“How to Guarantee a Life of Misery”
Guaranteeing a life of misery is a path few intentionally tread. Yet, understanding its mechanisms can be a powerful tool for avoiding such a fate. Let's delve into the paradoxical exploration of misery to better equip ourselves for happiness.
The speech was originally delivered to the Harvard School on June 13, 1986.
Carson’s prescriptions for sure misery included: Ingesting chemicals in an effort to alter mood or perception;
- Envy
- Disapproval
- Resentment
- If you want to retain the contribution of envy to misery, I recommend that you never read any of the biographies of Samuel Johnson because his life demonstrates in an enticing way the possibility and advantage of transcending envy.
1986 graduation toast
To the class of 1986: may each of you rise high by spending each day of a long life aiming low
How little originality there is in the common disasters of mankind
Drunk driving deaths, reckless driving maimings, incurable venereal diseases, conversion of bright college students into brainwashed zombies as members of destructive cults, business failures through repetition of obvious mistakes made by predecessors, various forms of crowd folly, etc.
My third prescription for misery is to go down and stay down when you get your first, second, third severe reverse in the battle of life.
Ignore a story they told me when I was very young about a rustic who said: “I wish I knew where I was going to die, and then I’d never go there.”
- This is precisely the type of example you should learn nothing from if bent on minimizing your results from your own endowment.
- Minimize objectivity to maximize ignorance and infelicity.
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