Until recently, I haven’t fully appreciated the fact that water cuts through rock by sheer persistence. I was too chill to see how stone cold outward forces can be, and how eventually attrition can break one down, causing you to fold and eventually cutting through your essence. In this post, I want to address exactly that, and in upcoming articles, I want to explore what Game Theory can teach us about these situations.
Rock ‘n Roll Out of The Abyss
My long hiatus was by no means planned. During the (out)break, I sustained several hits. I had rock solid plans, like pursuing a business idea for example and expanding this blog, that eventually hit a brick wall. To the nescient bystander, I may have had the mien of a thin-skined humpty dumpty. They wouldn’t know of course, that a more likely comparison would be graphene going beyond the stress threshold. It was a dark time. I wrestled with nihilism and barely escaped the full wrath of its fangs. Perhaps even, a bite made me bitter.
“He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you.”
Nietzsche Beyond Good and Evil: Prelude to a Philosophy of the Future (1886), Chapter IV. Apophthegms and Interludes
The problem with being a ‘rock’ i.e. a virtous, reliable person, is perhaps analogous to the problem of having power. You rarely see things for what they are. People either suck-up to you by displaying a deceitful veneer or outright try to use you as a means to their idiosyncratic ends. This can wear you down. To get a more accurate map of the world then, it helps to relinquish responsibilities and control for a time (if possible of course). This will serve as a refractory period of some sort. You get to clean your lens, reflect on events, and refine strategies going forward. Like, chill G. Find time to savour some rock and roll. As Nietzsche expressed, if you gaze into an abyss, it will gaze back. My interpretation, and one shared by many of his critiques, is that a person who sees nothing but monsters and vices might develop an affinity for monsters and vices. It is likely that you may start virtue signaling or become a moral saint which are themselves a vice and a monster respectively.
Origami and a Paper Trail
Aside from simply taking a break, another powerful tool in the kit, often overlooked, is paper. I mean, think about it; contracts, religious texts, the aesthetic value of origami – one would go as far as to say that paper has shaped who we are as a species. Why not use it to your advantage then? During my period of gloom, I developed a newfound love for books (non fiction). Just the thought of productive intellectual discourse became exhilarating, be it some imaginary debate or being on the listening end of a monologue by various scholars. It helps also to keep check of your progress; something of a personal paper trail. Journal extensively. You get to see where exactly you are and where improvements can be made. That leads us to the final method I found useful.
Scissors
Don’t be afraid to do away with the non-essential parts of your existence. After your evaluation, make sure to prune yourself. Remove the deadwood and set them ablaze. Ensure that you are the last person that stands in the way of you achieving what you want to.
So all in all, remember that no matter how solid you are as a person, consistent exposure to people or situations not congruent with your core beliefs or aims, will wear you down eventually. To mitigate these effects, take a break from people, read more, try to appreciate the aesthetics of various artforms and keep a clear process paper trail on yourself. Lastly, do away with whatever toxic habits you may have that doesn’t serve you well.
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TechnoNovus 