Comments on: Don’t Give a Sh*t

By: G13 Media

G13 Media — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 12:21:17 +0000

its like how some people will sell their souls and lie for a buck.

By: Johnny C.

Johnny C. — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 18:23:14 +0000

It’s also tough when you have dependents that cares about these things that ends up owning them.

Now you’re up against it, time is running out.
And your little lady wants a car and a house.

By: Olga

Olga — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 20:07:56 +0000

I’m having one of those right now. It feels strangely calm, yet not exactly good.

By: CT Moore

CT Moore — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 18:57:53 +0000

Let’s just say I had a moment of clarity that let me be really honest with myself…

By: Olga

Olga — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 17:58:28 +0000

Hell yes.

Now, I just have one question. What happened that made you go not want to give a shit?

By: CT Moore

CT Moore — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 17:10:24 +0000

Yeah, I think that the Buddhists, Taoists, and Shintoists all picked up certain things that it took the another thousand years to figure out. The Western variants also kinda lacked the brevity and simplicity of their Eastern counterparts — and that in itself almost missed the point entirely.

By: CT Moore

CT Moore — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 17:04:36 +0000

I don’t know. But with all things human nature, I like to believe in the 80/20 split. I’m not sure that the majority of people can let go. I’m not sure why I think that, I just do.

Take the Socratic point of view where “the unexamined life isn’t worth living”: how many people can really look into the mirror and see through what they want to see? People believe what they want to believe, and that might very well be a part of natural selection.

Look at Socrates. As much as we remember him for his ideas and example, he was poor, lonely, miserable, drunk, and ultimately put to death. He was probably too honest with himself to be able to convince himself that it was really worth making an effort. The result: everything we know about him is second-hand, from his pupils, and his pupils ended up having a much greater impact on Western thought, tradition, and history than him.

I mean, geezus, if I truly didn’t give a shit, I wouldn’t be blogging, right?

By: desjardins

desjardins — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 16:24:54 +0000

So, I guess my point is this: how do you determine what “truly matters” and what can just slide?

This is what mindfulness meditation is for in Buddhism. This is what Zen practice is for, and there’s a reason that it’s called practice. It’s hard. I agree with you completely on the premature enlightenment part; it’s easy to think “whee, I don’t care what others think” until someone you love calls you a jerk and you cry.

Anyway, inspiring post. Thanks to @gletham and @sbixel.

By: Laura Roberts

Laura Roberts — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 15:30:32 +0000

I agree with this sentiment of letting go of that which truly doesn’t matter. It’s Fight Club all over. However, I think lots of people also have a kind of “premature enlightenment” going on, where they THINK they have let things go, but really haven’t. Maybe they haven’t really thought things through, maybe there is more benefit to the ass-kissing that they haven’t considered, maybe they just haven’t hit bottom. Who knows, but sometimes you write a post thinking that you don’t give a damn about the consequences, and then it turns into a shitstorm. I think we’ve all been there. So, I guess my point is this: how do you determine what “truly matters” and what can just slide? If you have a diagram or three easy steps or even some other philosophical insights, that’d be seriously awesome.