4 ms·

“Someone once told me the definition of Hell: The last day you have on earth, the person you became will meet the person you could have become.”

by pdog 6y ago

sebmellen 6y ago
This reminds me of David Goggins talking about how he wanted to "do better than God's chart." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3fx1mGhTXdg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3fx1mGhTXdg
- borroka 6y ago
  Whenever I get annoyed by the relentlessly banal life lessons of Goggins, I remind myself that his audience is mostly made up of troubled teenagers who took their latest shower 3 weeks ago and middle-age professionals of some sorts who cannot close their trousers anymore because of additional calories brought on by family life.
  - sebmellen 6y ago
    I actually think Goggins's ideas are the opposite of banal. The concept of "limbic resistance", as brought up by Andrew Huberman when talking about Goggins, is really fascinating [0]. The concept that doing things that you hate doing is "exercising of the muscle of willpower" is very revealing. It's something I've tried to do adopt, and it's been a very powerful motivator in getting me to work out and reduce procrastination. As banal as it may sound — like the father in Calvin and Hobbes saying "it builds character" — it's also a great way of framing it. And I assure you I'm neither a > "troubled teenager who took my latest shower 3 weeks ago" or a > "middle-age professional of some sort who cannot close his trousers anymore because of additional calories brought on by family life". Your comment doesn't paint you as a very positive person. Of course, it's fine if you'd like to be that way, but my question is: why? What good does writing a comment like this do you (or me, or anyone reading it)? To me, these sorts of despondent and cynical comments seem to come from the very types of people you think listen to Goggins. [0]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ujz29rQvDvA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ujz29rQvDvA
    - borroka 6y ago
      I hate to contradict you, but I am being told I am quite a positive person who's helped many people on their journey to become more accomplished people. I did and I am doing quite well academically, professionally, and athletically. And I became accomplished by doing the exact opposite of what the Goggings, that other lunatic of Jocko Willink, Tim Kennedy and the Army, Navy Seals "influencers" recommend (I hope you are understand they are no different from the tik-tok dancers in terms of their ultimate motivation: money, spotlight, followers). In particular, I became accomplished by enjoying what I was doing, not f-this, f-that, let's run for 30 miles with the hips close to the ground (Goggings) shouting nonsense at our (poor) partner who is filming from the car. How can you listen to that guy if not for the occasional laugh at the lunacy? Why someone who is not a troubled teenager (and all these influencers were troubled teens) or a middle-age disappointed man (the message is always for men, where are the women?) should wake up at 4:30 am to do squats, bjj, or running? There is no reason whatsoever if you are not in one of those buckets. It is counter-productive, it is silly, it is kicking oneself in the genitals to tell their troubled internal voice: see, I can hurt myself, I can take it, I am strong. What an insecure, troubled way of approaching life! Why someone should give up on things and actions that have been pleasurable since the dawn of times for all, say, normal people? I am thinking, and these are all hated by the military influencers, about a glass of wine, an escapade, a sudden decision that is not joining the Navy Seals, a night out with friends that ends at 4 am (not staying up late shooting other people, a favorite of Goggins and Willink. Yes, to give them a better future, I know. I have always found funny that men join the military at 17 because they, as they never forget to repeat, want a better world, which is always also what the US want, a terrific coincidence). "The concept that doing things that you hate doing is "exercising of the muscle of willpower" is very revealing. It's something I've tried to do adopt, and it's been a very powerful motivator in getting me to work out and reduce procrastination." - That's terrible (long-term, short-term anything can work) advice, outside the tails (like people who hate showers, kids who hate calculations, middle-age men and women who hate small portions). Why not working toward enjoying the run, the squats, the learning? Why not "following" people who have a sense of lightness around them, who are "fun" to be around while being accomplished, instead of these soldier-philosophers who seem always pissed and look incapable of not putting a life lesson even in the broccoli they had for dinner? Let me give you an example: I don't like exercising in the morning, it often gives me an headache, I tend to go hard and it tires me out more than I like during the day, I prefer to workout after 5 pm (like many other people). Now, tell me: why should I do "something I hate to exercise my willpower", instead of— listen to this insight—exercising after 5 pm? "What good does writing a comment like this do you (or me, or anyone reading it)?" - There is no big vision behind my comment; but since I have seen one too many people buying into this "hard-man for hard times" trope, I would like them to read my cynical comment and say to themselves: they (i.e., me) are right, I am not a troubled teenager that the Army can straighten up, I am not a disappointed man who needs to be radicalized by these early-risers lunatics, I am better than that.
drpgq 6y ago
Sartre's definition of Hell was other people.
- andi999 6y ago
  Which means he had a pretty good opinion about himself?
newerduder 6y ago
If I ever meet a better or greater version of myself, I expect to get (figuratively) smacked upside the head and told exactly what to do with what little I have left of life. In every case I can think of, it's better to know. Even when it doesn't seem like it.
tolbish 6y ago
The implication is that living life with an innate sense of agency leads to a better outcome. Does that mean the definition of Heaven is when the person you ended up becoming meets the person you could have wound up being?
qntty 6y ago
That doesn't sound so bad actually. Once you have one foot out the door, who cares? If somebody told me that I once lived another life that I can't remember as some alien species, and I didn't accomplish any of the things that members of those species value, it wouldn't bother me.
ALittleLight 6y ago
I feel like this is a huge exaggeration of "hell" or a demeaning of the concept. For example, if you asked me if I'd rather meet my best possible self, or have my arm broken with a bat, it would be a no-brainer. I'm actually pretty curious to meet my best possible self and would probably pay some amount of money to do so, whereas I'd very much prefer to never have my arm broken again. And being hit with a bat is one of the most banal forms of suffering you could imagine. I get that it is trying to say something abstract, like, you could be a lot better than what you are, but it just sounds so incredibly ignorant of how horrible things could be that it irritates me.
- krustyburger 6y ago
  I propose a synthesis: hell is having your arm broken with a baseball bat by the best possible version of yourself.
- borroka 6y ago
  It is a sentence that makes no sense whatsoever, but it feels slightly profound and gives a sense of smugness when liked. Similar to the Heinlein's quote about specialization being for insects, which for some reason attracts nerds like catnip attracts cats.

