PREFACE: WHAT’S IN THIS SERIES, WHAT’S NOT?
Hey 🙌🏼
In this series, we will deeply question a number of thoughts & terms that we have never questioned before, that we have never even crossed our minds, perhaps that we are already in our minds every day and that are accustomed to, in a completely different context and in relation to each other. As a result of the inquiries I have made so far and the answers I have found, I will try to convey to you as much as possible a broad awareness that I think is an important series of thoughts that has developed and rooted in me.
❗ But I have to make a warning: Those who are looking for cursory information, those who desire to reach the answer directly rather than questioning it, unfortunately this is not the place where you will find what you are looking for, but perhaps the other sections. This section will offer you important perspectives and awareness of life. In this series, we will focus on the process rather than the result and accompany each other in the thought & inquiry process. Perhaps the deep conversations you’ve been longing for for a long time, that you want to taste to the fullest, are right here!
ℹ « All content not mentioned in this series with references (texts, images, thought systems, theories and all other intellectual and industrial rights belong to Hikmet Yolcu) »
Let’s get started, I wish you a pleasant read! ☕
LIKE A LEAP OUT OF NOTHING
We are all born one day and die one day. This is such a rapid adventure that it often passes like a sip of water without giving a person a chance to think.
- To whom is enough for a lifetime?
Who is satisfied with this little time?
Do you think it is the length of time lived that makes the life we live good or bad?
Is it quantity, what makes life meaningful, or is it quality?
So what is the meaning of life?
Perhaps what to dedicate this life that we only had our last voyage and that was exhausted in the blink of an eye?
What is a human being? What is the point of a being who exists as if he had stepped out of nothingness, who has to constantly struggle to exist, who sometimes does not give up his desire to exist even in the middle of hell, who so escapes from returning to where he came from?
In our lives, which are like a fine line between being and not being, there is perhaps only one thing we are ultimately trying to achieve: “Happiness.”
So what is necessary to do to lead a happy life?
In this fine line, man, as a hedonistic being, often misses life while constantly escaping from discomforts and running towards pleasures, perhaps entering the land without even realizing the potentials he can experience in this life. The immediate pressure of needs and problems, which are the source of these disorders, is so great that people often do not even have time to think and question to overcome these disorders. So much so that even in order for the ability to think and question to develop, a person still needs time and learning. In the current system, people who have to constantly sell their time to survive do not have the opportunity to think and question in this vicious circle. Therefore, although they are intuitively aware of the vicious circle they are in, they do not have time to learn ways and methods to save themselves from this situation. Thus, the system consumes these people whose claws it has taken into its claws until its last breath and crumples and throws them into a corner, which is an immaculate slate in its first form, but has turned into a draft at the end of years of consumption. Life is cruel, most of all when we are fond. It has no tolerance for weakness, eliminates the weak ones and prevents their transmission to the next generation. This dynamism is called “natural selection” and is the main mechanism that determines the rules of the game.
Many of those who have time have not developed sufficient intellectual ability. In order to develop, people need to educate themselves with a questioning attitude. But one’s learning process is often challenging and requires high mental energy as well as time.
- So what are the ways and methods that will make learning easier?
What is learning, how does it take place?
What is the relationship of learning with our physical structure?
What is learning to learn?
Do we really know how to learn, even though we have carried it out from the moment we existed?
(We’ll cover learning how to learn more later.)
People who do not have sufficient intellectual ability due to inadequate education are buried in our deep, meaningless and internal discomforts that we are born with. So much so that two of the main reasons that lead people to suicide are meaninglessness and high discomfort. Leading a meaningless life means a lost and depressed mood at any moment. He can’t find anything to do outside of the moment, and even if he does, his self-belief, digested by his failures, makes him completely idle and he can no longer find the energy to do it even if he wanted to. For this reason, it is now releasing itself into the current and tying itself to fate. People in this situation are the most susceptible to addictive elements and are most addicted at the peak of the disorder. They’re stuck in the swamp now, and it’s not easy for them to get out of there. Most of the time, unconscious strokes and desperate movements will sink the person even further.
People with sufficient intellectual ability, training and time can somehow avoid this quagmire. Nevertheless, the fact that the process is difficult and that even being aware of the origin of these difficulties is an issue in itself can lead even the most successful people to fall many times until they learn. Our goal in this series is to identify all these stones and obstacles and gain insight and intellectual ability on how to overcome them.
SPIRITUAL BONDAGE
The being we call human is perhaps one of the most complex creatures ever. It is like a dynamic vessel that is aware of itself and its surroundings, that can question, but that is empty as soon as it comes into the world and is shaped in the adventure of life. In addition to many animal aspects in this whole adventure, it carries a special faculty that we call ” consciousness” that is special to humanity. Consciousness pushes man to question and to obtain information about his existence. Underneath this impulse is the desire to make sense of life, which is one of our deepest desires, in other words, “curiosity.” As we grow up and personal needs increase from being at their highest level in childhood, their scope can narrow to a level where only immediate needs can be met. The shrinking level of curiosity restricts the flexibility to acquire knowledge and prevents the person from the opportunity to make sense of life.
As the level of curiosity decreases, the person’s potential to obtain information becomes inert due to the ability to question. Ultimately, one’s awareness is confined within the layered walls of inert consciousness. Thus, this person, whose level of awareness is limited, has difficulty in overcoming complex problems. The problems that he cannot overcome begin to grow and make the person believe that he is not capable of anything in this life. Defeated by the all-encompassing embrace of this faith, this person surrenders to life despite the discomfort of all his defeats and the ongoing attacks. He now has only one legacy left to him in his days of captivity: eternal discomfort and spiritual suffering.
From now on, at every opportunity, he resorts to pleasurable actions that will make him forget his discomfort. Its purpose is to spend their days in some way; it feels like a grain of dust tossing in the wind. So much so that in this life where we have to be actors, the audience feels as if he will stay there forever. From that seat, it only acts when real and urgent problems are poked or even thrown down from the seat. This reactive attitude entails greater costs that are returned with interest, and the person is gradually drawn into this quagmire.
This is the picture of the spiritual death of an individual.
When you are 16 years old, you think that you will change the world. When he is 18, his thoughts hit a hard rock . When he turns 20, he realizes that he can’t change anything, and when he turns 25, he realizes that the world has changed him. And a person dies at the age of 25 and is buried at the age of 75.
– Tarkovski
In this way, we have examined the hard rock described by Tarkovski cursorily. In fact, whether or not to hit the rock here is exactly about people’s psychology, their perception of external factors and whether they have a solid mindset to fight them.
✅ This series will present the ways and methods and systems of thought that will prevent individuals from hitting this rock or that will make them stand up again even if they do.
The ” consciousness” we have when we examine it, unlike animals, imposes responsibility on us. Animals move automatically and appear to lack any willpower. Consciousness obliges us humans to have will . Living in the normal flow, in an animalistic way, simply following our motives, will probably spell our end. Therefore, we do not have the luxury of acting thoughtlessly and instinctively. In any case, the complex needs of man do not allow this. Before we go deeper into this issue, defining the need as one of the most fundamental elements that make human beings human will contribute to our search for meaning.
>>>Continue: (PART 2) – THE NEED
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