Have you seen The Shawshank redemption? Because if you have, congratulations!!! You already know how important “hope” is for us humans (and if you haven’t you still know it I was just trying to be dramatic) but wait... What if the hope as we know it was an illusion all along? What if the thing we were holding on to was destroying us as a civilization? And that’s where our boy Mark comes in with his distinct ideas wrapped up in the book called “Everything is f*cked”
Spoiler alert; everything actually is fucked.
About the book:
First of all, Mark knows how to give catchy titles (give this man a medal). Then there is his conversational writing style. I mean you read his stuff and you feel like he is talking to you and in the simplest possible way. To enchant the reader further, he’ll start with a legend or a story, and before you know it, you understand his point. Now, the whole idea of this book is focused on “Hope.”. It starts with the concept of an imbalance between emotional and rational part of our brain to what the writer refers to as “feeling” and “thinking” brains, and how the world thought that we are driven by the thinking brain, but it has always been the other way around. In the first part, the book will mess with (okay practically screw) your idea of “pursuit of happiness”. Using scientific approaches it will make you understand that this “pursuit” is the only thing sucking your happiness in the first place. Then comes our misuse of the hope we create for ourselves. How we use religion and our ideologies and even other people, to create an illusion of hope and if we don’t believe in any particular religion, we will create one because we don’t want to face the “uncomfortable truth of life” (that’s what author calls it) that we were nothing all along. We just imagined our purpose and our importance in the universe, and we don’t want to face this bitter truth, and the only reason why? It hurts.
In the second part, you will come to know that everything you think you “need” or you think will give you any kind of “pleasure” is just a genius entrepreneur messing with your head with his insane marketing strategies. He is using the celebrities you worship, the algorithms you are stuck with, your inability to face pain, and of course your desire to replace pain with diversions to get you to spend your money in the name of pleasure. All you are looking for is diversions and he is sitting somewhere, drinking his beer, counting on that. The author has tried to help you understand how people are using your emotional fragility to make millions, how we have wealth more than ever, but character and values? (Don’t even get me started on that) and all in the name of chasing happiness. True happiness was with us all along, it was in the commitment, in the values, and in the strong character but somehow we failed to see that, and REST IS JUST ECONOMY.
The book sheds light on emotional maturity, and how it can save us a lot of trouble in the future. It gives you an insight on how facing your pain instead of avoiding it can grant you real adulthood, the real maturity, and how this little change you make within yourself ultimately changes a lot in the world. Last but not the least it gives an insight on the future and it is a lot like Terminator movies (okay I’m exaggerating. Maybe a little like the movie).
My Thoughts:
Like I said, the book is focused on the idea of hope but to me, it is more like something about pain management. I think the book gives a clear idea of how our emotional inclinations screw us over and over. We are emotional fools as a society and we have to work on our emotional maturity. We are never going to be completely happy, it is scientifically proven so this idea of absolute happiness is an illusion that economists created to make money. Anything we do or achieve we are going to be mildly dissatisfied about it and its okay it’s in our system. Every time we avoid pain and look for a diversion, somewhere in the world an asshole makes money. And guess what? After giving that asshole what he wanted we get bored of that diversion and another asshole awaits us ("savvy"?). The more we move towards diversions the more fragile we become towards pain and this fragility messes pretty much everything up.
Remember when your physics teacher made newton’s laws of motion and Einstein’s theory of Relativity insufferable? And you were doodling his face on your notebook instead of paying attention in class? This book will make you understand them but with a new twist, because the newton in the book comes from a parallel universe and contemplates human psychology instead of physics (exciting huh?) and Einstein is the same Earth guy but what you are going to know about his life (I mean real life not what you read on the internet) will knock your socks off. Being a Sci-fi fanatic, author’s vision of future in the last chapter was the most fun part for me because I’m waiting for AI overlords to come since I was a child (I mean machines like Arnold and that hot shapeshifter guy? Let them Rise) and I can assure you that you will find a clearer picture of the possible AI takeover in the future and I agree that we are on the verge of turning to a whole new religion. well, go on then read and decide for yourself.
My favorite quotes from the book:
“The problem isn’t that we don’t know how not to get punched in the face. The problem is that, at some point, likely a long time ago, we got punched in the face, and instead of punching back, we decided we deserved it.”
― Everything is F*cked: A Book About Hope
“Because pain is the universal constant of life, the opportunities to grow from that pain are constant in life. All that is required is that we don't numb it, that we don't look away. All that is required is that we engage it and find the value and meaning in it.”
― Everything is F*cked: A Book About Hope
“You must love someone without expecting anything in return; otherwise it’s not truly love. You must respect someone without expecting anything in return; otherwise you don’t truly respect him. You must speak honestly without expecting a pat on the back or a high-five or a gold star next to your name; otherwise you aren’t truly being honest.”
― Everything Is F*cked: A Book About Hope
“So, instead of looking for hope, try this:
Don't hope.
Don't despair, either.
In fact, don't deign to believe you know anything. It's that assumption of knowing with such blind, fervent, emotional certainty that gets us into these kinds of pickles in the first place.
Don't hope for better. Just be better.
Be something better. Be more compassionate, more resilient, more humble, more disciplined. [...]
Be a better human.”
― Everything is F*cked: A Book About Hope
“Freedom itself demands discomfort.”
― Everything Is F*cked: A Book About Hope
Comments
Post a Comment