Search the Community

This is my argument The reason why people have a passion is because they believe that they can change something and that it is important. In fact, all emotions are true in such a way. Emotions are simply involuntary responses to our rational observations. A child observes what he is good at and that is how a passion develops. It is very obvious to a child. Everyone as a child had figured it out, but not many people actually followed their passion. Since all passions are rational, then if society is rational, following one’s passion will lead to prosperity. However, this is not the case with our current society. If I want to become a philosopher in North Korea, my prospects are very low or I will not make enough money to survive. This would never happen in a free society because passions are always valuable. However, state intervention prevents the pursuit of an individual’s rational self-interests. It subdues free will. There was a man who did a major in philosophy but who after regretted it because he hadn’t been able to make money from it. It as at this point that people break with their passions. He concluded that passions are not necessarily good and he implicitly accepted nihilism rather than recognising that evil was done unto him. It makes it hard for him to recognise it since sophism is state sponsored in philosophy departments. The majority of people share a similar story. Whether it is coercion from the state, or their parents, or their peers, an adult or child is in some way rejected for following their passions and the adult or child concludes that he cannot trust his emotions. This is the very essence of evil. It is why people did not trust the invisible hand of the free market for tens of thousands of years. Essentially, their self-esteem was so destroyed that they did not trust their own rational faculty. It is the greatest contradiction that ever existed. A virtuous man would find a work-around. He knows that his life is meaningless without passion. He knows that if he were to look back at his life without following his passion, he would regret it and wonder what could have been. There is no alternative for him. Every action we make is motivated by emotion. A person cannot simply think and do. They must think until they feel that they can do. An artificial line has been created between emotions and thoughts. Emotions simply are an expression of our deepest and truest thoughts that we may not even be conscious of. It is analogous to the arbitrary distinction between qualia and meaning. We see red because we associate it with everything else that is red. A person void of passion then, is a robot without free will, following the instructions of others without even being consciously aware of it. So, the virtuous man has no rational choice other than to find alternatives to the best of his ability. This does not mean that the virtuous man will be unsatisfied. The passion arises only from what can be done. If man finds that his passion is unreachable, his passion will naturally change. So, the virtuous man is a force that cannot be stopped by anyone or anything. It is as clear as sunlight what his objective is. A rock cannot turn into a tree, nor can man change his neurological predispositions, particularly once he becomes aware of them. Even if a man is destroyed for following his passions, he will never be the same. He will always be at ease, because he knows what must be done so he will inevitably build himself back up. He is the man who works. But if a man does not immerse into his passions, he will always live a shallow life not knowing what he could have been. “Nothing is softer or more flexible than water, yet nothing can resist it” – Lao Tzu.

I'm currently in a queue to see a therapist. Looking for a little boost to stay inspired and motivated when I feel hopeless. Have always gone for the Nike "Just Do It" aproach, as well as bettering myself for the sake of my future children that I so greatly desire. In addition to these, what are some tools or resources that have worked for you in getting inspired/motivated?

I am asking this because recently i had an apphipheny (spelling?) about my anger and reason why i have been so struggling with motivation, is because as kid and always i did good rational things for other sake. IN THE PAST, (especially childhood and teens): Why be good? Because others. Why be good? Rules. Why be rational? Because unhappiness otherwise and because its hurts OTHERS. So i find myself in almost ego-death'esque situation with my own beliefs about myself. Why should i do or be anything or anyone? Why simply not lie, be crazy, insane, and contradictionary? WHY does it really matter what i want? What’s the difference between my preferences and anyone else? Why shouldn’t i just take other peoples desire as my own? Yes, this is also about setting or not setting Rules for yourself. And also about the value of myself value if any of my preferences? Why should i prefer anything at all? And is this question itself contradiction on some level? Do i "prefer" truth over falsehood? I do or maybe i say i don’t. Maybe i say gibberish. Then what? Does it all come down to preference? And if so... why do i feel like that’s an arbitrary/subjective standard and thus meaningless or exactly the same as anyone else’s opinion or preference? I feel like my preferences do not have any value objectively. I prefer health? I prefer truth? I prefer to be moral and kind and good? Who cares about that? PS. Yeah... one could say that i sound and come off as bit of nihilistic... but that’s empty one feels when finally your shrugs off your FALSE reason to be X Y or Z. When false-self goes, when "respect" for parents complete evaporates. When values placed and forced in me by abusers vanish.

