This morning, when you woke up, were you hopeful of life in general? Did you drag yourself to work reluctantly with nothing to look forward to in the foreseeable months ahead? Do you think your life is going no where?
This Moment
A path that runs infinitely into the past, and another running infinitely into the future, and here you are at This Moment. As Nietzsche describes it in <Thus Spake Zarathustra> (1): “This lone lane backwards, it continueth for an eternity. And that long lane forward – that is another eternity.”
What is important in This Moment? Whether or not you have realised your potential. Have you made the most of your life?
“‘Observe’ continued I,’ This Moment! From the gateway, This Moment, there runneth a long eternal lane backwards, behind us lieth an eternity.
Must not whatever can run its course of all things, have already run along that lane? Must not whatever can happen of all things have already happened, resulted, and gone by? “
In other words, if you could have realised your potential, wouldn’t you have already achieved it? No, maybe there is still hope.
Nicholas Davey, who wrote an introduction to the book, gives us a stark warning and an incentive:
“Confront the suffering of the moment and in creating a meaning for your being, redeem both yourself and all that sustains you. Fail to do so, and be condemned by your weakness to remain within the same cycle of eternal meaninglessness.”
What Should You do Now
Maybe you were dealt with the wrong card. Maybe you just didn’t work hard enough. Maybe it’s not your fault.
In the book, <The Courage To Be Happy>, there is a part about a 3-sided pyramid.(2) “Poor me” is written on one side, expressing the common response of self-pity. “That bad person” is written on the other side, expressing another common response of resentment and blame. On the last side, it is written “What should I do from now on?”. This is the response to life we should all aim at. Afterall, resentment and self-pity often leads no where.
A creative moment saves not only your future, but also justify your past. What does it really take? A meaningful work or adventure that not only brings you material success, but also meaning and connections to other people’s lives. It should satisfy 3 criteria: it makes you happy, it makes people happy, it makes you money.
Is It Too Late?
KFC was founded by a 62-year old man. In the Bible, Abraham started on his grand adventure at an old age of 75. Essentially he had been a bum the first 75 years of his life.
But…sooner is better than later, obviously.
Find one goal and orientate your life around it
What is it that you can offer the world? Can you make others happy through some sort of hard work?
It is hard to find something meaningful and creative to do. Maybe you have always been artistically-inclined but have yet to explore it? Maybe there has been a book idea stuck in your head, and you think people will want to read it. Maybe you could design a new product that improve people’s life in some way.
In any case, think hard. Have a goal and give your full focus to it, and let your life (minus the working and sleeping hours) revolve around that for a while, and see where that path takes you. I hope you find your creative moment.
(1): <Thus Spake Zarathustra> , chapter 46 <The Vision and The Enigma>
(2) <The Courage To be Happy>, Part 1, <There’s No Magic In Adlerian Psychology>
Recommended Reading:
<Thus Spake Zarathustra> by Nietzsche
<The Courage To Be Happy> by Kishimi Ichiro and Koga Fumitake
