Long-Term Animal: Balancing a life
Having just concluded watching the 5 hour video titled "I Don’t Want To Be This Kind Of Animal Anymore | Disco Elysium Analysis" by Jeff of Jeffiot (jeffiot.net), I was drifting into thought about one of the things he said in his conclusion.
SPOILER? If you have any interest in watching this video, maybe you should check it out before reading the quote. I don’t have any Disco Elysium game spoilers, though. (By the way, I couldn’t possibly ruin the whole 5-hour experience with any particular paragraph of text. But, because it will be difficult to _know if I’m spoiling anything for you until you’ve experienced at least some of it, I’ve included this warning. (And, if you do watch at least some of it, you’ll know that this warning is extra meta and funny because Jeffiot’s video starts with a big spiel about spoilers (for the game). So you’re in a couple layers here. And a parenthetical. (Hello from (inside!)))). Oh, and since I’m just typing in this huge paragraph here, it seems like as good a place as any to mention that, in case you’re wondering how I managed to watch a five hour YouTube video while also holding a full-time job and being a responsible parent: The answer is that I watched the video over a period of roughly 10 non-consecutive lunch breaks. I’ve lived this video, but in a way that is probably quite different from watching all five hours in one sitting.
Anyway, quoting Jeffiot:
"Maybe one of the blessings of being an animal is that you’re free of social rules and expectations that scream at you to feel guilt about this or terror about that. [An animal] recognizes no moral balance to questions that haunt humans, like, to give an easy example, what to eat. We might tear ourselves to pieces trying to balance our tastes with our health, ethic obligations, current understanding of nutrition. [An animal] just…knows [it needs food]. And, as tempting as that blissful existence may sound, the social expectations that keep us from being animals all too often also have some pretty valid reasons for being there."
(Quote edited to avoid Disco Elysium spoilers.)
For some reason, this quote got me thinking about the concept of "living in the present" and "thinking like an animal".
Short-term animal thinking
To live in the present moment is good for us. But only in moderation. A life lived entirely in the present is the life of an insect or private equity investor. It’s short-term-only animal thinking and it’s a good choice for small animals that live short lives, reproduce, and die.
We are humans. We live longer and we have a bigger individual impact than insects.
Also, some of us have brains that think about things whether we want them to or not.
Believe it or not, I have thoughts about the phrase "Live every day as if it was your last.".
Long-term animal thinking
Okay, here’s the actual thought I had: What about an inverse animal?
What if we imagined an animal that never just "lived in the moment," but always acted in its best interests for its long-term happiness and fulfillment.
What would that life be like?
Well, there’s no getting around the fact that long-term thinking requires thinking. So this is a thoughtful animal.
And there’s something weirdly aloof, unspontaneous, and dare I even say, joyless, about considering a life with only long-term goals - even if one of those goals is happiness.
I guess it reminds me of science fiction books where our human protagonists discover aliens who have ascended to the next plane of existence (I don’t have a particular book in mind here, just the general concept). Typically, the aliens seem wise and peaceful. But…I also am not tempted to trade places with them? Because deep down, I know that I really like eating junk food and watching the X-Files on a Friday night. And that’s something the aliens don’t seem to be able to appreciate anymore.
Ascended aliens are long-term animals.
Balanced animal
The answer that always seems to remain true is that there’s a balance. There is a balance to be found in goals, happiness, and living for both the short and long term. None of us are 100% short-term animals nor 100% long-term animals. The balance is different for everyone. And a well-adjusted human has just figured out what kind of animal they are.
Come to think of it, I’m pretty sure I’ve just re-stated the Jeffiot quote above, but in my own words.
This is not a very deep thought after all. Just another way of reaching a conclusion I keep re-discovering again and again.