2.) Improve in some dimensions, also refactor my moral priorities so that I no longer believe some of my ‘bad traits’ are really bad
3.) Still worry a lot about “I’m not good” where “good” refers to some eldritch horror that I no longer literally endorse
4.) Learn the mental motion of going “fuck it”, where I just rest my brain and self-soothe. Do that until I deeply do not give a fuck whether I’m good or not.
5.) Notice a mild but consistent desire to do things that are, not “good”, but “constructive”—i.e. contribute to the construction of a nice thing that takes time and effort to complete.
6.) Notice that the people around me mostly like it when I do “constructive” things, and call them “good.”
Well said. At the risk of asking elaboration of an obvious point, do you have any examples of when this has paid off for you? Or, perhaps write a top-level post? On the one hand it’s very easy to get one’s mind around what you wrote… but I’d speculate there might have been some non-obvious takeaways?
It’s a fascinating point. It’d be cool to read more about your perspective on it.
Here’s my trajectory:
1.) Worry a lot about “I’m not good”
2.) Improve in some dimensions, also refactor my moral priorities so that I no longer believe some of my ‘bad traits’ are really bad
3.) Still worry a lot about “I’m not good” where “good” refers to some eldritch horror that I no longer literally endorse
4.) Learn the mental motion of going “fuck it”, where I just rest my brain and self-soothe. Do that until I deeply do not give a fuck whether I’m good or not.
5.) Notice a mild but consistent desire to do things that are, not “good”, but “constructive”—i.e. contribute to the construction of a nice thing that takes time and effort to complete.
6.) Notice that the people around me mostly like it when I do “constructive” things, and call them “good.”
In this context, thinking about whether you are “good” is not “constructive.”
Thinking about whether you’re doing something “constructive” is, by contrast, extremely constructive.
Well said. At the risk of asking elaboration of an obvious point, do you have any examples of when this has paid off for you? Or, perhaps write a top-level post? On the one hand it’s very easy to get one’s mind around what you wrote… but I’d speculate there might have been some non-obvious takeaways?
It’s a fascinating point. It’d be cool to read more about your perspective on it.