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Chapter 1. Problematics
ОглавлениеBefore treatment can begin, a diagnosis must be made.
Algorithm of the doctor’s work
In any action, even at first glance seemingly simple, there is a certain meaning hidden. And the one who performs this action has a specific purpose. Therefore, I suggest that you start your acquaintance with the book by exposing the problem that you will be able to fully cope with when you finish reading and assimilating the material.
I will start by trying to select the most common problems that this book will help you solve, so that you can check your problems and decide whether you need to read this book or not.
1. Lack of understanding of the meaning of one’s life.
2. lack of understanding of your purpose.
3. Lack of goals, yet a large number of desires.
4. Procrastination and lack of time.
5. Failed attempts to start a business.
6. Lack of confidence in your abilities.
7. Problems in achieving goals.
8. Lack of motivation for action.
9. Poverty and all that follows from it.
So, I have chosen nine, in my opinion, of the most popular and specific problems that any modern person can have. And as you read this book, you will get information with which it is possible to solve these problems. But for this to really happen, you need to at least want it. And for this desire to be concrete, you need to try to formulate your problems and recognize the fact of their existence. And only after that you will be able to solve them. After all, without seeing your enemy, you will not be able to fight him. But if you can not yet clearly formulate the thought of your problems, it is not a trouble. Everything will happen by itself as you read the book.
As I mentioned in the preface, I have very often had to communicate with people who do not understand what they want and who they want to be in this life. And when, in the course of a friendly conversation about the meaning of existence, I asked them the question: “Why do you live?”, they answered uncertainly and often went through all the various options in their heads. And, as a rule, they would get angry. Apparently, their defense mechanism kicked in and they started asking me questions themselves: “Why do you need this? Are you the smartest?” And things like that.
And when I asked them what they wanted to be, they got even worse, they tried to think of something on the fly or remember their childhood dreams. But as a result, it all came down to the banal, “I want to be rich and do nothing.
Then I tried to help them and asked the following question: “What would you do if you had a lot of money, for example, 100 billion dollars? You would no longer need to work at your job, at least not if the reason for working there was only money.
Here’s what you would do if you didn’t have money problems? What would your day look like? Think about it. Take your time. This is really important. I recommend writing it down somewhere. So you can double-check your beliefs if necessary.
I don’t know what your answer to this question was, but I will say that everyone I asked started to get nervous and couldn’t get their thoughts together, and eventually our conversation ended quickly. Apparently, they thought I was asking them to make fun of them or embarrass them in some way, even though my question had a purely scientific purpose.
In fact, I was only interested in all this because I’ve always had the answers to these questions. I always knew what I needed and who I wanted to be. And I thought that was the case for everyone. But as it turns out, it’s far from it. Which was later the impetus for studying this issue.
Someone says that it’s all about astrology and the location of the stars and planets in the sky at the time of birth, which leave their imprint on the character of a person. Therefore, someone is stubborn and determined, and someone is always doubting and not sure of everything.
However, to understand the character of a person, it is not necessary to turn to the stars, for this there is a science – psychology, which helps us to reveal the concepts of personality and character of a person.
But no matter what kind of character a person has and no matter who he is according to the horoscope, he always has the opportunity to learn who he is and what he lives for. And to answer these questions, it is not necessary to have special knowledge, it is enough to start asking questions and analyze the answers.
Of course, it may seem to you that by answering these questions a person gains nothing, but I hasten to assure you that it is not so. After answering them, a person still has answers with which he can further work. Namely, he can build his life in such a way that it is a consequence of these answers, like a plant that has sprouted from a seed. Or we can put it another way: it is a base, a foundation on which one can build a house in which one will live.
And it turns out that this house or plant will have the qualities and properties that the seed or foundation has given it. Do you understand what I mean?
If you have a poor foundation, the house will eventually fall apart. If the seed was weak, the plant will get few nutrients and will not survive the winter.
Our beliefs strongly influence us and our life choices. And if beliefs are built on false information, the life path can lead a person to disappointment.
And just by asking ourselves different kinds of questions, we can check our beliefs and realize whether we are moving in the right direction.
After all, if we look at such a problem as poverty from this angle, we can realize that it appears where a person has no support, no foundation, no base that would allow him to receive material benefits. And all because he has no answers to the questions that he did not even dare to ask himself.
And why should you ask, when all these questions have been answered for you by others. It’s easier to use ready-made answers than to solve them yourself. It’s just like in school when one student cheats off another. That’s probably where our problems start. After all, what a schoolboy thinks at that moment: “I don’t need to think, they have already thought for me, and I, so clever and cunning, will take someone else’s answers and get a good grade. I will be praised later”.
