Psychological Boxes: An Essay on Compartmentalization

Psychological Boxes

An Essay on Compartmentalization

March 13, 2024

By Garry Fitchett

Picture a large Maersk container ship chock full of twenty-foot long colorful containers.  Maersk’s largest ship is the Mc-Kinney Moller which can carry 18,270 of these twenty-foot equivalent units (called TEU’s). Maersk has in its fleet over 700 of these ships transporting containers to 374 ports in 116 countries.  And Maersk is not even the largest player in the container-ship transporting industry.

            (MSC – Mediterranean Shipping Company is the largest)

While picturing this ship you see these containers are placed precisely side-by-side completely traversing the width of the ship.  They are also stacked on top of each other at a height much higher than would seem practical or safe considering the long voyage ahead.  Each container holds its unique, particular, and precious cargo.  Every container, with its relatively thin walls, keeps its unique cargo separate from all the other neighboring boxes. Each container is sealed and its contents never mingle with any others whether they be to its side or to the top or bottom of where that particular box resides on this massive ship. In fact, it would take a rather tragic accident to cause the containers to break or rupture exposing their contents and then risking the chance of comingling those contents with a neighboring box. In addition, using weight and volume calculations, the ship remains true and level with the whole operation staying in balance for the duration of the trip. Everything is separated; everything in balance as the ship makes its way to a port-of-call.

The vision of this container ship’s scene, in my opinion, is an analog to the way we all conduct various aspects of our lives, knowingly or unknowingly.  However, for us our containers, our boxes, don’t contain products per se, but mental and emotional constructs.

Here is an example of what I mean:

Last year I was planning on visiting my younger brother, John, at his new condo in Sarasota, Florida.  Aware that I was arriving in just a few days he kindly asked me if there were any grocery item treats he could pick-up for me that I might want during my weeklong stay.  My only request was for tonic water and I mentioned a specific brand, Fever-Tree.  I had recently discovered this Fever-Tree brand and now prefer it over others for my Gin and Tonics which I knew I would be enjoying during my visit to south Florida.  When I arrive and enter his kitchen I see a six-pack of Canada Dry tonic water on the countertop.  I casually ask, “So I see your local store doesn’t carry the Fever-Tree brand of tonic?”  Please note this Fever-Tree brand costs $5.99 for four eight ounce bottles versus the Canada Dry tonic costing $4.99 for six ten ounce bottles.  My brother’s response to my query was to say that the store stocked it, but that he was not going to pay $5.99 for that tonic water. 

Now for me, as such an easy going guy, this situation is not really a ‘needle-mover’ in my life.  I’ve drank Canada Dry tonic before and it’s fine so this situation warranted no further discussion. We just move on to our next topic of conversation - no biggie. 

After a couple of Canada Dry Gin & Tonics my brother tells me he has set-up dinner reservations for us at a very nice restaurant located on Main Street in downtown Sarasota.  Dining out is something we are quick to do when we are together so this sounds great.  We Uber to the restaurant and over the course of a couple of hours we each have a couple of drinks and, like close brothers with similar tastes, we share four mutually-agreed-upon appetizers for our dinner.  The bill comes to around $150 with tip and John says, “No problem, I got this for us.” 

This is a fairly typical course of events when we get together as I will surely foot the bill for tomorrow night’s dinner. 

That evening I reflect on the tonic and dinner situation and I think, OK, my brothers retort to buying my favorite tonic water, and the only request I had, lasting me for the next three to four days, costing him a whole dollar more than he would normally consider to spend for tonic water is, “No fricking way”.  But to spend $150 for a two hour dinner experience his response is, “No problem”. 

This is not an important example of what I refer to in this essay as psychological boxes, but it is a graphic one that characterizes my idea.

Here is another example.

A local Williamsburg businessman that I have come to know through a mutual friend trades stocks and commodities for his own account.  This is his business.  He runs it from an office he rents in New Town.  He conducts his daily trades using ‘margin’ which creates leverage and gives him more investing power.  This means if he wagers $20,000 of his own money on a trade he may get to establish a $60,000 position in a particular stock or commodity for his account.  In this example he is levered three-to-one.  So, in this very common occurrence for him, if his position moves two percent on the day, up or down, he will either enjoy a six percent gain or conversely, a six percent loss.  Daily, this gentleman makes and loses thousands of dollars sometimes in a matter of minutes.  This is the business he’s been engaged in since his mid-twenties. 

One day I randomly run-into-him while standing at a local Harris Teeter check-out line and he comments that his wife sent him there to pick-up some chicken for their dinner.  He further explains, in a pretty excited manner, that he lucked out because the chicken’s on sale this week for fifty cents off a pound.  “Wonderful”, I reply as I notice he holding a four pound pack of chicken which will grant him a very handsome two-dollar windfall.  Psychological boxes I think as I contemplate how a businessman exposing himself to literally thousands of dollars of trading gains and losses in a day can be excited about saving two-dollars for tonight’s dinner:  One dollar of savings for him and one dollar for his wife. 

The only way I can explain to myself this type of human phenomena and behavior as exhibited by my brother and this local friend is to consider the idea that we all compartmentalize certain aspects of our lives, which I refer to in this essay as Psychological Boxes.

Psychological Boxes.  I would venture to say that we all have them and you may now be thinking of your own personal examples.  These boxes we have formulated for ourselves, as real as the physical boxes on that Maersk container ship, in some esoteric way keeps us all ‘level and in balance’ as we make our unique voyage though our lives.  This box characterization is the only way I can get my arms around these types of very commonly observed situations, such as I have noted.  How can one view the same fundamental ‘happening’ so differently?  It must be because one set of circumstances in a particular setting or environment is being viewed from a frame of reference that differs, in our minds at least, from the other?  Mental constructs, as exemplified by these examples, are something we all employ and are at work in our lives.

