The more we understand the more nuance we unravel. When we don’t understand then we tend to think very black-and-white, either-or; It’s understandable, since the first nuance we pick is INDIVIDUATION: how something is distinguished from other things. This creates the fundamental dichotomy between the THING discussed and everything else (that this thing is not); Curiously, this is where the nuance often ends for most people.
Thus:
-it’s either WIN OR LOSE
-it’s either you or them
-it’s either dayjob or a business
-it’s either you’re right or they’re right
-it’s either rich or poor
-it’s either all or nothing
-it’s either good or bad
-it’s either left or right
-it’s either this candidate or that candidate
etc
ALL THOSE STEREOTYPICAL DICHOTOMIES ARE WRONG…:
-exciting boring
-rich poor
-free or confined
-dayjob or entrepreneur
-adventurous traveller or boring suburban life
-cool and lame
-winner loser
-etc
The real dichotomies, the real battle is:
-creative or not
-resourceful or not
-expanding or not
–ELEVATION or stagnation
–value-creating or not
-intelligent or not
-living, being alive, or lingering, being a living death
-open or closed
-exploration or inertia
-INDIVIDUAL or anti-individual
-what you WANT or NOT
None of that is earned
Your outside “circumstances” are “earned” (only NOT really)
But how you live EVERY DAY is HOW YOU LIVE EVERY DAY. You can’t “earn it” in advance, you have to show up every day.
Every single day
Every single day you choose — are you creative? Are you resourceful? Are you excited about living? Will you explore this vast world? Will you challenge the unknown? Will you challenge yourself? Will you be ALIVE?
It’s something you do every day, and once the day is over — you start again
Past doesn’t matter. Future doesn’t matter. Only TODAY matters.
And TODAY is what defines you
TODAY is what defines you
Not your circumstances
Your circumstances are of the past
When you DIE in your grand palace or in a homeless shelter or or in a monastery — it doesn’t really matter where you’re lying dead, does it? You’re DEAD all the same.
HOW YOU LIVE EVERY DAY — HOW ALIVE AND ACTIVE AND CREATIVE YOU ARE EVERY DAY — is the only thing that matters,
No circumstance can change it
When you’re dead – no circumstance makes it any better
The only dichotomy is ALIVE OR DEAD
All then worldly, false dichotomies, false medals and trophies, are but a way to GRATIFY OUR EGOS, and BEGUILE ourselves that we’re actually living
Hasbeens (everyone whose not doing something new is a hasbeen) delude themselves of what they had done and gratify themselves with their cool labels and cool toys and cool pictures from cool places…
And the rest of us harbour delusions of “making it” once, and pity our poor current situations!
When in reality — when you’re alive — when you’re LIVING and RIGHT NOW making the MOST out of it all — you’ve made it
It’s the only way to make it
and it’s not just naive idealism and spiritual pep-talk
verily:
-you can own a business and still be a wage-slave
-you can be employed and enjoy more freedom then a rockstar
-you can be a rockstar and an utter slave to substance abuse
-you can be a rockstar and not be creative at all, be less creative then a fucking bookkeeper
-you can be a bookkeeper and have an exciting side-project
-you can be rich and still be bored, despite all toys and possibilities, and you can be broke and be mesmerised by reality every single day of your life
-you can be the greatest man alive and still not be loved, and you can be no one and still be loved
We’re so melodramatic about what’s a GOOD LIFE: pictures from Italy, Lamborginis, your last 5 star dinner, bikini pictures, fake smiles, fake words of enthusiasm, insincere goals that others will approve of…
Melodramatic for we’re just confused
We don’t know how to live
We think “living the life” is everywhere else but today
We think “success” is everywhere else but today
You’re a SUCCESS if you DO WHAT YOU WANT TODAY (or AS MUCH of what you want as you could)
I want you to dispense ENTIRELY with the notions of what a GOOD LIFE is supposed to LOOK on the OUTSIDE, what a SUCCESS is supposed to look on the outside
I want thine only criterion to be HOW YOU LIVED TODAY,
WHAT YOU DID TODAY
HOW YOU MADE TODAY BETTER
HOW YOU’VE BEEN CREATIVE
I want you to be PROUD of every day you lived well
I want your BIO to say that you LIVED THE BEST YOU COULD, TODAY, DID THE MOST OUT OF TODAY
When people ask you how you’re doing — I want you to tell them WHAT YOU DID TODAY, and why you’re excited about it
If people ask you what you do — I want you to tell them WHAT YOU DID TODAY, and why you’re excited about it
When people ask you about your plans — I want you to tell them WHAT YOU DID TODAY, why you’re excited about it
I want you to take this in deeply, not just in theory
From now on — you are NOT YOUR JOB, NOT YOUR PLANS, NOT YOUR MARRIAGE, NOT YOUR FAMILY, NOT YOUR DUTIES, NOT YOUR PROJECT, NOT YOUR CREDENTIALS, NOT YOUR WALLET, NOT YOUR INVESTMENTS, NOT YOUR IDEAS, NOT YOUR FACEBOOK, NOT YOUR FOLLOWERS, NOT YOUR LIKES, NOT YOUR MAKE UP, NOT YOUR CAREER, NOT YOUR FRIENDS
You are only WHAT YOU DID TODAY, WITH TODAY
If you failed to LIVE today — shame on you
If you lived today — there’s nothing more