March 26, 2022
For some tasks, there are simple stopping points; when you make a fire, your success blazes before you; in a run, you are done when you are. The stopping conditions are self-evident. For other events, their stopping conditions are much more ill-defined. When painting, how much detail is good enough? Have you sufficiently elaborated on your point in writing? Have you said everything you wanted to say? For more complex tasks, the stopping conditions spiral. When do we say our effort is good enough?
The central issue with this line of questioning is its subjectivity; not much will reach the platonic idea of what you visualize in your head. The dream painting always falls short when cast onto canvas; the ideal argument comes out with subpar rhetoric. We are trying to approximate something that only exists in our minds. Of course, you have a slightly better argument in your head; you’re trying to convince yourself. If we are to replicate the perfect form, we will always fall short. Instead, we ought to strive toward a near-perfect approximation; the shading will always be slightly off, but you are much more critical of your mistakes because you know what the painting should look like - others do not carry this burden.
For the self, we can’t ever be done. Our perfect selves do not match the present. One can always act better in a situation, with more dignity, respect, empathy. When we realize that we don’t match up with these ideal, it allows us to improve. Feeling shame at these distances is good, but we should not allow ourselves to fall into them, but rather create a better approximation of our perfect selves. The same can be done with others. When we see fault in others, we should seek to see if we have the same fault in ourselves and accept it in order to fix it. We must finish art, writing, arguments at some point in order for them to be viewed by the world; we do not have the same luxury with ourselves. What we have is what we show, and we must continually improve; we will never be done enough.
On February 27, 2022, I thought it would be a great idea to create some sort of content - writing, art, coding, etc. - every day of the next month. Luckily, the alliteration worked out. This should be the twenty-sixth post in the series.