Tonight there’s a gathering, so a long piece is hard to write — but after a few cups of fine spirits, I find myself wanting to share something brief with you: if you want to rise above the crowd, or break free from your current muddling, directionless state, you must first admit that the life philosophy you’ve held for the past few decades has been fundamentally wrong. Not just wrong, but inefficient and useless.
You must also lie in bed late at night and carefully revisit every wrong decision you’ve ever made — then ruthlessly interrogate yourself: how could you have been so foolish back then? So naive?
Admitting that you are ignorant, incompetent, and foolish is an agonizing thing.
It is extremely difficult for anyone.
After all, who can truly accept that they are, at their core, a muddleheaded fool? And to be fair — I don’t believe your current awkward, listless state is entirely your fault.
But your own capacity must bear at least 70% of the responsibility for it.
So grit your teeth. Look yourself in the eye. Steel your heart and change.
Rest assured — though this kind of rebirth is intensely painful, it won’t actually kill you.
There is no other way. The evolution of living things has always been a bloody, self-wrought transformation: tearing off your own skin piece by piece, pulling out your worn-down teeth and claws one by one.
Only then, nourished by knowledge at a higher level, will your new flesh and blood grow forth with fierce, unstoppable vitality.
And money and opportunity? They will open their eyes — and show you ever-deeper favor.