Posted by alexandra_k on August 20, 2013, at 20:48:43
In reply to Re: still here, posted by alexandra_k on August 20, 2013, at 18:25:39
it is about the pursuit of excellence.
whatever the activity. i said that to people at the tech i was at in a different part of the country... i said (to the management people) that i didn't understand why it wasn't about the pursuit of excellence. why people weren't being encouraged to be the best x they could be. they said 'not everyone can be the best'. i said - i didn't say that everyone could. but i don't understand why everyone can't be taught to / take up the task of being the best *they can be*.
the best kitchen hand. the best chef. the best mechanic. the best engineer. the best... whatever. it doesn't freaking matter what.
and then: your conscience is clear. and you can pat yourself on the back for doing the best you could. and really, nobody could ask any more of you. you can be proud of youself.
what more is there to life?
figuring out what is preventing you from being the best you can be. and of course figuring out what is preventing you pursuing the aspects that you feel passionately about. or that you used to feel passionately about before other people killed it - or before you (in internalizing those messages from other people) killed it.
i will never get to the olympics... but i take much pleasure from the *pursuit* of perfection in olympic lifting. not just my own performance... but my own performance opens up a beauty in others performances that i wouldn't appreciate if i wasn't on my own path. all of us... as a species... the pursuit of perfection... we can all take part / be a part of that... just by doing our best. not everybody can be the best. being the best is largely determined by factors outside our control, though (so one can't appropriately be praised or blamed for that). one has rather more responsibility for whether one takes up the *pursuit*, however.
what is the meaning of life: engaging in activities that are meaningful. what makes them meaningful? well...
some things are intrinsically valuable (valuable for their own sake). we do have this idea of losing perfectly... and losing badly... losing perfectly is fighting right up until the end and losing because of factors... outside ones own control. photographs of defeat in the olympics (for example) are beautiful when we see the person really striving and giving it their all. there is something beautiful in the striving... when one side has an easy win and opponants gave up.. it spoils the game, rather.
what prevents people from this?
how do we fix it?
poster:alexandra_k
thread:1045365
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/social/20130811/msgs/1049392.html