
Ask HN: What ideas, books or essays changed your life? - _chu
Several times now, I&#x27;ve had a book or idea completely change how I see the world. Each time, I had to start over and reconsider my place in the world.<p>If you&#x27;ve had this kind of experience, what was it that triggered it?
======
Pamar
A specific sentence excerpted from a book by Alejandro Jodorowsky. I cannot
retrace the title of the book (I think it was from _The Dance of Reality_ but
I am not 100% sure).

Basically he said that people who have suffered for a long time (in the
psychological department, more than the physical) are extremely reluctant to
get "cured", and even if they go see a therapist, they have great problems in
overcoming their problems and tend to lock themselves in a situation where
they seem unable to change.

And yet they drone on, incessantly, about how much they are suffering and how
they are desperate to become healthy, happy, normal, serene.

The reason, according to Jodorowsky, is that they have been accustomed for so
long to their problems that they come to believe that their pain is a key
element of their identity, and they have a subconscious fear that getting
"better" would make themselves a different person. I.e. destroy or irrevocably
alter what they consider "a key element of being myself".

It is a bit like if we had Star Trek teleportation, and you would be reluctant
to use it (instead of traditional travel) because you feel like the person
coming up on the other side would not be "you" anymore. This would force you
to go to extreme, irrational lengths because you are ultimately scared of
death, and at the same time frustrated at having to spend so much time in a
shuttle or whatever.

This had a transforming effect on me because I suddenly realized why so many
people (including myself) seem unable to actually change their
habits/thoughts/feelings, even if they keep claiming they do not like their
situation and would do _anything_ to change it.

It made me a bit less judgemental about others, if nothing else.

------
ophilbert
I don't remember where I read that but it was a simple idea that I use almost
every time I have to make an important decision

"What is the worst possible outcome? Would I be able to overcome this
scenario?"

We often struggle to do things because we are scared to make the leap but once
you put words on your fears you realise that it's not that big of a deal and
that you can do it.

------
alexpete
"Gödel, Escher, Bach" was my highschool sweetheart, although I probably
wouldn't spend another 800 pages on it again. But the overarching concept of
"emergence" (of formal systems) blew me away back then, and stuck with me in
all sorts of spindly ways since.

Highly relevant to today's political climate, "Authority and American Usage"
is an essay that's sometimes frustrating, but also one that I think everybody
should read. DFW establishes the idea of a "Democratic Spirit" as a sort of
worldview to speak and interact through. It's really good and important:
[https://www.docdroid.net/GCzeU6K/authority-and-american-
usag...](https://www.docdroid.net/GCzeU6K/authority-and-american-
usage.pdf.html)

