Winning isn’t the only thing that matters. Fun is not a tool to avoid burnout. X is not a tool for Y. Make your world richer by allowing every X to be X in itself. This idea is known as existentialism, and it’s very liberating when you get it.
There was an amazing piece by Tumblr user “marrasart” who has deleted it since, so I’ll just quote it in its entirety:
A PLAY ABOUT MAN’S SEARCH FOR MEANING IN TWO ACTS
ACT 1
Cat, a lifeform specialized in detecting small prey animals and catching them:sees a mouse, chases it, catches, eats it
Human: “Wow evolution has made such a great hunter, look at it! Amazing!”
Cat:sees a laser pointer dot, frantically tries to catch it but cannot, as it is just light
Human: “lol too optimised for wanting to catch things am I right”
ACT 2
Human, a lifeform specialized in using and making tools and seeing if tools are good for different tasks:sees a knife “Aha! Someone made this sharp tool to cut things. I see, it’s really good for that!”
Human:looks at his own body “Who made this?? What were they thinking? There’s some bigger hidden meaning behind this right? What am I made for… What is the purpose of my mortal life? Am I good? Am I bad? Is there a God? I keep looking for my destiny but alas, I can’t figure it out….”
Oh, absolutely. Whatever your values are, they’re valuable on their own. That’s why doing the laundry feels meaningful. Winning means maximizing your values, whatever they are. The reframe of “X is actually good for Y” is helpful for transitioning to the state of valuing everything that IS valuable, coming from the point of being obsessed with one arbitrary thing.
Winning isn’t the only thing that matters. Fun is not a tool to avoid burnout. X is not a tool for Y. Make your world richer by allowing every X to be X in itself. This idea is known as existentialism, and it’s very liberating when you get it.
There was an amazing piece by Tumblr user “marrasart” who has deleted it since, so I’ll just quote it in its entirety:
A PLAY ABOUT MAN’S SEARCH FOR MEANING IN TWO ACTS
ACT 1
Cat, a lifeform specialized in detecting small prey animals and catching them: sees a mouse, chases it, catches, eats it
Human: “Wow evolution has made such a great hunter, look at it! Amazing!”
Cat: sees a laser pointer dot, frantically tries to catch it but cannot, as it is just light
Human: “lol too optimised for wanting to catch things am I right”
ACT 2
Human, a lifeform specialized in using and making tools and seeing if tools are good for different tasks: sees a knife “Aha! Someone made this sharp tool to cut things. I see, it’s really good for that!”
Human: looks at his own body “Who made this?? What were they thinking? There’s some bigger hidden meaning behind this right? What am I made for… What is the purpose of my mortal life? Am I good? Am I bad? Is there a God? I keep looking for my destiny but alas, I can’t figure it out….”
Oh, absolutely. Whatever your values are, they’re valuable on their own. That’s why doing the laundry feels meaningful. Winning means maximizing your values, whatever they are. The reframe of “X is actually good for Y” is helpful for transitioning to the state of valuing everything that IS valuable, coming from the point of being obsessed with one arbitrary thing.