The Integral Paradox

Everything you learn or think you know is one less thing that you don’t know.

The overarching desire for importance exudes beyond the obvious calls for attention like tweets or status updates but it’s much more ingrained in the already existing societal structure but most especially, it exists within each individual

Every individual strives not only to seem important but to actually be, it shows in the actions we make or try to make, we all strive to find meaning in the expressions of ourselves, in what we, subconsciously feel we should put our focus, time and energy into, and that’s the work that we do.

You see people leave high-paying jobs and yes, they might leave because of other factors but one recurring theme is the idea of finding meaning or another adventure to attempt, for the hope of finding importance.

Importance doesn’t necessarily mean popularity or fame, it just means doing something, creating something that an individual or a group of people care about or as big as inventing something for the human race.

Now when an individual’s mode of expression is halted or challenged, it does something to you, like a form or withdrawal, unique to the person depending on their attachment to their mode of expression, their work.

That’s why when people tell me they are going to retire by this age or when they have done a certain thing, the question I ask first is “what’s next?”

What are you going to do next? some people explain and say it’s just retirement from working for other people and now they want to focus on themselves and others are unsure.

What is life without work? without something to apply your time, skills and expertise to? as much as it is a way of earning a living, it is still, in its fundamental self, a way of expressing your importance and when that mode of expression is tampered with, all hell could break loose within.

I had this challenge where i had to do work, but not the important kind of work, the survival kind of work, hours bled into days, just toiling away, the money comes but you don’t feel that spark you get from the importance work.

Don’t get this wrong, people work for money and money could buy them that importance that they need, but i believe that importance should be gotten from service and not to be bought, from the work that you do, the people you help or make their life easier.

I literally haven’t done anything creative in 3 months because the experience is a bit life-altering. I will unwrap more of this as i ponder on it and experience it.

I have some podcasts up for this topic, The Feeling of Importance and untitled recording 1.

Why do we do what we do? what motivates us? what distracts us? what is the good life? how do we live the good life? so many questions and so many ways to answer them.

How can you use the finite time you have to live the best possible life ever? now that’s The Integral Paradox.