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Why is there always a self-imposed need to extract something from ourselves instead of just being? I really hate this in the modern world. Maybe one of the wors
by Gecko4072 2mo ago
Why is there always a self-imposed need to extract something from ourselves instead of just being? I really hate this in the modern world. Maybe one of the worst defining traits of industrial times.
- marginalia_nu 2mo agoNot at all a modern idea. Pico della Mirandola would rank mere being the lowest form of existence, the same sort of existence a plant has. Mirandola's is the oldest source for the ranking of being that I can recall off the top of my head, but the idea is almost certainly even older. > On man when he came into life the Father conferred the seeds of all kinds and the germs of every way of life. Whatever seeds each man cultivates will grow to maturity and bear in him their own fruit. If they be vegetative, he will be like a plant. If sensitive, he will become brutish. If rational, he will grow into a heavenly being. If intellectual, he will be an angel and the son of God. - Oration on the Dignity of Man
- Gecko4072 2mo agoInteresting thank you. Mirandola is still modern in my eyes. Btw I really enjoy marginalia. Helped me find Tom Murphy [1], which I’m kind of basing this being modern off of, through the explore page. Crazy full circle moment. 1. https://dothemath.ucsd.edu/ https://dothemath.ucsd.edu/
- podocarp 2mo agoIt goes even farther back than that, I mean the stoics were preaching things like live each day like it's your last, and there are proverbs from ancient China like "being the rat in the granary than the rat in the toilet". At the same time there are plenty of counter examples and people teaching the opposite, like Diogenes. I think it's useless trying to find councel regarding these things, people will just say what they believe is right. It's mostly just seeking external validation. The end state should just be a lack of judgement -- right now we are too preoccupied with minmaxing so called productivity which is mostly an illusion most times. Much of this comes from a self imposed sense of guilt, in that doing nothing becomes like eating junk food. And this sense of guilt is in turn cultivated by the environment at large. Try telling people you're in between jobs or taking a sabbatical, they'll just assign you to the "loser" or "unemployed" class automatically.
- avaer 2mo agoBecause people generally will not pay for others to "be". And they will not give you food or shelter if you don't pay. And the money has never been more concentrated away from the people who would prefer to just be. If you don't self-impose, society will structurally impose it on you.
- Gecko4072 2mo agoWell of course but there are many ways to survive very close to “just being” that are seen as not fulfilling potential or a wasted life. It’s not a full binary but living close to one end is shunned and we internalize it as a waste of space when really it is more sustainable for the planet and mind.
- avaer 2mo agoI lament the state of the modern world too. Unfortunately, the modern world is run not by empaths, but by psychopaths. Even if we get to a state where we look out for each other, I fear it would be quickly subverted.
- andai 2mo agoI saw this video of an American tourist in the Mediterranean, stunned that people would drink one coffee for hours and didn't feel pressured to order more. He said, back home, he would have been getting dirty looks, if he wasn't constantly justifying his existence in a place by either consuming or producing something.
- inigyou 2mo agoThat coffee shop isn't paying much rent. When your local leech increases the rent, you have to sell more coffees, and kick people out who don't buy more coffees.
- ssivark 2mo agoTo expand on this: rent is a manifestation opportunity cost for a gated resource. So one person lounging around drinking coffee is no more judged on their activity in and of itself, but compared to the other "industrious" person who might have taken their place and been more productive. This is why marginal spaces/resources not being optimized for economic output are so important to exploratory and risky endeavors: https://paulgraham.com/marginal.html https://paulgraham.com/marginal.html
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- camd32 2mo agoThe article is about aligning yourself to a higher goal of creation, not extraction. Several of the examples given show ideas as something that is received, not created. That's why simply hard work and focus don't result in them.
- Jblx2 2mo agoThat sounds like a recipe for living like hunter/gatherers. I for one appreciate modern medecine, indoor plumbing, and hope to live long enough to see someone step foot on Mars. Each to their own, but I appreciate all the work our ancestors have put forth, planting the trees whose shade they knew they wouldn't enjoy.
- xyzelement 2mo agoCrazy that this needs to be explained.
- energy123 2mo agoAccessing the kind of "feminine" mental states that Grothendieck talks about, basically a type of creative flow state, is not an example of that. It's in the realm of meditative, passionate and artistic.
- xyzelement 2mo agoBecause we don't want to be useless consumers of resources - it's embarrassing.
- silver_sun 2mo agoWhy would you want to create things for people to use if you regard them as "useless"? This attitude is so alien and repulsive to me.
- xyzelement 2mo agoI don't get to control whether someone is motivated to contribute to society. If someone was raised to not care about contributing - to me that feels like an ultimate limit on how meaningful their life can be but that's their problem (and their parents shortcoming) But what I can do is ensure that I orient my own life around contribution and pass that on to my kids.
- andai 2mo agoWhy is there a need to extract nectar from flowers, instead of just beeing? —Bee