Eternal Return of the Mediocre

Living a mediocre life doesn’t take much work or intelligence. All you do is to imitate what everyone else is doing and keep marching mindlessly forward, fooling yourself into thinking you are making progress when you are not really doing so at all.

There’s an old saying which I believe is true: You either are improving and growing, or you are standing still and retracting. I know this is commonly referred to as black and white thinking. However, I have been watching people for over five decades across different political, social, and religious backgrounds. And my fundamental thesis has been tested many times and yet has always remained the same.

As human beings, we have been given a rationality and intelligence which makes us superior to animals. Yet, so many times, we don’t live up to our full potential as rational beings. We do things that animals would do, and even worse. We don’t use our minds and intuition properly either. Instead, we prefer to mindlessly drift through life. We prefer not to read or think because it’s easier. We don’t want to think outside the box. We want to keep doing everything that has been familiar for us for years and even decades.

But is this progressive? Can you learn and grow if you keep doing the same things repeatedly without any reflection and contemplation? Probably not. You only grow if you use your mind and if you live a life that is not mediocre. Each of us are artists of our own lives. You can make your life enriching, or you can spin your wheels, drifting mindlessly through life without any direction or purpose. By spinning your wheels, you are living a banal and mediocre life which eternally recurs until you step out of this mindset and way of living. The choice is really yours. Which direction will you choose?