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The Egg (galactanet.com)
18 points by aaraujo002 on Oct 12, 2023 | hide | past | favorite | 6 comments



This story has been cemented in my mind since I was a teenager, and no matter how many times I read it, when someone posts it I always go out of my way to read it one more time.


Sounds like me and the Magic Thread[0]. I read that story when in elementary school, and it's still something I think on semi-regularly.

[0] https://www.davidgaultiere.com/the-magic-thread/


hmm interesting. I just realized the magical Thread is in some sense about local maximum i.e. the best foreseeable thing right now that doesn't require much effort to achieve.

Even when we don't think we're pulling the thread, we often are. The only way is to constantly remind yourself of an imaginary/unforeseeable global maximum that you can work hard to acheive..

But even then that could just be another local maximum that I've tricked myself into thinking that's all there is. But if you aim too high, it's exhausting and may have the adverse effects (e.g. you end up failing while also missing out your local maximum) - and so you would want to hang more into the foreseeable local maximum (which may not be too bad a thing to be honest, esp when you are all burnt out).

This is truly the hardest problem in life.

.. and then here is the strange question: is trying to achieve global maxmium and immersing yourself in work and becoming a workaholic (so more get done while time passes quicker) the actual pulling of the thread?


This is Advaita Vedanta[1], more or less, except the Hindus would say that the You in the story is just the I that has forgotten what it is, and also the I is all that exists. You can listen to Alan Watts sum it all up concisely as lo-fi hip-hop.[2]

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advaita_Vedanta

[2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DhbAzFw-7xg


Spot on.

Advaita Vedanta makes no distinction between god and yourself.

Advaita means non-dual. There is no one else except the unmanfiest god of which you are a manifest form.

There a very nice class on the Bhagwan Gita under the context of advaita Vedanta[1] by the vedanta society of New York. I’d suggest listening to it for people interested in the subject.

[1] https://on.soundcloud.com/FhQVScWFPKG4Sen56


I highly recommend this beautiful animated retelling by Kurzgesagt

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h6fcK_fRYaI




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