“It is not our souls that are broken but, as neuroscience teaches us, it is our minds, These minds, the faulty walnuts we interpret reality through, did not evolve in ways that render them easy companions in the harried conditions of modern life. And it’s not just we who are broken. We live in societies made up of entirely broken souls.”
Alain de Botton
The ridiculous expectations we have for ourselves are the truest evil – a hidden nemesis most likely to haunt us for years. Where on earth did we get these ideas, about how life should be? Movies? Social media? Parents? Friends? Neighbors?
Would it give relief – to know that anyone dolling out ways to live, is most certainly broken, too? If there is one facet of humanity that binds us together, surely it’s our condemnation towards confusion.
What a relief!
“The very same machinery that makes you so adaptively intelligent is the same machinery that makes you susceptible to foolishness.”
John Vervaeke
“We will never eradicate stupidity. Our technology has a devilish habit of serving, rather than resolving our folly. Our intellectual capacities are fated to coexist alongside, and be inflamed by, our moral and psychological flaws.”
Alain de Botton
Fortunately – merely acknowledging we – individually and collectively – are fallible, and subsequently paying very close and ongoing attention to how, can humble and relieve us… and make life feel extraordinarily pleasant.
See also: Too Much Brain for Our Own Good
