Why be extra-super-duper-ordinary?
Hi, my name is Kevin Xu, and I am solipsistic.
Solipsism is apparently the philosophical idea that “My mind is the only thing that I know exists.” When you think about it, it’s true. Only I know what I feel when I touch something. Only I know what I think and everyone else’s thoughts are synthetic. I don’t know if anyone even exists when I’m not with them. Maybe all life was just created to further my life? Yes I’m saying that none of you are real and are only here to entertain me.
Of course, all of the above is sarcastic. But solipsism can be a major ego-booster if you’re ever feeling down, try it out.
The point I am trying to make with this idea is to answer the question “Why am I doing this?”
Lately I have been asked this a lot by my peers with “this” referring to this blog, my startup, and my dreams altogether. Why am I not just living a regular life, going through regular school, then college, then work, and raising a regular family? Why am I choosing one of the riskiest careers and starting so young? Why am I even trying to get the world to know my name?
The answer to all those questions comes down to the fact that I am alive and I want this to be the best life I will only have. Call it my meaning of life if you will but it all comes down to me being aware of my own conscienceless. I am thinking things that no one else is thinking and I can control what my own two hands do. Ever look down at your two hands and actually realize that you are controlling them and they can make glorious things for the world? I realize that amazing fact every single day.
Whether it be solipsism or not, the fact that I am alive is what drives me to do the crazy things that I might end up doing. I look around in my community and am dismayed that so many lives are wasted as they did not achieve the potential of what they could accomplish.
So to all my peers that questioned me, yes I could just go on with regular school life and do what everyone else is doing. But where’s the fun in that?
~Kevin Xu
