When Both Roads Suck
You need to write a better story
I just witnessed a session where Peter Limberg guided a person who was torn between staying on a creative artist path - "rouge artist" - or settling down and landing a programmer gig for financial security and family-supporting potential.
I’ve just quit my job, I worked my last day on the 3rd. I’ve been keeping busy with practical things like painting walls.1 I haven’t started exploring where I’m going yet - I’m in an in-between state with no clear directions.
When I’ve settled in for winter, and start looking for something to engage with, I don’t know where I’ll end up. I’ve been considering something more philosophical in nature. I am a programmer by trade, so going back to the software business is always an option.
Will I end up in the same place as the person who received guidance? Torn between exciting opportunities and boring programming jobs? I don’t think so!
From my perspective, programming can be fun, and tightly connected to art and philosophy. It can be about constructing conceptual models of things, clarifying confusion, and creating beautiful logical structures.2
Most industry programming is not beautiful - but I believe that it’s possible to find niches of beauty where wonderful things can grow. Programming is a field with a lot of money coming in, I believe it’s possible to use that money to grow something beautiful, rather than just struggling to survive the day.
The “struggling to survive” phrase reminded me of a favourite life principle of mine - the parable of the rainforest and the desert. Due to reciprocal narrowing, a sense of scarcity can lead to a hellification of one’s alternative options - feeling uncertain can make all paths ahead seem scary and unpleasant.3 In the same way, the idea of “artist rebel” and “normie programmer” paints both potential paths in a bad light -
an artist rebel is unable to settle and feel comfortable, always taking risks
a normie programmer kills their own life spirit for boring profit.
Both of these paths sound unappealing.4
I’ll reject the dichotomy.
I can be a noble programmer, crafting beautiful code for the betterment of all.5 I can be a startup philosopher, replacing HR with a quest for meaning. I can work with pretty much everything and anything.6
For now, I’ll go back to getting my living space in order while continuing to do philosophical guidance. Next Thursday at 17:30 Swedish time, I’ll guide a person in front of an audience, as part of the Discovering Wisdom project. We’ll see how that goes.
If you want to receive guidance in front of an audience or be part of said audience, you can write a comment on this post or contact me, and I’ll give you an invitation to the Zoom meeting.
If you want to book a 1on1 session without an audience, you can book a session here:
If you know more people who want to read about scarcity mindset and home renovating, please direct them my way. If you know people who want to participate in philosophical experiments, please send them my way. They sound like just my kind of people.
It’s amazing how much time it’s possible to sink into repainting a wall - I’ll get to the actual painting soon. Note to future self: repainting is ok. Doing the prep work is not - outsource that shit.
Furthermore, I can enjoy the look of the code itself. It’s less visual/obvious than things like a well-crafted piece of furniture, but it can appeal to the trained eye :)
The reciprocal effect chimes in where the hellishness of future paths further bolsters the sense of uncertainty and scarcity.
And is very reminiscent of the “counter-culture” approach to clinging to modernity’s meaning: https://meaningness.com/countercultures
I know this because I’ve been doing it for some years at this point.
Having this abundance mindset is much easier because I’m rich. That’s why I enjoyed Peter’s way of handling the coaching session - finding a way to reach financial sustainability while keeping integrity.