Teh limitz

Why do humans impose limits on themselves?

I don’t mean small limits, I mean absolute limits, the big stuff. Yeah we all impose limits on ourselves when it comes to small things, that’s how we create a coherent content space in which to select something, this creates meaning. That’s specific.

But what I mean is, people impose an upper absolute limit on themselves that says they will not keep ascending, they will not keep progressing on a path beyond a certain point, they will just ...stop somewhere. Mostly this refers to knowledge and experience, to what we call philosophy perhaps.

I think they do this because they are afraid. Being unlimited means accepting that at some point you might end up someplace you never thought, you might end up changing fundamental assumptions and expectations you had. So why not just accept this possibility, why reject it and impose the limit?

Because people do not trust themselves. Also because they are not much fun at all.

Yeah, being boring, that has something central to do with it too.

It’s really hard to like boring people. In fact it is impossible.

So these people choose to be boring (to live within silly self imposed limits when it comes to the big things, to what is most meaningful to themselves) because they do not want to be liked, because they do not like themselves. They want to be “liked” for being within a narrow content-range, because they do not like themselves and need this artificial external additive meaning. They derive their sense of liking themselves from how others accept them, which comes down to risk aversion.

So you have a bunch of boring people being boring because other people are also boring people being boring. A massive in-group.

Yeah, fuck all that.

I just want to follow every knowledge and every meaningful experience as far as possible as if there were no limits, so that I can actually determine where the real limits are, where truth itself appears. But maybe that’s just me.

I think people who set limits for themselves are not meant to achieve greatness. Generally speaking only few people are gifted enough to overcome human boundaries. They can feel fullfilled and happy with the simple things in life, work 9 to 5 jobs for 40+ years and have the eventual social gathering they attend. For me personally that's not enough. People who try to tell you "cheer up, life is about the little things" are completley missing the point. That is why I don't like to believe in a creator in the form of the biblical god. In the past gods have been used to descibe phenomenons people couldn't rationally explain. I can't rest until the last secret is figured out and the last stone isnt't unturned.

Limits are for drones, I don't like the idea of being one.

Still, Gods of more noble societies used to be stepping stones to more courage, reasons to come out of the cave, so to speak. Fire was the original god.
Its not that phenomena couldn't be explained, but that they were still undiluted in their magical appearance. Man wasn't used to the magnificent powers of chemistry. All chemistry is "fire" in that it is plasma, and by mastering fire man began the science of chemistry. The sheer amount of chemical processes involved in cooking a fish is staggering. Fire changes the earth before mans eyes, and it brings the earth under his control. Gods are that primordial fire to stare in and wonder about, the things that give power but dont explain themselves.

No doubt that gods of noble societies were of great importance. I think by seeing fire as a gift of a higher being people felt the need to value and use it, to respect it. Just like when somone helps you in time of need, you ought to repay them in some way, by humbling them or praising them, thanking them etc, or in the form of offerings, giving back to the gods. Seen from a historic standpoint and still to this day gods are of great importance to many groups of people, it motivates them to not give up and push for something greater. And it's true, the amount of processes which are going on in each and every one of us right now are so complicated and fascinating to a point where we might not be able to grasp it properly. To appreciate something one doesn't have to necessarily understand it. I look up at the stars and can't in the slightest grasp the amount of phenomena which are happening every second, but I can still appreciate it's beauty.