. If you strive to obtain something just because others value it (money, power, recognition), you're going to wind up feeling empty and unsatisfied. Make your own meaning in this life and resist buying into t…

Well, I'm certainly not going to chase your idea of value. Seriously speaking, though: money and accolade are both social abstractions. Humans are animals of social abstraction, so it's kind of silly to state things that matter to us the most, don't objectively exist. Evolution can have a hierarchy, multiple layers of the onion. Faster the memes, faster the organism can reach a position where they can out-compete the environment.

Re: The Myth of Making It (2019)

#30

Post by prometheus76 »

Barrin92 wrote: post #7

> “If everybody else is doing better than you, it is hard to be satisfied with your life conditions, no matter how good they objectively are,” he wrote. “By not displaying, let alone exaggerating, their own happiness, Finns might help each other to make more realistic comparisons, which benefits everybody’s happiness.” Robert Sapolsky has dedicated a large chunk of his career to study the biological underpinnings for…

This is also the foundation behind Mimetic Theory developed by Rene Girard.
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