Why is Life so Hard? – The Common Sense Vs the Philosophical Solution

At times, life is hard and difficult. At other times, life is blissful and happy. Between Misery and Happiness, life oscillates. It is confusing, and not very clear why this happens. Why can’t we be permanently blissful.

Why bliss must be interspersed with misery?! Why is Life so Hard?!

One of the primary reasons for Misery is the frustration of our desires and expectations.

Sometimes the simple act of living happily is interrupted by devastating random events.

COVID19 epidemic happened suddenly and devastated so many lives. The economic recession of 2008 lead to so many layoffs. People are born into poverty and face consequent misery for no fault of theirs. The war in Ukraine has destroyed so many lives.

This frustration of desires, expectations and life interruptions manifest itself through psychological phenomenon such as anxiety, stress, depression etc.

In extreme cases, it leads to issues like neurosis and psychosis along with suicidal tendencies. We are unable to be resilient and face the difficulty of life.

Common-Sense Viewpoint of Why Life is So Hard?

The usual Common-Sense solution to hardship in life has been to increase our efforts and try harder. If you are not getting a raise or your company is failing, just work harder. If your book is not selling, market harder. And also Pray to God for success.

If, even after all our efforts, we still fail then the big judgement is made that our efforts, and even worse – we ourselves, are not good enough.

We start believing that we are cursed!

We are out of favor with God. We are bearing the fault in our stars. And the cycle of misery goes on and on.

Philosophical Viewpoint of Why Life is So Hard

On the other hand, a Philosophical Solution to hardship in life has been proposed at various times. This solution is the letting go of desire and expectation itself.

The central message of the Indian Holy Book, the Bhagwad Gita is ‘Nishkama Karma‘ – duty for duty’s sake. Duty that is done with detachment.

Buddha recommended similar solution in his Third Noble Truth of extinguishing attachment. He also gave the Fourth Noble Truth of the Eight-fold path for achieving this detachment.

The Stoics advocated the similar sentiments in their quest for Eudaimonia. Schopenhauer similarly advocated ascetism or detachment as the solution to life’s nihilism.

This philosophical solution of giving up attachment is not well understood by common humanity.

To most people, duty for duty’s sake appears like a sucker’s game. Who would want to do that?!!

To most people it sounds like a moralistic platitude and nothing more. Using common sense, most people expect that same effort should lead to same results.

In this article, I will reconcile the Philosophical View with the Common Sense View and in the process uncover the real culprit behind making our lives so hard – Power Laws!!

Understanding that Power Laws are behind our misery is the first part of the whole puzzle of how the world actually works.

Your award for solving this puzzle is the formula for success which actually works in this world filled with both with Order and Chaos.

The Ergodic Hypothesis underlies Common Sense Thinking

During my research, while reading Nassim Taleb, I came across a concept from Taleb which was completely new to me. This was the concept of Ergodicity.

Ergodicity is surely a mouthful of a name! And it has nothing to do with God!!

It’s actually a combination of words ‘Ergon’ meaning work and ‘Odos’ meaning path. Ludwig Boltzmann, a physicist, coined the term Ergodicity to simplify derivation of gas equations.

The Ergodic Hypothesis states that the average of a process parameter over time and the average over virtual copies (Ensemble) of the system are same.

Huh!! What the heck was that??!!

Don’t bother trying to understand the technical definitions!

They go over my head too!

So let’s just cut the jargon and look at Taleb’s example.

Nassim Taleb’s explanation of Ergodicity

In Taleb’s example – assume that 100 gamblers go to a casino.

Daily, on the average, around 1% of these gamblers go bust.

Hence, on the first day, 1% go bust.

On the second day, again 1% goes bust. The third day, another 1% go bust.

Hence, you can see that this average of going bust stays same on any given day. Let’s call this Aggregate Average.

The question is – is the Aggregate Average of going bust is 1%, what is the average for a single gambler going bust if this guy gambles for all 100 days?

Is this single gambler’s chance of going bust also 1% or is it something else?

As Taleb shows, if this daily gambler goes bust on a particular day, say day 25^th, then there is no day 26^th, is there?

Hence, the odd of going bust for a person going to this casino for 100 consecutive days is actually 100%!!

This odd is technically called the ