planomateo
Member
I ran across this recently and found it fascinating. Hope some of you find this worthy of some thought.
qz.com
We all experience the world like we are at the center of reality.
We think and we feel in relation to how our senses absorb information and how this information mingles with our personal memories. The subjective perception created by these interactions provides the illusion of importance.
We forget that this perception only exists in our minds and that everyone near us is walking around under exactly the same psychological mindset.
In truth, weāre just one of billions, and over the course of history, everything about us is insignificant. Even people like Newton and Einstein, who we revere for their contributions to humanity, are only slightly less insignificant.
Our universe contains one septillion stars (a one followed by 24 zeroes) and a lot of these stars contain many, many more modes of dust that we call planets. If any of us ceased to exist tomorrow, little would change beyond the subjective emotional states of the people in our immediate circles.
Earth would continue its orbit, and the laws of physics would remain in tact. Weāre nothing more than a fraction of a ripple in an infinite sea of entropy.
Many of us donāt like hearing this. It conflicts with the story our mind tells.
Weāre brought up to think that weāre special, and we like believing it. But I donāt say any of this as a cynic or to depress you. In fact, quite the opposite. I say it because distinguishing between our subjective perception and the objective reality is the key to living a meaningful and important life.
Acknowledging unimportance liberates us from the grips of the self-centered voice in our head thatās chiefly responsible for many of lifeās difficulties.
Itās the voice that compares us to people that donāt matter, itās the same voice that convinces us that weāre entitled to a comfortable and easy life, and itās indeed this voice that has us chasing arbitrary measures of success.
And the result?
We spend our time acquiring things we donāt want or need, we falter at the first sign of hardship and inconvenience, and one day, we wake up to a ticking clock realizing that, all this time, weāve lived somebody elseās life.
The surest way to be unfilled is to walk around like you hold some sort of a privileged position in the universe. Itās not only a completely false and harmful illusion, but it also overlooks the fringe benefits of being a nobody.
Iād like to walk you through them.
1. Being a nobody allows us to truly experience and appreciate the profoundness of the sublime
In 1757, Edmund Burke published one of the most influential works in aesthetics. Itās a branch of philosophy that deals with the nature of beauty.
In it, he separated sensory experiences into āthe beautifulā and āthe sublime.ā
Weāre all familiar with āthe beautiful.ā It can be summarized by the standard definition. We see it every day in the things we find stunning and pleasant. āThe sublime,ā however, is different. Itās more than just visually enticing. Itās overwhelming. It makes us feel small, and it has the power to engulf us.
Itās found when we are in awe at the might of nature, itās experienced in the emotion of love, and itās discovered when we are compelled by a great work of art. Itās a heightened sense of existence beyond comfort and normalcy.
To fully indulge in the sublime, we have to give up a part of ourselves. We are forced to accept a degree of inferiority for a connection to something greater. The risk of vulnerability is balanced by the reward of ecstasy.
No one is immune from experiencing this wonder, but an ego and a deep sense of personal importance get in the way. They seek ecstasy without accepting vulnerability, and they then find themselves cornered with fear.
There is nothing desirable about it. It leads to a kind of paralysis that steals the potential of experiencing some of the great joys in life. It may be masked with humor or rationality, but in truth, itās nothing more than insecurity.
Being a nobody, you donāt have this problem. You accept that youāre already naked, so you may as well put it on display to try and gain something.
More often than not, you do.
2. Being a nobody frees us from the irrational pressures and expectations of an uncertain world
We live our lives guided by labels and hierarchies. Itās how we make sense of a complex reality. That said, these labels and hierarchies arenāt absolute.
A tree isnāt a tree because a law of nature has defined it as a tree. Itās a tree because our cognitive brains have learned to understand it as such. Itās our way of translating sensory noise into a mode of organization thatās useful.
This is a crucial distinction. Our observation of reality is an approximation confined by the boundaries of language. Itās uncertain and in large part unpredictable. As the late Nobel Laureate Albert Camus noted, we live to reason with an unreasonable world and it often leads to a conflicted life.
When you bind these labels and hierarchies too closely to your identity, you anchor your expectations to things that are fundamentally fragile.
If you gain your worth from being a CEO and the fact that you wield a degree of power in the context of a business, rather than, say, from intrinsic values, then you will eventually find yourself in a position of conflict.
Life isnāt concerned with your artificial sense of importance. At some point, there will be a divergence between the story you tell yourself and the cold, hard reality. Your net worth wonāt matter, and the fall will be much steeper.
When you are a nobody, however, you donāt pretend that a labelāwhether good or badāis anything more than a figment of our collective imagination. You liberate yourself from many of the petty societal pressures of existence.
You may still assume a certain role with pride, but knowing that it doesnāt make you any more or less important grounds you on a firmer foundation.
Itās a small mental shift that makes a big difference.
3. Being a nobody gives us the humility to realize that itās our struggles that define us, not our desires
When we convince ourselves that weāre more special than what the universe dictates, we tend to develop a sense of entitlement about what life owes us.
We choose to believe the surface-level stories about what happiness and success look like, and we are quick to think that they donāt cost a thing.
The harsh truth is that the universe doesnāt owe anyone anything. Itās utterly indifferent to what you or I want. It exists as it does based on the forces that act on it, and to shape an outcome in our favor, itās on us to pick our battles.
Itās fine and well to want an amazing career, but walking around with the assumption that you deserve one wonāt get you there. Itās the price that you are willing to pay that will. Itās that initial unrewarded work and those long, long hours of blood and sweat and tears with no end in sight that will.
To accept such struggles, it takes humility. It requires you to acknowledge that youāre just like everybody else that wants a great job, a wonderful relationship, and consistent happiness. Your desires arenāt unique.
It means that you accept that the difference isnāt in what you want, but in what you are willing to suffer for. Itās about the trade-offs youāre willing to endure, the beatings youāre willing to take, and itās about knowing that in spite of all of that, the fruits of your labor may still not amount to anything.
Itās about boldly staring life in the face and having the courage to say, āI might not be much, and I know I wonāt always get what I want, but it sure as hell doesnāt mean that I wonāt try.ā
And that, ultimately, is the purpose of life. To try and see reality in its true form and then to do what you can to shape it into what you wish it were.
Youāre already a nobody, and as am I. Weāre not owed anything. The sooner we realize that, the sooner we can focus on the things we can change. And thereās a lot we can change. Itās not easy, but thatās precisely why itās valuable.
Weāre each a negligible part of a vast cosmic entity, and there really is something beautiful about that if you choose to see it for what it is.
This post originally appeared at Personal Growth.Want more? Zat Rana publishes a free weekly newsletter at Design Luck.
The purpose of life is to be a nobody
We all experience the world like we are at the center of reality.
We all experience the world like we are at the center of reality.
We think and we feel in relation to how our senses absorb information and how this information mingles with our personal memories. The subjective perception created by these interactions provides the illusion of importance.
We forget that this perception only exists in our minds and that everyone near us is walking around under exactly the same psychological mindset.
In truth, weāre just one of billions, and over the course of history, everything about us is insignificant. Even people like Newton and Einstein, who we revere for their contributions to humanity, are only slightly less insignificant.
Our universe contains one septillion stars (a one followed by 24 zeroes) and a lot of these stars contain many, many more modes of dust that we call planets. If any of us ceased to exist tomorrow, little would change beyond the subjective emotional states of the people in our immediate circles.
Earth would continue its orbit, and the laws of physics would remain in tact. Weāre nothing more than a fraction of a ripple in an infinite sea of entropy.
Many of us donāt like hearing this. It conflicts with the story our mind tells.
Weāre brought up to think that weāre special, and we like believing it. But I donāt say any of this as a cynic or to depress you. In fact, quite the opposite. I say it because distinguishing between our subjective perception and the objective reality is the key to living a meaningful and important life.
Acknowledging unimportance liberates us from the grips of the self-centered voice in our head thatās chiefly responsible for many of lifeās difficulties.
Itās the voice that compares us to people that donāt matter, itās the same voice that convinces us that weāre entitled to a comfortable and easy life, and itās indeed this voice that has us chasing arbitrary measures of success.
And the result?
We spend our time acquiring things we donāt want or need, we falter at the first sign of hardship and inconvenience, and one day, we wake up to a ticking clock realizing that, all this time, weāve lived somebody elseās life.
The surest way to be unfilled is to walk around like you hold some sort of a privileged position in the universe. Itās not only a completely false and harmful illusion, but it also overlooks the fringe benefits of being a nobody.
Iād like to walk you through them.
1. Being a nobody allows us to truly experience and appreciate the profoundness of the sublime
In 1757, Edmund Burke published one of the most influential works in aesthetics. Itās a branch of philosophy that deals with the nature of beauty.
