I have about 10 Bukowski poems bookmarked, ready and waiting to be typed out and posted, but that's not what today's post is about.
I was reading through Ubersite and one of the comments caught my eye: "Aside from fame and wealth, how could Paris Hilton possibly be considered successful?" That got me thinking about the definition of success, what it is, and how my own views differ from the accepted cultural view. But that's not what this post is about either.
I have a few scribbled notes about a snake that gets snatched off the ground by an eagle, and the snake is happy that he got to fly high and see more than any other snake, even though he's about to be dinner. Maybe I'll make that into a poem or something later, however that too is not what this post is about.
I've been reading We the Living by Ayn Rand and I have few observations about how and why objectivism is separate from Libertarianism, even conservatism in general. And also a few discrepancies to note between conservatives, Ayn Rand herself, and my relation to both. But even that isn't what today's post is about.
I'll write those other posts "maybe later."
Today's post is about paralysis by choice overload, and whether or not the freedom I've claimed to desire is actually a good thing.
I guess we'll see....
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5 comments:
Of course it is!
The fact you chose not to write about any of the things you mentioned, to me, has less to do with you "freedom to desire" and "choice overload", and probably more to do with either laziness ("I don't feel like writing about that today"), or the lack of anything good to say about the topic (for example, you haven't quite defined your definition of success), or a misconstrued thought of desire (perhaps you think you want to write about the snake and the eagle, but the fact you haven't might mean that deep down you don't really desire to).
You make good points and your reasoning makes sense to me.
But if I can't trust myself to know what I desire, (either through an incomplete definition or a disconnect between percieved desire and actual) how can I claim to desire freedom with any confidence?
To make an analogy: blue is always blue, but if I suddenly go color-blind and can no longer trust my eyes, how can I recognize blue?
Maybe because you trust in the belief that the desire of freedom is something you want? The truth maybe you don't trust yourself to know what you desire, but you trust in yourself that the thought of desiring freedom is a good thing.
You don't have to trust your eyes, you have to trust that what was blue is still blue, and will remain blue. You don't know what you desire, but you trust that desiring certain things are good.
I'm not sure if I'm making any sense right now. It's 5 in the fucking morning.
Haha, I think I get what you're saying. But it just seems to be nesting the problem.
If I want to want freedom, I'm still left with the problem of desiring something.
I can trust that objects I know to be blue will remain blue if I go color-blind, but how can decide about new objects?
Or what if someone claims an object I thought to be blue as red?
I get what you're saying...and I'm not sure. Like you said, I guess we'll see???
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