87. Hope For The Present

I dream of a future where my life and the world around me will be better than they are now. This dream can be a source of hope, but it can also become a problem. For I will eventually reach a point in my life where it is unlikely that things will get better for me personally. They will instead begin to alternate between staying the same and getting slowly worse. This is not pessimism but the actual reality of aging for every human being.

86. A Chance At Real Life

Nothing ever changes. It’s the the same people talking about the same things, over and over again. The same discussions, the same debates, the same images, in endless repetition. Everyone wants to talk about what they know, what they believe, and what they think is right. All you can do is smile and nod.

Whatever is called “new” is not really new for you. It’s just mechanical variations on worn out themes. The new thing exists to satisfy the very same desires that existed the day before. The same solutions are distributed and redistributed without end, and it sometimes feels like no alternatives are even possible.

85. To Be Creative

You’re just living your life when, suddenly, you have an idea. The idea feels weighty because it’s entirely new and different. The more you think about it, the more important and exciting it seems. You play with it in your mind and you begin to imagine what you could do with it.

And then you get drawn back into the activity of daily life. Reminded of all the things you have to do and all the things you want to do, you quickly lose interest in your idea. When you do happen to think of it, you tell yourself it’s impossible to do anything with it, and the idea loses its lustre. You eventually decide to let it go.

84. Necessary And Contingent

I pick up a rock from the ground and I let it go. It falls back to the ground. I pick it up again, and I let it go again. It still falls to the ground. I repeat the process several more times. The rock falls to the ground every single time. I conclude that the rock will always fall to the ground. This process of reasoning is called induction.

83. When The Windows Are Open

The windows are open and they will stay open. She opens them in the spring and keeps them that way into the fall, only closing them briefly whenever there is rain. But it rarely rains in the dry season, so the windows are almost never closed in the summer.

The windows must stay open because she needs continuity between the space inside and the space outside. When the air inside differs too much from the air outside, she begins to feel claustrophobic, as though she were trapped underground and isolated from the world. But with the windows open, the air is all one and the same, so she feels connected to the world outside. She feels connected to everything, to all that exists, and that makes her feel more alive.

82. Tragic Lessons

You’re watching a dramatic film with a complex plot and relatable characters. The film is beautiful but it’s also difficult to watch. The characters struggle endlessly with their problems, and things keep going badly for them. For a variety of reasons, they are unable to catch a break.

You can’t help but empathize with their concerns and feelings. The protagonist is a good person but she keeps making mistakes. Her mistakes bring great harm and suffering. She suffers and the people around her suffer. It’s painful to watch this unfold. There’s a sinking feeling inside you that you can’t seem to shake. It’s the sense that tragedy is inevitable. The story cannot possibly end well.

81. A Pernicious Illusion

The idea that I am a cohesive individual is a pernicious illusion. In this illusory reality, I am a self fully separate from all others. I see my desires and beliefs as fundamental expressions of the identity of this separate self. And I can easily raise my separate self above others out of vanity or pride.

An individuality where there is only a separate self set against the world as background is not sustainable. It puts me in conflict with everything and everyone I do not take to be part of me. This perpetual state of conflict means I produce endless strife and suffering for myself and others.

80. Addicted To Machines

We are addicted to machines. Machines help us solve material problems quickly and efficiently. With more machines, we can solve more problems, so there is always an incentive to build more machines. Meanwhile, we continuously develop new technologies that expand the scope of problems machines are able to address, so the demand for machines grows without end.

Human beings have real material needs and machines help us meet those needs. To argue we would be better off without machines would be an error. But by avoiding this mistake we have fallen into another one. We now tend to think that because machines can solve so many problems, they can eventually solve all of our problems. We now tend to see everything as a material problem that can be solved by instrumental means. It is through these tendencies that our addiction has formed.

79. Embracing Limits

We do not want to be restricted to being merely this or that. We want to be total, complete, unlimited. Any limitation is seen as a flaw, a problem to be overcome. We want to transcend our limits and become so much more than we presently are.

To transcend is to grow and the value of growth is undeniable. When we grow, we extend ourselves beyond what we could do in the past, and gain the ability to create new benefits for ourselves and others. But valuing growth does not mean every limit should be seen as a flaw that diminishes our own value.