The Baser Desires

The colour of desire.

The past few days have had me frequently at frustration as I struggled to balance my need for food against my need for learning and productivity. It was not until I spent a good three hours hiking through a park absorbing what nature has to offer did I realize that I was missing out on opportunities to harness the necessary stimuli that the human condition gives us. Rilke in his Letters to a Young Poet phrases this most wonderfully:

"Bodily delight is a sensory experience, not any different from pure looking or the pure feeling with which a beautiful fruit fills the tongue; it is a great, an infinite learning that is given to us, a knowledge of the world, the fullness and the splendor of all knowledge. And it is not our acceptance of it that is bad; what is bad is that most people misuse this learning and squander it and apply it as a stimulant on the tired places of their lives and as a distraction rather than as a way of gathering themselves for their highest moments."

Indeed, as postmodernist philosophy goes, a lot of reality or at least reality as we know it is dependent on our own subjective perceptions. If we are able to tweak that for our own personal development, then we would be that much more powerful.

Captain America

My thoughts on Captain America

I wrote the following when the major motion picture Captain America: The First Avenger came out in 2011.

Throughout the institutionalized education us westerners are mandated to participate in, we are often asked the question "Who is your hero?". I have often found it difficult to answer such a question, because it depends on what one defines as a hero. If a hero is simply a person that one looks up to, then there are myriad of people both fictional and real that many of us could name. I, however, believe that this definition is rather spartan and requires a more in-depth discussion necessitating a look into certain characteristics which I shall discuss below.

In order to explain my own personal views regarding the definition of a hero, I shall invoke the example of a recent figure depicted in the motion pictures. This figure is none other than the fictional but nevertheless valiant, Captain America. Originally intended as a fictional hero to inspire a nation against the evils of the Axis forces, his role in the minds of the recent generations have far exceeded the intentions of the original creators. We must understand, therefore, that there are ideals that Captain America embody which have proven to be timeless.

One of the characteristics that Captain America has displayed is his will to do good unto the world. Rather than fighting Nazis with anger and vengeance, he proves his mettle by stating that his reasons for going to war is simply to suppress the suppressors; An honourable cause for war if there ever was one. When knocked down, Captain America has the will and the belief in the necessity to stand up again. For as Theodore Roosevelt once said "The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, for there is no effort without error and shortcoming."

Captain America may not represent my country, nor may he represent yours; but one thing that he does represent is the spirit within all of us to accomplish something worthwhile. How long have we lived our lives striving to achieve success? How long have we tried to define ourselves by following the expectations of the world? Our bodies are mortal, and our lives are short (unlike Captain America's). And so I leave you all with this quote of his:

"Doesn't matter what the press says. Doesn't matter what the politicians or the mobs say. Doesn't matter if the whole country decides that something wrong is something right. This nation was founded on one principle above all else: the requirement that we stand up for what we believe, no matter the odds or the consequences. When the mob and the press and the whole world tell you to move, your job is to plant yourself like a tree beside the river of truth, and tell the whole world - 'No, you move.'"

Reading: Knowing the Structure

First set up the canvas by which you will attempt to work through the book.

When we are reading, we need a goal with context. We cannot sit there and consume information without a plan. This is true for reading non-fiction and fiction alike.

When we approach a new book, we should first seek to understand its structure. If it's non-fiction, look through the table of contents to see which topics are covered and how the ideas are arranged in a way that the author believes convey their message best. If it's fiction, look to find the total number of pages and chapters so that you can track yourself and fully understand which part of the plot arc you are at when you read.

This is important because it gives you context as to where you are going. Sure, some may desire not knowing anything about the direction of your reading, but in my opinion that is wholly ineffective. The purpose of reading is to put yourself into the mind of the author, albeit with your own personal expressions of understanding. Nevertheless, it is important for us to understand how the author has structured his work. Reading is a lot more meaningful once you understand the structure of your subject.

Write What You Read

You must write what you read if you are to remember it.

"Reading maketh a full man; conference a ready man; and writing an exact man." -Sir Francis Bacon

Reading allows you to consume knowledge, but one of the best ways to consolidate this is for you to produce it in a form of your own expression. So how do we remember things once we determine something is important? One of the guides we can look at is the study of classical rhetoric, the art of speaking and persuasion.

Rhetoric can be divided into the follow stages:

1. Invention - Let your ideas ferment and swish around in your brain.
2. Arrangement - Arrange your ideas in a clear and easy to understand manner.
3. Style - Incorporate style to make your message more convincing.
4. Memory - Commit your message to memory.
5. Delivery - Refine your mode of delivery.

While I can go into much detail about these steps, this brief description will suffice for now. Next we will talk about how to determine what is important when you read and how to approach different types of text.

