What was carved on our foreheads that says "Cannot grow?" What was carved on our foreheads that says "Stay small - Stay little - Don't attract attention - Don't offend - Don't upset people - Don't contradict - Don't confront?" I don't believe that that's carved on my god damned DNA, and I don't believe that that's carved on your DNA either. I think that's just frightened people boxing us in because they're small, and I've had it with that...I've had it with that.
There is nothing in our DNA that says we cannot speak the truth because people will get upset. So they get upset, so what? So what? You don't want to go to your grave--I don't--I don't want to go to my grave saying to myself, "Well, I didn't ruffle too many feathers. People liked me. They didn't know me well, and I certainly didn't reveal my true self to them...didn't even know what it was. But I got along. I sort of passed through life like a javelin into a still pond with barely a ripple. That is my legacy." That about 18 minutes after I die people say, "Oh yeah that guy," and without the aid of photographs they can barely remember my face. And without the aid of letters and e-mails, they can barely remember my words.
That's not what I want for me. That's certainly not what I want for you. There is nothing written into anything within us, deep within us that says we must be small.- Stefan Molyneux
A YouTube video on the lovely mammoth largeness that humanity can achieve:
(YouTube link)
This video by Nielsio contains audio from a podcast by Stefan Molyneux. Molyneux has an amazing way of picking out the perfect metaphors to describe ideas, which the writer in me loves. This video has no shortage, as he explains that humans are not naturally timid, but must be ground into submission. The way out of this seeming natural timidity, of course, is to deny those who would grind us down the opportunity--to instead sharpen our swords of virtue, reason, and integrity on their grinding stones. To save virtue in humanity, we must actively seek out what is virtuous and then live it. To bring reason to humanity, we must know logic and its consequences and then live it. To give the world integrity, and to preserve and foster our own, we must be willing to understand virtue and reason. And then...then we must be willing to live it. Fully, invitingly, publicly, we must live it.
I'm having a particularly heavy day from a cognitive dissonance standpoint. I hold a number of philosophical ideas in the abstract that I'm not living out as completely as I could. It's ironic, considering my history (and therefore length of preparation and amount of knowledge) on the topic. With aesthetic problems like a desire to lose weight, cognitive dissonance has always popped up but never motivated a change. With lifestyle choices like being drawn to video games when I feel like I might more productively use my time, it's only ever been a passing anxiety. But not living according to the logical consequences of a reasoned philosophy is completely crippling. I feel it all: confusion, doubt, anxiety, self-hate, depression. I feel it all, but I know these emotions are not my own, they have been inflicted on me by those who would grind me down.
I do not hate myself, but simply display the projected hatred others show in the face of my allegiance to rationality. It's not me who doubts myself, but teachers from the past who doubted me to stew confusion and uncertainty into my young, curious brain. I'm not confused. In fact, I've never been more certain of the definitions of virtue, integrity, and of the power and accuracy of logic and the scientific method. This confusion belongs to someone else, and it's high fucking time I give credit where it's due. If I don't, I'm stuck with all of this crippling scar tissue of depression, anxiety, and last night's late entrant to the race, insomnia. If my certainty is upsetting to some people, so what? They can either show me where I've gone wrong logically, or we can talk about the roots of their feelings, or they can be the ones to shut up for a change. It's high time I step beyond thinking and talking philosophy, and into the living, breathing, and doing of philosophy.
Living to the best of my ability does not mean doing the best I can given the social constrictions of the world. It means staying consistent with my values even when--especially when--it makes me uncomfortable. Philosophy can be a dangerous tool for those who know it and willingly misuse it, but just as dangerous is for those who know philosophy and still refrain from living it.
I'm having a particularly heavy day from a cognitive dissonance standpoint. I hold a number of philosophical ideas in the abstract that I'm not living out as completely as I could. It's ironic, considering my history (and therefore length of preparation and amount of knowledge) on the topic. With aesthetic problems like a desire to lose weight, cognitive dissonance has always popped up but never motivated a change. With lifestyle choices like being drawn to video games when I feel like I might more productively use my time, it's only ever been a passing anxiety. But not living according to the logical consequences of a reasoned philosophy is completely crippling. I feel it all: confusion, doubt, anxiety, self-hate, depression. I feel it all, but I know these emotions are not my own, they have been inflicted on me by those who would grind me down.
I do not hate myself, but simply display the projected hatred others show in the face of my allegiance to rationality. It's not me who doubts myself, but teachers from the past who doubted me to stew confusion and uncertainty into my young, curious brain. I'm not confused. In fact, I've never been more certain of the definitions of virtue, integrity, and of the power and accuracy of logic and the scientific method. This confusion belongs to someone else, and it's high fucking time I give credit where it's due. If I don't, I'm stuck with all of this crippling scar tissue of depression, anxiety, and last night's late entrant to the race, insomnia. If my certainty is upsetting to some people, so what? They can either show me where I've gone wrong logically, or we can talk about the roots of their feelings, or they can be the ones to shut up for a change. It's high time I step beyond thinking and talking philosophy, and into the living, breathing, and doing of philosophy.
Living to the best of my ability does not mean doing the best I can given the social constrictions of the world. It means staying consistent with my values even when--especially when--it makes me uncomfortable. Philosophy can be a dangerous tool for those who know it and willingly misuse it, but just as dangerous is for those who know philosophy and still refrain from living it.
2 comments:
A lot of people want to believe it's cared in their DNA precisely because they're afraid of the repercussions. They are afraid that they will lose their job or (like me) have a hard time getting one. I'm always being told "You've grown too big" (another way of saying, "you're overqualified"), but I madly continue to grow and learn.
Thank you for writing this brilliant post, I deeply sympathize.
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