Referring back to the Maersk transport ship I asked you to picture at the start you will remember that the colorful containers are not only placed side-by-side but also above and below each other.  This brings me to my second observation about how psychological boxes play a part in our lives.

When I picture containers on the Maersk ship, one on top another, it reminds me of the expression, I’m sure you’ve all heard before, that One person’s ceiling in another person’s floor.  The singer, Paul Simon, even wrote a song about it titled, ‘One Man’s Ceiling is Another Man’s Floor.’   His song’s lyrics describe the challenges of tenants living in a high-rise apartment complex.  However, I have always understood this idea and expression to mean the following: Where one person aspires to get to in their lives, another person seemingly leap-frogs traditional obstacles and is able to simply start at the same desired point.  One person’s ceiling is another person’s floor.  This idea is demonstrated in many forms.  Here are a two examples.

The first example is of two aspiring young business-minded men or women who have the same idea to build a business that will require a $100,000 start-up investment.  To accomplish this Person A decides that they will diligently work for the next five years, living austerely,  allowing them to save the necessary start-up money to accomplish their goal.

Person B, in this example, who has the same need to obtain $100,000 for a business venture, but viewing the predicament from a ‘higher psychological box’ takes a totally different approach.  They decide to risk every single asset they currently own in an attempt to borrow ‘on a shoestring’ the necessary startup capital.  Or possibly they pursue presenting a compelling sales pitch in the hope of securing the necessary money from a third-party outside investor.  This would-be investor is wooed to invest from the sheer excitement, confidence, and strong communication skills of this would-be entrepreneur.

Would-be-entrepreneur B does not view the $100,000 as a ceiling, that will take five years to accomplish, but simply as the floor right where they stand.  How can this be?  Psychological Boxes play their part.  Perhaps Person B takes their chosen tack because of supreme belief in themselves, or out of sheer naivete about the pitfalls sure to come in attempting to build a business.  Do they somehow know, subliminally, that a sure way to eventual success is to fail early and often in one’s pursuit of a goal?  As they are not one to tip-toe softly through life trying to get to death safely.  And if they indeed fail and lose this $100,000 investment then one day, later in life in a reflective moment, they will see the $100,000 lost/spent as merely a tuition payment necessary to obtain a valuable lesson.  A lesson that may magnify and grow into something even more valuable later in life.  As an analogy, consider when someone happens onto a construction site in any major city and wondering how tall the building will eventually be has only to observe the depth of the foundational hole: Deeper the hole taller the building.

In the example, these two potential business people, harboring the exact same business concept and having the same financial needs, operate from very different psychological box levels causing their timeframes for success or failure to be either drastically condensed or elongated.  It’s good for us all to be very watchful of what words we use to describe ourselves and our situations because ‘words have energy and cast spells:  That’s why they call it spelling’.   (quote from Bruce Lee)

Here is another example of the idea that one’s ceiling is another’s floor: A young aspiring college basketball coach works their way up to a Division I major college position by spending literally decades of his or her life, while barely making a livable wage, proving their coaching prowess at first Division III and then Division II colleges, before finally getting the Division I high profile and paying job.   A different aspiring coach goes immediately to a high-profile D-I team and tells them they are willing to work for basically free to do any job they want to give them.  A real life example is Erik Spoelstra of the Miami Heat.   He begin work with the Miami Heat Professional basketball team in 1995 as a ‘video guy’.  Because of his work ethic and after a stint in various assistant coaching positions he was promoted to head coach in 2008: Last September he received an eight year extension for 120 million dollars.

Yes, one Maersk ship container’s ceiling is another container’s floor. 

My final point regarding our “Psychological Boxes” is to reemphasize that the contents of one box do not co-mingle or spill over to another box without some sort of significant accident occurring.  Maybe a bridge or another large vessel is struct, resulting in containers being ruptured and the precious contents come spilling out all over. 

Likewise for us, if the unexpected happens, such as an accident resulting in a near-death experience for us or a loved one, or we suffer a sudden financial loss, or whatever it may be:  Now the walls of one’s finely assembled boxes are obliterated in a flash and a fresh brand-new point of view arrives for the first time.  A paradigm shift occurs and the ephemeral walls of our precious boxes rupture and the contents are exposed and, maybe for the first time, critically examined.

 The bottom-line is that the walls of our meticulously constructed Psychological-Boxes can melt away in an instant under certain conditions, because they never really existed in the first place.  Unlike containers on that Maersk ship, we are the architects of our own very personal, very curious, and more times-than-not, very constrictive walls that devise our psychological boxes as we make our way to a final port-of-call.  

THE FORMULA OF AUTHENTICITY

The Formula of Authenticity

A Psychological and Philosophical Equation  

As presented to the Emerson Society

By Garry Fitchett – President

“Independence is for the very few.  It is a privilege of the strong.  Whoever attempts it enters a labyrinth and multiplies a thousand fold the danger of life.  Not least of which is that no one can see how and where he loses his way…..       

                                            - Friedrich Nietzsche   Beyond Good and Evil/#29

There is a formula, a first principle axiom, capable of bringing one to more fully understand their soul, and to come to understand the nature of the spirit residing within this soul: in essence, to come to a place in the road where one can truly know – who they are as an individual.  And if such talk of searching for your soul and its spirit feels hyperbolic or pretentious, then lets just characterize this process as a venture, an exercise in open-mindedness, to find out, ‘What makes us tick’.

It is first important to know that no one can look at another person, and by employing science, logic, math, or reason, know what they are for: what their purpose is. One can do this for a pair of scissors, but not for another human being. And, in-turn, the task of finding a meaning for our very own lives exists on a higher plane, and transcends appearances, science, logic, and mathematics.

