Steemit is a truly wonderful social experiment to observe.
A constant interplay of forces…
On the one hand - the ideals, aspirations and lofty dreams within the community.
On the other - the raw greed that lives within us all.
The non-spiritual side of us
…has spent a couple of billion years in a survival-of-the-fittest, that-which-can-grab-the-most-wins, battle.
Small wonder, all of us have some element of the passion for GREED within us.
Just offer anything for “free” and it is amazing to watch the extent to which we will go to get it.
The motivation for monetary reward on steemit is stimulating all kinds of responses from us.
• Some of us that have never blogged or written are trying our hand at it - and discovering a creativity we barely knew existed within us.
• Some of us are spamming posts and votes - by throwing everything we can think of, at the wall, and hoping something sticks.
• Some of us have developed automated bots - to earn money while we sleep, in diverse and creative ways.
• Some of us are gaming each new feature of the system - to extract every possible ounce of reward.
• Some of us are actively promoting the platform - in the hope of maximizing our current investment, sometime in the future.
• etc.
But…
Our better natures, the “breath of life”, breathed into us, if you will. Demand of us to rise above our physical, greed-inclined selves.
To be more than mere animals, tailless apes, by-products of a mindless evolution from the primordial swaps. Never satiated, ever seeking for more. He who dies with the most toys wins kind of people.
We have within us a striving for something better, something more than mere hunting and gathering of resources. More than grabbing hands that grab all they can,
…we want to be more,
…we want to build more,
…we want to make a difference,
…we want to leave a legacy.
But again…
Are High Ideals and Aspirations just that?
…highly idealistic,
…pie in the sky,
…pipe dreams,
…never to be achieved?
…Continually hijacked by human greed,
…and the other baser elements of our physical, evolved nature?
And so,
As each of us battle our own personal evolutionary battle, this battle is transferred to steemit.
Therefore steemit projects our split personalities, our struggle between ideals and greed,
…good and evil,
…light and dark,
…yin and yang,
…the constant interplay that drives the evolution of us and steemit, onward and upward.
Opposition is an eternal principle, as explained here…(that’s why this is also tagged in the philosophy and religion section)
Opposition is always necessary for growth and training requires resistance.
This steemit ecosystem is driven by cryptocyrency rewards and hence greed is likely to be its arch nemesis, the yang to its yin, its resistive and restraining force holding it back.
When it comes to passions its often better not to fight them but to channel them! Since they are an integral part of us. It is no different for us as a steemit community.
@gavvet wonderful writing style. I love how your sentences flow!
Your wild horse analogy reminds me of Jonathan Haidt's metaphor of a rider on the back of an elephant. The rider is able to guide the elephant to the left, to the right, to halt or go forward. He can lead the elephant but only when the elephant doesn’t have desires of its own.
Haidt describes the rider as the conscious, the controlled thought and the elephant as everything else. Its the gut feeling, the visceral reaction, the emotion and intuition.
I agree the elephant is a great analogy
haha is giving yourself an upvote also a pro hack? ;)
well spotted, it is.
@gavvet couldn't resist to share the post and analogy in this article: https://steemit.com/life/@timdierckxsens/how-to-change-by-obeying-the-forces-you-want-to-command
this inspiring. I agree, the comunity needs to resist the temptation to click boobs and hot girls
we need to resist our own nature to click hype content
instead if we choose to only vote on SMART content that is actually helpul to us all - word that will change the world! Steemit not trained will fail - trained, not only will it succeed, it will change the world!
Thank you for posting. Hope you get ever more to snowball to the top!
I up-voted you too... BTW, should steemit let us steemers advertise using steem? Be sure to tell everyone you know to come vote here at: https://steemit.com/steemit/@kingtylervvs/if-steemit-ever-does-decide-to-advertise-there-is-only-1-way-it-could-work-in-my-opinion-debate
This is a democratic community decision.
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Upvote the #steemengine for in house steemit poster ads!
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@Gavvet, I found all your posts interesting, hopefully we will have a Follow button soon! I'll be a follower ... Come On STEEMIT give us the button !!!
The button is there in the profile page, its just not functioning yet.
Ohh I have pressed a few times. Nothing happened.
Doctor it hurts when I do this. Don't do that!
