What do you want to do right now? Play video games? Eat food? Scroll through your phone?
Let me rephrase that. Want to waste time playing video games? want to eat unhealthy heavily marketed food? want to waste time doing nothing?
Now why is that so different and why am I being so negative towards these things. That is the topic today, desires and compulsion.
In a nutshell, the human mind will always choose the things that will make he/she more fulfilled and accomplished. The desire to be healthy, the desire to be knowledgeable, happy, accomplished. Believe it or not, but a human being will always gravitate towards these things. But why is that we do quite the opposite.
As students, when we are given hard tasks, we often dread doing them. We skirt the deadline and only be forced to do it when the time comes. We do other things like play games, scroll the phone, and more often than not unproductive things.
Eventually time forces our hand and does the hard task. Now we realize that doing this task eases the burden on our minds. The stress is fading away as we slowly chip away and make progress. We feel accomplished while doing it. We feel happiness when we complete the task. And now it's done, we feel great.
But why is it so hard to start doing that? We know the benefits of doing it early, but we won't act. Our mind has this desire to seek happiness, but when it faces us head on (in this example the completion of a task) we can't act upon it. Are we lazy?
Is that laziness? Do we then blame the human mind that should have known the benefits of doing it early... simply doesn't? It is the individual's fault then. Unfortunately, I don't believe that it is the case.
Compulsion is a very strong word. But what better way to explain the failings of the human mind by starting with capitalism. I'm serious. So! we are the consumers, right? By design all of the things around us are engineered to keep us watching and doing. Those games? It is not your fault that you get addicted to them, it is designed that way. We can't blame a person that is addicted to nicotine, because it factually is. Scrolling through your phone, it is designed to keep you hooked. Those junk food advertisements are engineered to perfection, so you consume. And what do all these have in common, after the act---- we all feel like shit.
Seriously, that is the difference of a true desire of the human mind and a compulsion driven out of your soul by society. A desirable act when done, makes us feel all accomplished and happy inside, while compulsion makes us regret the time we spent and what we should've been doing at that time.
Well, that covers most things about the things we shouldn't really be doing because it does not make us happy. But what about the other things? Can we drive this compulsion further, down to its core? Well maybe.
One would argue that work gives us compensation, and this money is quite essential to live. So why then that other people doubt the work that they do. Should that be a desire? That should've made us happy right? Well unfortunately, to desire money is false, getting money is a compulsion. Society drives the idea that having lots of money will make you happy, but we all know that is false.
How about having enough money to acquire happiness? Unfortunately, a compulsion. Society has driven into our minds that travelling, buying expensive things, and experiencing the most expensive luxuries will make us happy.
I can't think of any more ideas to fill this blog, so I will just say this.
If an option arises where I can live self-sustaining myself with a homestead (that is gardens, a small animal farm and stuff), forgoing all the luxuries of the modern time like the best technologies, I will choose that life. If I can achieve physical fitness through exercise or the hard work of sustaining myself on that island or some shit, I would be happy. Give me access to the books I would like to read, and I will be happy. If that place can sustain the hobbies that I currently have, it is basically paradise.