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“Most people actually prefer mediocrity to success as ambition is the enemy of happiness.”
- Xenocrates
I met a rather lovely young lady some time ago. She was great. She was down to earth, simple minded and even had the capacity for good conversation. In fact, I thought this girl was so perfect, I wondered to myself: Why is she still single? Am I that lucky or is there something wrong with her? Never the less, I applied the woo wantonly and indiscriminately. She’ll be in the bag in two clicks I thought - and then I hit a a glass cieling. I have never lost interest in a woman before because of her simplicity. I enjoy simplicity. I’m already a complicated dude. However, what struck me about this girl was that she was so content with being… mediocre. I don’t mean being average - I mean being less than average. She worked at various odd jobs where she was content with being a sales clerk. She never tried to educate herself beyond high school, even though she’s now pushing 30, she finds every excuse to certify that she’s happy with living from paycheck to paycheck and she doesn’t need more education than what she already has. Needless to say, as I’m not a sugar daddy for hire, my interest in the young woman faded like warm flatulence in the evening breeze. I’ve since met many people like that - people who are comfortable with being extremely simple or average at best. I soon realised that contrary to how I was raised (to aspire to greatness) most people were socialised to prefer mediocrity by self defeating parents (with possibly some genetic help). I then found that I was actually a little naive in my perception of the world in assuming that everyone wanted to be successful. As it turns out, I and very few other people I know, are actually the odd ones out. The situation is actually worse than I thought…
Civilisation is a social façade designed to control mankind’s innate animalistic propensites.
- Xenocrates
I got a lot of offline commentary on the first two volumes of my abridged epiphanies. To all of those people who insist on giving me feedback in person, I encourage you to do it here. It’ll make things a lot more interesting. Additionally, I want to dedicate this particular entry to those of you responded with commentary that would suggest that I have no faith in humanity. Well congratulations: I don’t. If you take away our cellphones, our 911, our internet, our cars, our televisions, our networks, our skyscrapers, highways, transit sytems and our electricity, we would plunge right back into the brutality of the dark ages (both literally and figuratively). Humanity would be returned to the wild animals that we really are as 6.1 billion people turn on themselves. Lawlessness and anarchy would rule the world. The strong would prey on the weak, and mankind would return to the madness from which it took over 10,000 years to evolve in just 72 hours. We haven’t really changed as a people. We’ve just found better ways to control our animalistic urges through a system of sustained behaviour modification we call “civilisation“. The following epiphanies, which as far as I know are all my own, are proof of this harsh reality:
“All knowledge is based on the assumption that the product of our senses is real.”
- Xenocrates
What is knowledge? How do we define what it is that we’ve come to know? How do we express what we think we believe? What makes it valid? On what grounds do we make the separation between what is faith and what is proof? The theory of knowledge underscores all of these questions. However, the unfortunate reality is that knowledge as most people understand it, is nothing more than a cultural approximation of information determined by individual perceptions. Most of what you know has very little useful purpose outside of the environment where you learned it. It is a tragic waste of brain cells, and in worst case scenarios, a potential waste of human life where that information is interpreted differently. Humanity’s hunger for knowledge both creates and decimates human existence - although I’m led to believe it’s more of the latter than the former. The following epiphanies examine the flimsy basis on which we define knowledge. As far as I know, these are all my own original thoughts:
“People are nothing more than sophisticated animals living their lives as though they they were anything more than just that.”
- Xenocrates
People are fascinating creatures. Aside from their biological curiosities, there’s really not much more to them. People are nothing more than slightly sophisticated animals. It shows in the way we relate to each other and how we live our lives. Every single human behaviour can be rationalised from a very basic animalistic perspective. Most of our key behavioural traits can be expressed in highly simplistic terms that hold true for the majority of us. What makes us interesting is that much of our very existence parades on the assumption that we’re not. That’s why many of these epiphanies have proven to be such eye openers for many. People who’ve really studied human behaviour however, will not be the least bit surprised. This is the first volume in a synoptical arrangement of epiphanies I’ve had on various aspects of life. This entry tackles people’s existential quirks on a whole new level. All of this I’ve learned in the short space of time that I have lived on this rock. As far as I know, these are all my own original thoughts:
“Beauty is inversely proportional to Intelligence.”
- Xenocrates
Have you ever heard of a phenomenon known as ”dumb blondes“? What about “dumb jocks“? Do you ever wonder why such expressions have often found truth among our populace? Watch the video, then allow me to enlighten your darkness:
“Modern Capitalism is the art of creating a demand where no need exists.”
- Xenocrates
At some point in time in your life, you’ve given yourself to becoming exploited either by your emotional gullibility or your impetuous spontaneity. This has been made possible either by social or economic systems designed specifically to take advantage of the fact that you, like most of your friends, accept most of the things you see and believe for exactly what you perceive them to be the first time you see them.
Translation: You’re being exploited because you’re a dummy. If you answer yes to any of these, your stupid gene is alive and well. Rejoice:
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