One More Robot Learns to Be...

[Satori]

...something more than a machine

For all our talk of complexity and superiority, we humans are often very simple creatures. We have so much potential, but most of us fail to use it. Society happily encourages this mediocrity, this stagnation, this suppression of free thought. We go to school and learn facts and ideas, but we don’t learn how to live. We usually don’t even appreciate what we do learn, memorizing facts for the test and then promptly forgetting them. We’re told what to think and what to believe. We spend most of our time doing the same things, until everything becomes automatic. We come home and watch TV, and we know that tomorrow will really be no different from today.

We have become robots, running the same programs over and over. Our days are systematic, requiring no conscious thought. Our minds wander about in fantasy while our lives drift along. We revel in television and other forms of escapism. The spark of creativity, of adventure, is dead. There is no more discovery, no growth.

Look at the people around you. Watch them run their routines day after day. Isn’t it frightening? Like a vast machine, mindlessly carrying out its instructions.

Then consider a little child, too young to have yet fallen into complacency. A child is always exploring, always discovering. A child’s mind is free and alive. What has gone wrong?

Somewhere along the line, we’ve decided to abandon awareness. Our consciousness has retreated into our minds, leaving our subconscious to the menial tasks of daily life. It’s easier to live in a fantasy world than the real one, because truly living in the real world requires tremendous effort.

All around me are people who are afraid to try new things. “I’m not good at that,” they say, or “I don’t do that.” What they’re really saying is that they don’t have a program, a routine for that. Trying it now would require action rather than reaction. The same goes for relationships. Countless men want step-by-step instructions on how to deal with women, because they don’t have a successful program to run. Thus is the popularity of pick-up lines and speed seduction. The idea of actively and creatively interacting with a woman, making their own decisions, is foreign to them.

The AFC and the speed seductionist are one in the same. The seductionist has his scripted lines and open-ended questions while the AFC his his flowers and chocolates. The seductionist may be more practiced and successful in his interactions with women, but both are just running a program. They have an objective and they are doing what they think is necessary to achieve it. There is nothing dynamic or true about this. Their words and actions are calculated, mere tools used to satisfy their desire. The relationship with the other person is illusory.

We fear change and seek to eliminate risk. We choose cold comfort over change; but what more is comfort than not having to think or grow? We would rather do what someone else tells us to do, say what someone else tells us to say, rather than forge our own path. We are a people of reaction, inaction. Action is what we need, and now.

So often do you hear people say “someday” I will do this or that. Someday things will be different, better. Yet how can things change for them when they refuse to change? Action in the future is no action at all, because the present moment is the only time that will ever exist.

It is time to wake up and live our lives. Turn off the TV, turn off your mental programs, and explore again. Regain your childhood freedom and do something new. The world can be a wonderful place, undeserving of the escapist attitude we usually harbor. Only when we truly become conscious and take control of our lives can we realize our true potential. When we begin to think for ourselves, we become fluid. Who we are is no longer some concrete thing that limits us, but something that is completely dependent on who we choose to be.

There are many of you out there who aren’t happy about your appearance, but you aren’t doing anything about it. There are many of you who want to get a girlfriend but are afraid to talk to women. There are many of you who don’t like who you are, but keep being that same person day after day. Wake up! Yes it takes work to change things, it takes awareness and action rather than reaction, but this is a good thing! When you awaken to life and become more than just another part in this machine, you will rise above all around you. While the rest of the world sleeps its waking dreams, you will be free to reach the greatest of heights.

 

[Layla]

Nice Post!:cheer:

 

[October]

GREAT post. Seriously.

 

[TyTe`EyEs]

Very nice.

 

[Visceral]

"Robot Mode" is the result of a world, not just the people in it, that doesn't involve much thought or imagination.

If Life itself demanded more than just mindless obedience and repetitive effort, then I'm sure this wouldn't be as much of a problem.

The details may have changed, and they may even have become more comfortable, but life is still the base toil that it has always been - work as hard as you can just to live long enough to do it again the next day.

You'd be hard pressed to find someone who, after an 8 hour workday, would care enough about anything to do something about it ... because the workaday world doesn't just drain the body and mind, it also drains the soul.

However, I definitely agree with you that the vast majority of people are small-minded and fantasizing drones; I certainly am.

Where might I find the will - the psychic and/or life energy - to do what you suggest before and after a long and tedious day of work or class?

 

[Satori]

Ideally you would want a job that you somewhat enjoy, something that is dynamic and changing rather than the same thing day after day; something that challenges you but also makes you want to face that challenge. Realistically, though, most people will not find a job like this. Our world relies heavily on unpleasant and tedious jobs, because someone has to do these things or everything collapses.

The will to break free of useless routine must come from within. After spending a full day working, it is difficult to go out and do something that takes effort since you're tired and want to just relax. But if you really don't like your job, the time after you get home is the only time you have to really live your life and do things that you want to do. Do you really want to waste that?

 

[sstype]

another great post exploring the matrix mentality of our world.

Today, I was sitting down and studying for my British Literature finals, and I was studying some of the great English poets like Lord Byron, Wordsworth, and Coelridge. It just amazed me how much they had achieved in their lives. One learning FOUR different languages. Another running for political office. Another fighting a war. They were also the greatest poets on top of that!

