Ambitions

YouTubers always amaze me with the beauty and simplicity of their reasoning. They say that instead of being ambitious, one should be very mindful, live in the moment, and enjoy what they have. Success and ambition, they claim, lead to burnout and are inherently bad. They might even add that capitalism is to blame, as it’s the root of all these issues and pushes us towards such actions. (Here, I’ll reference a good medieval film featuring a very ambitious guy—capitalism wasn’t even around then.)

They point a finger at Hollywood, claiming it’s in decline, conveniently skipping over all the films that have been released lately addressing such themes in the Western world. For example, there’s a story about a London clerk who methodically does his job throughout the film and finds great meaning in it by the end.

After watching the video, one gets the impression that the answer lies in comparing American and Asian cultures. But why all this glorification of Asian culture? It’s not at all relatable, and if you dig deeper, you’ll see that mindfulness in Asian culture doesn’t really exist. Asian countries don’t even compare to the U.S. when it comes to work-life balance.

And what’s so bad about ambition anyway? Real actions change the world around us, and achieving goals adds confidence and joy to life. Humans are wired in such a way that it’s hard for them to be alone with their thoughts, and tasks provide a good way to avoid the aimless contemplation of the world’s beauty.

So, the only good for people is to be distracted from thoughts about their fate. This can be through some activity that redirects their thoughts, a new passion that fills them, or games, hunting, or an engaging spectacle—in short, anything we call entertainment. Pascal.