Would you be okay to die here if you have an option to go to an isekai? Weird comes to mind when thinking about life and purpose. It might be that you are already content here in this world and would rather have a peaceful rest in the afterlife. Maybe you have some unfinished business that you want to achieve here that you want to fulfill in the next world. Either way, dying in this world is hard to think about, especially if you have things that keep you occupied here. Oddly enough, most of the isekai trope is the result of a selfless act of sacrifice of oneself to save another. The good old, jumping in front of a truck to save a crossing child scene. Classic and oddly enough it can still be differentiated in another way. Take for example Rudeus from Mushoku Tensei, while you can say that he willingly sacrificed his life to save another. I think that the action stems out from the meaninglessness of his own life. Contrasting this to a “heroic” act of saving, you could say that the prior is more selfish. Selfish in the sense that it tries to end its own suffering. Much less heroic if perceived that way, though not discounting the life that was saved at the time. It is a perspective of someone that looks with pity for his current situation. I am by no means saying that living that life is not hard, truly if you are someone that is having that kind of struggles please ask for help. There are a lot of places that would gladly help and speak with you without any judgement, please be kind to yourself and seek them out.
Back to the topic, I think that there is a certain sacrifice that is more aware/proactive. Much like a soldier that takes a bullet for a civilian, an act of service that seeks the wellbeing of others. I think that there are a lot of people looking for an escape from this world, there is a reason why the isekai genre is popular nowadays. You could wake up one morning and just see everything wrong that is happening in this world, from simple traffic, to gun violence, to global warming. All this could weigh you down and just make you see all the things that are wrong with this world, and yet there is a view that never loses that hope in this broken world.
I guess this is sort of an invitation. Before you start thinking about dying to get to an isekai. Why not try to find something that could add a little bit more good in this broken world? That way, you could heal it a bit and truly add purpose to your life.
Tag: purpose
-
Dying To Get To Another World
-
What Power Would You Want In an E-Sekai
The God has spoken, you can have any power in this new world. What would you want?
A magic pocket that you can pull anything at any time? A library of knowledge that you can learn anything and everything from?
The power to control elements? The power to foresee the future?
Interestingly, this question is something that I got myself asking. I mean, I could ask for anything, right?
You could provide a full description of your capabilities, like a DnD character lore.
Honestly, I have never played DnD, but I assume that if you created a character without downsides, that it wouldn’t be fun, right?
A perfect character that has a counter for everything, then that wouldn’t make a balance game, right?
When is it apt to be content and wanting to strive for more?
I think adaptability is one of the best powers we can have. As time passes, we want to be able to mold our environment to adjust to levels and create a process of redistribution. This can create a balance that would make the experience fun and fresh.
I think that the striving for more can only happen if the environment encourages and creates space for improvement. Contentment only happens when struggling does not create fruit, which makes the entire endeavor meaningless.
When coming into an isekai, the general trope is for the main character to be overpowered. This essentially makes side characters almost irrelevant apart from adding flavor and color to the main character’s story. While the MC can essentially run the show himself, we often find him/her encountering characters either by choice or by chance. Generally, evolving or growing characters make the story more colorful and create a more balanced world. So while being overpowered seems the ideal choice at first, having other people join in creates a more unique and bright story line. -
Trusting People In A Different Environment
Who do we trust in times of untruths and unknown unknowns? In a world of E-Sekai, we would come across different ways of interpreting things. When conversations are straightforward, then it is easy to get an answer, but if we want unhindered truth, we often find ourselves walking on eggshells? Why is that? Experiences are truths; no one could ever dispute what you have experienced in your life. However, there are certain things that go beyond our experiences. Discovering truths of the world is like discovering magic in another world; it’s like discovering gravity or the knowledge of how the world operates. Much like when we find a new discovery, we celebrate, we promote, and rejoice in the thing that we uncovered. Trust is like that; when we get to know something about someone, we rejoice and feel special, and the same is true with that person. What if that discovery or special game is now shared with another? Is it still yours? Would the value of the relationship collapse? Not really… because the value of anything is based on the appraiser. Relationships that are built on trust rather than power dynamics are stronger, since there really aren’t any expectations from a trust relationship, which is similar to a pact. Think of it like a child’s relationship with a parent; if it is just output or outcome-based, then surely the child has little to no benefit for the parent. We take care of the other anyway, just because the value of the child isn’t solely based on its output, and that is ultimately subjective.