I submit to you that there is a formula, previously illusive, to help us decipher ourselves. For the purpose of this very important journey ‘into oneself’ there is a method, and this formula exemplifies and illuminates the method.  For every answer capable of being found has, by definition, a method – a method of discovery: some very simple, others convoluted and arcane.  However, once found, and more importantly, understood, this formula can be used, again and again, by anyone desirous of finding their answer.  AND WHAT AN ANSWER TO BE FOUND.  However, please be warned that applying this formula is not for the weak as noted by Nietzsche and using it, while illuminating, can be a very arduous process indeed.  Only the strongest among us really want to come face to face with themselves.

To begin, and before you can understand any subject, concept, or truth we must first come to know the truth of who we are.  This by definition, maybe default, has to be our starting point. However, this is no easy thing. Why? Because chronologically it does not work out for us in such a fashion.  We, unwittingly, are born into a world that for thousands of years has already been designed, developed, and formulated by others who have come before us.  It is not unreasonable to think that some errors may have occurred: maybe these designers were asleep, or at least a little drowsy.  A society engineered by generations of men and women who were not always up to such an important task.

Our first goal as we unavoidably come into such a world, wide-eyed and innocent, is to earnestly learn of our immediate environment and come to understand it as best we can.  And low and behold we find ourselves up to the task being the curious intelligent beings we naturally are.  Then, as time goes by and as we start to get a grip on how society functions we find, most directly, our predominant key role is to fit-in, assimilate, and to conform to this ready-made world.  Rare, indeed, is a person who thinks otherwise.

Therefore, the need and desire to know who we really are, meaning our nature and essence comes, if it ever comes, much later. This task, maybe our most important one, comes after we have already done a lot of study, looking, living, and a lot of trying to conform.  Habits like these are long in the making, deep in their resolve and, understandably hard to break.  It is easy to become blind to them. It has been said - A fish is the last to discover water.  So therefore, it is easy to dive headlong into this accepting, mechanical, conforming life which is all quickly solidified by habit.  Habits which, usually forever, furrow our lines of action because they channel our chains of thought.

However, a few having failed to completely succumb to societal forces begin to approach a point where understanding, awareness, and the primal urge to know what makes them tick overwhelms their so-far rather mechanical, faux-fabricated life.  This task, hiding in plain site for most, is suddenly viewed just over the horizon from now a higher and newly discovered vantage point.  It is here where a hard break in the daily chain of habitual thought and action is necessary.  And break it we must if our life is to ever approach the heights it was created to achieve: A life full of imagination, freedom, creativity, and power; full of emotion and joy. 

But HOW?  Oh, what a question.  For those who feel this urge to live a life like this, even if felt only rarely and then only faintly, is not easily forgotten.  We know we have a problem: to find a way out of our self-imposed maze that society has lent a big hand in constructing.  We know, instinctively and maybe more accurately, intuitively, that there is a way, a plan, or possibly some strategy that could be employed that will do the trick for us.  Something bringing us to an action point of relief even if not absolute success.  We have been molded by our past experience no-doubt, but it is also true that we are shaped by the person we hope to become. The Formula presents a sure way to know our unique individuality which allows us the opportunity to stop living as a manufactured personality, complete with its fears, doubts, and envies that have, over time, taken root in our being.  This formula has the capacity to transport one from the world of the already-made to the realm of the being-made.

Can an order as tall as this have a simple answer?  NO.  But it can have a formula.  An efficient formula efficaciously performing the task of finding something that each in his or her own way is searching for; then make it understandable and, more importantly, actionable.

This formula, or prescription, as true and precise as a mathematical equation, epitomizes a relationship of cause and effect.  This formula is designed to disentangle our genuine self from the mind-made machinery of a personality bent by the throes of society.  A formula finding something that is just SO, as it was designed to be.  A formula to un-riddle ourselves and to find our proper place.  A formula like this exist and it will be revealed in simplistic clarity so that all who wish to know, may know.

The Formula designed to break a pattern and cycle of inauthenticity goes like this.

This formula with its components and relationships, will be explained in detail so that you can make it operational and useful for yourself: So that you have the opportunity to get some good out of it and learn how to make it work for you.  Work for you along the lines of discovering your true individuality and then live true to that unique self the rest of your life.

The Formula you see here - goes like this:  YOU (U) equals your attractions(a) multiplied by your intuitions(i) divided by what you innately Will(w) multiplied by forever or infinity. 

               You (U) equals your attractions (a) times your intuitions (i)

                divided by what you innately will (w) times Infinity

 Again, to reiterate, this philosophic formula is designed to discover one’s true nature, essence, and authenticity.  The goal of devising this formula is to have people come to know their essential individuality by having a working way of discovering this self, and then to live true to it all.  People striving to unfold their true-self in a good thing.  A good thing for not only oneself, but I feel for the health and well-being of society in general.  Let those operating true to their nature procure protractor, compass, and rule become the architects of society.

In short, the formula is designed to light the way for you to become your self, your whole self, and nothing but your self.  The history of humankind is hallmarked by a trail of growing individuation, and with growing individuation, growing freedom. But, historically, this process has been glacial at best.  The formula moves the pace from glacial to, at least, gradual. Its ultimate and over-arching objective is two-fold: One, to bring to one’s conscious attention the essence of one’s true and indivisible spirit, and two, to have this knowing, powerful, imaginative ‘thing’ through you, - meaning your heart, mind, and body, - exert its positive and loving Will upon its environment.  A wise man once said that all human action is a form of play.  The definition of the word ‘play’ indicates that one is doing something they like, even love, which means doing something that speaks to and satisfies one’s nature and essence.  But how does one proactively figure all of this out?  Here the Formula plays its role and lends a hand.

