Entropy vs Enthusiasm
Enthusiasm is the antidote to entropy.
Everything just naturally moves to chaos and disorder.
We don’t operate from a stationary foundation and attempt to ascend into order.
No, we are all the time existing in disorder and chaos. But for our efforts to be born as new creations out of that chaos.
Or to put it another way,
“You either busy being born or you’re busy dying.” -Bob Dylan
So, our fight to find enthusiasm in a life’s purpose is the same as the fight for survival itself.
Life isn’t a waiting room and won’t allow anyone to reduce it down to that.
Almost everyone will try. But at best, they will manage a life of empty distraction, surviving (but barely) with the deep feeling that they’ve betrayed themselves and life.
We aren’t meant to be neutered and comfortable but rather overwhelmed on the edge of our potential.
We are meant to be enthusiastically seeking new and more embarrassing ways to fail all the time.
And then we are meant to seek presence and silence and understand that it is all an illusion inside a video game anyway.
So as to not get mired down by any of it.
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Our life depends on finding focus and purpose, presence, and overcoming fear.
Fear will kill you, either slowly or quickly.
Fear is the foundation of all addiction.
And finding an enthusiasm for life is the antidote to all that.
The word “enthusiasm” comes from the Greek word “entheos,” which means the God within.
So, how do we cultivate enthusiasm?
The answers are all kinda obvious.
We know the secrets to living epic, bio-hacked lives.
We know we should be getting up at 4:30 am and journaling, and then meditating. And then cold plunging into a yoga session, while intermittent fasting, and doing barefoot walks, while then spending hours at our desks or wherever, diligently working towards our service-motivated dream.
We all know that.
And most of us want some version of that.
We want high-value lives creating value for others.
And without fear or entropy, we would just forge ahead in that direction, an unstoppable force.
But we are hindered, and we are burdened. And we sabotage, and get addicted. We run, and we can’t stand to face the lonely desk. We scroll through our phones, we take a nap, we eat ice cream and hate ourselves for caving into distraction yet again, and make promises to overcome the limiting factors once again tomorrow.
Chasing an endless tomorrow.
Here’s the good news. We all face this same spirit.
And there is no bulletproof solution to overcoming the spirit of fear.
But there are things one can do to increase their odds that they can make it to the flow state of excitable purpose.
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- Practicing presence and disidentification with the ego. This helps get us in the state of observation, so when the inevitable voices of fear crop up, we can see them as external forces or spirits that are only pretending to be us. We can then make a practice of not believing them and working through them to break from the clutches of entropy.
- Set reasonable expectations. Don’t expect yourself to make all the progress at once. It’s a grueling and taxing process to overcome old limitations and work through difficulties in whatever task you are attempting to achieve. Celebrate the small wins. Often the big roadblocks aren’t even difficult on any level but a psychological one. This is interesting when you cross certain things off your list that were once hurdles. Celebrate that.
- All the cliches. They are cliches for a reason. The early wake-up. The cold plunge. The journaling. The keto diet. The workout routine.
Understand that we are in a war that most people lose. What seems like extreme measures to normal society isn’t extreme at all but rather the status quo if what you want is an exceptional life.
You must be exceptional in every way.
You can’t build your life to perfection and then go out on the weekends and do a bunch of self-destructive nonsense. That stuff takes weeks to overcome if not years.
There needs to be a commitment to the course that is across the board in your life.
- So, avoid sin. And if you sin, quickly repent and move on. But do not expect to transcend without transcending.
In conclusion,
Entropy and enthusiasm are having an endless tug of war in all of our minds, in all of our souls.
The gift of life comes with the tax of making an effort to overcome demons of all kinds, both within and without.
And we can’t expect to be applauded when enthusiasm is winning our personal tug of war.
Most people have allowed entropy on a spiritual level to overwhelm them.
They can’t then manage enthusiasm for your battle at all.
People can only give to others what they give to themselves.
So don’t look for or expect encouragement from external sources.
Use presence to bolster the muscle of enthusiasm in the tug of war for your soul, your spirit, your purpose, and even your life.
Enthusiasm isn’t a small thing. Enthusiasm is everything.
