Philosophy Discussion Forums | A Humans-Only Philosophy Club

[Eckhart Aurelius Hughes]

This is a discussion forum topic for the November 2022 Philosophy Book of the Month, In It Together: The Beautiful Struggle Uniting Us All.

TOPICS: #Grace #Gracefulness #DoOrDoNot #FlowState #LetGo #GoWithTheFlow #InnerPeace #SelfDiscipline #SpiritualFreedom #FreeSpirit #Liberation


If you're trying at all, you're trying too hard.

And, if you try to not try, then you have already failed.

If you fight what you know you cannot control and thus cannot change, then you have already lost.

If you fight to obtain inner peace, then you have already lost.

With a fun example involving a cookie monster, I say in my book, "An imaginary roadblock can be as effective as a real one."

For clarity, I avoided using pronouns in my book as much as possible. However, for simplicity here, I am going to use the word 'it' to refer to something that I describe much more specifically in my book. Those who read my book will likely know what I mean by it. Those who have not read my book yet will likely not understand what I mean, even if they think they do.

With that said, if you believe that obtaining it is merely a matter of trying sufficiently hard, then you will keep trying harder and harder and harder. You'll exhaust yourself more and more. And, yet, in doing so, you'll actually be moving further and further away from it.

The more you feed that cookie monster, who is your effective imaginary roadblock, the more powerful and stronger he becomes, and thus the further from getting cookies you become.

If you believe you have to fight to get it, you have already lost. If you fight the cookie monster, you have already lost. To even believe there is a cookie monster to fight is to have already lost.

Outer peace is not the same as inner peace. When I say stop fighting, I don't mean you need to quit the boxing gym or stop fighting literal wars in real life with your physical body that you happen to have at any given moment. In that outer sense, to be alive is to be at war: War with death; and also the war that is the struggle to fulfill your unfulfilled desires, of which there is an endless supply. In a way, that war is the war to do anything at all, to be at all. Perhaps it's what Nietzsche meant when he talked about the will to power. That journey never ends. In those wars, you are Sisyphus. Those are wars no living being escapes, but those are outer wars, and have nothing to do with the consistent true happiness that is invincible inner peace.

It isn't that outer fighting that you must stop, for in fact you cannot stop it without dying. Rather, it is the inner fighting that you must stop. For to do that fighting at all, you have already lost.

That cookie monster doesn't exist, unless you choose to fight him. If you stop fighting the shadow, the shadow stops fighting you back. If you stop chasing your own tail, the tail stops running away.

Then you laugh with love and peace--inner peace--at that which you used to chase and fight.

It was your own tail. It was your own shadow. It was your own imagination. It was your own superstition.

You lose when you fight these fights because there was never anything to fight, at least not until you started fighting it.

As soon as you stop, you instantly have inner peace. And you realize that, in a way, you always did have it; it was just hidden beneath the superstition.

The silly superstitions give you the exhausting futile hate and resentment and unforgiveness. They have you believing nonsense such as that there are sinners who knew better, versus those who didn't know better, forgetting that you would do the exact same as them if you were in their shoes. The very idea of knowing better is a superstition. If they knew better, they would do better; and, in that way, there is no 'better', and there is nothing 'unforgivable'. Those are just more superstitions and cookie monsters. The world is timeless and perfect and worthy of love. Life is infinitely worth living, intrinsically and inherently so. It's so much better that this world exists rather than nothing. It's so much better that this reality exists rather than no reality. The whole world, meaning all of timeless reality, is like an infinitely beautiful huge unchanging diamond, and any one conscious experience is like a light emanating from a point within that diamond. Can you have that proverbial diamond without that proverbial light? Can you have that proverbial light without that proverbial diamond? Proverbs aside, can you have reality without consciousness? Can you have consciousness without reality? Or are they one in the same? Those aren't questions you need to be able to answer to be able to appreciate with infinite awe the infinite perfect timeless beauty of both the illuminated diamond and that which illuminates it.

Love and unconditional forgiveness isn't something you have to strive to do, and the true happiness of invincible inner peace isn't something you have to fight for. Once you realize the cookie monster is a figment of your imagination, you also realize the cookies are already in your hand. There is no cookie monster to fight. You were the cookie monster all along.




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[Sondang Hotmauli]

"In It Together: The Beautiful Struggle Uniting Us All" by Eckhart Aurelius Hughes explores the pursuit of inner peace and the futility of fighting against imagined obstacles. Hughes illustrates that our struggles are often self-created through the metaphor of a cookie monster. The book emphasizes the importance of letting go of internal battles and superstitions and embracing unconditional love and forgiveness. It suggests that true happiness and inner peace are not attained through striving or external fights. By releasing the need to chase or fight, we discover that what we seek is already within us. The book challenges readers to consider the nature of reality, consciousness, and the inborn magnificence of life. Overall, it encourages self-reflection, acceptance, and finding true inner peace while providing unique insights into the human experience.

[Enos Rolex]

Finding the right balance between effort and ease can be a delicate challenge. Sometimes, embracing a natural flow yields the best results.

[Petro Yongo]

It involves being present in the moment, adapting to circumstances, and recognizing when to exert effort and when to let go. Embracing a harmonious approach can lead to a more fulfilling and balanced life, where progress is made without unnecessary strain.

[Ajain12]

Finding the right balance between exertion and relaxation is key. Pushing too hard can lead to counterproductive results, while avoiding effort altogether is a recipe for failure. Success often comes from navigating the delicate middle ground where actions flow naturally without undue strain. Acknowledging the paradox of striving—neither too much nor too little—enables productive efforts without falling into the traps of overexertion or passivity.

[Faith Job]

I strongly stand by this. It is better you work too hard than you don't work at all. Technically you can only get better life from working too hard.

[Chidinma Dijeh]

It seems to discourage both genuine effort and a relaxed approach.

[Sushan]

I understand your point of view. It's similar to the old paradox when something eludes you more the harder you try to pursue it. It makes me think of how people describe happiness, which is something that arises when you let things be rather than try to push them to be happy. We put up the barriers for ourselves and then act as though we must overcome them. But in the end, all we're doing is fighting our own shadows. It is liberating to think that if we just stop fighting, we already have the "cookies" in hand. Like, why do we waste our energy pursuing something that has always been in our grasp?