Your Life's Axis / by Alexander Lyadov

A single graph reshaped my view of the world, people, and myself.

I can't recall the author—Frankl, Langley, or Jung.

For most, life flows along the horizontal axis. They ardently flee from all suffering to chase after pleasure.

Options for this pursuit are abundant:

  • Alcohol,

  • Video games,

  • Social networks,

  • Antidepressants,

  • Amassing assets,

  • Ideological battles,

  • Replaying psychological dramas, and so on.

However, along the vertical axis, there is a different kind of life.

Insanity, madness and meaninglessness await you at the bottom. Clarity, order, and personal purpose fuel the ascent.

Changes to the horizontal will not affect the vertical as these axes are perpendicular. Hence the conclusion: no bank account, follower count, or whiskey dosage can fill the existential void.

Conversely, upward movement remains independent of circumstances. All you need is the intention to give meaning to your life. The axes intersect in a cross at one point. That point is you.

You are free to:

  • Fool yourself by moving left to right,

  • Destroy yourself by sliding downward, or

  • Choose the hard way up.

Sincerely yours,

-Alexander


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