What do you understand by “caring is daring”?
Responding to life with, “I don’t care” is a convenient way to dismiss the significance of what’s happening, I get to make it ‘not my problem’ and go find some selfish pursuit to distract myself from the pain of existing.
By caring about life, caring that you exist, caring that everyone exists, you’re making the ultimate commitment: being invested in life. Wanting to do something about the situation, rather than dismissing it. Engaging, rather than bailing out. Asking yourself the challenging questions, digging into the sticky areas.
I read something Richard wrote the other day to the effect that “I’m a normal person who’s lived a normal life, with one possible exception: an obsession with knowing the answer to the meaning of life.”
To care, is to take on that obsession.
To be obsessed, is the ultimate daring.
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Richard:I was the biological progenitor of four children and I was able to intimately participate in the child’s world thanks to the deliberate activation of naiveté
(despite the recognised risk of becoming a fool, a simpleton). And, as I was a single parent for a number of years, it became increasingly and transparently obvious that the instinctual passions – the entire affective faculty in fact – was the root cause of all the ills of humankind. One has to actually dare to care, of course, before it is transparently obvious … which is a very dangerous thing to do
For to dare to care is to care to dare.
Unwilling to risk being considered a fool is one thing I see in many people.
To be obsessed with something that most people consider a waste of time, therefore foolish, is very daring.
Where is waste of time in practising actualism(practising happiness) ?
If you mean investigating is waste of time, then you may be over doing it.
I get stuck while examining my fears–whether they have any rational basis(If a fear is irrational it’s easier to shed it). But it’s often futile because often what is rational is determined by my past experiences. So I think evaluating my fears is often a waste of time. That’s perhaps not needed at all. What do you say?
It isn’t a waste of time, as far as I can tell it’s the best possible thing anyone could do with their time.
Most people think that you can’t change human nature, and therefore the mission of actualism is a waste of time.
I suppose that’s up to you
If you can reliably cause fears to cease recurring without examining them
In my experience ‘I’ will drop a fear once I have a genuine understanding of whatever it involves. It’s not scary anymore at that point. That does involve investigation.
Sometimes that does involve a bit of ‘decision,’ like in the case of fear of death. I can see that I could keep being scared of it, but to do so means perpetual fear. So I decide to cut it off when I see it.
I suppose as long as you can get to the point where you can consistently make that decision in a way that’s effective, then it’s working to be living enjoying + appreciating.
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