The Architecture of Overcoming

"I declare unto you the three metamorphoses of the spirit: how the spirit becometh a Camel, the Camel a Lion, and the Lion at length a Child."

- Friedrich Nietzsche: Thus Spake Zarathustra

In an age where the words "self-help", "self-esteem", and a constant stream of semi-useless Buzzfeed style articles that shout "10 ways to hack your productivity" seem to saturate every form of media one can come into contact with, it's important to be able to separate the useful stuff from absolute garbage. That's why the following words will sum up the most fundamental and powerful traits of philosophy and psychology that underly the most genuine examples of positive self-authorship and personal development in the modern era.

The most universally applicable blueprint of self-betterment can be found in the concept of: anti-fragility; a term coined by renowned author Nassim Taleb. Anti-fragility refers to systems that increase in resilience, competence and capability when exposed to stress, attack and failure, the embodiment of which in certain individuals has shown to overwhelmingly useful.

So, by introducing relatively difficult problems to the human psychological and physiological systems, such as partaking in intense daily exercise or delving into unusual or anxiety inducing situations; the underlying myriad biochemical systems that work to create the embodied human experience are forced to adapt and create new functions that allow these systems to grow and be prepared for future shocks, failure and anxieties.

Now, keep in mind the quote that started this piece, which is seemingly quite abstract.

What do a camel, a lion and a child have to do with self-development?

Before we can answer that, take a quick glance at the conditions that the modern world has created for human beings. Almost any pleasurable activity you could possibly consider is now possible at the touch of a button. The hyper-proliferation of dopamine-centric apps allow food to be ordered and delivered to your door in a matter of seconds, and you didn't even have to leave the sedentary position you were occupying. They allow our very simple post-chimpanzee brains to employ wildly intelligent algorithms that help us to decide who our next sexual or romantic partner may be, all by swiping left or right on an OLED screen.

They allow us to extend our social cognition outwards to a seemingly infinite stream of social data on Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat; perfectly filling the void of deep social connectivity we crave psychologically, the same way McDonald's or Pizza Hut cures a ravenous hunger; it'll hit the spot for a little while, but it leaves us feeling disappointed and dissatisfied in the long run. We do not ever feel genuinely happy about gorging on fast-foods, scrolling aimlessly for hours on social media or allowing yourself just one more day of not going to the gym.

Almost everything we encounter in the world of new technology is designed to keep us engaged for longer, contented at the highest level possible for the shortest amount of time and in a near-constant state where: satisfaction < desire.

There must always be something lurking just around the corner that keeps the primitive consumer appetite whetted. As a direct result of this, there has a been a resounding and notable failure of modern society to introduce chaos and disruption into our lives, and as things become more convenient and safe, our ability to understand, overcome and articulate our human experience suffers. This is where the words of Nietzsche can provide real wisdom.

In 1882, German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, whilst seemingly drowning in the depths of his own despair began writing a stylistic masterpiece of individualist philosophy that provides a quasi-biblical story of how we are capable of overcoming ourselves, our own flawed moral structure and the societal values that encapsulate our action in the world.

Zarathustra was a wise hermit, who inhabited a mythological land and delivered his wisdom to crowds, followers, and passers-by in a series of sermons throughout the book. In Zarathustra's first lecture, he watches and narrates a tight-rope walker performing in the town square and he declares the following:

"What is great in man is that he is a bridge and not a goal: what is lovable in man is that he is an over-going and a down-going."

For Nietzsche; we should not aim to be simply better versions of our current selves, rather we should aim to create something so new, so beautiful and powerful that it would not even resemble our former selves. Nietzsche was an avid reader of Charles Darwin and saw that whilst we may be less victim to the evolutionary forces that kept our technologically primitive ancestors in line, these forces are still deeply in play in regards to our own psychology;

"What is the ape to man? A laughing-stock, a thing of shame. And just the same shall man be to the Superman: a laughing-stock, a thing of shame."

The message he delivers to the townspeople is a brutal one, but it is one that we modern humans can pluck gems of wisdom from. This opening prologue speaks volumes to the modern human, particularly in Zarathustra's speech on The Three Metamorphoses. In the year of 2018, we have become creatures of immense comfort and ease. We do not experience violence, disease, death or any series of external negative forces like our ancestors did. Most of you reading this, live lives that are deeply insulated against warfare, famine, and plague; all of the things that seem so obviously negative and yet, as the technologically advanced, seemingly superior beings we imagine ourselves to be, we are also the most interpersonally miserable we have ever been. We commit suicide at rates that are entirely unparalleled by another time in recorded history. The statistics that follow are seemingly so commonplace and yet when we consider the sheer magnitude of such numbers, they are so deeply alarming:

Approximately 300 million people suffer from some form of Depression globally.