Being Well Read

Does reading a lot of books necessarily mean you are smart?

One must be weary in attempting to be well read. For many are widely read but few are truly well read.

Many people are avid readers, but retention and application of the information in the books they read often fall short of what one may expect of such diligent readers. Why is this? How do we internalize information such that they become useful to us? In the next few posts, I'll be focusing on this issue.

But for now, let me leave you with this quote from How to Read a Book by Mortimer J. Adler.

There have always been literate ignoramuses who have read too widely and not well. The Greeks had a name for such a mixture of learning and folly which might be applied to the bookish but poorly read of all ages. They are all sophomores. 

To avoid this error—the error of assuming that to be widely read and to be
well-read are the same thing—we must consider a certain distinction in types of learning. This distinction has a significant bearing on the whole business of reading and its relation to education generally.

Cultivating Curiosity

Being a curious person just requires dropping the excuses you give yourself everyday.

So far, we've talked at length about the importance of curiosity and how it factors into being an intrinsic motivator. So let's continue to drill down and ask the question, how can we cultivate our curiosity?

This Psychology Today article sums it up quite nicely, and I'll attempt to summarize it here:

1. Reframe boring situations as opportunities to be inquisitive. Ask questions about things that you normally would not.
2. Don't be afraid to take that dance class, or click that link for a beginner's programming tutorial, at least just give it a shot.
3. Focus on your old passions no matter how many setbacks you've had. Did you try to learn an instrument but gave up? Go back to it!

Short and simple; and admittedly often easier said than done. But then again, better said than not at all. So what are you waiting for?

Write Lives Like Songs

Music

We must write our lives the way we write songs.
We must not be afraid to step out of the staff,
We must not be tame to play outside our key,
We must not be afraid to dance to a different rhythm.
For the beauty of music is in its originality,
So too is the beauty of life in its uniqueness.

Motivate Yourself Intrinsically

Find your inner carrot.

So it's great that we know we work best with intrinsic motivation, but you may ask how do we develop this? You can increase your intrinsic motivations by:

1. Attributing results to factors under your own control (autonomy),
2. Believing that you have the skills to be effective agents in reaching your own desired goals (self-efficacy belief)
3. Becoming interested in mastering a topic, not just in achieving good grades (curiosity)

That last point is important, because it relates most closely to the original question. How does one become interested in something when they simply are not?

The key is curiosity. Developing a vivacious curiosity is one of the best things you can do for yourself. You will be happier because you'll rarely get bored of things, and even when you do get bored, you will be able to exert conscious effort into discovering how to make your environment and task interesting again.

The Importance of Curiosity

Are you a curious person?

Curiosity is important. When we speak of intrinsic and extrinsic motivators, curiosity is an extremely strong intrinsic motivator and is absolutely crucial to our goal of being productive, creative, and effective people. According to Psychology Today, in reference to a study by Todd Kashdan of George Mason University:

"People who exhibit high levels of curiosity, he found, experience higher levels of satisfaction with life than their more disengaged peers. While the less curious derive more pleasure from hedonistic behaviors such as sex and drinking, curious people report finding a greater sense of meaning in life, which is a better predictor of sustainable, lasting happiness."

Curiosity has also been shown to positively correlate with personal growth, openness to experience, autonomy, purpose in life, self-acceptance, psychological flexibility, positive affect, and positive social relations. 

As an added bonus, curious people tend to be less predisposed to interpersonal aggression. This might be helpful not only for choosing the people you want to be around, but also in thinking about your own attributes as well.

Intrinsic vs Extrinsic Motivators

Chasing the carrot?

Daniel Pink is the author of a book which talks about motivation. I am often skeptical of committing time to watching talks on YouTube, but I do believe that the RSA video below is worth a watch (it's a shorter animated version of a TED talk that he did). The takeaway that I would like to talk about is the understanding of the distinction between intrinsic and extrinsic motivators.

Extrinsic motivators tend to require us to do something in order to achieve a favourable outcome. An example would be rewarding someone with money if they completed a task well. Intrinsic motivators, by contrast, refer to an interest in completing the task in and of itself. Think of a time where you spent hours doing something just because it felt interesting and fun to you.

Interestingly, extrinsic motivators are good for tasks which don't require much creative thought, but actually decrease performance for tasks which do require creative thought. If you are reading this blog, I'd hazard to guess that your tasks are of the second type.

Of course, then comes the question, "If I don't find something fun, how can I be intrinsically motivated to do it?"

Since I'm at my word limit for today, the answer to that question will come in the next daily post, stay tuned and reflect on what motivates you in your life.

Animated RSA Talk (10:48)

Ted Talk (18:37)