Those were true MEN. Those who fought, those who constantly challenged themselves, those who refused to conform to the cold comforts of materialistic society. What beautiful minds they had!

All I can say is that I strive to achieve this as well. We all should

 

[Visceral]

Few men see challenge and struggle in the life-affirming, "Whatever doesn't kill me can only make me stronger" way they're supposed to.

To thrive in the midst of what lesser men avoid like the plague ... one can only imagine what such a life must be like.

This is what Nietzsche meant by the "Will to Power", a life lived as a celebration and expansion of one's strength.

I just wish I found all this inspiring rather than daunting; usually the test of character lies in the long-term, in enduring, but here, it is found at the very beginning as well.

And it doesn't get easier with time, only harder - but then a real man wouldn't have it any other way, as he is able to derive satisfaction from pain as well as the pleasure that lies beyond it.

How do they do it? Every man knows that struggle is rewarded with strength, but why do so few care? Why do so few see the struggle as its own reward?

What's wrong with me?

 

[Ironager]

Originally posted by Visceral
Few men see challenge and struggle in the life-affirming, "Whatever doesn't kill me can only make me stronger" way they're supposed to.

To thrive in the midst of what lesser men avoid like the plague ... one can only imagine what such a life must be like.

This is what Nietzsche meant by the "Will to Power", a life lived as a celebration and expansion of one's strength.

I just wish I found all this inspiring rather than daunting; usually the test of character lies in the long-term, in enduring, but here, it is found at the very beginning as well.

And it doesn't get easier with time, only harder - but then a real man wouldn't have it any other way, as he is able to derive satisfaction from pain as well as the pleasure that lies beyond it.

How do they do it? Every man knows that struggle is rewarded with strength, but why do so few care? Why do so few see the struggle as its own reward?

What's wrong with me?

I always like to compare my own life to training in the gym. If you train hard you will experience pain, your muscles will ache and be sore but I have learned to derive pleasure from this feeling.

I actually look forward to training hard in the gym and experiencing those hardships. Why? Not because of the training on itself, but because of the results I get from doing so. And believe me, these results will only come long term, especially when you're natural. It is only because i've experienced these results that I push myself every time again to give it my best, I know it is worth it.

I guess for you to really appreciate the hard work you're doing now, you have to have experienced some kind of results form doing so or at least convince yourself that you WILL get the results you're after.

 

[Visceral]

True, but I'm not talking about tangible results and I never was. Tangible results are icing on the cake compared to the kind of thing I’m talking about:

Originally posted by Toohot4upilot
While you're asleep we're either getting up early or staying up late, hitting the tracks, pushing ourselves, learning, succeeding and failing and rising above the norm... We do it because we absolutely and totally get off on it.

...we're in this indescribable euphoria zone. It's a feeling of being on, of being completely alive and aware. If you haven't been there, then it's like trying to describe color to a person who's been blind since birth. Within this haze of pleasure and pain, there's knowledge and power, self-discipline and self-reliance.

The first time you tried something – anything – I’m sure that it sucked for you, like it does for everyone, especially me. But something made you want to keep going, something immediate enough to satisfy you in the short term.

Since this reward obviously couldn't have come from whatever it was that you were doing (since it sucked), I'm assuming that it came from within ... thus "struggle is its own reward".

Maybe my mind has been poisoned by the myth of instant gratification?

Maybe I'm getting this idea of "struggle is it's own reward" from guys who are so far along in whatever they’re doing that it's good for them no matter what happens ... and that expecting the same for myself is unreasonable?

All I know is that mentally healthy men enjoy the fun and excitement – the sense of living and fulfillment – that comes from new experiences and challenges, but for some inexplicable and incapacitating reason, I don’t.

 

[Satori]

I think I see what you're saying, but correct me if I'm wrong.

The first time you tried something – anything – I’m sure that it sucked for you, like it does for everyone, especially me. But something made you want to keep going, something immediate enough to satisfy you in the short term.

I guess for me it is the conviction that even as I fail at the endeavor that I'm attempting (such as talking to a girl and getting rejected), I am growing stronger. Regardless of how badly one attempt goes, I KNOW that I'm one step closer to my goals. A failed approach or attempt in the traditional sense of failure becomes a personal success in my mind, because I have overcome a fear or destroyed a self-limitation.

There is always a reward; if there was nothing to gain of something, no one would choose to do it. In this case the reward is an ego boost, an increased confidence, a gaining of experience.

The actual experience may be awkward and unenjoyable, but the knowledge of its positive effect can be an effective motivator if you're disciplined enough to seek long term improvement over instant gratification.

By the way, from what post did you get that quote? I'd like to read it.

 

[Visceral]

That quote is from here: http://www.sosuave.net/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=74191

Yes, an ego boost - that's what I want out of everything I do, new and old, more so than any amount of tangible benefit. I have never experienced an ego boost.

My psychologist has mentioned the conscious aspect of all this - reminding yourself of what you've done and knowing that good things will come - but I find it too quiet, impotent even, when faced with the "I hate doing _______! Why does life require so much effort?" and "Finally, it's over! Now I can stop struggling and go watch TV." feelings I normally have before, during, and after doing something.