To begin, this formula will be explained in a summary format so that you will immediately get the gist of what it is all about.  This will allow you to get your arms around the dynamics involved in executing the formula.

The Formula Explained in Summary

You (U) means the true, essential, real, unique, unencumbered, one-of-a-kind you.  The powerful, imaginative, and naturally creative you.  A YOU that has risen above -  or at least can see above - having once been inevitably ‘fallen’, as the German philosopher Martin Heidegger characterized it.  That is to say ‘fallen’ into the structure, requirements, and expectations of the society in which we find ourselves living day to day.  This is a You not forged from external determinations, but from one’s own essential nature.

The (a) stands for ATTRACTION, meaning what you are most naturally attracted to including: people, places, things, ideas, notions, and areas where you give easy and unbridled attention in your daily life.  Attraction indicates desire: It is both cognitive and emotive in nature.

The (i) represents INTUITION.  Intuition is a form of constructive imagination providing sudden and immediate insight into a thought, problem, purpose, or plan that one has been actively contemplating, whether consciously or subconsciously, and usually for some length of time.  This intuition emanates from what one knows and not what one merely believes.

So therefore, The Formula to this point is as follows: The one and only YOU (U) equals what attracts your Attention(a) multiplied by what you Intuit(i).  All of this is divided by your WILL(w).  Now the concept of Will, as used here, is not that revered trait that makes us stick to a task we have already decided to do. Rather, Will, in this context, means, self-will, and is a palpable force coming from deep within oneself.  This type of ‘Will’ means one is not acting from a ‘will’ alien to one’s own. I believe one’s ‘Will’ exposes one’s highest spiritual nature.  This is a Will that desires things, people, conditions, etc., and wishes to exercise its inherent powers to achieve, gain, acquire, or improve a situation.  Will, as positioned in this equation, is the common denominator of both Attraction and Intuition.  And the reasons are as follows:  one surely needs to be aware, cognizant, even call it alive enough to feel one’s WILL as it is attracted to that with which it has an affinity and two, the exercising of human Will is required to detect and discern one’s intuitions and not merely discount them as frivolous, even crazy.

Furthermore, the Will has an even bigger role in developing the conviction to act on one’s attractions and intuitions.  Having the capacity to not only feel, but be conscious of one’s Will, in the mist of exercising its instinctual powers, places one most immediately in rarified air.  Will, its power and direction, is always forward looking and Will, as Hannah Arendt said, “is an organ for the future as memory is an organ for the past”. I submit to you tonight that what one is attracted to, what one intuits, and what one Will’s comprise the three frames of what I will characterize as the doorway to your essential self.  Knowing and understanding this formula allows, inspires, and gives you the conviction to step over a previously illusive threshold.  In that glorious step one’s destiny’s is finally being painted by the hands of its only possible artist, YOU.  This artist, finally in-tune to it’s attractions, intuitions, and will creates a painting beyond reproach.  When one asks the question, ‘What does my unique spirit bring to where I now find myself?’: The answer has to entail one’s attractions, intuitions, Will, and of course energy. 

Now, please note that there are people who don’t consciously use this formula, but through luck, brilliance, pre-destination, or whatever reap its benefits

nonetheless.  This happens.  But for the others who grope and strain attempting to find their way – their purpose, their meaning – will usually look first to logic and reason.  But these while efficacious on many fronts prove sterile in this solely human even spiritual endeavor.  So, therefore, what is one to do? What tool can be used to supply an answer that must be uniquely individual to every person, or seeker.  Here one must recognize that commonalities do exist and those commonalities, available to us all, are our Attractions, Intuitions, and what one Will’s.

Emerson said it brilliantly with, “What attracts my Attention shall have it.”  The Dutch philosopher Baruch Spinoza did the same favor for us when he noted that when we have an intuition, “We are seeing God’s thoughts”.  And finally the concept of Will was perfectly and succinctly explained by the German philosopher, Arthur Schopenhauer, when he uttered the words, “Man can indeed do what he wants, but he cannot Will what he wants.”  Rudolf Steiner said it this way, “Man can, it is true, do what he wills, but he cannot will what he wills.”

To sum-up:  Attractions, while an internal impulse, are originated from ‘without’.  That is, something comes into our field of vision and we are either attracted to it or not.  Intuitions obviously come from ‘within’, and Will, for all I know may come from and be originated in one’s spirit housed within one’s soul.  When one recognizes their attractions, and takes them into account; then listens to their intuitions and gives them true weight, the Will - the actual engine behind it all - always finds itself to be soothed and sustained.

The Formula serves as a window, or maybe portal into one’s authentic self and once viewed, even if opaquely at first, allows one’s spirit to begin to unfold itself.

  Finally, the infinity symbol indicates that this process for every individual will carry-on forever: marking the belief that your current life, now, here on this Earth, is but a small small segment of your entire spiritual existence.  I believe we are living our eternal life right now; this is part of it.  When we one-day die from this earthly existence our body will not discard our spirit, but our everlasting spirit will discard our body, and on and on.  We come, dwelleth a while, then go.  But back of this our spirit lives forever.

“That which brought you into being, will continue you in being;

that which created you, will recreate you; that which generated

you, will regenerate you; that what breathed life into you, will

continue to breath life into you – if you will but set its powers

into activity.”

So, one sees that this philosophical formula’s components of attention, intuition, and self-will comprise the three key fountainheads of one’s true persona; an authentic persona steeped in self-determination, freedom, creativity, and power.  For it is this one-of-a-kind exacting puzzle-piece, self-forged that fits, most sincerely, into the world of necessity where we all reside. In this self-discovered place one operates supremely by exercising their own unique brand of creativity, freedom, and power.