Holy crap.. I'm sitting here listening to some classical music and it feels like everything is in place now. It feels like i found the last piece of the puzzle that was making me so unproductive. This morning has been the most joyful and hopeful morning I've had in the last 3-4 months of darkness. Let me share with you my story and hopefully help someone in the community with similar problems. I'm also wanting to share this because I'm afraid I'm wrong and want some feedback. OK so i finished school in October, and was eager to work in the free market and make a living after being in a pretty bad internship. I started programming but found it really hard to work for more than 1-2 hours a day. At first I thought it was because I wasn't used to working solo, without obligations, and that with time I'd increase work hours. Didn't happen. Then I thought rage against my family would be a good motivator. It wasn't (don't get me wrong, the rage was totally justified). I thought about so many things that could be the origins of my problems and worked through them but nothing changed my behavior, and I became more and more sad and hopeless. I started to think nothing would work, but I kept on looking. I decided to hear http://www.fdrpodcasts.com/#/1076/procrastination-and-crushed-ambition-listener-convo-video-recommended Stef said something among the lines of: If we're not doing something that would benefit us we should look into the past and see if we were attacked for it. So I did, I started thinking about how my parent's would make me unmotivated. When I found something I enjoyed, they managed to crush it with countless reasons why it was hard and all the complications I could encounter (thinking about this reminds me of my own behavior, thinking about all the possible negative outcomes of everything). At the same time they would also complain that I was lazy. That was a big one in my childhood. I was just lazy. I would get good grades and when proudly talking about it with my parents they'd say "That's just your obligation". When I'd get bad grades, I was punished. They'd take the playstation or the internet "rights" from me. Even worse: Videogames were the only thing I could commit to. I loved them. I remember when I got my first playstation i played tony hawk the entire day - no complaining from my parents. I played it a lot during the next weeks and little to no complaining. So I grew up playing videogames as the only thing my parent's wouldn't bring up reasons against. They would never say "Oh but later levels may be too hard for you" or "This game is easy but the next one will be harder". It was the only thing I wasn't afraid of. So they threatened to take away from me the only thing I could find pleasure in. If you were a sadistic person in search of children to torment and abuse emotionally, this would be a fucking master plan. When those things were taken away from me i would go to my bedroom in rage and think about suicide. It was terrible.. After thinking about all this I then went to program and it was fun. Not perfect, but not nearly as hard as it has been. I'm still afraid I'll get attacked, but I'll continue to work on it, also reminding myself of the terrible childhood I had and that I'm doing the best I can considering what I went through. I'd love to hear your thoughts

My newest video on how people become unmotivated and unaware of their true feelings and interests.

So recently is discoverd somethign about myself that i wanted to share here on the forums. And i think this is somethign that applies to many whom strugglte with such thigns as procrastination, lack of motivation and other related problems for example feeling that "you" are unable to want something more than mere short term satisfactions. The switch which this title is: - An object, activity or service of the sort whcih you use in your everydsay life which has become so saturated with being part of your life that it not only seems normal but in questioning your issues, problems and emotional issues (depression, sadness, frustrations ect.) your sub-chounchessness will actively block. - This "switch" is more subtle than for example cocaine since it hides in your very presence as normal: In other words cocaine users can SEE the negative effects of drugs but get benefits which addict them and also feels good but the bad effects can atleast be seen as bad. - The switch is something which will circle around you when you try to use theraphy and conversations about these thigns with your friend and family and it actively is that something which is ALWAYS out of question not knowingly, becaus ethen it would be too obvious. - The switch becomes feeding mechanism for you like addictive drug but is more sublte and some object, avtivity and "service" (hobby service you buys and use). You get short term gain from it and long term procrastination since your body and mind are "sated" by it cosntantly and thus it prevents you moving on. In my case it was sexual fetishes and computer screen "switch" thus i named it that. Now i realize it may have been researched better and called by other names. And its m,echanism explained by scientists better elsewhere. How it works: For example, computer switch can never be turned off and every time it comes up youll ignore it and your emotions take strong hold and try to sway you away from being critical of it. And most strongly, when you finally DO find out it and dont use it for while, you realize that since this "happy good" feed has been cut off you can start doing other thigns. Now OBVIOUSLY, self knowledge understanding your childhood and past is essential. Usually this is just detrction mechanism. Is there any object, item, service or actvity that you seem to "like and use", try not doing it for while and see if you suddently feel motivated to do things in more productive manner that wont make you feel liek youre stuck. I am writing this naturall with my monitor on. But since i now understand this switch of mine i dont feel as strong urge to jsut aly about in its feed. And i feel doing other things. And this applies to the OTHER switch i mentioned. Ideas and critism and "DUUHness" is appriciated if this simply feels like or IS just a different type of addiction. Or way of descriving addiction.

I would like to share a few videos that motivate and inspire me. Please share some of yours.Be Obsessed with Improvementhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MJAkLB1moGUHunger (MOTIVATION)https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CNC26Rh4AE4Write Your Own Scripthttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7EUzZsRWqggRay Lewishttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DbIWvNZBlHMPlaylisthttps://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLUHovnYY1WJXfR6RjT9ut48wIQ4eswEcC

Hello everyone, I wanted to share my life coaching and therapy business with the community: www.aswtherapy.com If anyone is looking for therapy or self-knowledge work, I am available via Skype. I have worked for several years as an adult and family therapist in different countries with a focus on relationships, abuse, sexuality, career-development, self-knowledge, etc. I hope I can help you or someone you may know.

