Disambiguation: This is about the Infinitely Patient Man. For the original, see Ip Man.
In the last post, and a few before that, (Brand & the personal API, The path to Immortality) I’d written about our increasing ability to log and monitor our various activities (food consumption, exercise, sleep, location, to name a few) as well as apply them – for example, to measure and course correct – manually, machine-led or using a combination. The idea of the quantified self, I’d think, is to make a better human being at least in the physiological sense to begin with.
In another line of thought, I’d also explored whether, as we proceed along this evolution, we could also create a more mindful version of ourselves – what I called a qualified self. This surfaced again a few weeks ago, as I analysed my own behaviour in a certain situation. I have been trying to be non judgmental, but it’s not easy to let go of some baggage, especially deep rooted ones that have existed for a long time. As I became grumpier (also) thanks to my irritation at not resolving my battle with inner demons and the other person’s behaviour remaining unchanged, the person at the receiving end remained his calm self. As always, I had conflicting emotions later – on one hand, guilt, for treating him thus, and on the other, a justification based on many events past and present. I also tried to put myself in his shoes and imagine how he must have felt.
That’s when I realised that the process of creating a qualified self is much more challenging because there is no objective measure of right and wrong. i.e. one can objectively quantify the input/burning of calories based on BMI, gender, age and other factors which are subjective, but on what objective scale does one decide whether one’s action/decision/thinking is right in a particular context?
What must have gone on in his head – did he face and win against the same struggles I had, or was he detached from it? Either way, it seemed to me that he was less anguished than I was. Is it his considerably larger experience of life that makes him so? It made me think – are such people, the infinitely patient ones, a key to cracking the qualified self? Is it even possible to monitor let alone apply their path? Or is it the kind of IP that refuses to bow to objectivity, and plays a part in making us what we are – human?
until next time, intellectual propriety 🙂
Bonus read: Achieving Apatheia
(via)
Or maybe the IP man’s process to resolve the situation in his mind works for him, and not for you. Sure, we need to change ourselves to grow. But, we should be very aware of what our make is and what process works for this version of us. It’s not like we were produced in a factory that the next iteration can fix us, by making it replicate another model that the factory produced.
Each of us has our own system and we can attempt to tweak it only as much as it applies to us. Sometimes, a complete transformation is possible, step-by-step. At other times we might see a third person which is as good as IP man and/or the first version of you, but you are more comfortable with this one.
Agree, which is why the last line – an IP that cannot be infringed 🙂
It does boil down to being conscious of your skin and being comfortable in it. Thanks 🙂