Paying attention, exploring, pursuing, and exercising the formula’s three golden attributes or components allows one to break-through to the primary sources of one’s life: to become a true original and authentic.  Someone who breaks through the barbed-wire of ‘outside’ influences whether they be societal, family, governmental, religious, or whatever.   Once the formula is understood and employed a sort of metamorphosis occurs transfiguring one from self-imposed slavery to the environs of creative labor and life. By employing The Formulaone’s thoughts and action become original and are no longer predominated by outside social forces; it allows what could be considered an inner genius to have the chance to finally show itself.  I once heard a talk from someone who had worked directly with the man Walt Disney and he said Walt would comment, “We are all born geniuses, but only a few make it through”. Finally, we are transparent to our own self.  We are free and spontaneous to feel, think, and say what is ours.

In closing, The Formula shows the way for a person to live out his/her life in a non-determined way which enables, even fosters, self-determination.  Erich Fromm in Escape from Freedom says, ‘there is nothing of which we are more ashamed than of not being ourselves’.  

The Formula also helps one to understand their true motives that drives each of us from cradle to grave.  Picasso is credited with saying something to the effect that life is like a train, it moves very fast, objects are hard to distinguish as they pass, and above all, you never get to see the engine.  So the question is lit - What is this engine? What is the driving force that hurls us towards ‘things’ throughout our lives? Employ the formula and become one of the few who ever get to see the engine. The Russian philosopher, Nicola Berdyaev says you will never be ‘free’ until you find your reasons.

By incorporating The Formula one is immediately on a path to personal freedom because it stimulates one with the knowledge, or at least an inkling or insight into why you feel inspired and motivated to do certain things.

The formula allows one to live creatively in the world of necessity, while at the same time being free from the world.  Self-determined means acting from one’s self-will, newness, and freedom.  This does not mean that one can rise above the world of necessity, where we all reside, but it allows one to be self-determined and uniquely creative within this world.

                                                          ---------------------

The formula represents a conduit from the implied negative viewpoint of ‘freedom from’, to the more positive viewpoint of ‘freedom for’: Freedom for one’s creative life and all that that idea implies.

Yet, no matter how efficaciousness the formula in increasing our level of freedom we will find ourselves always operating in a world of necessity; where food, water, shelter; the tool of money, indispensable in the ubiquitous areas of life where money works, and all the rest of it is waiting for us. The Formula allowing your individual, free, powerful, and creative essence to come to the fore, offers you great advantage to be the best contributor that you can possibly be in this ‘world of necessity’.  Granted our world is complete with its never-ending barrage of external influences both material and intelligent.  However, now you can transition from externally determined acts to creative acts spawned and inspired by Attraction, Intuition, and Self-Will: realizing your higher nature and standing most erect and free.  

SISYPHUS'S DILEMMA

Most all have heard of the Greek mythological figure Sisyphus, who was sentenced by the Gods for being deceitful, and even a murderer of travelers through his country. Sisyphus was punished with the futile work of pushing a boulder up a mountain, whereupon reaching the top, the boulder unfailingly, and instantly tumbled back down to the bottom.  As ordained by the powers-to-be, this was to become Sisyphus’s life: fruitless, unrelenting, repetitive, and worse – unimportant labor.  At the beginning of each day, Sisyphus’s hourglass, filled with uninspiring work, was simply flipped over; primed for another day.

 In Albert Camus’s book, The Myth of Sisyphus, the French writer noted that as Sisyphus walked back down the mountain to retrieve his boulder he would have been afforded the time to contemplate his fate; to consider his situation.  The following essay encompasses a number of ideas from various philosophers, notably Richard Taylor, plus a few of my own all melded into a story.

 After another arduous trip lugging his rock up the mountain, a forlorn Sisyphus, once again, watched as his rock begin to tumble back down the mountain-side.  Hanging his head, and taking a deep breath he dispiritedly began his descent.  Sisyphus, on this particular return, began to contemplate, even agonize over the question of how he could ever improve the nature of this unrelenting labor that filled his days.  He pondered how this work could be advanced and made, at least a bit more, meaningful.

 His first thought led him to the idea that instead of a big boulder, he was actually fated to transport just a small pebble up a hill.  As he considered this material improvement, he debated if this would be the key change he was actually seeking in his fateful work.  He figured, yes, the pebble would still roll back down the hill, but being just a pebble, it would be easy to retrieve and transport back up the hill.  So he asked himself, ‘Would this improve the condition of my work?”  After a tittle of thought, Sisyphus confessed that this change would help physically, but sadly, only physically.

 Upon further reflection, Sisyphus entertained another idea; and even bigger improvement so he thought.  He now imagined that the boulder did not roll back down the mountain at all.  As he pushed his boulders to the mountaintop they would begin to accumulate into a pile.  A smile slowly crossed his face as he began to visualize that his efforts would now, at least, produce something – even if only a pile of rocks atop his mountain of work.  The idea of working to create something, even if only an aimless pile of rocks and pebbles captivated him on his slow retreat down the mountain.  But his smile was cut-short as he quickly arrived at the conclusion that this new development would not be the meaningful change he sought.

 Sisyphus, in a memory that harked back to his youth, suddenly remembered he had learned that real, honest, and respected work had to be both hard in nature, and long of duration.  This type of work was respected by the throngs who constitute quote, ‘Society’.  Extrapolating out this line-of-thought he imagined for a moment that the stone he was fated to transport was even bigger, and the mountain’s slope now more severe than ever before.  Visualizing this change, he saw himself staggering to hoist the stone to his shoulders, as opposed to mercifully pushing it, which even the condemning gods had allowed. “No!”, he quickly uttered – “this does not make my work more meaningful, at least, not to me”. 

