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naraburns  nihil supernum  1yr ago (text post)   3772 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for October 9, 2022

Do you have a dumb question that you're kind of embarrassed to ask in the main thread? Is there something you're just not sure about?

This is your opportunity to ask questions. No question too simple or too silly.

Culture war topics are accepted, and proposals for a better intro post are appreciated.

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I'm generally astonished when I hang out with people who don't appear to be trying to improve themselves. Not continuously learning, not growing, not getting fit, not working on solving these big gigantic problems grinding away at their lives.

How do these people get up in the morning? I feel like a basic transition from childhood to adulthood is learning that base pleasure seeking is a fleeting distraction at best and that the purpose of life is to grow in as many dimensions as possible. Is this considered some kind of elite worldview. Maybe it is, but what do others replace it with? How do they wake up in the morning? Are they... happy? Are you one of the "they" I'm talking about? How do you see the world?

I do not do much improving because of inextricable low energy and some health problems. Most want to be a better version of themselves, but there are hindrances in the way. For lots of Americans I think there are emotional and psychological blockades.

Life is all base pleasure seeking. The only thing that changes is what you consider pleasurable. You can unflatteringly paint them as dull hedonists; they can unflatteringly paint you as an insecure gloryhound. You cannot understand why they are motivated by pleasure; they cannot understand why you aren't.

With apologies for sounding like a sneering monocle guy: my self-improvement/growth mindset is also a form of pleasure seeking. I consider mine more enlightened (mature), I suppose. Sophisticated pleasure-seeking, rather than base.

And the hedonist would argue that you are simply seeking a feeling of superiority. Your desire for knowledge and learning is why you see those things as valuable, not the other way around. Your innate preferences are not mature or immature.

Why do I do difficult things? Because I feel better accomplishing them than not. Why don't I drink? Because I dont want to. Any further rationalization is just delusion.

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