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This is the real question. I think there are only three choice categories: * Reject everything. This is basically the path of the Yogi. * Assign meaning to so

This is the real question. I think there are only three choice categories: * Reject everything. This is basically the path of the Yogi. * Assign meaning to something. It could be your kids, your spouse (I wouldn't recommend that one), philanthropy, a "vision," or whatever. If people ask why it's important to you, don't explain in logical terms. "I decided that it would be." * Stop thinking about it. Chase the dopamine. I think most people do this, even the most thoughtful people. It might even be impossible to escape attachment and emotion. In the end, attachment and emotion are truly illogical experiences. Do we embrace that illogic completely, try to "control" it, or struggle to reject it entirely?

klenwell 13y ago
I was under the impression that the Yogi was able to reject everything because he had disciplined his mind to become a self-activating dopamine dispenser. Isn't there a neuroscientific study somewhere that points to this?
codyb 13y ago
Why do you recommend not assigning meaning to your spouse? I think the Yogi is eventually one with it. He doesn't try any of the methods you offered. Controlling it, embracing it, or rejecting it. He just let's it be. And in that way he becomes free from it.
- delluminatus 13y ago
  In my (admittedly limited) experience, people are taking a big risk by making their spouse a critical source of meaning in their life. I think the problem is that it's reliant on reciprocation, whereas the others aren't (except children to some extent). With respect to your comment on the yogi: note that most yogi follow some number of vows [0] and abstentions [1] that seem to me to be very much an attempt at "controlling it." Eventually I guess they don't need to "control it" anymore, once they reach Samadhi, but in practice the path of the Yogi is typically one of repression. [0] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yamas http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yamas [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niyama http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niyama
  - codyb 13y ago
    I totally agree. I think in real life most people decide following these path's will allow them to reach enlightenment or at least come closer. Despite that I don't think one who has reached enlightenment feels they're controlling anything at all, nor does that bother them in any way.
drivebyacct2 13y ago
>* Stop thinking about it. Chase the dopamine. I think most people do this, even the most thoughtful people. It might even be impossible to escape attachment and emotion. 6 months of on and off hard depression for over-analyzing life and myself and getting trapped in deep meta-rabbit-holes, I decided to stop. It's hard, as anyone whose been depressed knows, mind over matter is easier said than done.... But man, people around me getting worked up about all sorts of things and want to have these lofty discussions about making the best of life. I want to be happy today. And tomorrow. So I'm doing what is making me happy now and will enable me to maximize my happiness going forward. I don't know if I'm still "controlling" it, but it's a simple mental model and it helps me to focus on when my anxiety decides to spike through the roof as I'm sitting surfing reddit in the evening.

klenwell 13y ago

I was under the impression that the Yogi was able to reject everything because he had disciplined his mind to become a self-activating dopamine dispenser. Isn't there a neuroscientific study somewhere that points to this?

codyb 13y ago

Why do you recommend not assigning meaning to your spouse? I think the Yogi is eventually one with it. He doesn't try any of the methods you offered. Controlling it, embracing it, or rejecting it. He just let's it be. And in that way he becomes free from it.

delluminatus 13y ago
In my (admittedly limited) experience, people are taking a big risk by making their spouse a critical source of meaning in their life. I think the problem is that it's reliant on reciprocation, whereas the others aren't (except children to some extent). With respect to your comment on the yogi: note that most yogi follow some number of vows [0] and abstentions [1] that seem to me to be very much an attempt at "controlling it." Eventually I guess they don't need to "control it" anymore, once they reach Samadhi, but in practice the path of the Yogi is typically one of repression. [0] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yamas http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yamas [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niyama http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niyama
- codyb 13y ago
  I totally agree. I think in real life most people decide following these path's will allow them to reach enlightenment or at least come closer. Despite that I don't think one who has reached enlightenment feels they're controlling anything at all, nor does that bother them in any way.

drivebyacct2 13y ago

>* Stop thinking about it. Chase the dopamine. I think most people do this, even the most thoughtful people. It might even be impossible to escape attachment and emotion. 6 months of on and off hard depression for over-analyzing life and myself and getting trapped in deep meta-rabbit-holes, I decided to stop. It's hard, as anyone whose been depressed knows, mind over matter is easier said than done.... But man, people around me getting worked up about all sorts of things and want to have these lofty discussions about making the best of life. I want to be happy today. And tomorrow. So I'm doing what is making me happy now and will enable me to maximize my happiness going forward. I don't know if I'm still "controlling" it, but it's a simple mental model and it helps me to focus on when my anxiety decides to spike through the roof as I'm sitting surfing reddit in the evening.