Improvement Pill here – here's an idea that's made me into a much happier person these
past few months. It's going to sound a bit crazy – ok? What if you and I are the same.
And I don't mean like we're both human. Or that we like the same things.
I mean what if you and I are literally the same being. The same soul.
You see - there are stories of people that had traumatic brain injuries like a getting a rod
shot through their head which lead to sudden changes in the way they act,
someone who used to be calm and collected would suddenly become someone who was easily
irritated and upset. So it seems like a lot of what we feel is tied to whats
physically going on in our body and brain. So we are not what we feel.
Then there are stories of twins and triplets who were separated at birth but eventually reunited.
Only to find out that all 3 smoke the same type of cigarettes, all 3 like older women, and all 3
even dance the same way. Which means that a lot of what we think makes us special, our unique
preferences in life, our quirks, how we act - might actually be because of our genes – our DNA.
This made me think – what if who we think we are,
is actually just a list of traits and emotions for the physical body that we are currently in.
All of the things that we identify with, our age, our race, our height, the way we look,
the way we feel, our positives and negatives: all of this - are just labels and personality
traits of a character in a movie. This ain't the real you. The real you is the being on the couch
watching this movie. Some call it your consciousness, others call it your soul.
Now stay with me,
Here's another idea that I've been thinking about a lot which comes from the Egg Story – by
Andy Weir. Kursegatz also made a video about it. To quickly sum it up – the
main character dies and is told that when you die, you get reincarnated into another body.
You might come back as some random person on the other side of the world.
You might even come back as a dog. Every time you die this cycle continues on and
on until you've experienced every single life that exists, and will ever exist.
This idea of reincarnation - kinda make senses to me because there are interesting studies of
kids under the age of 5 who have strange memories of past lives. There are thousands of cases where
kids are able to remember exactly how and where someone else died, along with dozens of other
small details about that persons life. And just to be clear this is all before the internet so
how would a 5 year old kid in some Indian village know how someone died in France,
a country that uses a totally different language? Researchers ended up concluding
that somethings definitely going on here, could it be reincarnation? Who knows – they can't prove it.
But lets run with these 2 ideas - what if everything we identify with is actually just
part of the body that we're currently in. And the real us is this being on the couch.
AND what if every time we die – the movie finishes – and we flip the channel to
the next movie. If this is true, then it's possible that we are all the same
being just at different stages of it's movie binge-watching journey.
It's possible that you and I are the same. One day you will get to live Improvement
Pill's life and one day I will get to live yours. Or maybe that's already happened.
Now why am I bringing up this crazy idea that I certainly can't prove. Well as I've played
with this idea in my head for the past couple of months, I've started to actually believe it. Not
a lot, maybe only like 10%. But it's brought some very interesting benefits into my life.
First of all I don't really feel negative emotions as strongly. Sometimes I'll be
on social media looking at someone who is way more successful than I am, more talented, more
attractive - and in the past I might have felt some form of envy or feel bad about myself – but
nowadays with this new belief that we are all the same – my thinking changes - I start to think,
“Wow that's cool, I'm glad that version of me gets to live that life. Good for them”
Secondly, I feel more connected with people who are experiencing hardship.
Sometimes I come across panhandlers when I travel and I end up thinking “wow that's going to be me
one day. I'm going to experience this form of hardship as well. I should help em out.”
Now - this is a very different from how I used to think when I was younger. Back then I felt proud
when I donated money. I would think wow, I'm sure people watching think that I'm such a good person.
But with this new belief - I don't really feel proud, I feel like I'm taking care of a wound
on my own body. That's the best way to describe it. Like it's my duty to take care of myself.
And finally this belief has made me more understanding. We often witch-hunt people
on social media. “This person is evil because they did x y and z.”
When I see these people being accused - I think “wow that's me
in another life” If I was born in that body, in that environment, and had to live
their life – I would probably do the equally messed up thing that they've been accused of.
I can also be terrible. So I don't get angry or upset when I see people in this situation.
I actually feel curious as to what led them down this path. And if the accusations are even true.
Now look – I know I've been away for a while – and I know this idea sounds crazy. But I wanted
to share it with you because it is something that I think about a lot nowadays – and it's
honestly made me happier. I hope it brings you the same sort of peace that it's brought me.
Now if you're wondering where I get these life-changing ideas. It's usually from
books. Which is why this episode was brought to you by Shortform. Shortform allows you to
quickly learn about the most important ideas in books, articles, and even podcasts without
having to spend hours reading or listening to the entire thing. They are by far the most in-depth
book summary platform that I've come across – giving you enough information to grasp all of
the most important ideas without having to read the full book. On top of that they even connect
ideas between books - making sure that you see things from multiple angles. They have a vast
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want them to summarize next. Personally, I like to browse technology, relationships, and philosophy.
Go to shortform.com/improvementpill to get 20% off on one of the best
time saving education tools out there. The idea that we are a being on a couch
watching a movie is actually from The Power Of Now by Eckharte Tolle – which you can check out
on Shortform as well. It's one of my all time favorite books that helped me a lot during my
teenage years. If you do decide to check it out, you should focus on the first couple of
chapters. The second half of the book kind of gets weird. Besides that guys stay tuned