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Yesterday I picked up the “Myth of Sisyphus” by Albert Camus. Wow! I can hardly understand the guy. I feel like there is an ocean of meaning behind each one of his sentences. Who are these people with the ability to write at that high of a level?

Ignorance

28% of Americans said that they haven’t read a book in the past year. Those stats are taken from a poll too. How many of the remaining 72% were too afraid to admit that they didn’t read that book, they skimmed the first 10 pages? Thank god for guys like Camus or we’d all believe that the only thing to read is “28 ways to stop procrastination and begin living!” How can we possibly say we know anything when we can’t even understand books that are in English? I should only speak for myself but let’s face it, how many of us are going to pick up the underlying messages in Homer on the first try? Yet we’re all ready to jump on the next “quick fix”.

Judging from my title, it’s pretty obvious what I’m going to advocate. The mystery is why we are not more interested in diving into the depths of our mind, especially when it’s clear that there is a lot more to dive into. Why do we stop educational pursuits once finished with school? The up-front answer is that school turns us off. Learning gets associated with busy work and once you have your diploma, you’re free! Free from learning? That’s stagnation. Isn’t that the state where you mull over the same opinions until becoming that angry old man?

Heretics

It’s as if the educational pursuits have been sectioned off for the special ones among us. Who are the special ones? The financiers of course! The Steve Jobs! The business world has done nothing but speed up exponentially in the past 20 years. Anyone in business has had to revamp their strategy entirely in order to “keep up”. I can’t help but think of my 55-year-old father who has re-grown his umbilical cord and plugged in his phone. The leaders of business are heralded as the intellectually elite among us despite immersion in the most frantic business environment in human history. I question our judgment as to who we should be taking advice from. During a stock market crash, the wise ones buy back in right when the market is about to turn. It’s time to buy back in on your education.

Have you seen I Am Legend? Remember when Will Smith has conversations with mannequins? Look up when you walk down the street or into a coffee shop. Where is everyone’s attention? Their phone. One game I like to play is to predict when people will reach for their phone… again. The technological revolution, with all the benefits it does supply, has shredded our ability for concentration. Facebook, E-mails, advertisements, and pressure – all of these things have created a whirlwind in our minds that we are still in the process of getting caught up in. I’m not innocent.

Employment

What does this mean for you and me? It means that there is an enormous opportunity to be a pioneer in slowing down during the age of speeding up. It’s safe to say that people don’t read or write with the levels of concentration that were upheld in the past. And yet people today seem more egotistically bound to their opinions and apt to tell you that they have it all figured out. This is all while they can’t stop their shaky leg syndrome and uncontrollable cases of wanking; the act of habitually reaching for your phone with no purpose in doing so. Wanking is shameful and will void you of your life-force.

Where do you start? Begin by formulating in-depth sentences on your thoughts and values. If you question what grounds I am basing my opinion upon, simply ask someone who their favorite presidential candidate is. First off, in today’s day and age if you don’t have an opinion, you’re probably a terrorist. Second, my point is that people’s opinions will almost always fall flat on their faces if probed. “Why are you going to vote for Trump?” “Umm. Well, he’s going to create jobs and he’s a business man. That’s good!” And then we all vote for him based on this nonsense. “Hope and Change!” How ambiguous can it get? As a culture, we lack grit behind our opinions but also have the unwritten rule of never questioning each other. Patriotism YARRR!!!!

Separate yourself through genuine education. You’ll develop a unique and detached perspective of society, a valuable perspective. It’s fun to write and put your stuff on the web. You’ll receive feedback and learn to be completely humbled by legendary writers. How does Camus write like that? His chains of thoughts are on a different level! There’s mysteriousness in embarking on the journey to figuring these guys out. What do they know that I don’t? Lastly, like I am in the process of discovering, you’ll realize that a lot of the stuff you once felt adamant about didn’t have solid structure. It was just repetitive thinking that had sat around and got stale. It feels good to throw it out. Admitting you don’t have it all figured out is probably the first step in figuring it out.