The topic of trust is based on a lot of aspects; we create a space where trust is safe for mutual parties, where even though we say or do something, they won’t take offense; rather, it would be taken as a collaborative ideal, which helps create something positive. Trust is very sensitive, especially for things that are outside our control; it acts like a bank of some sorts; when something is overdrawn, then we demand that trust is reciprocated. The topic in itself is getting out of hand, but let me leave you with a good thought: trusting people in a different environment can be hard, but so long as we can get a common ground on things, I believe that there are always ways to talk things through and gain mutual respect and perspective. -
Another World Within This World
An E Sekai doesn’t need to be out of this world; rather, it can be created within. The easiest way to shift things around is usually by creating something new, to start from scratch and create it in such a way that it aligns with our ideals. Of course, if that is true, then it would mean that future you won’t have a future, so instead of thinking outside the box, we create a box within the box. Within that box, we can build upon things that are meaningful and important to us and our purpose; we make sure that the contents of that box are not easily accessed. Taking responsibility for the security of the box and how it is accessed from within the bigger box. We carefully choose the right people, the right connections, so that it could fulfill its role and purpose. How do we do that? We use core principles to find what matches it. That way, we could live in that small box in the hopes that someday, we could work our way towards a bigger box. Before you know it, we now have a bigger box; it would get messy for sure, some would outgrow the box, some would find familiarity with the box so that maybe in the future we could have a fair share of space within the bigger box and hopefully not lose core things that built that box in the first place.
Anyway, this idea came from the Schrödinger cat experiment, but instead of a cat, we replace the content with a man. The life of the man is in the hands of the one conducting the experiment, unlike the cat, which could not really care for itself. The man could create a safe space for himself within the box and maybe take care of the cat as well. TADA! A small E-Sekai for those within your box. It might be a little bit cramped, but at the very least, there is peace there.
-
The Utopian View in a Dystopian World
Why do we dream of a new world? Can’t we just be satisfied with this one? If we can’t be satisfied with what we have, can’t we just try and fix this one? When our horizons get broadened, we often see how things can be and should be. Often times we already have an idea of what is the ideal and what we are settling with. Being content is not bad, however we might fail to see what is “tolerated”. Utopian world views are dreams, a perfect design that fits the vision of its creator and everything is in harmony on the other hand a dystopia is the contradiction to that view and there is dissonance instead.
Acceptance and tolerance are two different things, on one hand acceptance is embracing the differences while striving for ideals; on the other hand tolerance allow for the decline of ideals. Often times that is the challenge, especially if there are different ideals. So how do we see the world in a better light if we can only see the decline in to dystopia. That thought lingered through my head as I banged my face against the wall, is it all futile? Honestly, until I was given a new life, I only saw the world through rose colored glasses. I guess its not any different now, its just that I acknowledging that there was a view that I did not really consider. Truly, I cannot change all things nor bend things towards what is ideal, but I can start somewhere, the best place to start is at home and with myself to set in order things within my grasp. Is it possible? Yes! but that requires cooperation from all those around us, we can only do so much and we are often limited in time, so we must build upon things that would last beyond our life time, to be able to say that we have done the right things in pursuit of the ideals that was entrusted onto us.
-
Making Sense of the Pareto Principle
The Pareto Principle, the 80/20 rule, where 20% owns 80% of the wealth. The idea in itself was supposedly applicable in other areas like efficiency, where 80% of the output comes from 20% of the workers.
While this is applicable to certain scenarios, using it as a catch all can be detrimental. My though about this is, in this world we were meant to serve each other and the higher up we are in the chain, then we have a bigger role to play. To be called “vital” should not be self serving rather it should serve the interest of the people. The world really isn’t in an ideal place right now, arguably people shift things towards their advantage. In this world, certain things are needed in order to move things properly and accordingly, this hurts because often times the interest of one view does not justify the interest of other another’s view. This is similar to what I wrote about earlier in the “Trolley Problem“. The “vital few” often times need to take care of the own tribe first which can be contradicting to the bigger picture. Power and control also play a part, because often we can be persuaded by different things depending on the situation that we are in.
What happens if we are on the other side of the Pareto principle. Do we just stay still and wait until the 20% dictates what should be done? Maybe yes, if we believe in them even if it complicates all the things in our lives. Maybe no, if we want to move on our own way. In life there are certain boundaries, and we don’t necessarily have the means to cross those boundaries, I mean chance happens to all of us after-all. I think what matters is what we do with what we have, it doesn’t mean we don’t try to broaden our horizons, rather it just means that we hold on to the 20% so that we could better serve the 80%.
-
Reconciling Destiny
The thought of destiny can be very beautiful, the thought that we somehow we are meant to be where we are. Is it a random chance? Is it so that we can enjoy life as is? If that is the case, how much control do we really have? What if we were born in the slums or a child from a poor family much more an orphan? Is it still destiny?
Suffering is usually caused by our own mistakes and/or the actions of other people imposed on us, I mean no one wants to suffer right? In life, we don’t need much, if we have clean water, food and shelter then we are good. It is might not be much of a life, but we are living and we could work our way up towards something better so long as we have a choice and say on it. The problem is when we don’t have a say or we are limited by situations, it maybe economic, skills, circumstance or access. The problem lies in the part where people impose or force us to move a certain direction I think suffering is part of discontentment of people. Either we think things are unfair, unjust or we think lowly of other people.
I struggled and wrestled with the idea of the unfairness of things, I couldn’t think clearly on how I would react if I was in the direst of situations. I mean would you blame an orphan about their current situation, and about not doing enough so he/she could get out of his/her situation? Rather we shift the narrative towards ourselves, our own control on things, how can I help, how can we create an environment that help foster a culture of uplifting. Often times we find ourselves powerless and lacking in options even when the intentions are there. Do we just move along and accept that we cannot do anything about things? Of course not instead we take charge of what we can do on our own and progress in our own ways, like joining a group, volunteering, making donations, etc..