“Someone once told me the definition of Hell: The last day you have on earth, the person you became will meet the person you could have become.”

by pdog 6y ago

“Someone once told me the definition of Hell: The last day you have on earth, the person you became will meet the person you could have become.”

sebmellen 6y ago

This reminds me of David Goggins talking about how he wanted to "do better than God's chart." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3fx1mGhTXdg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3fx1mGhTXdg

borroka 6y ago
Whenever I get annoyed by the relentlessly banal life lessons of Goggins, I remind myself that his audience is mostly made up of troubled teenagers who took their latest shower 3 weeks ago and middle-age professionals of some sorts who cannot close their trousers anymore because of additional calories brought on by family life.
- sebmellen 6y ago
  I actually think Goggins's ideas are the opposite of banal. The concept of "limbic resistance", as brought up by Andrew Huberman when talking about Goggins, is really fascinating [0]. The concept that doing things that you hate doing is "exercising of the muscle of willpower" is very revealing. It's something I've tried to do adopt, and it's been a very powerful motivator in getting me to work out and reduce procrastination. As banal as it may sound — like the father in Calvin and Hobbes saying "it builds character" — it's also a great way of framing it. And I assure you I'm neither a > "troubled teenager who took my latest shower 3 weeks ago" or a > "middle-age professional of some sort who cannot close his trousers anymore because of additional calories brought on by family life". Your comment doesn't paint you as a very positive person. Of course, it's fine if you'd like to be that way, but my question is: why? What good does writing a comment like this do you (or me, or anyone reading it)? To me, these sorts of despondent and cynical comments seem to come from the very types of people you think listen to Goggins. [0]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ujz29rQvDvA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ujz29rQvDvA
  - borroka 6y ago
    I hate to contradict you, but I am being told I am quite a positive person who's helped many people on their journey to become more accomplished people. I did and I am doing quite well academically, professionally, and athletically. And I became accomplished by doing the exact opposite of what the Goggings, that other lunatic of Jocko Willink, Tim Kennedy and the Army, Navy Seals "influencers" recommend (I hope you are understand they are no different from the tik-tok dancers in terms of their ultimate motivation: money, spotlight, followers). In particular, I became accomplished by enjoying what I was doing, not f-this, f-that, let's run for 30 miles with the hips close to the ground (Goggings) shouting nonsense at our (poor) partner who is filming from the car. How can you listen to that guy if not for the occasional laugh at the lunacy? Why someone who is not a troubled teenager (and all these influencers were troubled teens) or a middle-age disappointed man (the message is always for men, where are the women?) should wake up at 4:30 am to do squats, bjj, or running? There is no reason whatsoever if you are not in one of those buckets. It is counter-productive, it is silly, it is kicking oneself in the genitals to tell their troubled internal voice: see, I can hurt myself, I can take it, I am strong. What an insecure, troubled way of approaching life! Why someone should give up on things and actions that have been pleasurable since the dawn of times for all, say, normal people? I am thinking, and these are all hated by the military influencers, about a glass of wine, an escapade, a sudden decision that is not joining the Navy Seals, a night out with friends that ends at 4 am (not staying up late shooting other people, a