It is because of this that a schoolchild turns into an embittered consumer as he grows up. Who believes that everyone owes him something and is obliged to him. Accustomed to constantly using other people’s decisions and resources to achieve their goals. But that’s not all, the trouble doesn’t end there. The fact is that the goals they set for themselves do not really belong to them, they have also stolen (borrowed) them from other, more successful (in their opinion) consumers.
And it turns out that a person lives his life according to a pre-planned pattern, like a copy. Without thinking why he chose this path in the first place. Is it worth saying that the man was happy? Probably more yes than no. Since people’s memory is organized in such a way that at the end of life we remember only good things, and these good things kind of warm us up and make us think that life was not lived in vain. Especially if a person was happy in childhood, knew the joy of mutual love in youth or did something good for others.
After all, our mind is always looking for some justification for what was done and tries to build everything in such a way that it could not have been otherwise. But this is already self-deception.
Of course, you will say, the most important thing is for a person to be happy. Well, let’s try to compare two examples. In the first example, there will be a girl with a difficult fate, like in the fairy tale about Cinderella, where she has a wicked stepmother and two stepsisters. The whole life of our heroine is reduced to serving this family. She is constantly insulted and belittled, pointing out her pitiful place in this family. And then one day she managed to break out of this slavery and become free, and then her life became as ordinary as everyone else’s. And at the end of her life she will confidently declare that she has lived a happy life based only on the good things she had in her life. For it is the fact that it was with her that matters to the mind.
And exactly the same will be thought of the person from the second example, who lived all his life in love and care, and everything was good for him. He was honest and kind, helped those in need and was a soul in any company.
What to say, even a prisoner in jail, sentenced to life imprisonment, will be happy when the day of his death comes, because it is on that day that he will cease to be a prisoner and will finally be released.
After all, if necessary, our minds will always find a reason to consider ourselves happy for some memorable event in life. For something we have experienced at least once in our lives, even if only for a moment, but experienced.
As you can see from the examples, all of them will say at the end of their lives that they are happy. But if their level of happiness was assessed by a conditional audience, then, of course, on the happiness scale the second one was much happier than the others.
In other words, you and I are all happy people, but everyone’s level of happiness is different. But this is true if the level of happiness can be estimated, but if happiness is taken as an absolute, then there is no difference. Then there are two states: either you are happy or you are unhappy.
It is very similar to grades at university, there are subjects in which the level of knowledge is evaluated – pass/fail, and there are subjects in which a grade (point) is given. And usually no one understands why one subject is evaluated by grades and the other by pass/fail.
So to simplify, I propose that we choose a pass/fail system where we take happiness as an absolute value. It is either there or it is not there.
And if we go back to the banal statement that the most important guideline of a human being is to be happy, it turns out that we will be happy in any case. And no matter what kind of life a person lives, at the end of his path he will still be happy. And all cases when a person says that he is unhappy, he only expresses the current state of his affairs. It is even something like a mood: now you feel a good mood and it seems to you that you are happy, but if something suddenly goes wrong according to your plan, then the mood will change sharply to bad, and with it the assessment of your happiness.
Based on this, happiness can be categorized as a mood marker. And it turns out that it is only one possible mood score. And if we chase “good mood”, we will become children who only want to play and eat various sweets.
Therefore, I suggest not to identify happiness with mood and, taking into account all of the above, recognize that you will eventually become happy, whether you want it or not. Since it is inevitable, I suggest that you do not delay in recognizing this fact and admit to yourself right now that you are a happy person! And you have been a happy person since the moment you were born into this world. From now on, live with this thought. And when someone tells you that he is unhappy, you will realize that in fact the person just wants to say that things are not good for him at the moment. And vice versa, when a person falls in love or wins the lottery, it is as if he shines with happiness and firmly knows that right now he is a happy person, because things are going much better for him.
And this is where we get to the specifics. Namely, our own assessment of our current state of affairs. After all, this is what is really important for us. Because our perception of life depends on this assessment. If things are going well with us, then life seems to be beautiful to us. It is as if the universe hears us, and fate favors us. But if our affairs go wrong, as we wanted, we immediately begin to think that we are unhappy and everyone around us only hinder us or try to put a stick in our wheels. And we can start blaming our problems on close people, competitors, politicians and circumstances in general, talking about the black streak of bad luck in our life and so on.
Few people can admit that things are going badly for them only because they themselves initially chose the wrong path. And the problems that have arisen are only a consequence of the first mistake of choice.
That is, when initially planning his affairs, a person made mistakes in his calculations or he did not think about possible problems. Perhaps he chose a goal that did not correspond to his principles, or he was driven by self-interest or envy, even worse, if it was revenge or resentment, and so on.
