Solving the Fine Life Problem

Dogbert August 04, 2025 at 01:26 550 views 4 comments
The self is ineffable, immediate reality. It may give meaning to its existence, interpreting itself first as qualia, then abstracting qualia as patterned activity, or physics. Occupying these projected layers of intelligibility it conjures an identity—its ego. The ego may see itself as one individual among many, a discrete excitation of an underlying field.

One should expect to be a typical individual—say, a hydrogen ion—but the extreme opposite is the case. To resolve this discrepancy, and thereby render sapient life ordinary, unprivileged, or otherwise expected, we must invoke the Everett interpretation and posit that each individual perceives the timeline in which they become conscious of the self. Existence then becomes a blossoming tree of self-realization, with one's life but a single branch. Flowering occurs when we finally learn to stop inflicting misery upon ourselves, dissolving the ego into blissful, timeless, and undivided awareness.

Comments (4)

Tom Storm August 04, 2025 at 01:30 #1004870
Quoting Dogbert
Flowering occurs when we finally learn to stop inflicting misery upon ourselves,


What would be an example of this in action? I suspect some people should probably be harder on themselves than they are.

Quoting Dogbert
One should expect to be a typical individual—say, a hydrogen ion—but the extreme opposite is the case. To resolve this discrepancy, and thereby render sapient life ordinary, unprivileged, or otherwise expected, we must invoke the Everett interpretation and posit that each individual perceives the timeline in which they become conscious of the self. Existence then becomes a blossoming tree of self-realization, with one's life but a single branch


What does this mean?
Dogbert August 04, 2025 at 02:16 #1004879
If someone wrongs you, do not add to the offense by inflicting anger upon yourself. If you have failed, do not compound the problem by inflicting guilt or shame upon yourself. If you experience loss, do not seek grief, but acceptance. inflicting misery does you no favors.
Tom Storm August 04, 2025 at 02:41 #1004881
Reply to Dogbert Ok.

Quoting Dogbert
If someone wrongs you, do not add to the offense by inflicting anger upon yourself.


I'm having trouble interpreting this one because I honestly can't remember the last time someone 'wronged me.' People have made mistakes that made things harder for me in some ways, but I haven’t been a specific target. The second part, about inflicting anger on yourself: what do you mean by that? How does one inflict anger on themselves? Do you mean that by being angry at others, you're actually harming yourself in the process?

Quoting Dogbert
If you experience loss, do not seek grief, but acceptance. inflicting misery does you no favors.


Do you mean inflicting misery, here? Do you mean by this that experiencing grief amounts to inflicting it? Or do you mean that you may become resentful and try to share the misery?

Some of what you're advocating has Christian and Buddhist overtones, but ultimately the simplified maxim of Stoicism, so beloved by our self-development gurus these days and foundational to CBT, may address all of this too. 'It’s not what happens to you, but how you react to it that matters.' - Epictetus




Dogbert August 04, 2025 at 09:38 #1004922
Reply to Tom Storm The framing is the key distinction between what I'm saying and something like stoicism. Regardless, I'm not trying to reinvent the wheel, this is just the way of thinking is that liberated me personally.

Edit: I got up this morning and rewrote the essay to include this paragraph:

When you fall short of your expectations, do not compound the problem by inflicting shame or guilt upon yourself. Do not turn an offense into suffering by inflicting anger upon yourself. Do not inflict grief upon yourself. Do not inflict craving upon yourself. Self-realization occurs when you finally learn to stop inflicting misery upon yourself, dissolving the ego into blissful, timeless, undivided awareness.

Hopefully that's a little more clear. I struggle with adding enough detail sometimes.