Values and suffering
All values are crystallized through their opposite. It takes hunger to discover the true taste of food. You have to go crazy in solitude in order to reach out with your soul to the people you love. To be a jaded slave to truly want freedom. To stay in a city without police for a month to realize how quickly the civilized world collapses. Without living in extremes, what is already there is taken for granted. And therefore either overlooked or devalued: “Yuck, it’s only X.” Thus, an infant is sure that his mother’s breast is always available, if only he cries out.
By the way, the highest pleasure arises only if one has previously felt an acute need for something, but without guarantees of getting it. Why then do people not rush to immerse themselves in a state with a minus sign? The answer is, “I don’t have the energy for this extra discomfort. Not surprisingly, it’s rare that anyone would admit that extreme contentment regularly fills their life. Rather, on the contrary, if there is any consistency, it is only with respect to troubles and setbacks. And sometimes all difficulties pour out at once, as from an overturned bucket. When, after exhaustion, one eventually manages to overcome them all, there is no jubilation. Why?
The living out of the extremes happened under duress. Fate tried to drag a man to the bottom of the river like an alligator drags a calf. But, having played enough, it allowed him to come ashore almost unharmed. What kind of holiday is this, when all the energy went to the fight. Yes, there is a new value now. How about some more? “Oh no, at that price, never!”
Fortunately, there is an alternative. You can buy a ticket for a hundred times less if you act, first, well in advance, second, willingly, and third, on the terms you choose. Yes, there will be sweat, tears, and blood, too, but their volume will be disproportionately small. In business, it’s called an investment — exchanging a small value today for a much larger value tomorrow.
Yours sincerely,
