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Reading that felt strangely liberating. It's a refreshing and eloquent reiteration of the whole idea of the goal being the journey and vice versa. Contrary to w

Reading that felt strangely liberating. It's a refreshing and eloquent reiteration of the whole idea of the goal being the journey and vice versa. Contrary to what modern society has instilled in us..

TeMPOraL 10y ago
Society sure loves mixed signals. I always had the impression the modern culture tries to push exactly the "journey is the goal" idea into people, and I vehemently dislike it. To use a silly example, if I want to eat pizza, I do want to get the goddamn pizza, I definitely don't want to "enjoy the journey" of calling up the joint and placing the order. Or in more general terms, focusing on the journey instead of the goal leads to complete detachment from reality - running in circles and enjoying the patterns of your own thoughts, like a stoned hippie. It's vegetation, not life. I do read Adam Smith's quote differently - the way I understand it, it says to focus on a goal, but to derive happiness from the process and make that happiness independent of whether or not the goal will be ultimately achieved. An impossible thing to do in full, but definitely worth pursuing.
- exergy 10y ago
  Wow, that's a really interesting point. I've definitely seen the "enjoying the patterns of your own thought" thing with Leo from Zen Habits for example. He seems to rehash previous articles all the time, and I haven't heard a new thought come from him in years. No disrespect to him, he's probably found his contentment, but just an observation.
- wcummings 10y ago
  >running in circles and enjoying the patterns of your own thoughts Sounds pretty attractive to me
  - grzm 10y ago
    As long as the thoughts are helpful, that can be attractive for a short period. Often, they're not. Easy to get caught up in, and, even if they're positive, there is a big wide world out there that we have to engage in on some level, if only to satisfy our basic needs. Edit to add: Just noticed one of your other comments, on paying attention to driving :) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13002601 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13002601
  - TeMPOraL 10y ago
    For a while, yes. But that's essentially wireheading without the wire ;). Feels pretty shallow to me. (Then again, we wouldn't have most of our problems in this world if we just stuck to being stoned hippie self-wireheaded cavedwellers ;).)
digi_owl 10y ago
Because said instillment has been done to give the industries and outlet for their products. that we should always be wanting something new, something "better" (as defined by the industries, not you or me). Turn on a TV, radio, read a magazine, newspaper, or even web sites, and we get carped bombed by this message.

TeMPOraL 10y ago

Society sure loves mixed signals. I always had the impression the modern culture tries to push exactly the "journey is the goal" idea into people, and I vehemently dislike it. To use a silly example, if I want to eat pizza, I do want to get the goddamn pizza, I definitely don't want to "enjoy the journey" of calling up the joint and placing the order. Or in more general terms, focusing on the journey instead of the goal leads to complete detachment from reality - running in circles and enjoying the patterns of your own thoughts, like a stoned hippie. It's vegetation, not life. I do read Adam Smith's quote differently - the way I understand it, it says to focus on a goal, but to derive happiness from the process and make that happiness independent of whether or not the goal will be ultimately achieved. An impossible thing to do in full, but definitely worth pursuing.

exergy 10y ago
Wow, that's a really interesting point. I've definitely seen the "enjoying the patterns of your own thought" thing with Leo from Zen Habits for example. He seems to rehash previous articles all the time, and I haven't heard a new thought come from him in years. No disrespect to him, he's probably found his contentment, but just an observation.
wcummings 10y ago
>running in circles and enjoying the patterns of your own thoughts Sounds pretty attractive to me
- grzm 10y ago
  As long as the thoughts are helpful, that can be attractive for a short period. Often, they're not. Easy to get caught up in, and, even if they're positive, there is a big wide world out there that we have to engage in on some level, if only to satisfy our basic needs. Edit to add: Just noticed one of your other comments, on paying attention to driving :) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13002601 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13002601
- TeMPOraL 10y ago
  For a while, yes. But that's essentially wireheading without the wire ;). Feels pretty shallow to me. (Then again, we wouldn't have most of our problems in this world if we just stuck to being stoned hippie self-wireheaded cavedwellers ;).)

digi_owl 10y ago

Because said instillment has been done to give the industries and outlet for their products. that we should always be wanting something new, something "better" (as defined by the industries, not you or me). Turn on a TV, radio, read a magazine, newspaper, or even web sites, and we get carped bombed by this message.