The Great Vs The Dog

Diogenes vs Alexander(from a naive 24 year old)

One man was “Great” the other was a “Dog”.

One man “slept in a barrel” another slept in tents as he conquered nations.

Out of the 2 men who would you think was the most happy?

Out of the 2 men who would you think was the most fulfilled?

Those are 2 massive questions on my mind right now.

I have lived my life for the last few years in the pursuit of the great life. A life worthy of comparison to a great man like Alexander. An individual who conquered half the world at my age. An individual who made Julius Caesar cry.

Then comes a man who adorns nothingness. Openly chasing discomfort, not in the path of conquerer but via the route of a cynic. A man who has no require for wants because he has won the battle against his needs.

This man has made me think, is the pursuit of legacy, greatness, impact just illusions provided by the environment we were birthed into, i.e the new social media world which raised me?

Or is it truly the way to attain fulfilment and meaning?

He lived his life not denying his desires but truly living out the reality of controlling ones own desires. That is a level of self control which I admire.

Yet the true reality of his life is nothing I would like to admire because of my own selfish needs and wants.

He exposes the reality that I do want more things than just my supposed impact that I like to preach about.

I want a nice bed, I want to stay warm, I want to brush my teeth, I like warm showers, I want to be recognised and respected for my hard work. I want to drive impact because I want people to adore me.

But if these wants create a world where I create more impact is that a bad thing? These wants and needs are what drive me to want to create a legacy, to want to create an impact. If that positively impacts others, leads my not to lie, leads me to live my life more stoically and pursue my best self. Is that really bad?

To be honest, I don’t know the answer right now but all I do know is that I may be a hypocrite saying I am attempting to avoid fame whilst peacocking around on these socials, writing these newsletters. However, I truly believe that I am doing these with a good intention and purpose even if that may be my own delusion and I guess I will let reality tell me soon enough if this is the right one or not.

Thanks for reading this if you have and I understand if this was hard to follow or did not really leave you with anything useful. I just wonder if anyone has the same questions and has found their own conclusions. In the meantime, I guess I will try in my future letters!