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RJ Tubs 202


Registered: 09/20/08
Posts: 6,016
Loc: USA
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The Tyranny of Ambition
#23941452 - 12/19/16 07:36 PM (7 years, 1 month ago) |
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As a society, we give significant value to ambition.
But is it all that it's cracked up to be?
On our death-bed, will we wish we had been more ambitious?
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yogabunny
fancy cat



Registered: 11/01/09
Posts: 11,281
Loc: Nasty Women Get Shit Done
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RJ Tubs 202


Registered: 09/20/08
Posts: 6,016
Loc: USA
Last seen: 17 hours, 48 minutes
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Re: The Tyranny of Ambition [Re: yogabunny]
#23941863 - 12/19/16 10:03 PM (7 years, 1 month ago) |
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I love it!
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demiu5
humans, lol


Registered: 08/18/05
Posts: 43,948
Loc: the popcorn stadium
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Re: The Tyranny of Ambition [Re: RJ Tubs 202] 1
#23942238 - 12/20/16 01:18 AM (7 years, 1 month ago) |
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Quote:
yogabunny said:

busy and productive are not the same
Quote:
RJ Tubs 202 said: As a society, we give significant value to ambition.
But is it all that it's cracked up to be?
i'm not sure of a hard definition for ambition, but i see ambition as the "wheels-start-to-motion" of the "drive" process. having all the ambition in the world does nothing for someone if they ultimately don't [want to] do it.
personally, my own ambitions always fall short of my desired outcome/output because there isn't enough time in a day, days in a week, weeks in a season, seasons in a year, or calories or rest-period that doesn't overlap with physical production periods.
further, some of us are workaholics because other ways of coping/decompressing aren't as effective or are even less regarded in society.
and where do you draw the line between ambition and delusion?
Quote:
On our death-bed, will we wish we had been more ambitious?
i would like to think of it as the opposite. or more like "on my death-bed, can i be grateful that i realized slowing-down or taking time off IS acceptable?"
-------------------- channel your inner Larry David
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beforethedawn
Registered: 06/19/16
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Re: The Tyranny of Ambition [Re: demiu5]
#23942369 - 12/20/16 03:40 AM (7 years, 1 month ago) |
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I think we're supposed to live in the imagination.
-------------------- Hostile humankind Can't you see you're fucking blind?
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LunarEclipse
Enlil's Official Story


Registered: 10/31/04
Posts: 21,407
Loc: Building 7
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Re: The Tyranny of Ambition [Re: RJ Tubs 202] 1
#23942426 - 12/20/16 04:40 AM (7 years, 1 month ago) |
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Quote:
RJ Tubs 202 said: As a society, we give significant value to ambition.
But is it all that it's cracked up to be?
On our death-bed, will we wish we had been more ambitious?
No, but we may be wishing we still had some ambition.
Personally I don't see many people with real ambition. Real ambition is different from working some job for some corporation to get you paycheck and maybe pension later. Real ambition is doing what you love and wanting to get it right.
I fix houses for all the lazy fucks that can't figure it out, don't want to, can't afford it, then couldn't afford not to. The foreclosed houses in need, I help them out. People are lazy, why would most worry about whether they weren't lazy enough as they lay there dying?
Lazy.
-------------------- Anxiety is what you make it.
Edited by LunarEclipse (12/20/16 04:46 AM)
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CookieCrumbs
Fucked off to the pub


Registered: 12/10/11
Posts: 14,146
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Yep.
Having ambition to see yourself in a position that makes you truly happy and comfortable is a good thing. I don't mean a job. I mean a position in life. A position and a state of being within ones own mind. You think fucking Buddha became Buddha without ambition?
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Free time is the only time
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goldcaphunter
EMS Medic



Registered: 07/29/12
Posts: 7,432
Loc: Massachusetts
Last seen: 3 years, 2 months
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I need to start reading thread titles more accurately. I thought this was going to be about ambien. When I realized it wasn't I became uninterested unfortunately.
Am I doing ambition right?
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  The picture to the far left is a reminder to our users to stay safe and healthy, that's my third open heart surgery due to over use of amps. Stay safe kiddos
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CookieCrumbs
Fucked off to the pub


Registered: 12/10/11
Posts: 14,146
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If you have ambition to hallucinate on shitty drugs then no I think you're doing it right.
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Free time is the only time
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LunarEclipse
Enlil's Official Story


