What would you do…?
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What would you do…?
What would you do if tomorrow you woke up and discovered…
…that all the friction was gone?
…that all limits were lifted?
…that constraints no longer held?
What would you do?
Would you…
…fly through the air (because gravity no longer held you)?
…make a million dollars in a day (because there was no more rejection)?
…spend your endless day with those you love (because responsibility no longer constrained you)?
…do all of these at once (because you were no longer bound by time or space)?
Are these things you would do?
But wait…
How could your body fly, let alone exist without the carefully balanced pressure of your blood against the equally balanced pressure of the air from the outside?
How could you find money when it is money that symbolizes where we seek value in a system of scarcity and toil?
How could you find the time with your loved ones precious when it is the limits of time, the inevitable end of the day, that contains this rhythm of precious belonging?
How could you do all of this and more when it is the perpetual demands of space and time through which you signal the structure of your priorities by your physical presence and attention in each and every moment?
Are these still things you would do?
Can you imagine existence without friction, without limit, or constraint?
Is not all that finds shape emergent from value seeking within limits?
If you investigate systematically, this is indeed what you will find.
Our bodies find shape in response to the physical forces that push within and without. And it is gravity that holds us to the ground, so we can’t fly.
It is the worth of money that represents the search for greater and greater value of experience amidst a landscape of the incalculably more abundant options of lesser desirability. It is rejection that signals the promise is not strong enough, and so we won’t ever make 100% of our sales.
In a world of endless people, it is our loved ones that we care about the most. And time away from them makes the experience of presence more precious, as does the daily-impending sunset.
In a world of expansive space, it is our location that demonstrates our allegiance to person and cause, so we must choose in each and every moment and in doing so cast our lots.
It is always the limits that define the shape of value.
But…
Limits are not absolute. Their boundaries have shifted, and will continue to do so.
Until very recently it was assumed that only monarchs and aristocrats could and would own the land. This limit has been broken.
Until very recently it was assumed that one could only travel as far as a horse could gallop in a day. This limit has been broken.
Until very recently it was assumed that a message could only cross the ocean as fast as an ocean liner could carry it. This limit has been broken.
Can we fly? Can we tap into endless abundance? Can we spend endless days with those we love? Can we be in all places at once?
Some limits may be absolute.
But they have a funny way of being broken.
And then the boundaries shift within our structure of reality.
Because, when it comes down to it, existence is modeled by entities and their boundaries. This principle, I believe, IS absolute. But the locations of the boundaries and identities of the entities are not. Those shift within the ultimate boundary of that transcendental entity within the ultimate boundary that is Being.
And it is the boundaries, the limits, the constraints, that keep us deadset to break them, and liberate untold and unimagined new sources of value that seem unreal, idealistic to us. Because the asymptote of the ideal continues to beckon and always will.
That is where purpose, where telos, draws us.
So cherish your boundaries, because it is they that show you your life’s work. Ask which boundaries you want to shatter, and set your course.
Because you never know. You may just discover how porous, how soft, how flexible the boundaries, the limits, the constraints that so many others see, actually are.
So…
What would you do? And what will you do? Because the ideal may be closer than you think.
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