And these are seemingly incongruous things, but they play a huge role in everything we do. Our motives and beliefs, our intentions that we position through our actions and behaviors. All of these are the binding cement for our future endeavors. And before we start a new endeavor, we need to be sure to test how good our cement is. And for this purpose we will have to ask ourselves questions again and check with our goal and our destiny according to the received answers. After all, there must be meaning in our actions, right? Isn’t there?
“Of course!” – you will answer. After all, you and I are at least serious, adult people who have taken responsibility for our lives into our own hands. And we understand perfectly well that in this life you have to work to survive. And sometimes there are difficult moments, but we pass them with our heads held high.
And based on all of the above, it can be summarized that we all work hard and overcome something all the time, while achieving certain material benefits and social status.
And this is clear to everyone, but as I said above, most people don’t understand why they live and what they would do if they had a lot of money.
I think this is only because they don’t ask themselves these questions.
But if you start asking them, you can come to a mixed conclusion.
Some will say that they live for the sake of their relatives and loved ones, and for them it will even be the meaning of life. For someone it will be service to God. Someone will choose the meaning of achieving a certain dream. And of course, there will be people who will say that they live to enjoy themselves.
Of course, this is only a set of the most banal and simple reasoning, and in fact there are many more. But what they all have in common is that all their conclusions were made on the basis of their knowledge of the world and their place in it. To put it another way, on their understanding of who they are in this life.
It follows that a person’s level of knowledge and beliefs determine their response. If we imagine for a moment that we all have the same knowledge and beliefs, it follows that our answers would also be the same. But I dare assure you that this is not true, it is sophism1. Because this example does not take into account people’s living conditions. And we have different conditions. And our conditions will dictate to us the rules of behavior and create our worldview.
A thief will reason from the position of a thief, a policeman from the position of his duties, and as long as there is poverty, and the very concept of money, we will all be divided in our opinions about what is important for us and what is not. And everyone will be happy, but in his own way. And everyone will regret and cry in life, but about something different.
So what is the meaning of life?
This question may arise in every person when he tries to understand the reasons for his existence.
And as a rule, the first thing that comes to mind is what he read somewhere, heard or saw on TV or the Internet. And most likely, this answer will suit him, but will not make him happier.
And if you think about it, why is there no unambiguous answer to this question, which would suit everyone and everyone would accept it as the absolute truth?
Well, let’s try to reason with you, if we approached this question from the point of view of logic, so that we would have succeeded.
So, what is the meaning of life?
In order to start our reasoning somewhere, I propose to draw our attention to something simple and understandable for us, but at the same time that would answer our question.
For example, let us ask a more understandable question: what is the meaning of an ant’s life?
I think the meaning of the ant’s life is to ensure a stable future for its colony. And that’s why he works hard. And they have no slackers. Everyone is busy doing their own thing. They have soldier ants, guard ants, worker ants and so on. They are all busy doing their own thing, but at the same time all their duties and their labor serve the same purpose – the survival of the colony.
And now let us speculate, what is the meaning of animal life?
I think that they have the same program as ants – survival and continuation of the species. They get food, reproduce and protect their territory.
Let’s think further.
What is the meaning of life in plants?
I think that plants, as well as animals, have one global task – survival. Through feeding and reproduction.
And it will be the same for fish and birds. So we can conclude that all creatures of nature have the same meaning of life – survival and continuation of the species.
And now let’s think, what is the meaning of life of primitive man?
I think, the same as all others – survival. Through food and the continuation of the species.
But there is one “BUT” that immediately caught my eye: “The survival of man is possible only at the cost of the lives of all others”. If the flora and fauna that exist on our earth did not exist, man would not be able to survive. Without plants, fish, birds and animals. Whereas the absence of man would only improve the living conditions of all creatures of nature.
This is an interesting thought that could be developed further, which could lead us to the question: is man a creature of nature? If his absence only improves nature… But now our thoughts are about something else.
So, what we get is that all of the above groups have the meaning of life – survival. Through food and reproduction. And if we look separately at survival as food extraction, we get an interesting picture: “Herbivorous animals eat plants, they, in turn, are eaten by predatory animals. And man eats them all.”
Man also uses natural resources to organize his life and livelihood – wood, coal, oil, metals, minerals, etc.
And if we now begin to reason about the meaning of life from the point of view of the above, it turns out that the meaning of life of animals and plants is to become food (resource) for humans. It sounds cruel, but based on this reasoning, it is so.
But let’s not stop and think further. Since everything is so organized, everyone is food for someone else, more predatory and stronger. For whom is the human being food in this chain?
Obviously, for microorganisms. But this applies not only to man, but to all living things on this earth. So we will not stop here. Let’s go further, let’s turn on rational thinking.
If we look at human life from the outside, we see that people create farms, raise livestock, create infrastructure in order not to have problems and interruptions with food and resource extraction. And obviously, that’s fine.
