5 Raw Philosophical Truths Only the Top 1 Percent Understand and Follow
The Art of Becoming is a newsletter about finding value in adversity and embracing discomfort. Each week, I share an idea on how to find fulfillment and a little joy and be more resilient, wiser, and better along the way.
It starts with you and me embracing discomfort.
I hope you join me.
Truth is a bitter pill to swallow.
Everyone wants the truth until it forces them to confront reality on its terms—real, harsh, and raw. But most are willing to give the “truth” or their version of it, but when we’re served it’s cold and hard and bitter, we cry and run from it stinging taste.
There is a story of man who lamented that for the first time in ten year he did not get a raise. It was unfair, he said. But when he was told none of the women in his department have had a raise in three years, he replied by saying that he was at the company longer and deserved it more.
Fairness like the truth cuts both ways.
Here are five truths I try to live by.
They are a wakeup call and rewire your brain. Live by them for two weeks and watch your excuses and idea of fairness and truth change.
Let’s get to it.
Raw Truth #1: We are insignificant
The Unbearable Lightness of Being is a novel written by Milan Kundera set in during the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968. The book follows the lives of its main characters Tomas, Tereza, Sabina, and Franz. Through their stories and the way their lives connect, Kundera delves into the idea that our lives are temporary and mean less in the grand scheme things than we care to admit.
Most people are ego-centric and walk around as if the things they do and say have grand cosmic significance. They don’t. Neither do you or I.
Kundera wrestles with the idea of existential lightness versus weight. He questions the significance of our lives or is the totality of existence an unbearable weightlessness. Do any of our actions bear any real significance?
There is a tug of war between embracing the brevity of our existence and hoping for (or attaining) significance.
By accepting the "lightness" of being, we are encouraged to find value in the little moments and the simple joys of life rather than the pursuit of success or making a lasting impact.
Why People Avoid This Truth:
On every level, you and I crave meaning and purpose.
At our core, we fear a meaningless and inconsequential existence, a sort of existential crisis. From our fears, we are motivated to engineer a sense of importance or weightiness to our lives and actions.
Consider this thought: three generations from now, no one will remember your name or care that you lived. How’s that for purpose and legacy?
How to use this philosophy:
Choose to live more freely, make decisions more liberally, and cherish the fleeting moments without the burden of seeking cosmic significance in every action.
Embrace the present and the transitory beauty of life.
Do things that bring you joy and fulfillment. Not everything has to be about legacy. Cultivate mindfulness and learn to appreciate the here and now. Significance is found in finding and creating joyful moments, not worrying if everyone knows who you are.
Accept the freedom of not being the most important being in the universe. That you are good enough the way you are.
Raw Truth #2: Life is Absurd
In his famous essay, The Myth of Sisyphus, advances the ideas that life is absurd. There is an inherent conflict between man’s search for meaning and the stubbornly silent indifference of the universe. He uses the Greek myth of Sisyphus, a king who killed visitors to his kingdom to show his power. This angered the Gods, so they condemned Sisyphus to eternally roll a boulder up a hill only for it to roll down again. Camus this was a metaphor for human existence.
He argued that recognition of life's absurdity should not lead to despair but a liberated embrace of life's experiences. Pursue your passions but be aware of its absurdity. Everyone is pushing a rock up a hill and eventually, it will come rolling back down. Life is not rational, but we get back up to roll the rock back up the hill.
“At this point of his effort man stands face to face with the irrational. He feels within him his longing for happiness and for reason. The absurd is born of this confrontation between the human need and the unreasonable silence of the world.” —Albert Camus, The Myth of Sisyphus.
Why People Avoid This Truth:
Humans need meaning. If we can’t find it, we will make it up.
For some, the realization that life may not have a predetermined course confronts their fundamental need for structure and purpose.
The idea that life may be a series of random events, without meaning or grand design, is frightening. They will seek meaning even believing an irrational and absurd universe is functional and sane. When they realize this may not be the case the foundation of their faith is shattered.
The reason for this truth:
Life is absurd. Accepting this reality is freeing and empowering. It enables you to create your own purpose and find meaning instead of relying on an indifferent universe to give to you.
