[打卡]阅读打卡第50天 (Feb 01, 2022) - Flow

Progress: 22

Summary / Reflections:

·      The universe is neither hostile, nor friendly, it is simply indifferent à if our starting point is our human desire and needs, the universe and the external environment is an utter chaos to us

·      Our happiness depends on the inner harmony, over mastering our consciousness itself

·      Why are we not happy? à when fixated on material goals / ever rising expectations, and cease to derive pleasure from the present

o   Happy people (ppl who are satisfied with their own lives): “lead vigorous lives, open to a variety of experiences, keep on learning until they die, have strong ties and commitments to other people and to the environment in which they live” à in control of their lives

·      “Is this all there is?”

o   The lack of inner order manifests in the subjective condition of ontological anxiety / existential dread: à fear of being, the feeling that there is no meaning to life & that existence is not worth going on with

o   Money, power, status, and possessions do not, by themselves, add 1 iota to the quality of life

o   Seeking consolation in religion to cope with the lack of meaning in life à accepting to ignore a great deal of what is already known about how the world works

o   Why is today’s youth seems more helpless in facing life than our less privileged ancestors? à despite our increase in the material powers, the content of our experience did not improve

·      The essence of socialization:

o   Build on social controls, to have people respond predictably to rewards and punishments

o   Use pain (threat to the survival instinct) and pleasures (reflex response built in the genetic programming) as inducements for people to accept the social norms

§  Seeking pleasure is built in our genes for the survival of our species, not for the purpose of our personal advantage

§  Submitting to genetic pleasures relinquishes our control on consciousness and leaves us vulnerable for others to exploit our preferences for their own ends (e.g. buying products that maximizes profits for the manufacturers and advertisers, working hard and put money in the banks for the corporate bankers to invest and make profits)

§  We do not have to turn ourselves into puppets jerked about by social controls

·      Emancipating oneself from the social control à the ability to find rewards in each moments, in the process of living itself, and learn to substitute rewards that are under our own powers

·      Pleasure and pain occur only in the mind à take control of how you interpret your reality & experiences

·      The control of consciousness determines the quality of life