DAY 89: a new philosophy.
"Only that thing is free which exists by the necessities of its own nature, and is determined in its actions by itself alone."
Context.
I've been reading a lot about Spinoza lately, I've listened to more than 20 hours of classes on the subject and went through The Ethics more than 7 times, translation notes included. I knew he was considered as the Prince of Philosophy for his great view on the human condition and practical guide to free Man from the causes of his unhappiness: his passions. Spinoza is hard to understand without any prior philosophical background. Fortunately, I did 4 years of philosophy in my studies. I knew it was worth it to spend some time studying Spinoza when it comes to what we call here, inner game.
In this post, I'll try to explain the new way I'll see things from now on. This will have not only consequences on my daily life, but also on the way I'll set up goals. This post is just a small introduction to Spinoza so you can understand where I'm going. I'll set up goals in my next post. On a more general note, do not hesitate to take closer a look at Spinoza's philosophy.
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Spinoza 101.
Every Man is driven by the
conatus, that is to say, an inclination to be/exist/live/survive. That's our essence, that's what defines us. The
conatus expresses itself through
desires. When we desire something, we actually desire it because it helps us to get closer to our essence, that is to say to be/exist/live/survive. How? Well because what we desire always has a positive influence in our
power of acting, that is to say, our ability to be/live/exits/survive. Our desires are always directed towards objects (something, somebody, ...) that we think will increase our
power of acting. Spinoza defines the increase of our
power of acting as
joy. The more you increase your
power of acting, the happier you are, the closer you are to your essence.
We can already see that desires are not negative, but an expression of what we are. We desire objects (something, somebody...) that increase our power of acting, and hence bring joy. We don't desire an object because it's "good", the object is "good" because we desire it. Desires are hence positive to us, they are directed towards objects that we think will allow us to get closer to our goal: to live. The thing is, it's not that simple unfortunately. Two reasons for that: external causes and imagination (illusions).
First of all, our
power of acting can decrease because of
external causes. When you're sick, you're obviously less able to act. Your cat dies, you feel sad, your power to act is also dropping. You're in a dark room, your
power of acting is also decreasing since you can't see anything, and that's an issue when it comes to live. Every decrease of your
power of acting is defined by Spinoza as
sorrow. Logic. As Man, we are part of Nature, we can't control all the negative aspects of it, but we can try to avoid them as we'll see.
Secondly, not every desire we have is good. We sometimes desire objects that do not increase our
power of acting and hence create a
sorrow. These desires are the result of
illusions. They are not the result of our essence but the result of
external causes such as society pressure, friends, family, advertising... but also of our
imagination. As Man, we are memory. Our memory defines us. Every encounter with an external object (someone, something) leaves a print in us. Every print increases (joy) or decrease (sorrow) our
power of acting. These modification of our
power of acting are called
affects. In the case of a bad break up, we are affected negatively (sorrow) by the event. The idea of the ex in our mind is now attached to a negative
affect. We suddenly feel the desire to hurt her, that is to say, to make her disappear to prevent the negative
affect on your power of acting. Commonly said, you want do destroy what is destroying you. Yet, we can now easily realize that this desire is a result of our imagination that has created an illusion by attaching a strong negative affect to the idea of her. Hurting her won't actually increase your power of acting, it's an illusion. Desires that do not come from our own necessity to increase our
power of acting are the result of an illusion that won't won't bring any joy.
The key to free ourselves from our negative passions.
We are hence suffering from external causes we have little control on, and being deceived by our imagination that creates illusions and mistaken desires. These are the causes of unhappiness. This is what Spinoza calls
passions. We can't get rid of them as we are part of a system (Nature) that is way more powerful than us. But we can lower the part of passivity ("passion" come from passive) and gain autonomy towards what surrounds us, in other words, take actions that are determined by our own necessity.
Key elements to free ourselves from passions:
1)
Avoid as much as possible the external causes that affect us negatively. If you are allergic to peanuts, stay away from them. If your ex affects you negatively, stay away from her too. Commonly said, stay way from what brings you down.
2)
Gain a clear and correct knowledge of the causes of our emotions. What makes us feeling happy? Why is this object (something, somebody..) makes us happy? What are the characteristics that increase our power? Then, what brings sorrow to us? Why? Is it because of a true reason or a fake one (your friend telling you that girl you like is not that great... a song that makes you feel bad because your imagination attached a negative affect to it...)? If it's a fake one and truly understand it, the object won't bring you sorrow anymore (your ex for instance).
3)
Take actions that depends, as much as possible, on our own causes. Strengthen by our reflection on our emotions, be as autonomous as possible. Be less passive and reactive to what surrounds you (Friends is on on TV, let's watch it and work out later) and be more active (turn TV off, let's work out since it increases my
power of acting). Don't let external causes distract your from taking actions to increase your
power of acting, that is to say, actions that allows you to be/exist truly.
Consequences in the Game.
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Day dreaming: all these self-projections we have during the day, they all say something about you since they are the expression of your desires, that is to say, who you are. Maybe you don't really want to be a rock star... but what is it in this day dream that really increase your
power of acting? Is there true reason to that (learning to sing would increase your
power of acting)? Or fake ones (peer recognition, desire of fame...)? I used to empty my mind as much as I can, I was wrong, what is going on in your mind tells a lot about you, but you have to take a step back and understand what it really means.
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Reaching your potential: it's all about it. Your desires show you the way to reach that potential (as long as you do the work of understanding which are true to your essence, and which are born from delusions). When you picture yourself talking to a girl, that your mind telling you what you can do. Taking actions to reach your potential requires a certain level or
power of acting, that is to say, a certain level of inner game.
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Seducing vs. Charming: Seducing is trying to persuade someone into liking us, that is to say, trying to game someone's mind into attaching a positive affect to you. Seducing is trying to create an illusion in the other person's head. Charming would be naturally attracting people around you because of your virtue. In this case, people truly desire to be with you since you increases their
power of acting. Do you want to create an illusion? or true empowerment?
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Momentum: it's all about escaping the external causes and become your own reason of action, that's what I would call building momentum.
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Trying new things: we are a giant memory, the more things we've tried, the better we know what suits us and hence help us to increase our
power of acting.
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Dependency: it's the greatest illusions ever created by our mind, get rid of it. Being dependent towards something is the key to unhappiness. Porn, masturbation, drugs, internet, ... get rid of it, gain a clear knowledge of it, then get rid of it.
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Confidence: nothing else than you feeling alive, you reaching a high "power of acting", you becoming your own reason for your actions.
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This is obviously a huge simplification of Spinoza's philosophy. A lot is missing here, this is truly an introduction to allow you to understand the vocabulary I'll use to set my future goals.
I'll publish my goals and plan in the next post. It will obviously all about inner game (increasing my
power of acting), getting read of what brings me down in my environment (what decrease my
power of acting) and reaching my true potential (taking actions depending on my own nature, not external causes).
That guy. Here. Right here... he was a damn boss. 
CHAT
