Six Pack vs. PhD

Today's post is an homage to both, the human body and the human mind. And the conflict and similarities between the two in terms of conceptual aspects found in the one and same person. The healthy mind in the healthy body as the ancient Greeks would say. Assume for a moment that you have both, the six pack and the PhD. Assume also that you live in the present time and assume that you are at a crossroad of your life where you have to plan your future. And here is the one million dollar question for you. Which quality would you employ first in designing your professional future? Would you promote your body over your mind or your mind over you body? Agreed, you have worked hard on both fronts, as you have made plenty of sacrifices to get to the level that you are.

Well, if you are realistic about it, your options are numbered, anyway. Your planning, however, needs to consider which route will take you faster to your destination. Which renders your eventual choice a choice of efficient and effective time management. But wait. What is your destination in life? Is to become a recognised celebrity? Or a ridiculously well-paid athlete? Or someone in-between? Or maybe both in turns? Do you live for the moment or for your legacy? Do you prefer Ronaldo or do you prefer Brahms? Are you more into women or more into books? Are you the social flirtatious type or are you the lonesome anti-social genius? What is your star sign and what do the stars tell you about your future prospects? Do you feel more comfortable driving in a Bentley than you do in a VW? Is your name Sheldon or Joe? Do you sleep at night with the lights in your room on or do you suffer from insomnia over solving an unsolvable riddle? These are some of the philosophical questions that are rarely answered, as the human nature is a package of conflicting thoughts and endless mood swings.

To make the equation more challenging I will also add more complicating parameters to the questionnaire. So, do you live in a country where money has greater value that ethics? Or do you maybe live in a country where the generations before you lived in poverty? Do you maybe live in a country where your ancestors were great philosophers but the in-between generations suffered from occupation and deprivation? Do you come from an educated family? Do you come from a wealthy family? Or do you maybe come from an artistic family? Was your family patriarchal or matriarchal? Was your line of ancestors good looking or rather intelligent or maybe both? No matter what the answers to the foregoing question, I am afraid that I won't be able to assist as I have not worked out any matrix of answers that would guide into one or the other direction. I am just fucking with you on a philosophical level. Throwing out questions in the random order with which they cross my mind. I got inspired by a nonsense conversation that I started online with a friend around what qualities lead to success in life today. We sometimes think that good looks compensate for the lack of equally good brains and still safeguard a much better prospect of some type of success in life, rather than the opposite. I have a number of friends who are PhD holders from the finest schools around and yet they struggle to make a living. I also have a number of good looking friends with poor education who convey the impression of happiness and indeed seem to have an easier access to success. And then I wonder why?

But the answer should not surprise us. We live in a world, after all, where success is defined by the access to consumption. We live in a world where perfection is portrayed only in the form of external beauty and most are content when perceiving their environment through their senses and not their brains. This, in most cases, even leads to the neutralisation of the brain function in favour of basic communication, which is restricted to the senses of your eyes and ears. Complexity is branded as something useless, I admit, I myself only philosophise after I have consumed to the point of getting sick. I love watching football and becoming witness to my brains regressive function. I even get tired lately when exposed to complex issues, which are part of my profession, hence survival. Even my friends tell me that they often get tired reading my posts because they are too complicated but yet they do surf the entire net or spent hours on Quizdom or Candy Crush. I regretfully have merged my own six pack years ago into one single muscle and I find it almost impossible to reverse that process today, no matter how much I would love that. I think that subconsciously, I had made my choice two decades ago to sober-up and to not rely on my looks for any type of success. Good choice, as it turns out, though I am miles away from claiming any success, in general. But if I had the chance to do it all over again, I will be frank with you, I would feel tempted to go the other way...assuming I had what it takes. Which I don't. Which leaves me realistically with no options. I told ya...just philosophising...