The enemy of excellence (on comfort)

In this essay I will argue that the excessive pursuit of comfort in the modern world is weakening mankind and prevents the individual from reaching excellence. I will then look at how this problem can be resolved.

I will argue that we have created for ourselves a paradox of comfort: our lives are easier than they have ever been, yet a consequence of this ease is that things appear harder than ever before. The further we move ourselves into the arms of comfort, the tighter her squeeze becomes, and the more difficult it is to escape her grasp. I define excellence as reaching one’s potential. Thus my argument is that comfort hinders the individual from reaching one’s potential.

Comfort weakens the individual

First, I will look at why the modern obsession with comfort has become destructive to the fabric of the human mind.

For most people life is no longer perilous or dangerous, and there is no struggle for basic survival. Yet why do people maintain that life is so difficult? Why is there so much complaint in the face of minimal adversity? Perhaps it is the case that life is harder in the modern world than it has ever been and it is harder to cope than ever before. Or perhaps it is the case that the human mind has become weaker and more fragile than ever before. Perhaps there is a endemic void within modernity, a void of comfort within which the roots of fragility grew and took its hold. What is more likely – that life is harder than ever before, or that humanity is weaker than ever before?

It would seem that both are true. We weaken our minds and things become more difficult. It is not that life is any harder in any survival sense, that is obviously not the case. But it is the case that the cultivation of endless distraction and entertainment has meant that the possibility for mental fortitude is quickly becoming more and more difficult to sustain and build.

We are therefore faced with a kind of paradox – our lives have never been more comfortable, yet it is this very comfort which causes us to feel as if life has never been harder. I will call this The Comfort Paradox.

Too much ease in the human mind destroys the fiery valour of man. Life does, of course, have its challenges in the modern age. It is fast-paced and changes quickly in a manner which our species has not known before. It may take a long time for our brains to properly adapt to this new way of life. The development of the internet and the virtual world has completely transformed how we interact with each other and ourselves. Yet we still elude genuine danger, and the need for basic survival is wholly satisfied. Why then do we commonly lack the mental fortitude to overcome adversity and mediocrity?

Excessive comfort makes an easy life appear hard. Even the easiest of actions can appear difficult when enthroned in the grasps of comfort. This is the life that we have constructed for ourselves in the modern age. It is necessary to realize that the culture we live in has been set up in such a manner to maximise comfort, which in turn increases mental fragility and thereby makes the mind of the individual vulnerable to mediocrity. We created a society that encourages indulgence in comfort at every turn. Endless social media consumption, entertainment and mundane jobs that have little vocation or meaningful human interaction can leave us feeling isolated in a world that is supposedly well-connected. People are scattered without a sense of community or structure. Likewise, our minds are scattered, pulled in countless different directions as our attention is endlessly fought for and our ability to focus is quickly eroded. Our minds become frayed from the dopamine overdrive and anything difficult becomes impossible to overcome. We are victims of the recent successes of mankind. Yet it is our own responsibility to overcome this obstacle. We must consciously move towards discomfort in order to train our minds to think and act differently.

These are not new ideas, although we are certainly having to apply them in a new and generally unknown context. The Stoics believed in these same concepts. Seneca viewed comfort as the greatest killer of achievement. Hannibal was a feared soldier and master of war. Comfort softened him and he lost his edge. The hot pools he bathed in weakened his warrior spirit – ‘his pampering in Campania took the vigour out of that hero who had triumphed over Alpine snows. He conquered with his weapons, but was conquered with his vices’[1]. The hunger Hannibal once had for conquest was softened and sated by pleasures and comforts. This is why comfort is the enemy of excellence – it weakens an individual’s desire for excellence and hinders them from reaching their true potential. The will to go through the pain to actualize one’s potential is numbed by the many forms of comfort.

Why is it that comforts harm actualization? Because it offers one thing above all else: distraction. The multitudes of comfort make us numb to the idea of the people we could be if we decided to endure pain and discomfort. We distract our minds in order to avoid confronting ourselves and our unrealized potential. The greatest form of distraction is comfort, because it feels good to keep our minds busy. The undistracted mind has to come to terms with its shortcomings and the problems of existence. It is painful for an individual to listen to one’s own mind. Pascal maintained that ‘all of humanity's problems stem from man's inability to sit quietly in a room alone’ for good reason. A noisy mind can cause havoc on an person’s ability to choose decisions that will benefit them long term.

