I finally finished reading Why We Hate Us. It was a struggle to get through the middle section, as it got very boring and almost rant-like as the author went on and on about politics, news media, and our obsessions with fake crap (like celebrities). But in the end, he finally brought it together. Honestly though, from a pure philosophical point of view, I would have rather just read the first two chapters and the last chapter.
His final thoughts really got me thinking, which is exactly what I had hoped would happen all along. It was the reason I got the damn book, because I felt like I identified in some way with what he was trying to say. He basically said that introspection is not the path to happiness. He drew an analogy that attempting to find happiness through introspection is akin to "climbing a difficult mountain simply because you want the picture on the office wall; you either won't make it to the top or the experience will be hollow and unimportant."
That struck a nerve with me. I'm not saying it's got me doing a 180 on how I think about things, but it does have me reflecting on decisions in a different light. The other core idea he presents is authenticity, and making decisions for authentic reasons. I have often stated out loud how I hate "fake" people, but how authentic am I?
Here is the core passage that I enjoyed tonight, I just wanted to share it in it's entirety:
For our purposes, trying "to climb a mountain to prove how big you are" is similar to trying to find your true self or worldly status to solve your life's problems. This is a doomed venture not just because it is selfish but because it's looking for happiness in all the wrong places. This is frustrating because society seems to promise that you can get to the summit of Mount Self going solo. But you can't. You can only climb. So much of our well-intentioned, high-toned modern soul searching is like an internal version of striving for material success, believing that you can get to the top of Mount Happy and Healthy, displaying yourself to the world in a way that will bring instant stature, respect, and love; that acquiring something - even something "spiritual" - can be an enduring part of your happiness and worth, be it a flat-screen television, fancy job title, tattoo, gun, tenured professorship, great body, wealth, fame, blond hair, a bigger house than your neighbor's, or a well-received book. It's like the hedonistic treadmill. Someone will always have a bigger television, car, bass boat, job and house, or a better book. So "you almost never make it," as Pirsig* said. If those are the goals you seek, you will "have to prove yourself again and again in some other way, and again and again and again."* You'll worry about being exposed.
So if you want to climb Mount Authenticity, think about the climb, about making decisions for authentic reasons. Those will, in turn, be unselfish decisions. Think about climbing well and being a good climbing partner to others. Don't fixate on the summit.
*Items are from Robert Pirsig's Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance which he quotes a lot.
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