#### how I came across this topic who is the author? it seems to be a newsletter made with KIT. [[Phil Krastelic]] mentioned this in a circle post ## My thoughts on this The author writes about this topic he came across when reading about why writers don't write. The conclusion of his source was that the [[Toxic Preconditions]] are the reason. So to speak the expectations and false believes. I think this resonates a lot. Because we all are raised a certain way and society shapes the rest of it. Are we really free in our mind? or do we believe what we have been conditioned to believe. He then goes on to [[tiny experiments]] from [[Anne-Laure Le Cunff]] She mentiones something similar "the tyranny of purpose". So everything we do needs to lead to somewhere, most probably closer to our goals. the author says that living experimentally takes away the burden to keep leiving that way. It's a more playful way to live. *I still need to read the book. And I hope I will like it. I heard only good about this book.* The author of the essay then claims that all this is due to the fact that we want guaranteed outcomes in life. We need certainty and guarantees. We don't want to deal with the negative emotions. So it is about security or the feeling of it. *i think for the most par this is true. I also mention this a lot to my patients: the only reason in some medical fields to have a doctor present is just because we buy the insurance and guarantee in case of failure. Take laser surgery for the eye as an example. You look into the machine, the machine is measuing, calculating and doing the complete procedure. Why is there a doctor involved? this complete procedure could be done in any setting and by any person. Because it is ultimately the machine doing everything. The reason is that the doctor ultimately holds responsibility for failure. Which is percived as deviation from 100% success in the eye of the patient. But in dentistry we know that there can' t be 100% success in the details. We can only claim success after 10 years or longer.* *I also think that our society is pampered too much. There is so little that can go wrong that any form of felt insecurity is percived as a massive problem. Which reminds me of a talk I had with one of my patients. She is oriented to the left and told about how much suffering the kids had to endure during covid times. As it happened to be the time of the Ukraine War Breakout I answered her that all were save, and this is nothing compared to the kids in Ukraine right now.* *The main point here is that we see minor disruptions as big problems. But our western problems are nothing compared to the problems of 3rd world countries. Endlessly improving anything that might go wrong led us into an enviroment that doesn't allow any form of failure or risk anymore. I wonder how our grandparents have lived. Before WWII where there was more illness and less medicine availble. During WWII where there was hunger, exhaustion for fleeing and physical threat. The western society is like a spoiled kid that never experienced any hardship. So our problems become huge in our eyes. But are nothing compared to other societies.* *Genderism and wokeism is the ultimate result of that decadence. Problems are being made up because there is noting left to improve and make more risk free anymore.* *Are we watching the downfall of the western civilisation? Like ancient roman empired vanished into nothingness.* > [!quotes] > This explains why it can be so powerfully liberating – and action-triggering – to understand that the uncertainty and insecurity you imagine you’re avoiding is in fact how things already are for you. As the great Elizabeth Gilbert puts it: “You are afraid of surrender because you don’t want to lose control. But you never had control; all you had was anxiety.” Getting past toxic preconditions is less a matter of being willing to step into the unknown than of realising that you’re already _in_ the unknown. And that since the rest of your life will doubtless contain a mix of pains and pleasures anyway – in proportions you’re completely unable to predict – you’ve got less to lose by just doing the things you’ve been contemplating doing, or showing up for life in the manner that feels most sane, relaxed, and energising to you. *this is really the key point here. It is about perception and the ignorance about what is actually true.* > [!quotes] > You never had control; all you had was anxiety. This article started about writing and how to just do it. I think the deviated into the life advice for a bit. I like the idea of conducting experiments as a way out of strict rules for life. But just as a timed experiment that will end some fixed date. It is a backdoor, an escape route. So why do we need those? I think there is a lot of rigidity. And that always comes down to "structure must be earned"-metaphor. Over-architecting our lives is probably not the way to go. - - - ## Source [The Imperfectionist: Toxic preconditions](https://ckarchive.com/b/wvu2hghkkz6xgb9r552rqtn0grxxxh8) [Linking Your Thinking](https://community.linkingyourthinking.com/c/coffeehouse/book-club-2024-kick-off#comment_wrapper_63314457)