Instead, we are drawn to activities in which we find joy. We can’t always explain why, but some activities seem to contain ingredients that breathe life into us, that lift us up out of ourselves to reveal something finer, more resilient, and more creative. Each of us is different, of course, so each of us finds this joy in different activities, yet each of us knows this feeling. And when our work does indeed bring us this joyful ingredient, when we do indeed feel love, even, for what we do, then we are truly magnificent.

For many of our hosts, the better they feel about their hosting, the better they feel about themselves as a human.

Our present theory is that devotion to a task at hand puts us in harmony with our creative source. We dedicate ourselves to work itself, not to a false personality.

Importantly, too, information prevents adoration, one of the most dangerous forces against the independent human mind. The choice to see no flaws, the choice to justify every inconsistency or contradiction by saying it isn’t happening or by sewing in an interpretation that allows it to fit the dogma of the adored. We see adoration in the same-stepping rallies of worshippers of any sort: of politicians, fashion, deity, battle, wealth. When reality does not fit the narrative and the narrative is substituting for our own stories of meaning and purpose and significance, we worship. We ignore facts. We term ‘fake’ what is real. We have stopped thinking for ourselves. We have stopped thinking, full stop.

The pain of hating our own creation is a consequence of our investing too much of our sense of being into the company, the product, the creation. When we hang our sense of self on the whisper of an idea; when we unwittingly insist that our love, safety, and belonging depend on what we do and, most important, how others feel about our feelings, our actions, and our work; then we leave little space for anything other than bitter, existential suffering.