 Suddenly, Sisyphus had an insight.  The gods who had condemned him to this unrelenting work were, no doubt, busy conducting their godlike duties.  He wondered if they could really be that vigilant about watching him work.  He contemplated for a moment that they might not be keeping track of him at all.  And if this were the case, he might be able to abandon his boulder and rest for a bit.  Maybe even give up the work for all of eternity and live a life of leisure.  Mentally playing this notion out, he realized that such a path would only result in eternal boredom.  This would be a curse unto itself, for Sisyphus knew he was immortal, and a bored immortality could possibly rival the damning of this fated labor.  Just the thought of it caused his vigor to suddenly fall slack, which was unsettling at best.  Eternal rest and a life of leisure were not going to be the answer to his dilemma either.

 Having adopted the idea of the rocks not falling back down the mountain, yet still frustrated nonetheless, Sisyphus turned his thoughts to other ways he could improve upon his work.  As the weeks passed, the growing pile of rocks had become quite large.  One day he stopped to survey his rock pile.  After reflecting for a moment, he began rearranging a few stones, configuring them into a pattern he had seen before.  Realizing he had to transport his rocks up the mountain, for that he couldn’t change, he began to grasp the idea of actually constructing something. ‘Yes’, he thought, he would build some type of structure.  However, he knew he should follow the plans of another designer, or architect, because he was just a lowly hill climber, and what did he know about constructing buildings?  This idea morphed into a smile across his countenance, as he suddenly felt that this fated work would now finally be dramatically improved.  Exercising this line of thought, Sisyphus would intelligently build a structure born of another’s imagination. It would have use, possibly even beauty. 

 As the years passed, obediently following the blueprints of an architect Sisyphus didn’t even know, he still yearned for something more.  There must be something beyond the daily task of building from the plans of another.  This job had now become too small for him.  He felt he really couldn’t put his spirit into it.  He had tried, but it wouldn’t fit.  He had indeed matured, so-to-speak, building from the imagination of an intelligent designer who was one who had demanded, through his shear force of will, that his plans make some noise and actually come into being.  Likewise, Sisyphus now wanted to build something that would manifest his own ideas, and not simply regurgitate the designs of one he had never even met.  He desired to perform in a manner that spoke to him, while speaking from his core.  And even though his hands had calloused from transporting all those rocks, he still longed to feel himself in his daily work.

 Sisyphus continued to contemplate this idea on the only respite he enjoyed: on his repeated trek, down his mountain of work to fetch his rocks.  As Sisyphus descends, take a moment and psychologically mount yourself on his broad shoulders, from where you can enjoy complete relaxation as you think about his dilemma, possibly your dilemma – a universal dilemma.

“I have hung all systems on the wall like a row of useless hats. They do not fit”

— William Golding British author

 As Sisyphus anxiously considered what this next evolution of progress would look like, he suddenly, in a fit of frustration, and perhaps insanity, tore down his hard-won structure.  Crying, he asked, “What have I done? I have people who depend on me, and I shouldn’t be so self-centered.  I’m irrational.  So what if I feel that I’m fated to create something from an impulse that resonates deep within me.  Maybe it’s just my fantasies playing tricks on me.  Who am I, really?”

Sisyphus, on some level, wished to escape the unsatisfied longings and stifled ambition eating away at the heart of his desire.  There was an undercurrent of inauthenticity in his work that would not leave him alone.  Feeling that in order to truly live an honest life he had to find a way, once and for all, to act from a sincere impulse emanating from who knows where.  Sisyphus, attracted to this idea, had finally arrived at a place where he would, for the first time, listen, and act from an original inner impulse.  But, not today.  Today he would remain comfortably numb, living among all the sane people pushing insane rocks; among the sincere, living an insincere existence, and with all the critics, smiling hypocritical smiles.  After all, it was safe here.  Society, in full agreement tacitly nodded.

“I was part of that strange race of people aptly described as spending their lives doing things they detest to make money they don’t want to buy things they don’t need to impress people they dislike”

— Emile Gauvreau French anarchist

 After many more weeks of deciding his next step, he came to the conclusion that it was not the things you did in life that could psychologically kill you – it was the things you didn’t do.  (Maybe even immortals don’t really live forever, but rather for an extremely long time.  Because of this they just believe themselves to be immortal.  Maybe they’re just like the rest of us.)

 At the end of his thinking, where conclusions live, Sisyphus believed he deserved to find his destiny as anyone ever created.  He was commanded by a universal impulse never desiring to lead anyone down a wayward path.  He arrived at the conclusion that he had no choice but to finally listen – find – and follow.

“Destiny finds those who listen and fate finds the rest.”

— Marshall Masters TV producer

On an inauspicious, ordinary day, Sisyphus began to work from his own imagination, intellect, and impulse.  His work reflects what emanates from within. Ironically, he works as hard as ever before.  And on some days, because of his growing enthusiasm, he works harder than ever before.  This venture, though far from perfect, speaks to him with sincerity; he feels true to himself.  Now working according to his nature, he communicates a bit of himself in his daily tasks, which ironically is still to push rocks, boulders, and pebbles up his mountain of work: For this he could not change.  Sisyphus deemed his work to be valuable, and through his shared essence with others, they also valued his work.  Nothing had changed as Sisyphus was still condemned to this work for all of eternity, but now he relished his immortality.  His youth and vitality never seemed to waver as he worked with great purpose.

“May your hands always be busy
May your feet always be swift
May you have a strong foundation
When the winds of changes shift

May your heart always be joyful
May your song always be sung
And may you stay - forever young”

— Bob Dylan Forever Young

 Sisyphus’s work speaks to him and communicates – not by words but actions – his essence to the world.  On his fated way back down the mountain to fetch, yet another rock, he smiles and suddenly begins to cry; warm tears stream through the dust of his face.