In it, he separated sensory experiences into āthe beautifulā and āthe sublime.ā
Weāre all familiar with āthe beautiful.ā It can be summarized by the standard definition. We see it every day in the things we find stunning and pleasant. āThe sublime,ā however, is different. Itās more than just visually enticing. Itās overwhelming. It makes us feel small, and it has the power to engulf us.
Itās found when we are in awe at the might of nature, itās experienced in the emotion of love, and itās discovered when we are compelled by a great work of art. Itās a heightened sense of existence beyond comfort and normalcy.
To fully indulge in the sublime, we have to give up a part of ourselves. We are forced to accept a degree of inferiority for a connection to something greater. The risk of vulnerability is balanced by the reward of ecstasy.
No one is immune from experiencing this wonder, but an ego and a deep sense of personal importance get in the way. They seek ecstasy without accepting vulnerability, and they then find themselves cornered with fear.
There is nothing desirable about it. It leads to a kind of paralysis that steals the potential of experiencing some of the great joys in life. It may be masked with humor or rationality, but in truth, itās nothing more than insecurity.
Being a nobody, you donāt have this problem. You accept that youāre already naked, so you may as well put it on display to try and gain something.
More often than not, you do.
2. Being a nobody frees us from the irrational pressures and expectations of an uncertain world
We live our lives guided by labels and hierarchies. Itās how we make sense of a complex reality. That said, these labels and hierarchies arenāt absolute.
A tree isnāt a tree because a law of nature has defined it as a tree. Itās a tree because our cognitive brains have learned to understand it as such. Itās our way of translating sensory noise into a mode of organization thatās useful.
This is a crucial distinction. Our observation of reality is an approximation confined by the boundaries of language. Itās uncertain and in large part unpredictable. As the late Nobel Laureate Albert Camus noted, we live to reason with an unreasonable world and it often leads to a conflicted life.
When you bind these labels and hierarchies too closely to your identity, you anchor your expectations to things that are fundamentally fragile.
If you gain your worth from being a CEO and the fact that you wield a degree of power in the context of a business, rather than, say, from intrinsic values, then you will eventually find yourself in a position of conflict.
Life isnāt concerned with your artificial sense of importance. At some point, there will be a divergence between the story you tell yourself and the cold, hard reality. Your net worth wonāt matter, and the fall will be much steeper.
When you are a nobody, however, you donāt pretend that a labelāwhether good or badāis anything more than a figment of our collective imagination. You liberate yourself from many of the petty societal pressures of existence.
You may still assume a certain role with pride, but knowing that it doesnāt make you any more or less important grounds you on a firmer foundation.
Itās a small mental shift that makes a big difference.
3. Being a nobody gives us the humility to realize that itās our struggles that define us, not our desires
When we convince ourselves that weāre more special than what the universe dictates, we tend to develop a sense of entitlement about what life owes us.
We choose to believe the surface-level stories about what happiness and success look like, and we are quick to think that they donāt cost a thing.
The harsh truth is that the universe doesnāt owe anyone anything. Itās utterly indifferent to what you or I want. It exists as it does based on the forces that act on it, and to shape an outcome in our favor, itās on us to pick our battles.
Itās fine and well to want an amazing career, but walking around with the assumption that you deserve one wonāt get you there. Itās the price that you are willing to pay that will. Itās that initial unrewarded work and those long, long hours of blood and sweat and tears with no end in sight that will.
To accept such struggles, it takes humility. It requires you to acknowledge that youāre just like everybody else that wants a great job, a wonderful relationship, and consistent happiness. Your desires arenāt unique.
It means that you accept that the difference isnāt in what you want, but in what you are willing to suffer for. Itās about the trade-offs youāre willing to endure, the beatings youāre willing to take, and itās about knowing that in spite of all of that, the fruits of your labor may still not amount to anything.
Itās about boldly staring life in the face and having the courage to say, āI might not be much, and I know I wonāt always get what I want, but it sure as hell doesnāt mean that I wonāt try.ā
And that, ultimately, is the purpose of life. To try and see reality in its true form and then to do what you can to shape it into what you wish it were.
Youāre already a nobody, and as am I. Weāre not owed anything. The sooner we realize that, the sooner we can focus on the things we can change. And thereās a lot we can change. Itās not easy, but thatās precisely why itās valuable.
Weāre each a negligible part of a vast cosmic entity, and there really is something beautiful about that if you choose to see it for what it is.
This post originally appeared at Personal Growth.Want more? Zat Rana publishes a free weekly newsletter at Design Luck.