People have even invented aquariums and terrariums, where they create conditions close to natural, natural. To breed various fish and animals.
In all these cases, the person who created the farm, terrarium and the like, considers it his property. Including all the animals that live in it. And he can dispose of them as he pleases. He feels like he owns the animals. And he uses them for food and household needs.
And if we look at food from the point of view of a resource, we see that food is energy. And today it is the only source of energy for humans recognized by modern science.
Since that’s the case, let’s broaden our scope of analysis for a second and allow for the existence of other beings. Let’s assume that we’re not alone in the universe. Let’s say we were put here by someone. Let’s say that someone is watching us.
Then we get an interesting picture.
What if we are someone else’s property and our cities are like farms and cattle stalls? Maybe we’re a source of energy that someone else is also feeding on. Then it all fits. That explains why there’s a change of civilizations every 150 to 300 years. It’s just someone harvesting.
Yeah, that’s what inductive reasoning2 leads to. New questions. But I think it’s time to stop there and get back to our meaning of life.
Ever since man began to think and complicate his life, the meaning of life for him as an individual began to change. Besides the basic meaning of survival, he began to search for more complex meanings. Because of this, new theories and hypotheses of existence began to appear. And this, in its turn, began to press on the human brain, and the meaning of life for him became only a form of thinking about his mortal existence.
And to beat all this crap out of my head, I suggest using such a concept.
Since the question of the continuation of the human race is not an urgent one right now. And you can easily manage to get food. You can choose your own meaning in life. I give you permission. Put aside all doubts and choose your meaning of life. Like finding your destiny and realizing your potential one hundred percent.
Why not?
I really like that idea. Imagine if everyone wanted to find their destiny and realize their potential one hundred percent. I think the world would look very different, in a good way.
Just think what a high standard of living we would have, and most importantly, people would have much higher qualities and skills. And overall, as a result, humanity would have evolved faster.
So if you don’t have your own clearly defined meaning of life yet, I suggest you use this one. At least, it will be a great base and support for building your life path. And at the same time it will allow you to set high goals and achieve them.
In addition, having specific goals, your life at least will not be boring. Agree that none of you would want to live a boring life, at least if you had a choice.
You know, it’s even too obvious to ignore, but we humans always want some kind of thrill. We always want a taste of struggle, of competition, of rivalry, of competition. We often take risks and often lose, and then we have problems, and we start to correct them with new strength. And by overcoming these problems, we kind of give ourselves an extra tick and feel proud that we managed to get out of the next problem.
So, in other words, I want to say that people tend to create problems for themselves in order to solve them later. A simple, measured and clear life is not interesting to them. I don’t know where we get it from, but it’s like a pain in the ass that keeps making itself known. We don’t sit still. And we seek our own adventures.
That’s the way the mind works, and it’s our everything. No wonder that in the spiritual practices of India the human mind is associated with a wild monkey that cannot sit still.
Perhaps that’s where all our troubles come from. Our minds are restless and unstable. Today we may wake up with the desire to conquer the universe, and tomorrow – with a feeling of fatigue and a desire to lie in bed a little longer and put things off for later.
And so it is with everything. Our perception of life is quite plastic and changeable, which, in turn, affects our choices at a particular time and place. And often our minds make the wrong decision, mistaking the temporary for the permanent.
Now it becomes obvious that the root of evil lies in our mind. Our mind is our gift and our curse. Sometimes it may seem to have a life of its own, like a wild mustang that has broken free. And it’s up to you and me to ride it. In other words – to tame him, to make him obedient and calm, so that he serves us as a loyal friend and stop showing us his wild character.
And now we can safely conclude that our problem with you and me has always lurked in our heads. In our minds. And in order to start a new life with a clean slate or to change something in your current life, the first priority will be to work with our mind. Namely with our beliefs, attitudes and rules, which we use automatically and on the basis of which we make decisions. Also we should not forget about our addictions and phobias. After all, all of these create certain kinds of limitations that constrain us and keep us from moving.
So right now I propose to do an audit of your mind. Do a complete audit of all of your settings. Disassemble and reassemble your beliefs. To get rid of unnecessary attachments and fears. To assemble, like a building block, the best version of yourself. Allowing yourself to become whoever you want to be and achieve the goals you dream of.
“What does it take to do that?” – you ask.
Be very attentive as you read the following chapters and start taking notes. The methodology I have developed will allow you to reassemble your mind and make it more organized and obedient. But for the effect to take hold, you will need to practice the techniques and recommendations I will give you. And most importantly, you need to want to change yourself and your life for the better.
1
A sophism is a false statement that nevertheless appears to be correct upon superficial examination. Sophism is based on a deliberate conscious violation of the rules of logic.
2
Inductive reasoning – inferences or deductions made from the particular to the general.