The Resolution

On a long enough timescale too much comfort creates feedback loops that lead to weakness. The modern world exudes comfort. It is everywhere, readily available in many different and potent forms. There is nothing more available, nothing more encouraged to the individual than the multitudes of comfort. And yet there is nothing more destructive to the development of an individual than comfort. How then do we overcome this obstacle?

As I mentioned earlier, comfort provides many forms of distraction. One must then work to eliminate these distractions. Unnecessary noise is everywhere. Use technology for creation rather than consumption and work to eradicate meaningless ingestion of media and entertainment. Find ways to bring pain into your life – train harder in the gym, develop a new skill, take a new risk. Life on the other side of pain is far more beautiful than life in the comfort zone.

These things are easier said than done. Incremental steps are the secret to mental and physical endurance alike. A gradual disavowal of comfort for the sake of discomfort will enable oneself to move to their goals at a consistent rate. ‘I will train for 5 minutes longer each session this week, then 10 minutes the next, then 15 minutes etc.’ is far more within reach than ‘I will train for 30 minutes longer each session this week’. Smoking one less cigarette each day and gradually tapering off is far more within reach than cutting it out altogether. A strategy for defeating comfort is necessary. It will not happen by accident; the modern world guarantees this.

Voluntary pain trains the mind for endurance. It creates feedback loops within your brain such that when hardship and suffering comes (and it will come), your mind is already ready and prepared. If you choose comfort, you will thank yourself now but you will suffer later. If you choose discomfort you will suffer now, but you will benefit later. As I said, the answers are simple to understand but difficult to implement.

There is a reason that ‘in days of peace the soldier performs manoeuvres.’ In times of ease it is necessary to prepare for times of tragedy. They will occur, in one form or another. You must be prepared. Otherwise, they will crush you. Comfort will ruin you if you permit it. It will make you fearful of failure, and as a result fearful of taking risks. A life without risk is a terrible life. Excellence always lies over the hill of discomfort, and discomfort always involves an element of risk – be it physical, financial or mental. Excellence requires pain as its sacrifice. Choose pain and discomfort. Your future self will thank you.

[1] Seneca Letters, XLI: On Baiae and morals

Nietzsche’s Eternal Recurrence

What if you had to live every moment of your life – every pain and every joy – over and over for eternity? Would you smile? Or would you despair that you had wasted the time life granted you? This is the idea of eternal recurrence that Nietzsche held to be of utmost importance. If our lives were to recur eternally in the exact manner we have lived them, how would we react? This was the question which Nietzsche hoped would enable individuals to exact change within their lives and if necessary completely change the trajectory of our existence.

Eternal recurrence is propositioned by Nietzsche as a hypothetical reality. The idea of one’s life recurring in a cycle ad infinitum was held by Heidegger to be the ‘most burdensome thought’. This was what Nietzsche wished to impose on his readers – a complete re-evaluation of one’s life as they were currently living it. Would we be happy living the life we have lived and will live if we had to do so for eternity, or must we change our path so that if this were the case we would not be crushed by such a heavy weight? It is a burdensome thought, but for Nietzsche the result of failing to properly contemplate this thought would be even more troubling.

Although he did not hold eternal recurrence to be an actuality, it is the concept of such a thing being real that should spur us into moving our lives in the direction we genuinely desire. It is a call for change, a call for us to be honest with ourselves about the choices we make and the life we lead. This was the aim of the idea of eternal recurrence- to encourage individuals to overcome themselves and to become better. Humanity was not seen by Nietzsche as some great end of evolution, but another step in the process of evolution, be it a step backwards or a step forwards.

This is where the idea of the Ubermensch came into play: Nietzsche believed that humanity should not be deemed the end of the evolutionary line. There are beings that could exist greater than humans – superhumans – beings that have overcome their humanity and grown above the state humans are in now. If eternal recurrence were a reality, it would be the Ubermensch that would genuinely want to live their life again and again. The Ubermensch is that person that has accepted their past and moves forward content with the fact that if they had to repeat their choices over and over forever they would.

