It starts with pain
Unintentionally taking a sip of a very hot drink will cause you to feel pain and probably stupid. That is because physical pain is an undeniable part of life. Emotional pain, on the other hand, is much more subjective and difficult to deal with. In severe cases, such as the death of a loved one, it can envelop a person in grief and suffering. Because of this specific and complex reason, it is difficult to describe emotional pain.
Pain, regardless of definition or meaning, indicates that we are in the “wrong” dimension, most likely the polar opposite of where we should be. It is also one of the most fundamental aspects of reality , both mysterious and incomprehensible. It can take everything from you and/or push to make positive changes in your life; thus, pain avoidance is a losing strategy.
Because there aren’t many powerful aspects of fundamental reality, like pain, every single one of them should become a learning opportunity, eventually making us take action to build a better character, improve our lives, and potentially the lives of people around us.
That is the raw, sheer power of fundamental reality.
Defining the game
As I learned more about the ruthless world, I longed to become more resilient, build a character that can withstand any difficulties. I naively hoped that the path of self-development would bring easy solution, joy and positive energy and let me eventually rid of dark side.That didn’t happen fast, and much progress is yet to be made. Psychology and critical thinking opened up new avenues of exploration, so the more I educated myself, the more isolation I desired. I couldn’t believe that life is so dramatically divided into different components and that people are having difficulty figuring it all out, let alone agreeing on common-sense solutions. Finding a logical explanation for things with philosophical ramifications that go back centuries necessitates more than just “Let’s Google it.” As I later understood, the key to the answer is in the perception of reality, which has created a lot of controversy in public, primarily around understanding conciseness and subconsciousness.
Individual acceptance of extreme accountability for decisions that influence the collective mind is the first step toward understanding fundamental reality.
Every aspect of fundamental reality has a system, and each system is incomplete and cannot cover the entire world. Thus, in order to move within the system, we must learn to navigate it with all of the available assumptions while employing critical thinking.
Fundamental reality is a matter of subjective experience versus objective world, both of which influence perception of real and makes individuals undergo transformation.
Why bother?
Why is it critical to understand and respect fundamental reality?
Take a look around… What do you notice? How do you currently feel about your personal reality? Just be brutally honest; only you know the real answers.
There is a chance, a big chance, that a lot of people are not satisfied with what is happening around them. Even if they hope to do something about it, most of the time it feels impossible, hopeless, or unbearable.
I believe it is because, deep down, we know that life, as we have constructed it individually, leveraging guidance from others, has very little meaning and no real purpose. It is because we copied someone else's blueprint to success. Despite numerous helpful articles, self-help books, and psychological counseling, we still have to rely on our minds to define purpose and determine whether something is meaningful.
It is also difficult to find a purpose for something that someone else has already done or achieved, as we are advantageous creatures seeking to open new horizons and strive for a better, improved world. Thus, people who spend their lives repeating the success stories of others tend to feel an uneasy sense of disappointment, which we replace with a state of busyness just to not think about it too much.
It is also why we’re so captivated by stories and people who create, invent, and aren’t afraid to try new things that lead to experiences and a better life, which we genuinely envy while hiding behind social norms.
Understanding the basic aspects of fundamental reality is a hidden secret for finding purpose and taking action toward a meaningful life.
One of the very first changes that should happen, and of course, one of many, is to accept that truth, another element of fundamental reality, is hard and bitter, but it is there for a reason — to teach you.
Why truth is so hard?
Truth helps us navigate the world and create our belief system; without it, we would be stressed and anxious all of the time, unable to concentrate.
Imagine a world in which, by default, everyone lies or, conversely, everyone says only the truth.
What happens when the world changes? Exactly. The truth might not be true anymore. Many people will resist a new reality simply because they lack critical thinking skills, which is today’s profound gurus’ greatest adversary.
Unfortunately, the majority prefer that someone else tell them what to do with their lives, take their responsibilities away.
When the truth is constantly challenged, how can the world exist in peace? Without a reason to exist, truth is meaningless; it only matters when there is unfulfilled potential or great value on the other side of the challenge.
Every lie is a lesson on the way to a new personality; you get to choose which one.
Taking extremes carefully
Is there a counterbalancing force to aspects of fundamental reality? The inverse of pain is pleasure, which many people mistake for happiness. Consider pain and pleasure to be extremes of certain emotional states, and as we hear a lot about the importance of creating a balance in everything, we can try to identify what that balance is. If you believe that balance is centered, then the middle point between pain and pleasure is numbness, idea of that is not appealing. If you believe that balance is ranged, you will have a difficult time agreeing on what the right range is, let alone explaining your own feelings to others. That is why I believe there is no need to look for balance, because there is no answer, but there is a unique path — an individual journey to a more meaningful life, a purpose that can leverage tragedy to build strong character.
Making tradeoffs while navigating between extremes is a perfect representation of life’s journey. To give birth, one must endure pain before enjoying parenthood.
The beauty of path is that only death can stop you, well at least in this realm.
It applies to both personal and professional life. Your marriage will not be balanced; depending on your characters, it will be a long or very short path. Your work will not be in balance either; as the world evolves and changes, so will your industry.
Instead of thinking about work-life balance, focus on developing a character capable of dealing with obstacles and unknowns.
Key principles
To use fundamental reality to your advantage, it is critical to learn a few key principles at the heart of decision-making, which anyone should master.
Combining the concepts from “The Golden Circle” by Simon Sinek and “Behavioral Change” by James Clear, as shown in the image below, makes it clearer to understand that emphasizing character that can respond to “Why” type questions is far more effective than emphasizing just outcomes, such as being rich.
Making improvements is, in essence, the idea behind all goals and meanings in life. It seems like change is at the core of our identity and that we constantly strive to make things better.
Fundamental reality has tools to support the process of reaching the outcome:
- Pain is a powerful reminder of inevitable — if you can, use it to make life changing decisions
- Truth is radical form of trust — revisit your belief system with critical thinking even if you have all the confidence of the world
- Fear is the signal that you are on the wrong side — step over and never look back
- Hope is subconscious feeling of kindness — share it with other, especially those who lost it
- Sacrifice is belonging to bigger cause — choose your battle wisely
What it is that we can care about
There aren’t many aspects of fundamental reality that actually matter.
Only those who are willing to remain flexible in the face of change will be able to master the art of life by utilizing each aspect. Each involves acceptance of a world that is complex, growing, changing, and full of unknowns. Character development begins when we genuinely acknowledge it and learn to apply it for a good cause.
There will be no balance in life, only a path to create and improve, occasionally veering from one extreme to the other, guiding life to a northward start. Feelings of an unattainable goal that motivates you to keep going, sometimes out of curiosity, sometimes out of a desire to break the status quo, but ultimately to become a worthy master of your own fundamental reality.
(c) Artem Gonchakov
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