Do people learn?: Hope for the nice and bitter guys

[TomGray]

I've been consumed by thoughts of death (usually am). It frightens me not in the dying but in the having to give up everything that I've learned. I don't believe in the afterlife, the evidence is based on uncorroborated witness testimony and has been shown to be falisifiable, so to me, death is like going to sleep and waking up a new person with new memories of who "you" were. This is how consciousness works, you don't know you're dead because you're dead, you can only know you're alive because you're alive.

So what troubles me is having to give up all this great knowledge of women and being a stronger man that has buoyed me up and not left me floundering in the dark and having to start over again as someone who is not as inclined to self-improvement. Or someone who is just an abusive person and makes no effort to do better. Absolutely fine to not be perfect as long as you are working towards something better. It would be fine to not be a Casanova either as long as one is not clueless.

So here’s the question: can people, in the natural course of their lives, learn to do better at the things that are important to them? Or are people doomed to lead lives of ignorance and unfulfillment? Judging by the course of human history, I would say that the latter is more likely.

I realize that my fear is a bit irrational as I will have no control or knowledge of the next entry of consciousness. But I know what it’s like to feel lonely and hurt with seemingly no light at the end of the tunnel and it distresses me to think of a life cursed to that.

Thoughts?

 

[Drck]

People are usually afraid of death, they are trying to avoid and postpone it as much as they can. Once you start thinking about death it can be quite depressing; you may start thinking about purpose of life, why things matter, what is really important to you, why do you have to give up everything that you know or have…

In essence, you are talking about attachment to different things and people. You learn something that you consider important to you (seduction, science, history,…) and you don’t want to give it up because you put a lot effort, time and even excitement into it. What you learned has value for you, and you are afraid to give it up, by giving it up you feel like you are losing these things…

You are attached to a person (mother, father, friend, girlfriend/wife,…) and you don’t want to give it up, it is very painful to see your closed ones pass or move away…

You can create great business, you make your name famous, you make millions of dollars, and you don’t want to give it up. You are hurt by letting go of these things, you can’t let go because it causes so much pain…

All this Attachments to things and people sooner or later create suffering. All this Attachment is basically Death. If you voluntary give up all the attachment you “die” as a person, although you can still be very much alive like everyone else. Some can call it that you are “reborn” in new life...

But that wasn’t your question anyway. People always learn, assuming that their brain is not damaged in some way. If you focus on seduction, you will always learn more and more about seduction, it is impossible not to learn. If you focus on negative things, you brain will always learn more and more about negative things. If you focus on positivity, you will become more and more positive. Learning is just inevitable, the more you focus on particular thing the more it becomes natural to you, the more it becomes part of you…

 

[Richard]

I've been consumed by thoughts of death (usually am). It frightens me not in the dying but in the having to give up everything that I've learned. I don't believe in the afterlife, the evidence is based on uncorroborated witness testimony and has been shown to be falisifiable, so to me, death is like going to sleep and waking up a new person with new memories of who "you" were. This is how consciousness works, you don't know you're dead because you're dead, you can only know you're alive because you're alive.

So what troubles me is having to give up all this great knowledge of women and being a stronger man that has buoyed me up and not left me floundering in the dark and having to start over again as someone who is not as inclined to self-improvement. Or someone who is just an abusive person and makes no effort to do better. Absolutely fine to not be perfect as long as you are working towards something better. It would be fine to not be a Casanova either as long as one is not clueless.

So here’s the question: can people, in the natural course of their lives, learn to do better at the things that are important to them? Or are people doomed to lead lives of ignorance and unfulfillment? Judging by the course of human history, I would say that the latter is more likely.

I realize that my fear is a bit irrational as I will have no control or knowledge of the next entry of consciousness. But I know what it’s like to feel lonely and hurt with seemingly no light at the end of the tunnel and it distresses me to think of a life cursed to that.

Thoughts?

There's honestly way too much for me to type here - I've got lots of thoughts and ideas about this and it's just wayyy too much to type.

You're introducing tons of psychology, sociology, and some philosophy into this and I dabble in all three.

learn to do better at the things that are important to them? Or are people doomed to lead lives of ignorance and unfulfillment? Judging by the course of human history, I would say that the latter is more likely.

I've said so many times on this site that most people get their idea of fulfillment from the media and people grow up learning that you go to school to get an education, to go to college, to get a 9-5 job, to get a wife, to have kids and a house thus fulfilling the "American" dream. That's where most people get their idea of fulfillment and without a strong voice teaching them that this is wrong, most people simply do not leave this path.

So yes, most people live lives of ignorance and unfulfilled dreams only because they are disguised as the "American" dream.

People who are wise to this certainly have the ability to learn to do things better that are important to them - and even people caught up in the American dream have things that are important to them that they dedicate time to getting better at. My example is pool.

While pool is not something I could use to get the typical American dream - it is something that is important to me that I dedicate my time to learning deeply. Most others also learn to be the best at what is important to them - the sad reality is though - the jobs (that cause fulfillment) that most people get are not important to them so they don't dedicate their time to perfecting their job craft - and without that perfect job (for them) they lose the resources and time required to pursue what's actually important to them.

In my opinion the state of living we live in so fucked up because of this - and it's also why I try to help people find jobs and careers that help to kill two birds with one stone - jobs that are both fulfilling and provide the resources needed to continue learning about what's important to every individual.

Also buddy - if what you say about death is true then I have no problem giving up what I already know in this life because the next one will be a new adventure. To combat that feeling of losing what you've learned isn't that hard either - leave your imprint on the world.

Let's think about Chase for a second - if Chase was to die today he may lose everything he knows about this life, but he will live on because he recorded his knowledge and shared it with the world for people to learn and in that - he does not die in this life. This is also why famous people in history exist.

I tried to condense my thoughts as much as possible so I may have missed some things, or left things out by accident.

-Richard