Quit dreaming, because that's what I'm going to do. No, but look, I have a friend who is in his thirties and still pretends he's going to be the CEO of a great company, or that he's going to date a supermodel, or that his art career will have a turn-around.

I think I need some sense of probabilities. Just because I have the desire and just because it's "possible" that doesn't mean it's likely to happen. If the only hope you have is that its "possible" then maybe you should switch. And so, I'm going to go through all the things I ascetically hold on to and calibrate them to reality.

what are my limitations?

first, absolutely, if everything is possible for me to do, nothing is possible.

right.

some things are probable, somethings are impossible.

so let's see

impossible "ultra contingent" (~.01%)
improbable "a small 'might'" (~5%)
unlikely "maybe" (~25%)
uncertain "may or may not" (~50%)
likely "maybe it won't" (~75%)
probable "be surprised if didn't happen" (~95%)
certain "pre-determined (~99.99%)

Continue reading...

Make sure you know this word.

ascetic. n. "A person who renounces material comforts and leads a life of austere self-discipline, especially as an act of religious devotion."

I think this definition is getting revised to encompass anybody who abandons the basic, pratical, material necessities of life for things in his head. Many philosophers are like this as they reject the untruths and hypocrisy that pervades much of reality for the sake of higher, logical, truths.

For me, asceticism is more of a genetic trait. You are either born with a predisposition for or against it.

My asceticism runs the gamut of the sun. The higher the sun is in the sky, the greater my sense of individuality. The lower, the greater my care for superstructures. Hence, as the moon takes the sun's place, my mind drifts to things greater than me. All of this leads to a slumber of sublime and an awakening of aggrandizement.

(NB: Think about how sex is at different times of the day.)