Advice

While trawling through the interwebs sometimes I come across an article which provokes a strong reaction in me. Most of the time spent on the internet, let's face it, is a complete waste but sometimes one is made to think a bit. I came across an article where one Mr. Sam who has just turned 30 tries to give life advice based upon his experience during the last decade. Most of it is pretty generic stuff (Life's not a dress rehearsal, pick the right thing to do, have parties) which is precisely the kind of lowest common denominator babble that an average person who has just turned 30 is expected to say. The tone of such a person is always very optimistic and life to him/her would always be just right if one followed this, this, and this step. It doesn't take a rocket scientists (or maybe it does...) to see how much of a load of crap such an attitude is because obviously we would fix things if we could and the reason that we often cannot is because our goals often conflict with each other and we tend to have a very poor understanding of where the conflict is coming from and how to resolve it. Simplistic and optimistic points of views are only for rank idiots and absolute geniuses. I am neither so I have to think. It made me think of what would I say if I had to give advice. After all I also turned 30 a couple of years ago and why should Mr. Sam have all the fun? But advice can never be divorced from context so I'll talk about the context first.

My personal experience of the world around me has been one of responding less and less to its stimuli as time has passed. In a sense I accept it more than I used to and I see less and less reason to change anything about it. There is an inevitability to it and it's neither a cause for optimism nor pessimism, neither happiness nor sorrow. It just is. My outlook towards the world is fatalistic then but the outlook itself personally fills me neither with hope nor with hopelessness. I have the experience of looking at it and at myself from a detached point of view, of appreciating all that is constantly in flux about the world and all that is ephemeral about myself. The result is an attitude where things need not be taken very seriously, for the most part at least. There is not much to be wished because one needs to be careful about what one wishes, both for oneself and for others. There is no need to find coherence in oneself either because there exists none. In fact, I have a distinct feeling that most of our issues result from trying to resist the incredible forces of life whose inevitability we appreciate so little. And this inevitability invariably includes, as a necessity, different cross-sections of people with different views towards life, often conflicting with each other. And they will look down upon each other and they will try to impose their own views on others. Sometimes they will also be sympathetic to each other and help those out who are considerably worse off than them. And the same people would often harbor hateful feelings which would make them feel bad about themselves because they are supposed to be, oh so nice. All very amusing of course. Amusement then is my central response to the human condition, almost all of the time. There are times when I feel contemptuous of others and I don't try to correct it, not seeing it as a defect but as a trait which is necessarily human. And then there are times when I feel sympathetic to others and try to help them but I don't feel proud for doing so either. Secondary emotions, especially emotions which make people feel good like respect and pride are utterly incomprehensible to me. Most of the time they are distinct signs of pettiness and I try not to put up with those who appear proud or respectful or unnecessarily complex in other ways. My short time here on Earth is too precious to bother with such people whose cardinal fault is taking themselves and others too seriously.

So with this context if I were to give advice what shall it be? I'll first have to preface it with the statement that a 32 year old need never be taken seriously. In fact, most people, if not all people, need never be taken seriously when it comes to them giving advice on issues of most importance. Most people have absolutely no understanding of the whirlwind they are in and are, in any case, too insecure to admit to their own deep follies and the pointlessness of their own lives. I may fall in the first category but I don't think I fall in the second one. I think it'd be healthy for an individual to take themselves and others less seriously and to try to find amusement in the intricate brilliance that is this world. There are more issues than one can solve and one need not feel bad about those which are too difficult. To accept this life and this world in all its imperfections, to realize that one is limited, and to try to make peace with their own flawed selves since it won't last for very long in any case, in the grand scheme I mean. I also think that this is an optimistic view of life to someone who chooses to see it in such a light. And I think I do.