{"id":12612,"date":"2010-07-07T22:45:00","date_gmt":"2010-07-08T05:45:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/?p=12612"},"modified":"2010-07-07T23:18:49","modified_gmt":"2010-07-08T06:18:49","slug":"reasons-to-be-cheerful-part-3-1-2-redemption-is-egoism-in-action-so-do-the-world-a-favor-and-catch-your-self-doing-something-right","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/12612\/reasons-to-be-cheerful-part-3-1-2-redemption-is-egoism-in-action-so-do-the-world-a-favor-and-catch-your-self-doing-something-right\/","title":{"rendered":"Reasons to be cheerful, Part 3.1.2: Redemption is egoism in action, so do the world a favor and catch your self doing something right."},"content":{"rendered":"

I hope I don’t seem to be a scold.<\/p>\n

It suits my ends to poke around in the trash can inside your brain, but I’m not doing it to be mean — nor to induce you to feel bad about yourself. I know a whole lot about the interior mental processes that motivate the pursuit of values and disvalues — and about the subsequent and secondary consequences of those mental processes — but it’s not as if I can actually read your mind.<\/p>\n

So how do I know so much about how your mind works? I don’t, not by any means except inference. What I know about is how my<\/em> mind works. We are alike as things — we are ontological equals — so I know that your mind works the same way mine does — no less than and for the same reasons that your heart works the same way mine does. Moreover, I can look you in the eye and tell you the truth of your life in excruciating detail, working from nothing other than past experience with myself and other people. Our differences make us unique and beautiful, but our similarities make us comprehensible to each other.<\/p>\n

So without intending to scold you, I need to say something to you in the gentlest way I can:<\/p>\n

You’re getting everything wrong!!<\/u><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Wrong, wrong, wrong. All the time, for all your life. Everyone, everywhere, for all of human history. Wrong, wrong, wrong — always and everywhere wrong — with wrong heaped upon wrong in twisted, corrupt dogmas of wrongness.<\/p>\n

Do you want proof?<\/p>\n

It could be you’re all hunched up in resentment at being called wrong. Or maybe you’re folded in on yourself in guilt, revisiting all of your past perceived sins. But here’s how I know that you’re wrong, and that you’ve been wrong about nearly everything, for almost all of your life:<\/p>\n

Because being wrong doesn’t matter. Being right<\/em> is the only thing that matters.<\/p>\n

We all tell lies, the worst of them to ourselves. We all shirk our responsibilities, crafting sullen silent soliloquies to justify our laziness. We all hurt other people, and we are all Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I hope I don’t seem to be a scold. It suits my ends to poke around in the trash can inside your brain, but I’m not doing it to be mean — nor to induce you to feel bad about yourself. I know a whole lot about the interior mental processes that motivate the pursuit […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_crdt_document":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,212,29],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-12612","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"hentry","6":"category-egoism-in-action","7":"category-flourishing","8":"category-group-therapy","10":"no-featured-image"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":16387,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/16387\/rock-me-mama-egoism-in-action-the-link-from-art-to-human-values-and-back\/","url_meta":{"origin":12612,"position":0},"title":"Rock Me Mama Egoism In Action: The link from art to human values and back.","author":"Greg Swann","date":"September 3, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Everything is all one thing, so this is a video essay about art about music about morality about song-writing about marriage about redemption \u2013 simple stuff. This is egoism in action, me being me. This video connects directly to the argument I made on Friday about \u2018conservative\u2019 art, and all\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Egoism in Action"","block_context":{"text":"Egoism in Action","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/egoism-in-action\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":15781,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/15781\/egoism-in-action-the-face-of-splendor\/","url_meta":{"origin":12612,"position":1},"title":"Egoism in action: The face of Splendor…","author":"Greg Swann","date":"March 25, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"My friend Jim Klein fingered this video this morning: Forget the context. It doesn't matter. What I want for you to see is that young man's face just as he finishes playing. This is the face of Splendor. This is egoism in action. Gavin M. George is a virtuoso pianist\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Egoism in Action"","block_context":{"text":"Egoism in Action","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/egoism-in-action\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2653,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/2653\/egoism-in-action-what-should-you-do-when-a-half-assed-sock-puppet-makes-a-half-decent-joke\/","url_meta":{"origin":12612,"position":2},"title":"Egoism in action: What should you do when a half-assed sock puppet makes a half-decent joke?","author":"Greg Swann","date":"February 25, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Laugh, of course:What\u2019s the difference between BloodhoundBlog and a porcupine? With the porcupine the pricks are on the outside.It's quoted from Dustin Luther's High Temple of Unidirectional Virtue. (\"Where poking fun at other people is always wrong, except when we're doing it.\") The joke is stolen, of course, but it's\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blogging"","block_context":{"text":"Blogging","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/blogging\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":11672,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/11672\/splendorquest-redemption-is-egoism-in-action\/","url_meta":{"origin":12612,"position":3},"title":"SplendorQuest: Redemption is egoism in action","author":"Greg Swann","date":"March 26, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"This is clipped from a book I wrote in 1988 -- a book I really need to write anew. It's an epistolary novel, so the writing is kind of affected. I expect you can worry your way through it. \"Madness,\" as the term is used here, is an attempt to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Egoism in Action"","block_context":{"text":"Egoism in Action","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/egoism-in-action\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":12473,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/12473\/reasons-to-be-cheerful-part-2-9-marksmanship-is-a-perfectible-praxis\/","url_meta":{"origin":12612,"position":4},"title":"Reasons to be cheerful, Part 2.9: Marksmanship is a perfectible praxis.","author":"Greg Swann","date":"June 27, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Take note: If the shit really does hit the fan -- which I do not expect to happen -- fortune will surely favor the well-prepared mind. No need to get fancy. Aim for the torso and don't waste ammo. < ?php include \"cheerful.php\"; ?>","rel":"","context":"In "Disintermediation"","block_context":{"text":"Disintermediation","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/disintermediation\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":14251,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/14251\/to-say-the-truth-my-plan-was-to-say-nothing-about-the-ipad-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":12612,"position":5},"title":"To say the truth, my plan was to say nothing about the iPad 2…","author":"Greg Swann","date":"March 2, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"...but that was before I saw the new Smart Covers... Minor upgrade to the product. Major upgrade to the experience. The video samples Extraordinary Machine, and that's just exactly right. This is egoism in action: Steve Jobs is a spectacular genius at satisfying himself. Not everyone loves what he loves,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Egoism in Action"","block_context":{"text":"Egoism in Action","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/egoism-in-action\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12612","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12612"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12612\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12613,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12612\/revisions\/12613"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12612"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12612"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12612"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}