Hello You Happeners-By, My name is David. I live in California's East San Francisco Bay Area, and I am enthusiastic about personal freedom, ability, and achievement (also: fashion, coffee, and fitness). I found FDR in 2008 by way of 'True News 11-14: Statism is Dead' linked from the then Libertarian, pro-Ron Paul site reddit. At the time I was on my way to enforce good behavior in others as a law enforcement officer. I was naive enough to believe that police were high status exemplars of virtue, and that filling their ranks with peace-minded, informed individuals would be enough to preserve citizens' liberty. The more I read of abuses of authority, the more I understood the State's immoral nature. It is a haven of evil. Moreover, I learned that I could not point a gun at another in any serious way. - - - I want to put forth a false-self construct here, I really do. I am not ready to be vulnerable. I think I need to get into therapy. - David EDIT: I just listened to the Wednesday 26 Feb '14 call-in show. A caller named 'Dave' who has also been listening since ~2008 had a discussion with Stef. Please understand that I am not that Dave.

I'm not fully versed in the history of philosophy, but as I understand it, Aristotle thought that all human action was a means to an end and that this end was individual happiness. First, is this true, and second, if it is true, then, if we say that, for instance, practicing parkour or any other physical activity makes us happy, then why is this the case? The individual is the one who can most authoritatively say what makes him or her happy, but if I state that executing a parkour move (as close as I can humanly come to executing it) perfectly, is an action which makes me happy in its execution, then why is this the case? Perhaps it is due entirely to the physical responses that we get from an action. For instance, orgasm feels good to virtually everyone for reasons that are reasonably well understood. Oddly, orgasm doesn't always make us happy, even though the execution of an orgasm makes us feel physically good. I could use more examples and perhaps site some research, but I think y'all get the idea - why do things which we say make us happy, make us happy?

Hello, I have an idea I want to share. Today I wanted to listen back to the Call-In show I had the other day, and I saw that it had been posted on Youtube recently. If you didn't get to listen in, I was calling about my lack of motivation in the activities I take part in. It was hard for me(anxiety provoking) to get on the show and expose myself to big chatty forehead, as he is kind of a supermodel of philosophy for me, and I always value his insights. I think Stefan helped me gain a clearer picture of my problem and what I could do to gain passion and start to really live. Now, I went to the Youtube page for the show, and I decided to look at the comments before starting the video. The first comment was someone saying, and I quote: ''Why even continue talking to people like Emmanuel when he's clearly operating on half a brain cell? There are a lot of callers like that. Sometimes I wonder if they are just trolls?''. As I read that, I felt hurt, sad and ashamed. I started to self-attack and ask myself if I was really that deficient, and if I was somehow wasting everyone's time with my issues. I really don't feel well after this, and it sort of shifted my entire mindset that I had before, when I wanted to look back at what someone I highly respect had to say to me. I don't know why I felt that strongly about that person's comment, but I did and I don't think it's a good thing for me to be so sensitive to others, especially if they are abusive. I was also wondering why someone would say something like that, don't they know that it hurts(especially coming from someone who watches FDR)? I just feel down right now and I'm unsure of what to do from now on, to get my ambition back. It's really sad that it can go away like that, with one snarky comment on Youtube. Thanks a lot, and I await your responses. Emanuel

The idea of "country" is also what keeps freedom fighters fighting, rather than just moving and emigrating. Why fight militarily against governments when you can just move to another country? Sure there are costs, like having to learn another language, etc, but is it really worth dying or fighting? (For me personally, it's just not worth it. Just take your family and leave. You can't sway the outcome much, and there is huge personal risk. The potential prize is what, a better government for one country? If it was to rid of all governments, maybe I might think about it.)Why do freedom fighters fight? I'm sure a large part of their bag of reasons is nationalism, combined with ethnic pride. Having some moral and emotional stake in the geography inhabited by their own ethnicity that contains the traditions, culture, and maybe even physical monuments significant to history. The way I see it, they stand their ground and fight mainly because of the same lingering loyalty to their "country."So yes, the governments are bad, and they propagandize, cause wars, predate on their tax farms, etc. That's a given. I want to make a point beyond that, and shine my little light on the motivation of freedom fighters. If they didn't fight, then there would be no war (granted, it would be so much easier for governments, etc, but lets put that issue aside).As far as the motivation of rebel freedom fighters, the lingering idea and belief in "their country" is probably the biggest reason they stand and fight.

wish I had the recording of the conversation this is a follow up to. I'll do my best to keep in mind that I'm working towards creating content for the internet now. Feedback is always appreciated.