I've taken a bit of an extended hiatus from writing, despite the fact that I love it and feel a deeply urgent sense of conviction that I need to be working on it consistently and more passionately if I am to leave what I feel is a worthwhile contribution to life.
I'm gonna take a brief moment to be philosophical and state that I feel the only true purpose we have is to leave the world a better place than we found it. I'm going to leave my statement that minimalistic because I believe it should be open to interpretation; what I define as "better" will almost certainly be different than what you define as simple. However, I believe the ultimate purpose is contribution to others, or to life, if you will. Why? Because it's the only thing that has a chance of being infinite or indefinite, of lasting beyond you. It's the only thing that will still be here for certain after you are gone. Doing things for yourself seems futile, unless it contributes to that larger goal. "You" as an individual entity will cease to be at some point, so all the work you did for yourself will vanish, but all that you consumed or touched along the way will remain in one form or another. All the kindness you did will influence others, which will in turn influence others. All the things you created will still have a chance of existing to influence or improve others. All the things you built can still be utilized by others, whether or not they recognize it was from you. Your story can still potentially inspire others. And the effects are potentially exponential. Knowing this, how can you possibly WANT to live just for yourself? Imagine a world where everyone, or even just most people, conducted themselves in a way that they KNEW was going to influence others? Imagine if just twice as many people knew this and so decided they wanted to leave the world a more positive place than it was just before, even if just slightly? How nihilistic it is to enter this world which was provided for you by the service and hard work of others, just to satiate your ephemeral needs and consume to your fill, and then depart? I see much more value in being extropianistic.
Anyway, back to the point. For some time now, maybe five years or so, I've been thinking I want to leave something behind that illustrates my world view. Call it a "manifesto", call it a "philosophy", it's basically just how I view the world, and I believe it's mostly, if not all, positive, and therefore worthwhile to leaving. At one point, years ago, I jotted down all my beliefs haphazardly, just as they came to mind. I wasn't looking for any kind of correlation or cohesiveness, just output. Well, as events would have it, I recently started getting obsessed with YouTube. At first the allure was in religion, but I realized that I've since lost interest in it, partially since I've been leaving in Japan where it's not a particular issue and partially because there are many others out there who are much more knowledgeable and articulate about it, so I really feel like I have nothing to contribute.
However, my journey into self-actualization (which is far from over) has lead across many strange lands: history, psychology, self-help, pick up, social skills, neurology, biology, evolution, philosophy, etc. And though I am not necessarily sure I have anything undiscovered to offer, I do think that I can synthesize my discoveries in a way that's at least novel, perhaps unconsidered. Essentially what I think I have to offer is something that stems from pick up but has never really been extrapolated to its utmost. In other words, I think I can take pick up and expand it past its own boundaries into an entire philosophy of life; I can communicate how it applies to every facet of life, which I think is its ultimate but as yet unrealized goal.
I've finally begun organizing this and it's already a daunting task. So many ideas covering so many different topics... it's work just trying to organize it, much less make sense of it and see how it all connects. I have a lot of respect for non-fiction writers now... there's still so much I don't have nearly enough knowledge about. But it's invigorating; it's all just starting to come together for me.
I've decided that if I ever complete the organization, I'm going to start posting videos on YouTube. I already have, in fact, but just to ask questions in order to be sure that I have an understanding of my opposition. I'm perfectly willing to concede to their points if they are sensible, and I've already garnered a bit of detestment for this. It's funny to me how some people are determined to seek out and thus, inadvertently, CREATE enemies, rather than simply seek the best path to the truth. To each their own, I suppose.
I'm gonna take a brief moment to be philosophical and state that I feel the only true purpose we have is to leave the world a better place than we found it. I'm going to leave my statement that minimalistic because I believe it should be open to interpretation; what I define as "better" will almost certainly be different than what you define as simple. However, I believe the ultimate purpose is contribution to others, or to life, if you will. Why? Because it's the only thing that has a chance of being infinite or indefinite, of lasting beyond you. It's the only thing that will still be here for certain after you are gone. Doing things for yourself seems futile, unless it contributes to that larger goal. "You" as an individual entity will cease to be at some point, so all the work you did for yourself will vanish, but all that you consumed or touched along the way will remain in one form or another. All the kindness you did will influence others, which will in turn influence others. All the things you created will still have a chance of existing to influence or improve others. All the things you built can still be utilized by others, whether or not they recognize it was from you. Your story can still potentially inspire others. And the effects are potentially exponential. Knowing this, how can you possibly WANT to live just for yourself? Imagine a world where everyone, or even just most people, conducted themselves in a way that they KNEW was going to influence others? Imagine if just twice as many people knew this and so decided they wanted to leave the world a more positive place than it was just before, even if just slightly? How nihilistic it is to enter this world which was provided for you by the service and hard work of others, just to satiate your ephemeral needs and consume to your fill, and then depart? I see much more value in being extropianistic.
Anyway, back to the point. For some time now, maybe five years or so, I've been thinking I want to leave something behind that illustrates my world view. Call it a "manifesto", call it a "philosophy", it's basically just how I view the world, and I believe it's mostly, if not all, positive, and therefore worthwhile to leaving. At one point, years ago, I jotted down all my beliefs haphazardly, just as they came to mind. I wasn't looking for any kind of correlation or cohesiveness, just output. Well, as events would have it, I recently started getting obsessed with YouTube. At first the allure was in religion, but I realized that I've since lost interest in it, partially since I've been leaving in Japan where it's not a particular issue and partially because there are many others out there who are much more knowledgeable and articulate about it, so I really feel like I have nothing to contribute.
However, my journey into self-actualization (which is far from over) has lead across many strange lands: history, psychology, self-help, pick up, social skills, neurology, biology, evolution, philosophy, etc. And though I am not necessarily sure I have anything undiscovered to offer, I do think that I can synthesize my discoveries in a way that's at least novel, perhaps unconsidered. Essentially what I think I have to offer is something that stems from pick up but has never really been extrapolated to its utmost. In other words, I think I can take pick up and expand it past its own boundaries into an entire philosophy of life; I can communicate how it applies to every facet of life, which I think is its ultimate but as yet unrealized goal.
I've finally begun organizing this and it's already a daunting task. So many ideas covering so many different topics... it's work just trying to organize it, much less make sense of it and see how it all connects. I have a lot of respect for non-fiction writers now... there's still so much I don't have nearly enough knowledge about. But it's invigorating; it's all just starting to come together for me.
I've decided that if I ever complete the organization, I'm going to start posting videos on YouTube. I already have, in fact, but just to ask questions in order to be sure that I have an understanding of my opposition. I'm perfectly willing to concede to their points if they are sensible, and I've already garnered a bit of detestment for this. It's funny to me how some people are determined to seek out and thus, inadvertently, CREATE enemies, rather than simply seek the best path to the truth. To each their own, I suppose.
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