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What Do You Desire to Become?

The turbo thought for today:

What do you desire to become, and why?

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On becoming (more)

What do you desire to become, and why do you desire to become that?

My idea:

We all have ideals, idols, and individuals we would like to become. We look up to some heroes, and desire to emulate their actions, life, and mode of living.

Become an individual

It seems my whole life I have been battling the fight to focus on becoming an individual, rather than an obedient tool, or a member of the “sheeple” caste in society.

This is a combination of how I was raised, my “king complex” growing up as the eldest son (of the eldest son) in a Korean family, and notions of American individualism.

Why superhero movies?

When we watch superhero movies — what do we strive to? We strive to (also) become superheroes!

When we look up to certain superhero, we essentially see in them something we see in ourselves. We see our idealized self in a superhero. We also desire to emulate their actions, their valor, strength, and mode of living.

Furthermore, we desire their strength (both physical or mental). It is ridiculous to think of a superhero who didn’t have super-human PHYSICAL strength. Also we don’t like heroes who are cowards.


On having idols

King Leonidas— a true man of virtue.

Perhaps the best thing about being a human being:

We become socialized and we can learn from our fore-fathers.

Consider how “inefficient” a human being is. We aren’t really self-sufficient until maybe around 12-13 years old. We need all those years of training and socialization to get us going.

Furthermore, no human being can become 100% self-sufficient. We are still dependent on society.

How do we learn how to act and behave in society? Our parents, our teachers, our religion, our god(s), and the morals/ethics of our society.

Thus I think the notion of having an idol or something we aspire to as a good thing. It is our own ideal.


What is your personal ideal?

To me, it is a matter of extreme pride. It is a matter of our personal ideals of aesthetics. My definition of an artist:

Someone who doesn’t compromise their aesthetic and moral ethics.

This involves saying “yes” and “no”. This involves being stubborn. This involves creating distance between yourself and others. This means not aspiring to the virtues of others, but aspiring to follow your own virtues.

You choose.

With life, create your own ideal of yourself. Ideal = idea.

What do you want to see in yourself? When you look in the mirror; what do you want to become?

Let this guide you!

ERIC


Philosophy by KIM

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