“The man may teach by doing, and not otherwise. If he can communicate himself, he can teach, but not by words.”

— Emerson Essay on Spiritual Laws

“Only creativity is spontaneously rich. It is not from ‘productivity’ that a full like can be expected.”

— Raoul Vaneigem Belgian philosopher

The French philosopher, Albert Camus, concludes in the Myth of Sisyphus, that for Sisyphus, “The struggle itself towards the heights is enough to fill a man’s heart.  One must imagine Sisyphus happy.”

 Sisyphus closes his eyes and reflects on what authentic work is to be.  He realizes that his soul and its spirit exude an essence that energizes and animates his will.  And when this is sensed by his heart, it spurs his desire and appetite for certain outcomes that he can capably bring about.  If he did not have the talent to make this real, the thought would never have ever come into his mind.  He realizes that he has become an unobstructed channel between his soul’s energized impulse, his mind’s faculties, and his natural talents.  He knows he can perform his work which, in turn, feeds his soul.  In this way a virtuous cycle is completed.  He is beautiful and good, for a thing is beautiful if it fulfills its purpose, and good if faithful to its nature.  The essence of a thing is its spirit, and the spirit of a thing is its essence.  One does not exist without the other.  Now his essence is displayed in his work.  And yes, work that has been fated: it could really be no other way.  Finally, his work speaks to both himself and to the world as he creates something of real value.

“In choosing our life’s work, we should choose that which will call the biggest man and woman our of us, and not that from which we can coin the most dollars.”

— Orison Swett Marden American author

CYCLE OF CONSEQUENCE/ aka LIFE

SEQUENCE AND CONSEQUENCE

Life is a continuous and unbroken cycle of cause and effect. In the final analysis - there are no accidents. Behind every effect there exist a cause, a genesis of that effect. 

Random occurrences, sometimes described as accidents do present themselves to us all, but there was a cause of that 'happening'; an effect somewhere earlier in a chain of causes.  

This is all good to know, but what can I do about effecting, or maybe more accurately engineering, in a favorable way, my own personal sequence of this cause and effect? Why should this be important to me?  

Why? Because you are the genesis of our own personal cycle of consequence, and here is how I believe it works; it all starts with perception; with your personal precepts of your world.

To further explain: How one perceives something (events, circumstances, personal luck, possibilities, themselves, etc) directly affects how one feels about that something. How one feels about something influences, most assuredly, how one thinks about that thing. How one thinks about something directs the actions one takes in relation to the thing that is being thought about. And in the final analysis, the actions one takes serves as the proof of the initial perception: this action being only a delayed reflection of the initial precept. And, of course results come from specific actions, and not from vague hopes, wishes, and good intentions. But first, and always, the key generative factor was how you first perceived the thing occupying your field of vision and or thought. Therefore this sequence and consequence cycle first began with the quality of your perception, recognition, comprehension; your grasp of what is real, real for you at least; perception was the genesis of all that came later.  

To further explain, precepts (the products of perception) furnish the elemental materials from which we think. This leads to what we do; the one and only proof of what we are really thinking. Our precepts are the units on which our memory, imagination, thoughts, reason, and judgment build their structures. If we will but perceive things differently, i.e. better, more confidently, etc. we will do things differently. If we see things truthfully, we thus feel, think, and act truthfully. Precepts, the products of our perception, are the first, and most important, link in life's chain of sequence and consequence.  

No matter how varied, wonderful, and abundant the outside world actually is, my inner world - where my precepts and I reside - is limited to my personal view of whatever this real world is. Therefore, my perceptions form the foundational layer upon which I create, architect, build, and eventually rule my actual world: I am the ultimate creator of its boundaries. I decide, beginning with my perceptions, and all that is spawned from these perceptions, the heights of the peaks and the depths of the valleys of my life.  

Knowing this and understanding that each of us is the sold creator of our world, our highest duty is to increase our power of perception, because it is only and exactly this which provides the materials, units, and structures that constitute our one and only world, and nothing but our world. Below the idea, described here, is put into schematic I call the Cycle of Consequence.

 

This idea comes from the perceptions of Garry Fitchett, the author of Life is a Bicycle - A Living Philosophy to Finding Your Authenticity.

The Formula: A PHILOSOPHICAL EQUATION OF I

What if there existed, awaiting to be discovered, an easily remembered equation that clearly and precisely demonstrated a way, a formula, a first principle theorem designed to lead one on a journey of ultimate self discovery?  Would it be helpful for those who desire to embark on such a search?  

We are all very familiar with mathematical equations, with perhaps the most famous being Albert Einsteins's  

Magnificent! indeed. Brilliant. Precise. Einstein used just five, easy to remember symbols, and explained the complex relationship between Energy and Mass.

What if a similar formula or equation could be used to show the complex, and seemingly equally illusive relationship between who we really are and whom we consider ourselves to be.

Here is just such an equation:

U =  ai ➗ w  x  infinity

This Formula will be explained in the next blog.        

Three Questions - Perpetually Illusive

“There is a candle in your heart, ready to be kindled. There is a void in your soul, ready to be filled. You feel it, don’t you?”

— Rumi

On March 6, 1974 the Russian-born philosopher, Ayn Rand, addressed the graduating class of The United States Military Academy at West Point.  She began with a 'short short story' that began like this. Suppose that you are an astronaut whose spaceship gets out of control and crashes on an unknown planet. When you regain consciousness and find that you are not badly hurt, the first three questions in your mind would be: Where am I? How can I discover it? What should I do?  

Now this is a very interesting series of questions which could lead to a very intense philosophical discussion. However, for my purposes here lets begin by visualizing ourselves in the same spaceship crashing on an unknown planet. But, this time, the impact of the crash has caused you to hit your head on the control panel which induces an immediate state of amnesia. Now, your first questions could very well become: Who am I? How can I discover it? What should I do?  

