Summary

The framework discussed below was taken, by in large, from the Unabomber's Manifesto (¶ 33-44). I have attempted to adapt his writings to suit this community's purposes while also putting a more positive spin on things.

The basic principal discussed is that humans require struggle in order to be satisfied. Defining the struggle defines who we are as individuals. Accordingly, it is imperative to identify positive goals in one's life and work to achieve them in an autonomous fashion.

The Power Process (¶ 33-37; 42-44)

For the bulk of our existence the primary goal of humans was sheer survival. Now, with the advent of modern technology, survival is trivial. Thus, modern man is deprived of his natural, purpose creating struggle. Accordingly, we must find replacement activities (surrogates) in order to obtain the achievement necessary for personal fulfillment.

The method by which we accomplish these activities can be referred to as "the power process". The power process can be summarized into three basic elements: goal, effort, and achievement. While engaging in and completing the process creates purpose and value, determining what goals one will have in the process defines who we are as people.

In addition to the three basic elements is the concept of autonomy. In order to have true fulfillment one must achieve their goals through relatively autonomous means. Without autonomy a successful completion of the power process may feel more like indentured servitude rather than personal achievement. More on this later.

Identifying Positive Surrogate Activities (¶ 38-41)

Because our physical needs no longer required much exertion or effort, modern humans lack the natural struggle that has always driven us in times past. Thus we must create artificial struggles (surrogates) in order to obtain a sense of purpose and self-worth lest we fall into a life of depression and consumption. Selecting the proper surrogates is paramount to creating a healthy, happy, and fulfilling life. Common surrogate activities include academic work, athletic achievement, artistic creation, career success, social activism, and consumerism.

Within the gambit of physical needs, perhaps the sole remaining non-trivialized need is sex. The average person would feel a sense of deprivation and depression if they lived their lives without ever having a sexual relationship. However, the obtainment of sex can also be a surrogate activity if sought in excess. Accordingly, we must fill our lives with things other than the raw pursuit of hedonism in order to derive positive self-worth even if sex is our sole remaining non-trivialized biological impulse.

Understanding the need for surrogate activities we can understand why this community advocates so heavily for lifting weights. Once a biological necessity, physical prowess is no longer required for survival thus weight lifting is decidedly a surrogate activity. However, our subconscious likely correlates our physical prowess with a sense of physical security. Thus, weight lifting operates simultaneously as a surrogate activity and a quasi-physical need. Thus, it is uniquely suitable to achieving happiness.

Moreover, the process of weight lifting falls squarely within the power process paradigm. When executed properly, weight lifting involves the setting of goals, the exertion of effort, and the attainment of achievement. Thus, weight lifting should be a surrogate activity of any individual looking to achieve personal satisfaction.

Diversification is Necessary

However, merely lifting weights and attempting to obtain sex is a shallow and hedonistic existence. Accordingly, one must diversify their surrogate activities in order to achieve long-lasting happiness. As stated previously, common areas of surrogate activity includes academia, athletics, art, career success, social activism, and consumerism.

I will address the latter two categories first as they are not suitable for long-term personal happiness and growth and therefore should be minimized or outright avoided. Consumerism, particularly excess-consumerism above and beyond our physical needs, is a self-cannibalizing endeavor by which an individual trades their primary resource (time) in exchange for unnecessary comforts in an attempt to purchase momentary happiness. Engaging in excess-consumerism creates a downward spiral in which increasingly large amounts of time must be exchanged for increasingly irrelevant material items in order to trigger the same happiness response in the individual. The dangers of excess-consumerism is worthy of an article unto itself and beyond this scope of this particular posting so I will leave at that for now.

Likewise, social activism is unsuitable albeit for different reasons. While it ostensibly is goal-oriented and requires effort, achievement of that goal is too nebulous and fleeting. True success as a social activist may come once per generation. Thus it is likely an activist will spend incredible amount of effort only to never complete the power process depriving one's self of the critical element of achievement. Moreover, as stated previously, a key hallmark of a truly fulfilling surrogate activity is one in which the power process can be achieve through relatively autonomous means. Accordingly, social activism does not fit the bill as it is far too dependent on other people's cooperation.

So what positive endeavors does that leave us? Knowledge (academics), athletics, art, and career success. I posit that these areas, in addition to sexual satisfaction, should be the focus of one's life. Each person should strive to become a master in at least on activity in each of these areas. Continuously educate yourself in a worthwhile subject that preferably is done on your own terms (free) and useful to your life. Choose an athletic endeavor - whether it be weight lifting, playing a sport, or martial arts. Engage in artistic creation of some sort - painting, creative writing, or craftsmanship. Lastly, achieve career success. But we can't simply achieve career success operating as a cog in the machine because that will deprive of us the necessary degree of autonomy required for actual satisfaction. Rather than servitude, we must strive to achieve career success on our own terms with the level of autonomy we need as individuals.