These ideas were combatants to nihilism. Nietzsche foresaw the nihilistic existence that would take over the modern world in the absence of religion. The famous declaration of the death of God was not a celebratory exclamation, but a foreboding concern of the individual who perhaps saw a certain utility in the existence of religion. Given that religion and God would slowly fade into the background of the modern zeitgeist, something would have to inevitably fill this massive gap. Nihilism was one of these things which could take over the culture, eternal recurrence is a response to this potential nihilism, and its primary aim is to be a response which is concerned with this world, rather than a world after this or an ideal world.

Nietzsche was obsessed with creating a philosophy that encapsulated existence as something that is related to this world only and was not focused on or looking to another world. Eternal recurrence is by its very definition concerned solely with existence on earth as we know it. It is not about an eternal life in a different realm or in a completely different state of being, but an eternal life as we are living it currently, as we have lived, and as we will live before we die. This is why the Ubermensch is not an individual concerned with religion or nihilism – the religious reject this life (or at least do not affirm this life as something complete) by looking towards another life, and the nihilistic reject the idea of the possibility of this life meaning anything or having any intrinsic value. Eternal recurrence encourages a wholehearted focus on this world, and Nietzsche hoped to plant the seed for the development of those he called the Ubermensch – those who would commit to this life fully and act in such a way that would make this world worth existing.

Remember that you have to die - memento mori

There are some things in life which are unavoidable. Death - of oneself and of one’s loved ones - is one of these things. For some, death means the beginning of something new and better; for others, it means the end of everything and existence dissipates completely. What is certain is that the sensation-based experience that we call life will end. This is the sobering reality which the concept of memento mori grapples with. I will look at this concept and discuss problems, particularly those of nihilism, that arise as a result of being aware of one’s death.

The Stoics were hyper-aware of the fragility of human existence - how it could end at any moment and that the world we inhabit could disappear in an instant. Moreover, death is the great equalizer which ‘places all mortals on the same level’ (Seneca) - no man can outrun death. For them, death was not something to be forgotten or pushed aside. Rather it is a necessary part of existence, and a massively significant element of the human experience – time is not unlimited and consciousness is something that we only have for a number of decades before it is gone, probably forever. Keeping this in mind will inevitably change how an individual approaches life.

Perhaps an individual does recognize the reality of his life and realises that death is something that will most certainly happen to him. Why does he not turn to nihilism? If everything will eventually cease to exist and nothing in this world will remain, why even do anything? Why does anything matter?

A person can turn to religious answers – the promise of another life provides structure to this one. To the irreligious this answer will not suffice. Even the religious will be doubtful about such an answer. The problem remains – this form of existence will certainly end – everything we know about the world suggests this. Nihilism is an easy step to make from this reality. Rather than turning to action and making the most of existence whilst we have it, the temptation is to turn to inaction and throw existence away as something useless, something wasteful and empty, as something vain. If it will all end at some point, why even bother?

But would things be more meaningful if life did not end? Would life suddenly be injected with meaning if life were to go on for perpetuity, as a constant cycle of pain and pleasure, or better, a constant cycle of pleasure? Or wouldn't the meaning of everything be diminished if pain and death were eliminated - pleasure is not beautiful without pain. And by that, I mean - pleasure does not mean anything without pain. Something does not mean anything without nothing. Life does not mean anything without death. The limited nature of existence is where its value lies.

The purpose of remembering death is to change one’s actions towards life. One day we will all be buried in the ground or cremated into ash. Though at first depressing, once we come to terms with this inevitability this can become a liberating idea. There is an urgency to existence, and the limitation of time means that time becomes more valuable. Scarcity is intricately linked to value, and once we become fully aware that life is something that is scarce, its value becomes apparent. The time granted to us will pass whether we like it or not – we can only use this time in a way that we see fit.

memento mori is essentially a tool to gain more from life. When used properly it should invigorate direction and purpose, rather than diminish it. Nihilism is a path that leads nowhere. The alternative to nihilism is a matter for a whole other discussion, but I will end with this: a good story necessarily has a beginning, a middle containing struggle, pain and difficulty, and an ending where struggle is overcome. One missing element and the story collapses – it becomes incongruent. Life can seem to become incongruent very quickly and very easily, but there is, at least, a beginning, a middle containing struggle, and an ending. Sometimes the ending is tragic, sometimes glorious. All an individual should do is strive to make their life a good story. It is all an individual can do. He has no other choice.