A thought occurred to me while I was finishing up a piece of Java programming. I was thinking “I can’t wait to blog about this!”
How strange a thought, so unfamiliar to me. The second thought made it as the title of this rant. In one sense we are all very particular about the things we share about ourselves. In a different, “Internet Age” sense, we are dirty exhibitionists. We spill our character on the net, we attach images capturing our lives. But we do control who sees what - who gets to see which part of us. A carefully crafted false image complete with e-mail notifications.
I do realize this is a bit of a dark view of online communities and such, and I am far from condemning it in any way, but I couldn’t resist capturing some thoughts in a framework I call, say, Net Age Theology - the latest religion on the block. So as any proper religion, it should have a set of rules or guidelines to live by. Consider this:
You are the most important person to you. If you don’t care for yourself, why should others? Nobody is going to make your dreams come true. You are the primary person you rely on to get anything done in your world. Helping others is fine, but be careful not to help at the expense of yourself, since you might seriously harm your ability to help others. If helping others helps you as well, so much the better, as it makes you more effective as a person; you create a spiral of growth that is enhanced by acts of (reciprocal) altruism.
Life is about growth. While a significant part of that growth occurs inside your mind, there’s a social and interactive aspect to growth that you should not neglect. We long to have meaningful, productive and loving relationships with others. Therefore it is important to a degree what other people think about you, whether they be true or false perceptions. If they regard you well, they will act positively towards you and are more likely to cooperate with you. If they regard you ill, they are far less likely to help you and they might even do the very opposite by obstructing you.
A good and moral social standing therefore is a great asset in gathering influence and power. You could have all the ability in the world, but without power or influence you would not have the authority or support to affect anything. Many people have ability - only few have power. Many of those who have power, lack ability. Focusing on developing your abilities is good, as long as you realize that they require power and influence to be counted as valuable.
Acquiring a social reputation that works for you may demand certain changes in the way you present yourself, or even the way you think about yourself and the world around you. There are wonderful books and trainings that can assist you in that process. Being able to perceive others and being aware of how others perceive you allows you to communicate more effectively.
Internet communities serve as excellent platforms to present yourself to a large public in a highly controlled manner. You can share your appearance, your circumstance, job, interests, travels, thoughts, philosophies and likes-and-dislikes as you like. However, be careful to note that too much personal information makes it possible to track you down in real life without you knowing about it - or finding out about it on a most inconvenient time. Every person is looking for alliances in every role in life - partner, friendship, professional or idol. The information you share effectively helps them decide to pursue an alliance with you. Your online profile is the First Impression of you without you ever being there. We are only human and therefore imperfect - but your profile should reflect your best. Forget that, and you may hinder potentially powerful alliances with others.
Was that convincing in any way? To what extent does the above make sense to you? If you live in the western culture, it’s probably very familiar. The writing stance I took while writing the “doctrine” above was one of a “believer” - not a critic. However, I am deeply troubled that the sentiment as outlined above has become such a common way of reasoning - as if the answer to all your problems in life is elevating yourself to be a god in your own life - a good and kind creator. Not omniscient, nor omnipotent - but nevertheless the number one affector and shaper of your life.
Did you know that the best lies are those that are almost 100% true?
There I was, considering my thought. “I can’t wait to blog about this”. I wasn’t even completely finished coding. It didn’t matter really, since I had it conceptually worked out completely and could talk about it as if I had finished it. Then I realized I actually desired to show off a bit.
I realized my primary intent, in this case at least, wasn’t about helping others by freely sharing knowledge and insights. It would have looked that way, and I would even have believed it myself, but it would have been carefully engineered to that effect. My primary intent was to serve my pride. Pride is like a hungry wolf that lures inside yapping at credit and acknowledgment. I know that if I feed it, it will grow large and obnoxious. It will give strength to my self-esteem, and it will be a rotten stain on my character.
This society does not operate on humility but elevation and esteem. I believe humility to be one of the greatest shaping forces of character. Just the fact that pride is so much easier confirms this for me. When I write a great application, or create some beautiful graphics, video or piece of music - others seem almost compelled to praise me for it. I don’t judge or dislike them for it, as I am aware that their intentions are loving and generous, but I know that recognition - desiring to be worshipped and idolized in a sense - ultimately leads to a destructive path that I like to stay well away from.
Recognition is like a drug, and like money, it’s never enough. And money - boy, that’s a whole other rant.
So there it is and I repent. I will probably still write about that Java program, but this time to help out others as so many others have helped me by being open about their solutions. Thank you all.
