Embody Wisdom #29. Feelings and Wants - Nuclear Demise - Multiple Choice
Monday, July 31st 2023 (Usually every Sunday @6pm, UK Time)
One issue with ‘My Principles of Morality and Goodness’
I published 12 principles of morality and goodness in prior blog posts. Part 1 and Part 2. I still stand by these principles despite struggling with them in various ways. One way I struggle with them is they put little consideration on the value of my feelings and wants. Number 8: “Be who you aspire to be instead of indulging in what you want.” is one of the most explicit in stating that wants for the self is secondary to good character.
Good virtues and a better future are important to strive towards, but so is satisfying one’s own wants (or perhaps one’s own needs). For all the good we do and for all the bad that is subjected to us, do we not deserve good for ourselves too? Same thing for expressing feelings that may cause harm. It’s authentic and we should all feel free to be ourselves, as we try to improve and are honest about our flaws.
I have not yet worked out the right balance but I feel myself tip in different directions, my steps swaying as I find my footing along this uncertain path. I am taking a leap to find out.
Oppenheimer Movie
I recently went to the cinema to see the movie ‘Oppenheimer’, a movie about the development of the atomic bomb. Primarily due to the war in Ukraine by Russia, I think about nuclear weapons often with great concern. I have dreamt of them falling from the sky and during my time awake I sometimes get triggered by sounds and feel the impending helplessness of a grandiose and grotesque perishing fate for humanity. The thought and experience are quite unpleasant but I believe it is worth thinking about to some degree. The world is fragile, as like people are, perhaps we can do something.
My mentality, which oddly enough actually soothes me, is to assume that the probability of nuclear demise for billions is high but we get very lucky that it doesn’t happen and with such fortune, we should live our lives in great gratitude. I don’t know if that is the case but it puts me at ease with something out of my control and directs me towards things that are within my control.
The Internet and Connection
The Internet gives us access to entertainment to enjoy, podcasts to learn from, and social media to connect to others across the planet. But what if we got this (and more) from our friends and in-person connections? I partly went to university for the education and increased career prospects but I primarily went for the people. For lecturers to learn from, peers to grow with, and others to teach. With every conversation, an exchange of value transpires and a connection strengthens. Which would you rather have, knowledge in your pocket or a friend by your side? What if they only stayed there? What if they were complex to navigate?
I believe we have externalized many things in life in the hopes of better, even before the Internet. Jobs and industries come to mind. Stand-up comedians to make us laugh and books to learn from. I am not suggesting we forgo all of these things but instead, I suggest we consider what we lose in convenience and perceived better.
Loneliness has been on the rise for decades and people still seem to struggle with critical thinking skills but we do have infinite scrolling on our favourite consumption apps.
Multiple Choice
Life will present you with many multiple choices for you to pick from but which ones do you choose? There is wisdom to be learned from multiple choice test strategies, specifically around how to make good choices in a timely manner.
Read the entire text and think deeply about it (but not for too long). Information is presented and you should be aware of it quite consciously. Look at the word choice or variables in the question or problem. Consider your choices carefully through the same method.
So you have too many choices. Use the process of elimination. Work out what you are sure is wrong. Sometimes this will give you a clear answer, other times more work will be required.
Don't stay stuck on a complicated problem or task, focus on what you can solve and do so quickly. You can return to the harder questions later. Perhaps answering other questions will make the harder question possible, by building your confidence up or providing you with new information to work with.
You’re not always going to know for definite what is the best or right answer but the best thing you can do is make a choice, focus on making a good choice. Inaction is costly. Even if sometimes you answer wrongly, other times you will get it correct, either way, you can learn from the choices you make.
Guess C? I suppose this one could be open to interpretation for fun, but my interpretation would be: when in doubt, stick to what you know is reliable at least some of the time. A 25% success rate for questions you don’t know is great but life might not have those same odds. Still though, even a 1% success rate for the answers in life you do not know is enormous.
Knowledge is key. The best thing you could do to make many good right choices in an exam or in life is to do thorough, focused, spaced-out research. Revise the material and practice what you know. You could get 80 90% in an exam and imagine if you had that success rate with the daily choices you made in your life.