Optimism and Play

“Fear is the path to the dark side…fear leads to anger…anger leads to hate…hate leads to suffering.” Yoda

Engineer life around play. If you can choose your way through life then why choose to see everything as work when you can choose to see life as an opportunity to play? I want to choose to play more in my life even though I don't fully understand what that means for a 33-year-old man in 2017.

Forgetting my youthful exuberance is a tragedy I hope to avoid but sadly I forget it's power.

I believe at some point our self-consciousness builds and if it is not put into balance with objectivity we forget to live openly. In filtering our behavior to match a self-imposed social expectation we lose the joy that comes from a lack of inhibition. Many turn to alcohol to regain this feeling but I would like to attempt to implement the philosophy of play in every endeavor I engage in. This will be exceptionally difficult but I think that deep down inside myself there is an optimistic child that is not completely lost to the sands of maturation and socialization.

The best part about this psychological disposition toward life is that a creative person can play anywhere. As an adult, you don't have to do many things. You have to eat, sleep and live and there are endless combinations of potential solutions for accomplishing these basic requirements. In America, once you have the money to pay your bills consistently you are free to do whatever you want. Of course, you are limited by the resources you have to acquire objects and experiences but at no time are you required to feel a certain way about yourself and life by an outside source. You are free to view your circumstances in whichever way you choose and whether you are pessimistic or optimistic will determine your outlook and emotional reactions. I believe optimism is a prerequisite to play and pessimism is a prerequisite to nihilism and the negative definition of work.

You can choose to see yourself as a victim of life or as a player of life but either way, it is a choice that affects your well being as well as the well being of those around you. Take responsibility for your life and become its master or you will be a slave to the negative emotions and outcomes of a life lived in the dreary landscape of nihilism.

Victims require villains. Villains are to be feared. Fear leads to hate and resentment. Resentment festers and violence ensues. The dark side can only be mitigated by the light of hope.

At least that is what I keep telling myself and I think it really matters. I am not predisposed to thinking this way but I will try.

Reasons to be optimistic:

45 Benefits of Optimism by 

https://www.lifeoptimizer.org/2010/03/24/benefits-of-optimism/https://www.lifeoptimizer.org/2010/03/24/benefits-of-optimism/

Stuart Brown: Play is more than fun

Bro Virtue Signalling

"Bro Virtue Signalling, or BVS, is when someone who is super cool also espouses virtues in a cool way. It is important that the signal is not preachy or trying to actually make someone feel worthless. It has to be empowering being perceived as being a "big deal". 

I thought of this while listening to The Joe Rogan Experience Podcast and the Your Mom's House podcast. In both of these podcasts the comedians that host them make fun of each other in the direction of persuading them of the value of good health. The fat shaming event that Bert Kreischer and Tom Segura engaged in earlier this year went viral and became a huge story. What's interesting is that the entire campaign was centered around a bet between the two out of shape comedians to lose weight. Whomever got the lower BMI rating would win and while the contest went on people from all over the world got in on the jokes and jeering. 

This kind of subtle promotion of the virtue of healthier living with the use of crude and "bro" humor is one of the reasons why these comedians and podcasts are so popular. They are not devoid of ethics. They simply hide their virtue signals among vulgar language and sometimes brutal masculine japery. It speaks to the complicated nature of communication and friendship. Friends, especially males, do not always come straight out and say, "I care about you and I think your weight it is unhealthy," but instead say the same thing by saying, "I bet you can't run a mile, because your so fat." It's blunt and to those listening may come off as rude but it's bite is in proportion to the care the one has for the other. 

Another example of this can be seen in the crowning of champions for various activities on the Your Mom's House Podcast between the two hosts Christina Pazsitzky and Tom Segura (husband and wife). In between the fart jokes and insane YouTube clips the two comedians throw in little virtue signals that promote a healthier lifestyle without being preachy. They have a running joke that one of them is the "water champion" and while no one is a clear winner the real goal of the competition is to promote the healthy behavior of drinking more water. Considering the two just had their first child I think that this is another example of how adults can mature while remaining true to themselves.

I highly recommend you check out these podcasts:

http://www.yourmomshousepodcast.com/

http://podcasts.joerogan.net/

Asshole Ideologies

Some causes are worth fighting and dying for, but some causes are merely justifications for assholes to group together to enact their hatred on others. They resent humanity, life and their own lack of worth so they project their insecurities and malice outward to those their cause deems evil. And in the name of slaying the "evil" they become evil. Their misguided morality leads them to cause chaos and harm to the innocent and guilty alike. They're not guided by reasonable moral principles but instead they lash out at their enemies whom they have labeled their enemy based on superficial reasons. They hate those that do not share their race, gender, political affiliation, religious beliefs, or sexual orientation and boil all of ethics into an use vs them race to the grave.

As the violence escalates and ideologies clash it is up to individuals to decide whether or not they will be an asshole today. What's an asshole you ask?

Assholes wear masks because they do not want to be responsible for their actions. Assholes go to pick a fight when the other person clearly doesn't want one. Assholes blow up civilians because they know that if they were to enact their irrational war on their true enemy they would lose in a second. Assholes shoot drive cars into crowds hoping to hurt and kill people with signs. Assholes go around hating on people instead of building them up or ignoring them. Assholes don't negotiate. Assholes sign away lives in wars for selfish and psychotic reasons. Assholes sign laws into place for the sake of votes alone, neglecting philosophical principles and decency.

Assholes steal your stereo face plate but leave the stereo. You stupid mother fuckers!

Ideologies that include justifications for violence based on superficial features are problematic for anyone interested in peace.

What if all the sentences for criminals were voted on by large numbers of people online? After a trial takes place and someone is found guilty, the public is given a set of choices for sentencing and the outcome is determined by a mix of public vote and judge consensus. Certified judges would get paid to listen in on the trials and determine whether or not the public came to an acceptable decision. If the public were to write-in a sentence that was outrageous then the judges would reject the decision and it would go up again or be put to a smaller judgement pool of deciders. I think the American public would eat this idea up in a second.

That last paragraph aside I wonder how I would instill my value system in others if I could. How would I justify my moral presuppositions? How would I convince someone that they are wrong when they believe so passionately that what they are doing is right. So much so that they are willing to kill and/or die to prove it? I do know that it is impossible to have the kinds of conversations that lead humans toward more peace when you are being bombed, poisoned, bashed, stabbed, gassed or otherwise threatened by someone else's ideological battle ax.

Maybe I just haven't seen enough strife or misery in my life to feel the need for the hopeful embrace of ideological warfare but I think that part of what has lead to more and more people living lives free from violence comes from sticking to universal moral principles such as respect for property rights which includes bodily rights. It's not that you punish someone for breaking laws but that you protect those worth protecting from those that would take their property, life or general freedom.