Math…

and then everything else

This morning I started watching Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee, which is really entertaining, almost in a strange way. The first episode I watched was with Chris Rock, and right in the middle of it he makes this really subtle but really profound statement. Just all the sudden he says

“There’s math… and then everything is debatable”

That’s starting to actually feel right to me. The longer you live the more you realize how rare it is for people to agree on things. There are a few things that you really can’t debate on, like math (although people will try their best to do that too), but most things are pretty much up for interpretation. But you know what? I think that’s how it should be — I think that makes life a lot more worthwhile.

The only reason debate is ever looked at negatively is because people let their emotions get involved and then they get upset and feelings start getting hurt. If everyone had straight and accepting heads on their shoulders, debate would be so much more valuable.

What would life be like if you could figure everything out? If by the time you were 40 or 50 you just knew everything. What would you live for? If you think about it, we all pretty much just live for the unknown every day. We all hope for opportunity and a good future — a lot of people live for whatever they think comes after life. If you knew what was going on and what will go on in the future I don’t think there’d be much of a point to anything.

That said, I do think it’s important to try and figure stuff out. At some point you realize that you’ll never actually have it all together, and if that stops you from trying to get it together then you’re a fool. Chasing unreachable endpoints sounds dumb, but there’s an infinite amount of value in that chase. The worst thing you can do is go through the motions mentally. I say this in every post, which I guess means that I’m arriving at a theme. Use the brain that you’ve been given. It might not work as well as other people, it might take you to different places than where you thought it would, but whatever happens it will be vastly more worthwhile then letting the world control you.

Life puts a lot of conditions on us. We’re all raised into a way of thinking and living and if you don’t take ownership of it you won’t be much of a person. Humans can become like animals. You raise animals to do what you want them to and they’re wired to (eventually) obey. Life is constantly trying to condition us to do things a certain way, and if we let it determine our lives, how much more valuable are we then animals?