We are born in the passenger seat of our own life.
You are not born with control of your own life. You are born with the illusion of control.
Have you ever seen the opening credits for the Simpsons?
See the most important section here.
Young Maggie thinks she is driving the car in this section. We the audience, from our perspective, think ourselves that she is driving.
However the following shots indicate that her steering wheel is in fact a toy, a dummy, a fake. Her mother Marge is in fact driving.
Note – two episodes of the With Joe Wehbe Podcast are available on this blog topic if you prefer video, audio or if you want to further consolidate these ideas after reading.
Here are the Youtube Videos: Episode #025 The Passenger Seat and Episode #026: It Is A Choice To Become The Driver
The Audio only is available here or wherever you get your podcasts! Thanks and enjoy the piece!
It is hard to overlook how reflective this is of our lives.
We are not born with an understanding of Astro the Dog or the widening gap between our biological and cultural evolution.
How can we be? For that reason, it makes sense to believe we are steering our lives of completely conscious volition.
It is easy to believe that we steer our feelings, whereas in truth it is our feelings which steer us. That is unless we decide to develop the vices to master them.
We follow the rest of nature in this way.
It is this which sets humanity apart from the animals. One of our most complex questions is that around the free will of our neighbours on this earth.
For example, how much free will do the penguins have on their arduous marches?
To what extent do the members of nature opt-in to their lifestyles? Or are they driven only by impulses all their lives… impulses which have been implanted by natural selection over time.
More than any other creature, our species has the opportunity to taper these impulses for more sophisticated coordination and action.
This becomes very necessary.
The disadvantage we have compared to monkeys, penguins and invertebrates is the extent of our self-awareness. We are the only species we know of that is generally ashamed to present as its naked self in the open view of others.
Of all my trips to the zoo, I’ve never detected any cues of animals being so self-conscious as to shout out at onlookers “turn around, I’m starkers naked”.
We are capable of more, but I suspect we are also vulnerable to more.
It is a choice to become the driver. It doesn’t happen by accident or unintentionally.
To become the driver of your own life in a complicated cultural environment, requires learning and practice.
It requires open-mindedness and an interest in learning how your psychology works, and how it can be gamed. How you can use models like the Minimum Viable Lifestyle, as one example, to make the experience more positive and less painful.
Questions you’ll answer by becoming the driver
Why do I feel so shit when I don’t expect to?
Why do I feel so terrible for no apparent reason?
What am I really capable of?
Why is common sense so uncommon?
Why is becoming the driver such intentional work?
Any help I can offer you to becoming the driver is implemented through this writing. In particular, check out the “Our Search for Meaning” tab on the right of this page for articles most specifically about this.
Note – two episodes of the With Joe Wehbe Podcast are available on this blog topic if you prefer video, audio or if you want to further consolidate these ideas after reading.
Here are the Youtube Videos: Episode #025 The Passenger Seat and Episode #026: It Is A Choice To Become The Driver
The Audio only is available here or wherever you get your podcasts! Thanks and enjoy the piece!
