2-20-25
The other day I got sidetracked/derailed by the adversaries to human development (let’s say, to be inflammatory) that I never quite got to my initial point about human perseverance/grit.
It is my belief that human beings can accomplish all they set their minds to, within reason. But I believe certain goals, say, as wanting a yacht, are made in bad faith. For they are so hyperbolic that I doubt one actually believes them. This lack of belief prevents them from being achieved.
So part of this is my belief that goals/aspirations can only reach so far from current circumstances. I’d classify things such as a pauper wanting a yacht under the term “wishes,” not “goals.” For wishes can be fantastical in nature, whereas goals exist in reality, for I believe they are things one actually wishes to accomplish. So from here, I can say that all human beings can accomplish their goals. Now I’m the one speaking in hyperbole, but I’ve committed myself to declarations, so here I am. But, I believe most goals are achievable. Think of the most prominent, overarching New Year’s resolution “to be healthier.” As previously stated in another passage, the keys to health are not some great mystery of the universe. Exercise, eat well, abstain from drugs and alcohol, etc. These things are simply said, but require willpower. they may not be fun, but if I could slip into Sartre’s mode of thinking, if you want them bad enough you will do it. Yes, you may still want to drink alcohol (I know I do), but then you have to accept responsibility that you are not being as healthy as you could possibly be. And that’s fine! But then you have no right to despair over your lack of improvement, because you aren’t making the right choice. If you really wanted to be healthier, you’d do what is required.
This is also why “cheat codes” to health piss me off. To return to the flogging of my favorite contemporary whipping boy, the keto diet. I don’t believe you can hack your body by just eating sausages and cheese.
But before I get derailed again, I believe any “cheat code” or “hack” to one’s goals/success does one a disservice, and causes one to often not achieve those goals.
The way to achieve one’s goals is through honest, sustained work with intention. Prioritizing the outcome/finish line of the goal is putting the cart before the horse. And I believe that any cheat code/hack that does work will not be sustainable in the long run because the individual does not have the tools to sustainably achieve their goals. Their tools are hot, fast, and break things. And there will be burnout, resentment, etc.
If one wishes to write a book, the best way to do so would be to devote a solid chunk of time, consistently, to writing. If one attempted to write their entire book in one day, I doubt they would do much writing the following day.
Once again I am brought back to the Taoist idea of acting like water. Or, I suppose, taking inspiration from water. If one wishes to bore through a rock, best practices would be to drip on it consistently. I believe here once again technology is a siren that tempts us with its promises and potential, but leads us feeling empty.
For if one wants to take the putting a hole in a rock metaphor further, why not develop a contraption that blasts pressurized water at the rock? I think here that,
The goal of boring the hole has now been replaced by the goal of constructing a hole boring machine.
When the task is done the accomplishment will not be held by the one who invented the machine, but by the machine itself.
You did not bore that hole, the machine did. And the accomplishment of that task cannot be transitively bestowed onto you. And to zoom out even further, how foolish it is to expend so much effort into creating a clever machine, when all along we have all known that one can bore a hole through a rock by simply dripping upon it.
Congratulations, now you have a rock-holing machine, now what will you do with it?