Re:On Living Below Your Potential
by knieveltech on Saturday July 28, 2012 @11:11PM
(#4307390)
"Man, I see in fight club the strongest and smartest men who've ever lived. I see all this potential, and I see squandering. God damn it, an entire generation pumping gas, waiting tables; slaves with white collars. Advertising has us chasing cars and clothes, working jobs we hate so we can buy shit we don't need. We're the middle children of history, man. No purpose or place. We have no Great War. No Great Depression. Our Great War's a spiritual war... our Great Depression is our lives. We've all been raised on television to believe that one day we'd all be millionaires, and movie gods, and rock stars. But we won't. And we're slowly learning that fact. And we're very, very pissed off. " - Tyler Durden
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Re:On Living Below Your Potential
by thatusertwo on Monday July 30, 2012 @03:33PM
(#4314211)
Life is a spiritual war, I've spent many hours and days studying / pursuing philosophy and trying to find answers that probably don't exist.
Re:On Living Below Your Potential
by Apocryphon on Sunday July 29, 2012 @02:44AM
(#4307728)
What, two wars abroad and a great recession not enough? Fight Club was written in a pre-9/11 world.
I don't live in the US so was tempted to be snarky about abroad being a big place etc. but I think it's better to put a more constructive reply with some context. On a visit to Kilmainham Jail I had a chance to read some of the letters written by the young men who were about to be shot by the British for their part in the rebellion. The thing that struck me, apart from their bravery was the fact that they had a genuine cause to believe in.
And that I suppose is my point, if you don't have some Nobel cause then what drives you on? If the world doesn't provide some ready made cause then your motivation has to be intrinsic, the only problem is that depending on what your goals are (money, fame, being a better dad etc.) you can end up feeling a little grubby about your choices especially if you don't succeed.
That's not the point of the quote. The point is it's hard to find a larger purpose/cause worth striving for in life. In the past, we had WWI and WWII where almost everyone was in it together, even if you weren't in the front lines. Your parents probably centered their whole lives around just making it financially if they were immigrants.
Whereas today, we don't have a great war, or any cause that makes us feel as we're part of something greater than ourselves. We have to come up with our own things to strive for, and sometimes these don't go as planned, or depend a bit on luck and circumstances. I.e. starting a startup or finding love.
The war to end all wars vs Iraq/Afghanistan. Not exactly the same causes, right? Fight Club was written in a pre-9/11 world, but also in the same post-modern society.