The most prestigious law school admissions discussion board in the world.
|
 |
 
|
"addiction" beats honest to goodness "motivation" every time
Poast new message in this thread
Date: December 12th, 2017 6:59 AM Author: impressive indian lodge mad cow disease (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3825731&forum_id=2#34896629) |
Date: December 12th, 2017 7:00 AM Author: impressive indian lodge mad cow disease I do the same things because that's what I do and it's a habit to do them. No further rationale is needed; my anterior cingulate cortex takes care of it. Checking the balance of pleasure and pain before you act is a sure way to a loser life. This is one of the little paradoxes of living. (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3825731&forum_id=2#34896631) |
 |
Date: December 12th, 2017 8:29 AM Author: dull gaped home The first part of your poast is true in a reductionist way. The second is your spin, and I disagree. What do you think about the 12 Step theory that you break the habit (as chemically hard-wired into your brain as it is) by training yourself to focus on the needs of other people and not your own whims and desires? (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3825731&forum_id=2#34896939) |
|
Date: December 12th, 2017 8:41 AM Author: impressive indian lodge mad cow disease Thank you for your response.
The source of your disagreement is unclear to me. Your reference to AA suggests you think I'm proposing addiction to a SUBSTANCE is what drives greatness. Not so. My OP refers to addiction to solo practice or other self-improvement behaviors. Obsessive drive, rather than emotionally-valenced motivation.
An addiction to mastery draws on the same boom and bust mechanics as a simple chemical addiction: it requires an ebb and flow of self-loathing ("my work is shit, I must improve it"); receptivity; and self-regard, flowing back into self-loathing. There is a vital difference, though, in that in mastery behaviors you inevitably build yourself, whereas with addiction to alcohol or similar you progressively tear yourself down.
Take survey of the supreme craftsmen, true masters, in any high-skill ceiling field of endeavor you choose. You'll find obsessiveness runs through them all. Pleasure and pain simply cannot motivate like obsessiveness does. (NB: the Greatest Ones oft show an obsessive period in youth, then they "become obsessed with obsessiveness" or "master mastery" and emerge in a Zenlike state - but this is very rare).
To your other point, the twelve step method of inculcating pro-social behaviors by focusing on the needs of others seems fine and well to me. I've no doubt alcoholics and addicts are selfish, their thoughts flow into an absorbing state of immediate gratification, and training them to take the needs of others into account can be beneficial. After all, not everybody learned to do so as a kid, and many of us forget. That said, it seems to me to offer little improvement of advice, unchanged since Aristotle, to select right actions and right thoughts (i.e., ones that create the type of person you'd like to be in the community you'd like to live in) over wrong. |
|
Date: December 12th, 2017 8:56 AM Author: dull gaped home Thank you, brother, for this fascinating clarification and expansion of your premise. The MGTOW crowd likes to quote true masters (accurately? no idea) who had no time for wives because their pursuit of excellence was so all-consuming. So, returning to your reference to the anterior cingulate cortex, I assume there is some mechanism of dopamine-jizzing going on in the brain during times of breakthrough success and adulation.
Of course, taken from the psychological or "spiritual" (a loaded AA term) perspective, this can be labeled as pride. I mean pride as the most pervasive of the Seven Deadly Sins, causing us to feel at times the center of attention and at others uniquely broken and irreparable. While the pursuit of mastery may seem antithetical to alcoholism -- with one based on self-improvement and the other self-destruction -- mastery fueled by pride will quickly degrade the spirit and sever connections to other people and the world. Mastery in isolation is soul death.
Query then, brother, whether the right thought and right action of Aristotle or the Buddhists would ever support the pursuit of mastery to the exclusion of vital spiritual connections. |
|
Date: December 12th, 2017 9:01 AM Author: impressive indian lodge mad cow disease I take the point about pride - though I tend to see alcoholism as a one-two-three punch of envy, pride, and sloth, in that order.
To your question, Aristotle would advocate for a balanced life. Buddha was himself a crazed addict of spiritual practice, as his life story makes plain - but, importantly, he rounded out after learning his craft, and then began to advocate a MIDDLE WAY: one which is good in the middle, beginning, and end. Hence the two are in unity, and both would very likely disapprove of the modern obsessives who have brought the level so very high in so many zero-sum games of skill.
Truth be told, these obsessives are like candles that light the world - they burn themselves out, that we may see a bit better. It is quite sad, but the pretty little hate machine of modernity demands their sacrifice, and they all-too-willingly leap into the flames.
I would argue balance is possible, even in attaining utmost mastery. But it requires recognizing the little demon for what it is, and learning to yoke it to good ends. This is the type of practice that must be passed from old to young -- but the boomers have done all they can to break that chain. |
|
Date: December 12th, 2017 9:13 AM Author: dull gaped home I'll not take this opportunity to debate sloth in the context of alcoholics, as it would detract from the more important point you make it here. Instead I will simply note that the life of an alcoholic requires the strength of will and the firm commitment to push through chemotherapeutic pain daily, envision ways in which others will detect the extent of consumption and evade that detection, and all the while suppress the little voice inside that recognizes an easier peaceful life in sobriety. It is a frenzy not suited for the lazy or the weak.
I completely agree about the Middle Way. Your third paragraph is among the best insights I've seen on xo in the many years I have wasted here. In conclusion, fuck boomers. |
|
Date: December 12th, 2017 7:07 AM Author: contagious bull headed rigpig plaza Toxic (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3825731&forum_id=2#34896658) |
|
Date: December 12th, 2017 7:08 AM Author: impressive indian lodge mad cow disease Go ahead, try to compete with a joyless obsessive at any task requiring skill and talent. (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3825731&forum_id=2#34896662) |
|
Date: December 12th, 2017 7:07 AM Author: Bonkers fragrant yarmulke *gobbles handful of adderall and nods in agreement* (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3825731&forum_id=2#34896661) |
|
Date: December 12th, 2017 7:18 AM Author: vengeful chapel nowag (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3825731&forum_id=2#34896704) |
|
Date: December 12th, 2017 7:18 AM Author: Bonkers fragrant yarmulke lol, was just messaging u in discord
weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee |
|
Date: December 12th, 2017 7:19 AM Author: fiercely-loyal property (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3825731&forum_id=2#34896707) |