Life is not primarily a quest for pleasure, as Freud believed, or a quest for power, as Alfred Adler taught, but a quest for meaning, says Victor Frankyl, in his book, in his book, Man’s Search for Meaning.
The ravages of capitalism started affecting people world over, almost a couple of decades ago. It is now commoditizing mindfulness and making YouTube pep talks viral. Even intelligent people are becoming scattered, failing to converge their energies into meaningful things. We need thinking the time for ourselves. Scheduled time to think about how to make our lives better. Thinking without toxic judgment is the holy recipe for clarity.
“Hey, stop thinking and start doing.” your practical friend says. Action heals everything. Sales cure job losses. We have mental models built based on doing things to move the needle. It works well in an output-driven factory. The human mind cannot be managed with industrial-era models. It needs sprint – rest – thinking – sprint – creative bursts – travel – meditation – relationships- social validation – conversations – books – experiences – failures – successes. A blend of all on varying proportions. It cannot be understood with a formula. Because it is fluidic.
In physics, they say Brownian motion, it is the erratic random movement of microscopic particles in a fluid, as a result of continuous bombardment from molecules of the surrounding medium. Our mind operates at Brownian motion in this world where information flows to you all the time.
To find balance in that chaos takes a lot of constructive thinking and emotional resilience.
Thinking is restricted by our cultures. It is labeled as a lazy thing. It needn’t be. It can be putting bricks to build your narrative stronger and gain clarity in a complex world.