So what do you tell an orphan about destiny, I think the right answer is to be prepared. Foster that orphan and tell that orphan that it was destiny that lead you to me. Because something has tugged my heart strings to move in order for me to bring you home. I won’t have all the answers and I can’t save all orphans, but I can at least do one small thing in the hopes that others would follow.
-
Believing in Magic and the Supernatural
If you saw something magical/out of this world and failed to capture it either with video or camera. How do you share it with others? What if it is just a situation like a small drop of rain out of no where, when there is no drizzle or no other source of water in sight. What if God suddenly wants juice while speaking Italian. Outrageous as it may seem certain things cannot be put into words without sounding cuckoo. While thinking about it, I figured you either need to talk with someone wanting to humor you, has a certain level of knowledge or interest in the matter, or have a certain degree of relationship or trust.
It is almost impossible to believe given how things are now. Logic will counter magic any time. There are a lot of ways to do that, like straw-manning. Maybe humoring someone and sticking out until you know someone well enough is the only way to believe. Yet that is still not true, since what they say might not fall the same way for that person or certain situations could cause them to sway towards the opposing view. It is easy to discredit someone about magic, just say its natural and be done with right? Once we know everything about something then there is nothing to it anymore, no mystery and nothing to talk about. It becomes stale and not interesting anymore. Life can be like that sometimes, once you see all the things that life has to offer then there is nothing to it anymore right. Magic can only happen when we willingly go through the process with little to no expectation. It creates space for the spirit of the unknown to move. Instead of us all moving in different directions. Believing in magic is like being a child that is still at home, trusting in everything that their parent says. Until we step out and see the real things behind those stories. What do we then if we get hold of the truth? Do we then use that magic to reveal or do we keep it at the back of our minds that way the magic isn’t loss?
Magic is something that was hard for me to believe in. Until we see incredible supernatural things, we settle on the shallow parts of magic without getting to the truth behind it. Yes, innocence plays a part but tricky part is remaining to be innocent while knowing the truth behind it all.
-
The Paradox of Efficiency At Work
As things get more automated and tools lean towards AI, I was wondering earlier there is something we lose in the process. There is no something for nothing in this world and as we move forward in advancements, what was the price that was taken.
I then looked back at how ineffective work turned out for me in the past. These created a lot opportunities for improvement but most of all it created something that we could strive for. Going through processes gave chance to get to know working on the other side. Getting a chance to chat about the work, the trouble of how to get things to move. Asking for small work favors in order to get done in a timely manner. Having heated discussions about how bad current process is and what we could do afterwards. I did grow a lot through the years though, I matured to a point where I came to accept certain things while trying to grasp everything that is still under my control. The thing with effectiveness, is that systems become easier and people come to accept status quo. We find little to nothing to improve thus we become relaxed deferring improvement to the hungrier generation. Often times we neglect the fact that the guidance would be coming from us anyway and most of the time the younger generation still looks up to the ones before.
Work becomes stale, lacking the connection from chance encounters and small talk from asking small favors. We do not get to know the people we are working with and trust fails as soon as we encounter problems. Intention gets misinterpreted and we become more defensive, which causes more disruption than work.
While the results sound so dire, being effective is also part of who we are. Striving and finding ways to make things easier and effective can help us cause less friction in work and creates better opportunities for people inside and outside the company.
-
Waiting When There Is Nothing
When you get presented the option on Shrodinger’s cat scenario would you assume that the cat is alive? Control is deprived from us and delegated to the “experimenter”. What if you were in the cat’s position on the experiment, in this case your life is in the hands of two different people, one a cold judge and the other a person that is completely detached from what happens to you.
Another test is the cookie experiment, here the kids are given a cookie in front of them and the scientist suddenly needs to go somewhere and requests the child to hold off from taking a bite from the cookie. If you were in the child’s shoes, would you wait or would you eat the cookie.
In both scenarios, there is no clear reward. Our only basis for what to do is what the scientist told us or their “authority”. That is hard for anyone, because we do not like giving up control, our view is often limited to something that is tangible, something that we want in the moment. Yet we are still given much freedom in those scenarios, we can roam around the room, we can rest or other we can find something else to pass the time. The focus doesn’t necessarily need to be on the actual experiment rather we can just do different things so long as we are within certain bounds. Given that on the first thought our choices are dictated by another, would you rebel and choose to not be part of the test? or would you trust that what ever happens it would turn out for the best for you.
I think that certain things require trust especially on 50/50 scenarios when we are given little to no choice. Cliche as it may seem, it would always be good to not focus on the problem but rather what we have control on. Maybe we end up getting punished or rewarded, and there might not be a good solution to it. In the end, we are still subject to this weird experiment and while others might not agree with me, I think it is best to keep lane and make sure we don’t mess up the “work” that they are doing.
