I neither consider myself a cinephile nor take satisfaction in having seen enough movies to be able to suggest any. However, I strongly recommend that every man watches this film at least once in their lifetime.
We as men are meant to do great things. Our ambitions should be larger than life. Not even the sky should be a limit to what we can achieve. That’s what we are biologically evolved to do.
But the matrix is killing us and our masculinity. There’s too much distraction in our lives in terms of cheap dopamine from porn, alchohol, processed food and social media to focus on the things that truly matter.
During these times it’s important to be disciplined. Discipline is the key to all your problems, but it also is the hardest thing to pursue. You need a push. A catalyst. Giving this movie your undivided attention can put you on the path to attaining that discipline you need in your life.
This is not because it is a really inspiring movie like Rocky which would urge you to “push your boundaries”. It’s a psychological thriller with such deep themes that it makes you doubt your own reality.
Allow yourself time to digest and reflect on what this film is attempting to say, and you will not be disappointed.
I am talking about ‘The Fight Club’ and here are the most thought provoking dialogues that made me fall in love with this movie.
While we spend most of our time attempting to understand others around us and deciphering what they do and why they do it, I was surprised at how little I understood about myself.
I’m reading books and biographies of great individuals and corporations, but I’m not willing to delve within myself to figure out what makes me, well, me. Why?
Is it too hard to look within? Too painful and disturbing?
Knowing why you do what you do will help you master your actions for the future and the best way to know THIS is by putting yourself in harm’s way.
It’s that flight and fight response which instinctively takes over your sense that defines who you are. That’s when your actions are no more influenced by how others are perceiving you. It doesn’t matter anymore.
We’ve programmed our brains to always operate in the way that others expect us to. So, in the most basic and honest sense, we are never our raw selves.
If you don’t always act the way you want to, how can you ever truly know who you are?
Unknown
Knowledge is power. Knowledge of oneself is a bliss.
I talked to many people my age since moving to Bangalore. Struck deep conversations with most, be it friends or strangers
All of them are chasing the best for themselves. The best job, the best package, the best profile, the best college, the best relationships, the best of friends, the best trips
And it’s not wrong wanting the best for yourself
Ironically nobody has all that they want. Not even a single one of them. All of them think that they are this 🤏 close to being complete
They ‘just’ want that next salary hike, and all will be set
They ‘just’ want that next trip to happen, and they would be complete
Only when I saw all of this happening around me, I truly understood what Tyler meant.
You can never be complete. You will never be perfect. You are a space monkey. Evolve.
Working hard towards something is fine, but thinking upon achieving the results you will be complete is nothing short of stupidity.
Stop being stupid.
It’s human nature to want to make progress, but becoming better just for the sake of becoming better will give you nothing but stress and anxiety. Why do you want to be better? You can read a book and feel good (masturbate) that you are becoming a better person, with no actual results to show for it.
The paradox of self-help is that the more self-help information you consume, the more you think you need help. When in fact, the last thing you need is help. You don’t need help. You need to love yourself. Enough so that you stop consuming self-help and start living.
I notice that most people who considered themselves self-help junkies go to a lot of training and seminars purchase a lot of books and keep on practicing and improving themselves but avoid the necessary hard-work to finish the job.
Self destruction is the answer
Tyler Durden
What I’m pointing is there’s no real self-improvement. We only improve on the things we do if it hurts us.
If we hurt are muscles by going to the gym then it will become stronger.
If our business fails and it hurts us, we can become wise onto our next venture.
If we get rejected by the girl we want, there’s a chance that we can be better for our next approach.
Seek discomfort to grow. Self help is fantasies
We should feel the pain (Self-Destruction). We should be comfortable with it. Because that is the way forward. Real growth happens when we are in this state.
In all the things we want we will always feel the pain. I know this is hard at first but that’s what makes life challenging. We must learn to sustain the pain we’ve been choosen.
In Fight Club, the Narrator loses everything when his apartment is destroyed, and it frees him up to follow his heart and start an underground anarchist group. However, the phrase is powerful enough to inspire people to do more positive things with their lives too.
The Things You Own End Up Owning You
There is deeper relevance to this than just material things. It relates to everything else in your life that you tie your identity to.
You are not your job. You are not the person you date. You are not how much money you have in the bank. You are not the car you drive. You are not the contents of your wallet.
Once you dissociate your identity from all these things can you truly know who you are.
This is because now you do not have a tag to live up to. Lose all the tags you have been carrying as baggage all your life.
Only when you have lost everything, you are free to do anything.
This is a straight jab to the face of consumerism by Tyler. We have become consumers. Consuming crap at all times.
We consume foods that are bad for our body and content that is messing with our brain.
We are consuming anything and everything that society has to feed us.
All the great visionaries of the world have been responsible for creating magic in this world. It is their creations which have made them immemorial. Their inventions, art, literature or any other contribution.
These people didn’t achieve what they did by mindlessly consuming all that was being fed to them. They were producing and creating.
Be a creator. Create your own destiny.
We’re the middle children of the history, no purpose or place, we have no Great war, no Great depression.
Tough times create strong men, strong men create easy times. Easy times create weak men, weak men create tough times
Our forefathers were one tough motherfuckers to have created such blissful times for us. They fought for our independence so that we could binge watch FRIENDS till dawn on a weekday.
And as I mentioned earlier, self destruction is the answer. If we are not putting ourselves in harm’s way, how will we ever truly know who we are let alone give us a chance to improve.
This is my most favorite line of the movie.
Tomorrow will be the most beautiful day of Raymond K. Hessel’s life. His breakfast will taste better than any meal you and I have ever tasted
Tyler Durden
We have a tendency of those things slide which truly matter to us. If we don’t have Tyler holding us at a gunpoint asking us “What did you wanna be?” we will mindlessly waste away our lives slogging
Truth is that we will never have Tyler coming after us. You have to be your own Tyler.
Answer for yourself what would you have done if you were to die today and do it. Nothing is stopping you.
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