
Most people in society expect immediate gratification of their needs, instant results, the magic pill, but, in my experience, this is not how life works. I planted 21 acorns, and these will take weeks to appear, then a few years of care, then fifty years to become reasonable oak trees. Everything runs according to its own pace, and nothing is immediate when growing an oak tree from acorns.
Its great to see all those children idealistically protesting about climate change, in their little minds demanding instant results to their demands. The only sustainable solution to pulling carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere is planting trees, but these take generations, decades to establish. Changing attitudes to farming, adopting solutions such as eating less meat, and doing everything to reduce methane gas, takes time. Against this, the instant gratification of a McDonalds beefburger, or to cut down the annoying tree in the garden that took 60 years to grow, adds to the problem of more methane and carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Even if actions start now, there won’t be immediate results on climate change, this will take decades to reap the harvest of what is sown now.
Fighting the Satan Hunters behind the Hampstead Hoax has taken five years, and challenging the false allegation maker Becki Percy will take another year. Studying for my exams, takes eight months. Getting my garden ready for spring planting, several months. Then there is the projects involving artificial intelligence that will take years. Everything takes time, tons of time, money and energy. It is thus better to focus upon a few things that matter, do them well, and understand that it takes time to see the results.
The human body has a hunting hormone called dopamine that rewards the individual for the hunt, which is one of the reasons that people become addicted to gambling and drugs. The individual won’t get much dopamine from an instant gratification of a need, dopamine rewards the hunt, and thus its the process to getting the end result where the chemical reward is, rather than instant results.
Finally, the philosophy of entelechy is about the paradox of something that is complete, but also working to completion. Entelechy can describe life, our aliveness is both an end state, but also a process towards that end state through constant breathing and a pumping heart. If our heart stopped beating, we ceased breathing, then the process towards aliveness stops, and the completeness of aliveness vanishes with it into death.
So, it might be better to forget about instant results, the end states, but to enjoy the journey, the process towards completion; focus on what matters, knowing that all things take time, and the process is where the fun is rather than the end result.