“That’s what I saw in the idle man at the gym: no commitment. For him, the reason not to was greater than the reason to do something.”
In this essay I find both valuable insight into human psychology, both in the examples given and the authors viewpoint, which tinged of superiority and ego.
Perhaps your Gym was the idle man’s Wind Tunnel. Perhaps the fact that he was waiting anxiously awaiting for the experts of this domain to arrive was the trivial detail. The psychological hurdles that he may have made to go through all the steps to arrive in that gym are the macro importance part of the story.
Why would he preemptively start into something, only to have the trainers walk in and criticize him for doing something that they hadn’t told him to do? Fact is, he was there, putting himself in front of those that he might have looked up to and had the courage to admit he needed their help.
We are moving closer and closer to the complete dissolution of agency and autonomy.
The powers that be do not want free thinking, capable, self actualized citizens. They see this type of individual as a threat. They 'need' cogs. They need people that turn their brains off and wait to be told what to do, when to do it and how to do it.
They need mindless, spineless, mouth breathers to keep their system of corruption and opulence in tact. Ones that will not question when told. Ones that will believe the opposite of what their eyes show them. Ones that will keep their heads down out of fear. Ones that will believe anything because they stand for nothing. They have infiltrated everything and have been systemically working to switch off the brains of everyone they can reach with their influence. They know everything about us because over the years we've given away all of our privacy for what was sold as connection amd convenience.
No critical thinking, no questions, no privacy, no creativity, processed garbage food products, screens 24/7, no real human connection. Who needs the burden of real relationships when you can log onto your favorite AI chatbot and put in your VR headset and apply your favorite lube. Now that's living..
I had a similar experience to your idle man. This was in a small college-gym 4 years ago. I've never been to the gym, but inspired by you and ZS and your mental states, I decided to go, it was in the terrace. There were 2 seniors in the gym and my roommate who already knew them. the seniors were doing their thing and almost all the equipments were completely new to me, I literally don't know how to sit nor in which direction to move them. I was standing there and watching them do their thing. I didn't speak a word, and social awkwardness isn't appreciated in my part of the world as much as it is celebrated in the west now, so the seniors asked me something in a rude tone, I replied “can you guys teach me". they replied “have u done the warmup?". Me: "I just came here right after playing basketball". this got a mocking laugh from the seniors and the friend who was present. they told me to walk/jog as a warmup before getting inside the gym and so I did but I felt awful about the whole social interaction as I was warming up. they could see me from a distance warming up but basically I quit and went back to my hostel room. i never tried the gym again. i agree that the reasons not to go is so much more than to go. also negative first experiences are a true killer, regardless of what it is, whether job or gym. also true incompetence and level 0 is one hell of a place to start from but I'm willing to try, I just don't like social interactions lol .
Alternative view:
“That’s what I saw in the idle man at the gym: no commitment. For him, the reason not to was greater than the reason to do something.”
In this essay I find both valuable insight into human psychology, both in the examples given and the authors viewpoint, which tinged of superiority and ego.
Perhaps your Gym was the idle man’s Wind Tunnel. Perhaps the fact that he was waiting anxiously awaiting for the experts of this domain to arrive was the trivial detail. The psychological hurdles that he may have made to go through all the steps to arrive in that gym are the macro importance part of the story.
Why would he preemptively start into something, only to have the trainers walk in and criticize him for doing something that they hadn’t told him to do? Fact is, he was there, putting himself in front of those that he might have looked up to and had the courage to admit he needed their help.
We are moving closer and closer to the complete dissolution of agency and autonomy.
The powers that be do not want free thinking, capable, self actualized citizens. They see this type of individual as a threat. They 'need' cogs. They need people that turn their brains off and wait to be told what to do, when to do it and how to do it.
They need mindless, spineless, mouth breathers to keep their system of corruption and opulence in tact. Ones that will not question when told. Ones that will believe the opposite of what their eyes show them. Ones that will keep their heads down out of fear. Ones that will believe anything because they stand for nothing. They have infiltrated everything and have been systemically working to switch off the brains of everyone they can reach with their influence. They know everything about us because over the years we've given away all of our privacy for what was sold as connection amd convenience.
No critical thinking, no questions, no privacy, no creativity, processed garbage food products, screens 24/7, no real human connection. Who needs the burden of real relationships when you can log onto your favorite AI chatbot and put in your VR headset and apply your favorite lube. Now that's living..
I had a similar experience to your idle man. This was in a small college-gym 4 years ago. I've never been to the gym, but inspired by you and ZS and your mental states, I decided to go, it was in the terrace. There were 2 seniors in the gym and my roommate who already knew them. the seniors were doing their thing and almost all the equipments were completely new to me, I literally don't know how to sit nor in which direction to move them. I was standing there and watching them do their thing. I didn't speak a word, and social awkwardness isn't appreciated in my part of the world as much as it is celebrated in the west now, so the seniors asked me something in a rude tone, I replied “can you guys teach me". they replied “have u done the warmup?". Me: "I just came here right after playing basketball". this got a mocking laugh from the seniors and the friend who was present. they told me to walk/jog as a warmup before getting inside the gym and so I did but I felt awful about the whole social interaction as I was warming up. they could see me from a distance warming up but basically I quit and went back to my hostel room. i never tried the gym again. i agree that the reasons not to go is so much more than to go. also negative first experiences are a true killer, regardless of what it is, whether job or gym. also true incompetence and level 0 is one hell of a place to start from but I'm willing to try, I just don't like social interactions lol .