Yes> we need a button.
please don't spam, it doesn't work, you will get downvoted
https://steemit.com/introduceyourself/@ilyaivanov/hello-i-m-from-russia-help-me-to-be-happy-and-gain-a-million-likes-each-road-paint-for-me
please don't spam, it doesn't work, you will get downvoted
AWESOMELY written!
Thanks
Well said - the dichotomy of our souls. It's like the angel and devil on each shoulder. For me, I am writing stuff that has been locked up inside my whole life. And to see it being read is the impetus to keep me producing more. For the creative types, it's exhilarating to see others appreciating what we reveal.
I tried blogging before but gave up because it was to hard to find and maintain an audience, steemit has totally changed that.
Yes, for me too. It's the inherent need to be heard. We all have it. Rock on!
I hate the fact that google keeps their 100 dollar limit for cash out. I would rather use crypto banners that give me instant btc!
My avatar is the good ghost & the bad ghost...that is me.
It completely agrees! Itself began to think of it often.
Give us the Cyrillic too. we need to encourage more foreign languages on steemit.
I recently had a struggle with this very thing. We're all human.
https://steemit.com/steem/@buddha/beware-people-like-me-are-on-steemit
Loved the post and recommendation.
I love this... so much hope in this weird nature of humans...we can turn our dark nature to work towards light :-) Regards mate!
Yip, the choice is ours, as to which path we will choose or which of the inner voices we will give in to.
Really interesting take on this whole chaotic experience that we are living on this platform early days. Love how you mix spirituality, human nature, greed, opposites, etc, and makes sense in the end. Good writing.
Life is all about contrasts
Somehow this seems so much more relevant now, in light of recent events.
@gavvet, really awesome article. and true about human nature in its rawest form. At least we now have STEEMIT to express that primordial urge to express ourselves, where we know that our voices will not go unheard.
Again, another post offering great perspective. This platform can/will be what each of us make of it
Thanks, Steemit is great, all the possitive and creative interactions make me think more creatively than I have in ages.
Well said. I'm new on steemit and the thing that strikes me here, and in so many great posts, is the positivity. Positivity which as you said, inspires creativity. Exciting times!
It's funny......this thought went through my mind. I just wasn't able to get it from my mind onto my fingertips onto a blog. Nice post. If you ever listen to the Red Hot Chili Peppers listen to "Dark Necessities". I'm sure you will see how it relates to this.
I'll have to look that one up and listen now...
Great text, reveals the essence.
Break it down to the basic principles and this is what you get.
"To be more than mere animals, tailless apes, by-products of a mindless evolution from the primordial swaps."
Resistance yes, stepping back from one's own mind and watching the greed gland grow, then deciding to do something extraordinary with the funds, that plants seeds in a thousand souls.........
...and that is the measure of greatness, not the one who dies with the most toys but the one who leaves behind the most trees.
A beautiful analysis of human behavior!
We see it all the time on steemit
Nothing more to be said. Great analysis!
thanks
Some of us that have never blogged or written are trying our hand at it - and discovering a creativity we barely knew existed within us
Let's hope that's where this goes. Let's listen to the quiet voices among us.
Steemit ebbs and flows... the power of the whale votes diminishes with each new user signing up and voting... us early birds saw it in the last 3 months. as more users join and figure out how to vote effectively the rewards become spread more evenly.
Good job, good post!
Thanks!
@gavvet This post perfectly describes the inner conflict I'm feeling. I feel the reptilian primal part of my brain hijacking my frontal lobe. My frontal lobe keeps telling me to write great, authentic, and valuable content that will transcend Steemit. But the reptilian part of my brain is telling me to keep feeding the greed orgy by spamming Steemit with self-referential pump articles.
I'm glad that you had the discipline to tame your inner animal, to be conscious of it, and acknowledge it. This will help me immensely in taming my own and to continue to write and curate for the good of the world...not just steemit....
glad i could help, others have helped me on here.
@gavvet you are right!
Either way because $ is involved, there will be passion.
I am encouraged by the future of Steemit, because the Whales have everything to loose if the site takes a spiral.
The Whales will save us.(I hope)
the Steem power portion of the platform is pure genius, everybody is locked in to make sure it succeeds.
Оригинально,похвально.
Originally, it is commendable.
do a google translate with the Cyrillic:
thanks
spam will get you downvoted
@gavvet I just had a huge epiphany from your seemingly mundane reply to this spam. By doing what's in the best interest of the community you profit, by doing what's in your best interest (spamming) you don't make any money. The game theory here is amazing!
100% correct