How to use this philosophy:
Be rebel. The world will fight against you so fight back. Engage in small (and sometimes large) acts of rebellion against the absurdity of the universe by creating personal meaning through your relationships and passions.
Live authentically. Align all aspects of your life with your personal values rather than conforming to what society expects from you. The universe may eventually roll a huge boulder over you as you’re climbing up the hill of life, but at least, you were living the life you wanted before it did.
Raw Truth #3: You make your reality
In The World as Will and Representation, Arthur Schopenhauer wrote that our reality, the way we see the world is driven by a force he called the "Will”. The “Will” is how we shapes our perception of the world, and thereby, reality.
If this is true and the universe is merely a representation of our thoughts, then much if not all our suffering comes from our desires and attachments. It is formed by the Will.
Schopenhauer advocated for a form of asceticism, an avoidance or detachment from our indulgences. The path to peace and relief from suffering, then deny or abstaining from your pleasures and wants.
Why People Avoid This Truth:
Acknowledging that our reality (or least our circumstances) or self-agency is what we make of it is frightening. It is a truth that challenges society’s addiction to consumerism, ambition, and the pursuit of power.
It is a hard thing to accept that the outcome of our lives, good and bad, are dictated by our thoughts and beliefs, and then to realize that our attachment to things and people is the reason for our suffering.
How to use this truth:
Peace comes when we can detach ourselves from material desires. The suffering Recognizing the distinction between the representation of stuff and your need for ambition and power.
Practice mindfulness and focus on the present. Stop attaching value to owning stuff and learn to find value in living in the moment.
Experience life. Don’t live to own things.
Raw Truth #4: Live as if you would live the same life eternally
Friedrich Nietzsche discussed in his novel, Thus Spake Zarathustra, the concept of eternal recurrence. The idea challenges individuals to live their lives as if they would have to relive them over and over for eternity, and knowing nothing will change through each life.
For Nietzsche, this thought experiment pushed one’s boundaries to the limited, testing for authenticity, and asking (or demanding) that you live in such way that you would be happy to repeat each moment.
Why people avoid this truth:
The idea forces a confrontation with regret, fear, and how dissatisfaction might present in many people's lives. Psychologically, it's overwhelming to consider that your choices are eternal and there will never be a do over or repentance.
How to use this truth:
The examination of your life is a call to action. It begins in a manner that promotes authenticity and encourages you to embrace life despite the suffering that trails behind.
Experience life to its fullest depth and meaning so if you were to relive every moment all over again, you would do it happily.
Raw Truth #5: Our perception of reality is limited
In Plato's Allegory of the Cave (found in Chapter 11 of Plato’s Republic), prisoners are chained inside a cave from birth, facing a blank wall. Day and night all they see are shadows projected on the wall by objects passing in front of a fire behind them.
They mistakenly believe those shadows are the totality of their reality. They don’t know or understand the true form of things.
One day a prisoner is freed and discovers the world outside the cave. As he walks out the cave, he is blinded by the sun and then slowly, as his eyes adjust, he sees the world for what it is.
This is a great discovery, he learns. The sun, not the shadows, is the source of life and truth. He runs back to the cave to share the truth with his fellow prisoners. He tells them about the sun and the fire and the shadows. The sun is the source of life, he says. But they don’t believe him and are hostile to him and the truth.
Plato says most people live in a state of ignorance. That humans mistake perception for reality. Sharing the truth is difficult and even dangerous because it challenges other people’s perceptions of reality.
The journey from ignorance to enlightenment is hard, if not impossible for some. Plato suggests it is the philosopher’s task, or your mission, is to seek the true form of things even if this pursuit is misunderstood by others.
Why People Avoid This Truth:
People find comfort in the familiar. This is psychologically appealing. Acknowledging that our limitations and preconceived perceptions challenges our fragile understanding of the world and disrupts how we fit in it.
How you can use this truth:
True freedom and fulfillment come when you break free of illusions that are holding you back.
Look for a deeper reality by rising above the superficiality of life and focusing on more meaningful, authentic experiences.
If you are going to believe in shadows, then look for shadows that give you happiness and fulfillment. Otherwise, search for the truth even if it is blinding.
Thanks for reading. Look for truth in all its guises, especially when dressed as pain.
Love to you and yours,
Michael