Registered: 10/31/04
Posts: 21,407
Loc: Building 7
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Quote:
CookieCrumbs said: Yep.
Having ambition to see yourself in a position that makes you truly happy and comfortable is a good thing. I don't mean a job. I mean a position in life. A position and a state of being within ones own mind. You think fucking Buddha became Buddha without ambition?
I actually do like improving property, and taking on projects, to a point. At age 63, I have been scaling back which I think is a good thing too. One can become overambitious, biting off more than one can properly chew can lead to financial and personal indigestion.
Consider the last real estate bubble, free money and it always went up until it went down and folks couldn't sell at that price without dumping more $$ into it, so they walked away.
Anyway, as to OP, we have had this discussion a few times. He seems to feel driven to be ambitious, compelled to, and hence uses that word tyranny. Someone is whipping him, in an almost literal sense. Were he to address this here perhaps we could help him out, I don't know.
Part of me says get to work, and why doesn't he, and another part says gee why work myself to "death" when I could be doing something else. The weather at some point just makes working outside at least and even getting from point A to point B a bitch, so why bother. If we view being ambitious as what society says, that is to hold a "normal" job, then to be ambitious could certainly be considered a tryanny and slavery of being if nothing else a debt slave.
-------------------- Anxiety is what you make it.
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goldcaphunter
EMS Medic



Registered: 07/29/12
Posts: 7,432
Loc: Massachusetts
Last seen: 3 years, 2 months
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lol. that's not why ambien interests me
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  The picture to the far left is a reminder to our users to stay safe and healthy, that's my third open heart surgery due to over use of amps. Stay safe kiddos
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RJ Tubs 202


Registered: 09/20/08
Posts: 6,016
Loc: USA
Last seen: 17 hours, 48 minutes
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Ambition can mean many different things. Ambition is often tied to accomplishments and income. My snarky thread title reveals my narrow-mindedness at that moment.
Ambition can create the drive to help others.
Buddha was ambitious about abandoning his ambition 
Regarding Buddhism, it's challenging to have passion and ambition without attachment.
About "busy" . . .
At work we do tend to hold "busy" people in higher regard than relaxed employees, regardless of how much work each is doing. When we complain about being "busy" it's a form of bragging, as Richard Carlson talks about.
"Busy" is a state of mind, and is a type of self-caused anxiety.
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tito123

Registered: 01/23/10
Posts: 3,006
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I like to feel ambitious to an extent. I have lots of friends who are satisfied with working a shitty job and getting high all day. That's depressing to me.
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CookieCrumbs
Fucked off to the pub


Registered: 12/10/11
Posts: 14,146
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Re: The Tyranny of Ambition [Re: tito123] 2
#23958223 - 12/26/16 12:26 PM (7 years, 1 month ago) |
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Quote:
tito123 said: I like to feel ambitious to an extent. I have lots of friends who are satisfied with working a shitty job and getting high all day. That's depressing to me.
Same. It is rather hard to find a balance though. Like my brother is a construction worker, he works his ass off, but he also practices reiki and always makes time for friends. He is the busiest person I know. Sometimes he's content with it but alot of the time he's really stressed. And it's simply because he spends 8-10 hours a day 6-7 days a week making a living and has little time or energy to do the things he really wants to do. And he does have alot of personal ambition. It's just really hard to balance life with the necessity to work.
There are alot of words that mean good things and our culture has given a dirty name. Capitalistic culture of course. Success and drive being the 2 that come to mind atm.
To me they both go hand in hand with ambition and all center around personal goals. Good goals are the ones you really want, the things you really want in your life time, and not what others have told you you want. Ambition is to set goals that will make you truly happy, even if they seem hard to reach or that most people wouldn't shoot for them (being independent from our social system for example.) Success is simply meeting your goals and finding yourself in a happy or at least happier place. Drive is having the motivation and will to meet your goals.
We are monkeys that have been bred and trained to preform circus tricks for the system but we are still wild animals with hearts that were meant to be free. Knowing the difference between personal ambition and culture programmed ambition is often the difference between being happy and fulfilled and being stressed out and empty.
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Free time is the only time
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LunarEclipse
Enlil's Official Story


Registered: 10/31/04
Posts: 21,407
Loc: Building 7
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All the fun of the Cirkus?
-------------------- Anxiety is what you make it.
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