Jimmy Hendrix didn't get his masters in guitar. Michaelangelo did not go to an MFA program. And Dali didn't borrow $50,000 to paint. You are an IDIOT if you pay for get an advanced degree in art.
Whole Foods turns out to be....not so wholesome. Of course, the hipster lefties never really cared about it's organicness or "greeness." It's just for them to gloat over non-green/organic people. Just, you know, don't tell them it's about as valid as any other religious practice like communion or praying 5 times a day.
Roosh expands on a dangerous and ironic cliff men who are successful will look over - that once you succeed, you will be unhappy, until you find something else to achieve, which upon succeeding at, will render you unhappy once again, until you find something else...and so the spiral continues. I have yet to find a solution to it.
And great writers don't study "Creative Writing". Examples? T.S.Eliot, James Joyce; and at a more journalistic level, Mark Steyn. All three are great writers.
ReplyDeleteThe following excerpts are highly relevant ...
ReplyDelete---
"The form most contradictory to human life that can appear among the human species is the 'self-satisfied man'. Consequently, when he becomes the predominant type, it is time to raise the alarm and to announce that humanity is threatened with degeneration, that is, with relative death."
...
"He is a man who has entered upon life to do 'what he jolly well likes'. This, in fact, is the illusion suffered by the fils de famille. We know the reason why: in the family circle, everything, even the greatest faults, are in the long run left unpunished. The family circle is relatively artificial, and tolerates many acts which in society, in the world outside, would automatically involve disastrous consequences for their author. But the man of this type thinks that he can behave outside just as he does at home; believes that nothing is fatal, irremediable, irrevocable."
...
"We can quite well turn away from our true destiny, but only to fall a prisoner in the deeper dungeons of our destiny. I cannot make this clear to each of my readers in what concerns his individual destiny as such, because I do not know each of my readers; but it is possible to make it clear in those portions, those facets, of his destiny which are identical with those of others."
...
"Abasement, degradation is simply the manner of life of the man who has refused to be what it is his duty to be. This, his genuine being, none the less does not die; rather is changed into an accusing shadow, a phantom which constantly makes him feel the
inferiority of the life he lives compared with the one he ought to live. The debased man survives his self-inflicted death."
---
Excerpted from "The Revolt of the Masses",
José Ortega y Gasset, 1930
"I have yet to find a solution to it."
ReplyDeleteDamien Diecke did a video on Happiness at The 21 Convention. You can watch it on youtube if you want.
But he discusses why setting goals and achieving them is not the key to happiness.
The jist of it was to not set goals, but have pursuits. So not the goal "lose 20 lbs in 6 months" but instead you make health a life pursuit. So there is no destination to get to, or thing you need to buy, or something you need to accomplish before you're finally happy.
You can pursue health, wealth, adventure, women, etc.
Of course you might still need to set goals within your pursuits, but he recommends only short term goals.
Don't set any goals you can't accomplish in a week. So don't save $500,000 for retirement. Long term goals can be paralyzing and lead to procrastination, and you also have to wait a long time for temporary happiness. Instead have a goal that you can do this week. So if you know you're making $500 this week, with $200 in expenses this week, then have a goal to save $300 this week. Don't worry about next week or the week before.
And specifics don't matter with the life pursuits you choose for yourself.
Gore Vidal: "Teachers and the taught are to be avoided". Vidal himself enlisted in the Navy after graduating High School, just in time for WW II, and never attended college. That somehow did not affect his long and successful career as a writer (books, plays, TV and movies).
ReplyDelete"I have yet to find a solution to it."
ReplyDeletereligious practice like communion or praying 5 times a day
With the exception of T.S. Eliot, I'm still waiting for an example of 'great' on that list. Given that list, I'd say greatness is a bug, not a feature, of post-secondary education.
ReplyDeleteAs for Roosh's proposal, #1 and #3 make more sense to me on a personal level; I suppose it's a gauntlet to run as you age, for driven folks. The #2 one is pretty iffy, considering that Buddhism as it's practiced is 90%+ a construct of hippy masturbation fantasies and some creative editing of dates and translations. Christ, at least most westernersof any faith (or none) at least QUESTION the origins and validity of the bible. Buddhism is just another controlling religion. I would think Stoicism would make more sense to embrace, for the thinking man who values critical thinking skills.
Not that any of that provides happiness. Paraphrasing Denis Leary, happiness is eating the cookie, smoking the cigarette, the 5 seconds of an orgasm. It's far too easy to conflate happiness with contentment, and that's just not kosher.