Proving yourself
My frequent interlocutors will know that I've been captivated recently by the idea of proving oneself, and the process by which people I admire have crossed over from a stage of life where they were "trying to prove themselves" to one in which they operate from a place of abundance about their capabilities and the worth of their contributions to the world.
I find that people who have proven themselves, creating and operating from a place of abundance, find it natural to do their lifework. Accordingly, it's in the interest of our civilization to find a way to help as many people cross the chasm, as early on in their careers, as possible, provided this can happen without flattening the rich dimensionality of people's dreams and ambitions that make their lifework so valuable to the world at large.
So far, I've taken away a few lessons from my conversations and thinking:
- Proving yourself is mostly an interior matter. You prove yourself to yourself. This is the only way to cross the chasm.
- You prove yourself when you begin creating and operating in the world from a feeling of abundance about your worth and capabilities, rather than from a place of scarcity.
- In people who have proven themselves, their inner voice prevails more often than the voices around them when they are in disagreement.
I also have some open questions:
- Is proving yourself a unique transition in life? Or can you do it multiple times?
- How is proving yourself related to working on something externally legible, vs. internally consistent with your (potentially very illegible) creative judgement?
- What individual decisions and environmental factors increase the probability of someone crossing over into a phase where they've proven themselves?
I hope to write more about each of these ideas soon.
The Way of the Samurai is in desperateness. Ten men or more cannot kill a man. Common sense will not accomplish great things. Simply become insane and desperate.
In the Way of the Samurai, if one uses discrimination, he will fall behind. One needs neither loyalty nor devotion, but simply to become desperate in the Way. Loyalty and devotion are themselves within desperation.
— Hagakure: The Book of the Samurai via Markie W