Anyone can be a fat, unwashed slob. How far removed is man from animal when the culmination of his daily goals, or desires, does not rise above the level of consume, screw and sleep? Mankind has pressed forward from the flesh heap of the animal kingdom, but will you allow yourself to be the end of that process?
A friend of mine, who had moved to DC a few years back, regaled to me of his bugman lifestyle. After work and each day, while employed at some generic, forgettable think-tank, he and his buddies would patron different craft beer bars and play adult arcade games, while sipping estrogenic hopsy concoctions and hitting on women. Afterwards, they would slink back to their 400 square foot apartments, next to hectic interstates, in preparation to do it all again the next day. His disheveled appearance reminded me of some creature I’d see crawling out of a hotbox at a liberal arts college, not some overpaid “professional” with a sinecure in the imperial capital.
He had red, hollowed eyes, clearly suffering from sleep deprivation and caffeine withdrawal, and was paired with a soft, pale, fat body from countless cheap calories and a sedentary lifestyle. Antidepressants were his “lifesavers.” This shell of a man, who was once my friend, had traded his soul, dignity and physical health for a paycheck and the “hustle and bustle” of the big city. He was now the victim of modernity.
As a consumer of all life’s pleasures, and producer of nothing, this man had halted, if not reversed, the natural progress of his life. Short of waking up for his job each morning, he wonted for nothing, eating when he pleased, drinking on a whim, and looking up a video when a cheap woman could not be found. Discipline is a laughable concept to people like him. Why would a sane man subject themself to any form of discipline, when they can consume and enjoy the leisurely life of the imperial class?
Like a dog overfed by its master, it would seem that the majority of people today will eat and drink to excess, with the only limit being their line of credit. Who then would their master be, if not themselves? Discipline must be self-imposed and cannot be substituted for pills like modern “happiness.” Modern consumers mistake their depression and lack of fulfillment as a hole which can be filled with yet more goods and vices. But, discipline is the only thing that will truly fill that void. Whether it be in the gym, school or work, there are incremental changes that each of us can make to rise above. If you want to be something worthy of admiration, will you put in the work to achieve it or just hope it falls in your lap?
We all have a choice in this life to craft something beautiful or squander our opportunities. It is up to you to accept the burdens of beauty and success, if you wish to be something more.
You will need discipline to achieve any goal.
We are witnessing, not the natural end of a great human civilization, but the birth of an inhuman civilization that could never have come into being without a vast, an immense, a universal sterilization of life’s highest values
A well stated piece of observation and wisdom.
As the Mormons say, ‘any unmarried man above the age of twenty-five years old is a menace to society.’ (Exceptions granted, as always.)