Friday, May 26, 2006

Expectations

Rant

They are always there. There to be lived up to, there to be graded against, and sometimes there to be forever out of reach.

You say you want to have no expectations?

Expectations are built on past experiences. Even simple things such as When you walk, you expect the ground to hold you. When I open my eyes in the morning, I expect to be able to see. After all, that's what happened every day before.

If this is the case, is 'having no experiences' the only way to have 'no expectations'?

Or does having no expectations mean to not rely on past experiences to define new ones?

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Anti-rant

Using past experiences to define new ones is a fact of life. How would society function if the near future and every action is utterly and unequivocally put in a state of flux?
Dude murdered 17 women. But that shouldn't be taken into account of what he'll do in the future.

Yesterday I paid for food with a paper bill with the '10' symbol on it. Can I really expect to do the same? i.e. get food, use paper for goods/services trade, believe everybody values and interprets the '10' symbol the same way?

Common expectations provide a structure and stability necessarry for us to function. To idolize 'no expectations' is to idolize chaos.

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Anti-anti-rant

Glib responses aside, but underlying point is not to ignore past experiences absolutely, the point is that you should strive to find the unique qualities and offerings of new experiences.

It is these unique qualities that make it worth while. It is these unique qualities that make us seek out new experiences. It is these unique qualities that motivate us.

(See what I did there? I tied it back to the blog title. Hooray for on topic posts!)

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

broose. when are your work hours not?