Everything Is F*cked

AS  .   .   .

SELF-WORTH

Narcissistic:    wide

swings   between     “I’m

the best”   and “I’m    the

worst”

Other-dependent:

externally  validated

Independent:

largely

internally

validated

MOTIVATION Self-aggrandizement Self-acceptance Amor fati

POLITICS Extremist/nihilist Pragmatic,

ideological

Pragmatic,

nonideological

IN   ORDER   TO

GROW,    HE/SHE

NEEDS   .   .   .

Trustworthy

institutions     and

dependable  people

Courage to  let go  of

outcomes     and     faith

in   unconditional

acts

Consistent  self-

awareness

Adult behaviors are ultimately seen as admirable and noteworthy. It’s the
boss who takes the fall for his employees’ mistakes, the mother who gives up
her own happiness for her child’s, the friend who tells you what you need to
hear even though it upsets you.

It’s these people who hold the world together. Without them, we’d all
likely be fucked.

It’s no coincidence, then, that all the world’s great religions push people
toward these unconditional values, whether it’s the unconditional forgiveness
of Jesus Christ or the Noble Eightfold Path of the Buddha or the perfect
justice of Muhammad. In their purest forms, the world’s great religions
leverage our human instinct for hope to try to pull people upward toward
adult virtues.^32

Or, at least, that’s usually the original intention.
Unfortunately, as they grow, religions inevitably get co-opted by
transactional adolescents and narcissist children, people who pervert the
religious principles for their own personal gain. Every human religion
succumbs to this failure of moral frailty at some point. No matter how
beautiful and pure its doctrines, it ultimately becomes a human institution,
and all human institutions eventually become corrupted.

Enlightenment philosophers, excited by the opportunities afforded the
world by growth, decided to remove the spirituality from religion and get the
job done with ideological religion. They jettisoned the idea of virtue and
instead focused on measurable, concrete goals: creating greater happiness and
less suffering; giving people greater personal liberties and freedoms; and
promoting compassion, empathy, and equality.

And these   ideological religions,  like    the spiritual   religions   before  them,