50% of people diagnosed with depression will also be diagnosed with anxiety.

Suicide is the 2nd highest cause of death in the developed world for people aged between 15 and 24.

Approximately 800,000 people commit suicide each year.

This is how the Camel can work to provide meaning in the time of increasing despair.

First; The Camel:

For Nietzsche, the camel was something would be laden with the heaviest of burdens and would carry those burdens across the desert. Like the camel, we must look for the most difficult things in our lives that we can carry. We must look to the things we most deeply fear, the things we bring ourselves to do and the things that appear the "heaviest" for us to carry. Not only must we pick these burdens up, we must carry them for long distances. This analogy paints a portrait that tells us: in a very simplified form: "suffering is growth". It tells us that value is to be found in the things we fear, and the real value of life comes from heaving our fears, our anxieties, our ill-behaviours, our misguided habits and all of the burdens of our formers selves upon our shoulders and bearing them righteously so that we may grow as we trudge across the lonely and unknown desert.

If we blame the world and the people around us for our the bad things that have happened to us; we are refusing to "carry" them. Our troubles and woes are not being moved anywhere, We must accept that the conglomeration of negative circumstances and events that have befallen us are most likely not our own fault, but if we wish to get better, we must see them as our responsibility.

The burdens we carry are not all our own, they are the mislaid values of our societies we so often have taken as truth, they are the harsh words dealt by the bitter figures of our past, they are the people in our lives that seek to undermine our best intentions. All of these things do not serve our best interests or our higher selves, and so we must face them in order to contend with who we truly envision ourselves to be. Antifragility is merely a distillation of the deeper message of Nietzsche's work; we become stronger by bearing our burdens righteously, just as muscles grow when they are placed under harsh use, so does our psychology.

And Now; The Lion:

Next, one must become the Lion. Simply recognising and carrying your burdens forever does not seek to serve you fruitfully in the long run. It will make you stronger, but that strength is useless if it is a vessel for someone else's wishes. In order to grow, we must learn when we cast aside our fears, our anxieties and behaviours that are not our own, and transform into the spirit of the Lion.

Nietzsche tells us that in the desert, the Lion meets a Golden Dragon, whose scales gleam the words: "Thou Shalt". This is Nietzsche's ultimate reflection that the Judeo-Christian values that underly our current moral conventions and behaviours, actually seek to corrupt the experience of our own becoming. All of these moral values that underpin our social norms do not serve all of our interests equally, and in order to be a powerful and well-rounded human, we must learn when to cast aside our subconscious subscription to these values for the betterment of ourselves.

The Lion says: "I Will", in stark rebuke of the Golden Dragon (all of the social values we act out) and throws forth his own values in the face of societies seductions. Just as we are provided with endless little behavioural nudges from every piece of technology we come into contact with, it is ultimately up to us to transform who we are to say to be strong enough to say "I Will" and impose our own values and desires upon reality. It is this message of ultimate personal responsibility in the face of temptation that Nietzsche sought to deliver to those reading his work. We can't feel responsible for ourselves if we don't create ourselves.

Finally; The Child:

As we grow older, we learn that the capacity and willingness for childlike play is something that almost every one of us loses. As children, we could spend hours, purely enveloped in worlds of our own creation, entertained by our own minds.

We created the value we sought in exchange with the world and harnessed it to our benefit.

The innocence of children is something we look at with wonderment, they are able to play unburdened by the social conventions that are now so deeply ingrained into our automatic behaviours. The experience of the child is that of constant discovery and learning.

That's why, Nietzsche declares that the truly free, and liberated among us act in the way of the child. We will discard the personal and societal baggage that forced us to behave in certain ways and approach the world as a place of constant learning, discovery, and play. We are able to ultimately create our own values, and enact them in the world as we see fit, aware of; and yet unburdened by the things we carried as the Camel, and then cast aside proudly as the Lion.

To properly tie up the torrent of metaphorical philosophy I've delivered:

Do not give into the weaker versions of yourself that call out to you in the ready at hand temptations. The things that often provide you impulsive short term joy will always leave the landscape of the mind more polluted than it was before. Do not allow your instinctual proclivity for dopamine production to leave you stranded in dismay.

Finally, the way I am coming to frame all of my difficult decisions, or when I'm confronted with a task I'd rather really not do; is that all of these things are merely a choice between 2 different types of pain:

"Would I rather the pain of growth? Or the pain of staying the same?"

Introduce chaos, fear, and trepidation into your life and channel your being towards it in a way that you feel is noble. Because after all;

"Becoming is the highest form of Being" - Hegel: Phenomenology of Spirit.

Thomas Mitchelhill

Writer |Business Builder | Endurance Athlete | Existence Enthusiast

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