Happy new year, we are now a week out and I'm sure you have already failed on one of those new objectives for this year. Now this post isn't to to discourage you, not in any capacity. I hope that we can actually look for a better solution to this yearly craze.
Ignoring the (honestly, quite reasonable) complaint I have with choosing to start your new journey at some fixed date rather than immediately. I ask you to wonder on why you've chosen to make better of yourself this upcoming year a worthwhile endeavour.
Logos and making Decisions
Conceptually, I understand the 'logos' to be chiefly represented as the 'logos spermatikos'. That is, that the universe or some God (or at the very least your understanding of something greater than the individual) is one which is unpredictable and that the gift of rationality is one which enables us primarily to determine what is right from wrong in these universal actions.
Assuming that this mention of logos wasn't some manic detour, then, I ask you again: Why is it you have chosen the goals you have? What do you hope to gain from them? Which ones are right or wrong for you? Perhaps you set the goal to:
- Read 12 books this year,
- Watch a movie every week,
- Walk 10,000 steps everyday.
Now whilst the energy is admirable to start, how long does it stay like that? Are you driven by your arbitrary metric long term? Maybe, maybe not. Are these actually good or noble goals? I'm not so convinced of that, as nice as they may seem at face value.
Let us pick apart the first suggestion for now. Read twelve books. Why would you do that? To become a 'reader'? To be considered 'well read'? What are the books? You haven't got a plan so far, but maybe you had some books lined up, sure. Some fiction, some non-fiction, whatever it is: What is it that you think having read twelve books will do for you in these 365 days? If you don't meet that goal have you failed? Are you no less a reader for having read eleven, or are you more well read for having read twenty four instead? Is it just that twelve seems doable to you? What is it?
You could say that asking so many questions gets in the way of the doing and that maybe you should just start with your task and adjust later perhaps, in which case we ask of why the new year ushered in this new habit or why you started counting from then at the very least. Maybe the choice really was only meant to encourage you to start somewhere. That's not such a bad idea if you must. I think if you want to read, and you should, then you should ask yourself deeply why and with what you will engage. It isn't so trivial! Not for one second. Now, not to continue to pick on the to-be readers of 2022, but I want to fight the notion that we somehow believe the intrinsic value of the task is actually about extensity. It isn't.
I don't care if you just read 6 books this year or sixty. I don't think you should care either. Do you really think the task of reading is about becoming someone who can say they've read X books? It's the intensity with which you have engaged with the material that draws out value from the task. Think of idly reading something like a textbook, flicking your eyes from line to line, 'processing' the page without stopping to consider the consequences. Was that worthwhile? Really? How well do you think you will be able to answer the exercises in between the text if you do this?
As recorded by Plato, Socrates in dialogue states:
"O most ingenious Theuth, the parent or inventor of an art is not always the best judge of the utility or inutility of his own inventions to the users of them. And in this instance, you who are the father of letters, from a paternal love of your own children have been led to attribute to them a quality which they cannot have; for this discovery of yours will create forgetfulness in the learners’ souls, because they will not use their memories; they will trust to the external written characters and not remember of themselves. What you have discovered is an aid not to memory, but to reminiscence, and you give your disciples not truth, but only the semblance of truth; they will be hearers of many things and will have learned nothing; they will appear to be omniscient and will generally know nothing; they will be tiresome company, having the show of wisdom without the reality." (and here is the surrounding text with reference)
The point being presented here, as I see it; is that you are not going to become wise by just going through the motions. Socrates wishes to disregard writing as a replacement for dialogue. For knowledge consumed by reading is often not given the same active treatment as an engaging conversation. You should do your bit then whilst reading to stop and talk, at least for a moment, with the last paragraph you read.
Logos? how about you Logoff instead
Now this may seem like a rather over the top attack on someone who believes they'd be better off passing the time reading some YA fiction, but I hope the message is somewhat clear. I ask that you consciously question what it is that you actually want out of any such resolution.
As I brought up the logos, it should only make sense to call back to that about now in order to at least make you half believe there was some complete and circular narrative presented here.
The logos interpretation presented here is to remind you that you are capable of making a rational decision, and if you believe your resolution to be worthwhile in improving your character then it should be treated with appropriate respect. If you actively believe that instead your time would not be well spent with that task then throw it out. You can not make many decisions in life: the logos dictates most for you, so value the ones that you do have control over.
Til next time.