The multi-billionaire Elon Musk recently said that “saving for retirement will be irrelevant” and, as if he knew what I have been doing and suffering for over ten years, he gave me some personal advice: “Don’t worry about squirreling money away for retirement in 10 or 20 years. It won’t matter.” No doubt, such words would have been very welcome on the happiest day of my life, and would have been more than enough justification for me to start burning through the little I had saved. But when it comes to money—and only money!—I am like Schopenhauer. And that means I am unable to believe the words of the visionary rocket engineer and space explorer, finding it much more plausible that, in a future like this, I will find a way to go broke. It would be beautiful, wonderful, to retire now and wait for the day when it will no longer be necessary to retire. Buy a little hole, light my cigarette, and write. Sitting in a rocking chair and gazing at the clouds, basking in the morning sun every day. Very, very beautiful… but I need another life to be able to trust a robot.
Category: Notes
Allowing Oneself to Become Entangled…
Allowing oneself to become entangled in the web of tasks and responsibilities of mundane life practically seals, for as long as this state lasts, the possibility of the mind realizing how much is being wasted. This can only be realized later, with luck, when the waste has already been consummated. The positive side of the situation is that learning usually requires the mistake to be experienced personally; that is, first the slip, then the lesson. Without temporarily wasting itself, the mind does not assimilate the concrete consequences of doing so. But it so happens that, after a certain point, what was instructive has either been assimilated or proven innocuous, and the mind has either decided to transform itself or accepted to lock itself into an endless cycle of repetition.
It Is Truly Commendable the Effort of Unamuno…
It is truly commendable the effort of Unamuno to try to verbalize the feeling he experiences, perhaps discovered only after a careful look inside himself, that there is an indescribable force always present in the decisive moments of his life, in which he had to make decisions. Noticing it is not a simple task, and sometimes it is only possible when time passes, and the irreversible effects of the decision are drawn in the past. It is even more difficult to admit, since the evidence is concentrated in the nebulous field of subjectivity, which rejects the possibility of clear and rational understanding. The hardest thing, however, is to try to express it: words seem insufficient, never corresponding to the real feeling. To do so is necessarily to expose oneself to ridicule; it is to say something and then immediately want to take it back. Of all that can be said about Del sentimiento trágico de la vida, the most important thing is this: this book is a demonstration of courage.
For Athletes, There Is Nothing More Frustrating…
For athletes, there is nothing more frustrating than injuries, which always come at the wrong time. They interrupt progress and force a break, which, if not respected, tends to aggravate the situation even further. As a result, the athlete often has to deal with the loss of his hard-earned conditioning while resting reluctantly and watching his companions and opponents progress. He thinks about how much effort he will have to make to recover his level and feels completely powerless in the face of physiology, which determines his recovery time. After all, he sees only one choice for full recovery and a return without limitations: to wait. The injury, therefore, teaches him to be patient. If he manages to overcome it, he returns to the sport more mature: more aware, more careful, capable of greater challenges. And it is worth saying the following: intellectual life also has its “injuries.”