Question: Is this person your hero because of his views?

If the answer is no, then your worship may continue uninterrupted.

It’s a problem if my doctors, experts, or leaders reason poorly; it’s irrelevant if my entertainment icon – who I adore for his ability to entertain – thinks suboptimally.

What if it’s always there for the taking?

You want it, you get it.

It only ever feels magical because we want it to feel magical.

It only ever feels out-of-reach because, in that moment, other priorities reign.

when you are rooting for people to die.

It’s easy to delude yourself into believing you aren’t doing this, but you are.

Wanting those hypocrite protesters to cause a surge?

Wanting those idiot rally attendees to be punished?

Wanting those reckless leaders to be wrong?

Yea, stop hoping that people die.

There is seeing X.

There is also seeing X AND seeing how others see X. In this modern version of witnessing, truth is more easily obscured. Do you not like X, or is that you just don’t like the way others view X? 

There are limits to animus in clearly seeing X, even if X is loathsome, that are easily exceeded when one is reacting no longer to merely X itself, but to the people who view X differently (a.k.a. more favorably).

This excess animus is possible because responding viciously to opinions is more acceptable, more justified than when responding to an actual individual’s actual actions. Furthermore, the clarity of only seeing X as X necessarily involves understanding, which leads to some level of compassion, which blunts hatred.

A risk inherent in the perform-better-each-day (PBED) mentality is that one may well be tempted to coast upon realizing he’s massively outperforming at, say, the halfway mark. The temptation is two-fold:

1. Trying hard is hard, so if giving anything less than will keep PBEB intact, comfort AND success can be achieved with easy effort.
2. Outperforming too greatly jeopardizes the entire PBED enterprise. Marginal improvements are absorbable, Carl Lewis-leaps are not.

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PBED tends to ignore the non-linear nature of progress. When detached from the tidy narrative society tells itself about a neat work-in-work-out process of progress, a reality is revealed where seemingly no progress, despite great practice, is made for long stretches. Then, as if by magic, massive gains are suddenly achieved. Of course, we will still fight to cram this genre of progress into a narrative … and this will be a mistake. The lesson: randomness plays a larger role in progress than any of us feel comfortable admitting.

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Your 100% is absolutely contingent on the context, some of which you can comprehend, most of which you cannot.

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(more…)

is not telling people that you are fasting.

Sharing your willingness to either be (a) very kind (think volunteer work) or (b) do challenging things (i.e., fasting) are bankable ways to gain “social credibility.” While it’s completely natural to covet esteem, being overly driven by this desire is to remove a pureness in the activity. Are you doing this because you want to do it, or because you think other people will be impressed?

The less external validation you need, the greater the inner peace you will have.

is that you may have to live a truly different life, not merely reside as a fascinating outlier on the inside (which is probably superior).

You’ll both cherish your uniqueness, but also still long for normal things; your uniqueness will leave that longing unrequited. Or so you’ll think. Is this thinking an honest assessment or a self-pitying excuse?

Or perhaps the longing itself is the false, manufactured result of existing in a world where the insider ethic is broadcast with great force and regularity such that it’s easy to think you want things you don’t truly want.

Regardless, you’ll at once craft the ability to live in a fundamentally different way AND leave open the possibility that it doesn’t have to be this way. If that possibility is treated as an option, nothing more, then it’s fine. If veers too strongly into “preference,” the tranquility of alternate existence will be corrupted. Then again, if it’s not at least a little corrupted, who would ever opt in to possibility if and when possibility emerges?

is the smuggest way to say, “You have no idea what you are talking about.”

in witnessing a runner with an impressive pace suddenly stop. This halting reveals that the speed was not, in fact, an impressive pace, but rather a weak finishing kick.

There is something also quite pleasing in seeing a runner needlessly pause at a crosswalk. They’ll posture like they were forced to stop by the bad luck of the oncoming traffic; they may even jog in place trying to prove the cosmic unfairness of it all. We are not fooled. You needed to rest.

I guess these pleasures stem from being reminded of one’s own “goodness” in comparison. Maybe running isn’t your thing and so these examples escape you. That’s fine. Just think of where you do excel and what happens when others don’t measure up. There’s some relatable delight to be found in this exploration. More universally, this pleasant sensation drives the consumption of “Fall from Grace” stories, blooper reels, and reality TV (when people behave stupidly).

Equinox, since any girl wearing an Equinox hat is guaranteed to be fine.