Re:Ask HN: An advice that changed your life?
by Nomentatus on Sunday October 30, 2022 @03:55PM
(#33398008)
I"m over 65, I don't think you'll ever get to a truly satisfactory life without some grinding at self-introspection. Meditation is nothing if not a very deliberate grind. You can grind badly and not get a result from meditation, but you can't get a good result from meditation without grinding. A lot.
Otherwise, I think we are agreeing, neither I nor the guy I'm in effect defending think that soils (privilege, fer instance) don't matter, or that humans aren't unequal. Four-year-old blocking not equal to 24-year-old blocking. I think I covered that. There are sometimes advantages in not being fully literal, which is lucky because language cannot but be vague (it's just a matter of degree.) Hence the tradeoffs, impressing the message firmly matters because the temptation to give ourselves excuses is difficult to fully elide.
(1) grinding is a particular type of experience that deserves explanation. It is not merely working at something- it is the subjective personal experience of the work. I can code for an hour and be psychologically rejuvenated by it and my cousin could feel like she was in a prison for months. You will never grind your way to a satisfactory life; grinding is a symptom that you need to change the “soil” and that the “want” you have was memed into you and is unsuitable for you.