favorite of Goggins and Willink. Yes, to give them a better future, I know. I have always found funny that men join the military at 17 because they, as they never forget to repeat, want a better world, which is always also what the US want, a terrific coincidence). "The concept that doing things that you hate doing is "exercising of the muscle of willpower" is very revealing. It's something I've tried to do adopt, and it's been a very powerful motivator in getting me to work out and reduce procrastination." - That's terrible (long-term, short-term anything can work) advice, outside the tails (like people who hate showers, kids who hate calculations, middle-age men and women who hate small portions). Why not working toward enjoying the run, the squats, the learning? Why not "following" people who have a sense of lightness around them, who are "fun" to be around while being accomplished, instead of these soldier-philosophers who seem always pissed and look incapable of not putting a life lesson even in the broccoli they had for dinner? Let me give you an example: I don't like exercising in the morning, it often gives me an headache, I tend to go hard and it tires me out more than I like during the day, I prefer to workout after 5 pm (like many other people). Now, tell me: why should I do "something I hate to exercise my willpower", instead of— listen to this insight—exercising after 5 pm? "What good does writing a comment like this do you (or me, or anyone reading it)?" - There is no big vision behind my comment; but since I have seen one too many people buying into this "hard-man for hard times" trope, I would like them to read my cynical comment and say to themselves: they (i.e., me) are right, I am not a troubled teenager that the Army can straighten up, I am not a disappointed man who needs to be radicalized by these early-risers lunatics, I am better than that.

drpgq 6y ago

Sartre's definition of Hell was other people.

andi999 6y ago
Which means he had a pretty good opinion about himself?

newerduder 6y ago

If I ever meet a better or greater version of myself, I expect to get (figuratively) smacked upside the head and told exactly what to do with what little I have left of life. In every case I can think of, it's better to know. Even when it doesn't seem like it.

tolbish 6y ago

The implication is that living life with an innate sense of agency leads to a better outcome. Does that mean the definition of Heaven is when the person you ended up becoming meets the person you could have wound up being?

qntty 6y ago

That doesn't sound so bad actually. Once you have one foot out the door, who cares? If somebody told me that I once lived another life that I can't remember as some alien species, and I didn't accomplish any of the things that members of those species value, it wouldn't bother me.

ALittleLight 6y ago

I feel like this is a huge exaggeration of "hell" or a demeaning of the concept. For example, if you asked me if I'd rather meet my best possible self, or have my arm broken with a bat, it would be a no-brainer. I'm actually pretty curious to meet my best possible self and would probably pay some amount of money to do so, whereas I'd very much prefer to never have my arm broken again. And being hit with a bat is one of the most banal forms of suffering you could imagine. I get that it is trying to say something abstract, like, you could be a lot better than what you are, but it just sounds so incredibly ignorant of how horrible things could be that it irritates me.

krustyburger 6y ago
I propose a synthesis: hell is having your arm broken with a baseball bat by the best possible version of yourself.
borroka 6y ago
It is a sentence that makes no sense whatsoever, but it feels slightly profound and gives a sense of smugness when liked. Similar to the Heinlein's quote about specialization being for insects, which for some reason attracts nerds like catnip attracts cats.