This thought experiment hit me like a ton of bricks.

I remember walking along a shaded path surrounded by moss-covered trees by Lake Ella in north Florida and seeing the water glimmering under the midday sunlight, reflecting on how I'd live my life differently if I lived it in accordance with this thought experiment. How much more beauty would I surround myself with? How much freer would I be? How much lighter would I feel toward the things that would otherwise bog me down?

The truth is that as I write this, we are living through a meaning crisis.

Since 2022, there's been a 25% increase in global anxiety levels, and up to 60% of US adults feel lonely "some or most of the time."

Many people are lost in a shallow existence of endless distractions.

Attention merchants highjack and monetize our dopamine circuits through cheap stimulation and titillation, leaving us addicted to a hamster wheel of entertainment with no substance or wisdom to show for it.

The collective lacks meaning because it lacks depth.

Through depth, we discover wisdom and her companions.

The deeper your reflections on life and on yourself, the richer and more meaningful your life experience will be.

Through a love of depth and self-realization, we learn to see more broadly, feel more deeply, and act more courageously.

In this light, I present one of the most powerful thought experiments I've come across. If it gets a hold of you, it will either transform you or crush you under its weight.

Imagine a demon appears to you one night while you're lying in bed, staring at the ceiling, unable to sleep, and tells you that the life you've lived you will have to live an innumerable number of times more. Every pain, every sorrow, every joy, every thought, every sigh, everything great and small, all in the same succession and sequence—for eternity.

Would you curse this demon and flail in agony, or think this were a messenger from the Gods bestowing upon you a great gift?

This thought experiment isn't concerned with what's physically true but rather with what it reveals about your perspective on life.

The eternal recurrence reveals something fascinating about ourselves. The degree to which we are willing to say 'yes' to life recurring for all eternity—in all of its joy, ecstatic bliss, sorrow, and pain—is the degree to which we embrace life and affirm ourselves.

The eternal recurrence strips away distractions and forces us to confront ourselves and our lives. I view it as the ultimate gut punch—forcing us to reveal to ourselves where we're out of alignment with ourselves.

Consider:

• How well disposed will you have to become to yourself to wear the badge of eternal affirmation toward life?
• And if you don't affirm life as you've lived it—why not? What needs to change for you to?
• What needs to be cultivated and what needs to die for you to affirm your life for all eternity?

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-Alex

P.S.

Check out this meditation to assist you in affirming your life.

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