As you begin to gain your wits, you start to take notice of your surroundings in search of clues. You gaze over the instrument panel where you find no encouraging help; and, in addition, quickly come to the realization that the readout dials could be faulty, from either the impact of the crash, or from your head having banged into the controls.  With every passing minute and hour, the world around you is becoming more clear, but the questions: Who am I? How can I discover it? and What should I do? remain unanswered.

When I fast-forward to present day I find that these are the precise questions I have asked myself since I was maybe a boy of twelve; or basically all my life. These questions have pulled-at me, tantalized me, and, at times, haunted me to the point of abject frustration. I don't even bother with pondering why is it that I ask, as these questions seem most natural and self-evident. As self-evident as having two arms, which I have never spent a minute wondering about why I have them. And no matter how ardently I seek answers I still find myself spinning in a mental cul-de-sac of a blind alley.

Understanding that my answers probably will not come from the same mental plane that originated the questions in the first place, I begin to search elsewhere for direction. And knowing that it would not be very intelligent to listen to just anybody, on such important questions - as most appear to be as lost as I am - I fancied that it would be wise to seek advice from someone I respected. But Whom? Who could help me most directly in exiting and laying-to-rest my self-imposed three-faced dilemma. Eventually, after years of reading, I happened upon the writer, Lev Shestov, who put-forth the idea, he had found helpful along the lines of a task like mine, of 'taking a pilgrimage through great souls'.

So I began, at what I would describe as the top-end of a wide funnel, with the hope that my unique and personalized answers to: Who am I? How do I discover it? and What am I to do? would eventually, one day, squeeze themselves out of the small nozzle-end of my funnel: A funnel of knowledge I was eager to construct considering the weight of my three questions.

In the beginning what my search lacked in depth it compensated for in width as I read, rather indiscriminately, what many would consider works of some of the greatest souls of the ages. As my reading continued and especially by paying attention to what I was naturally attracted to, coupled with exercising and feeling the pull of my own Will, I began to enter into the depths, and more personally enlightened narrows, of my discovery funnel. I felt that I was closing in on my answers, or, at least, some concrete steps, that would eventually lead me to what I was seeking. And the common thread running through my journey, fast becoming a useable rope that I could really hold on to, (and the reason for this blog) was this:

“Listen to your Masters, admire their musings,
But listen to yourself, when it’s time for the choosing,
Battles roar and rage, along an inner plane,
Welcome the wounds, weariness, and dings,
Because after, and only then, will you grow the wings”

— Garry Fitchett

Enculturation versus Individuation: The Only Worthy Battle

Enculturation vs. Individuation:  The only worthy field of battle where all should stand and fight.  All other warring battlefields - religious and secular, past and present - drenched in human blood, are so far beneath the soul and dignity of humankind that it pains one to even consider that they have existed, do exist, and, unfortunately, will continue to exist.  And WHY?

The fight to be one's self, in a world that is doing its very best to have you become like everyone else, is the universal, but often unseen battlefield of everyone's life. This is the ultimate struggle; all are participants, and no one can be spared.  

Those rare warriors who are conscious and aware, and allow their wisdom of perception to be known, are often ridiculed and derided by the human-sea of the unconscious, who ironically, at the end of the day, also fight. 

Most of these worthy warriors are doing their best, but granted do grope in the dark, and without adequate tools; the others don't even take the time to blindly grope, and the few who occasionally do, do so without the help and hope of even finding a tool.

Some bold and bravely fight with tools of rationality and reason; albeit usually powerful, are proven sterile in this theater of endeavor.  Here active imagination, intuition, and listening to the sub or unconscious are the sharpest, most efficacious armaments to employ.  

And what is it that is to be won?  Each, within themselves, only knows.  Therein lies the beauty of the battle.

"The most precious thing that man possesses is his own individuality; indeed, this is the only thing that he really has, or is; and for one instant to allow any outside influence to enter or control this individuality is a crime against man's real self."           ---- Ernest Holmes

Why Read a Book?

Books are the best of things, well used, abused, among the worst.  What is the right use? ... They are for nothing but to inspire.  I had better never see a book, than to be warped by its attraction clean out of my own orbit, and made a satellite instead of a system.                                                                                                                                                 --- EMERSON

Life is a Bicycle does not, in itself, possess the power to alter matter, objects, or the state of one's living conditions.  But, it sincerely aspires to have the power to alter one's state of mind, which in-turn holds the distinct power to alter matter and thus, one's environment. We know that behind every result, resides an action, and the the ancestor of every action is a thought.  

Life is a Bicycle cheers you on to trust yourself - to pursue, then find your unique orbit of individuality.  And then to have the courage to resolutely remain in that true and authentic orbit.  For the world holds many illusions seemingly designed to lead you elsewhere. Your authenticity, steeped in self-awareness and self-reliance, is where your ultimate power resides.  

Welcome to my blog

Why blog?  There can only be one reason - because you believe you have something 'worthwhile' to say.  And, furthermore, that what you have to say will make some type of difference.  A difference to someone, even if that one, is you, the writer of the blog.

 I will not write or blog on a specific schedule.  As one who advocates nonconformity and self-reliance I will write when I have, or feel I have, something to say.  I am reminded of what Lou Holtz (the illustrious college football coach) said when he became a TV football commentator and was asked if he found the job difficult,  He replied, "No, not really, you just need to keep talking until you find something to say."  So I will blog when I feel I have something to say and not because an arbitrary and manufactured schedule says that it is time to blog.

The focus of my blog will be centered around the idea that the universal goal for people, as they make they way through life, is to find their authenticity.  As Henry David Thoreau said, "If I am not I, who will be?"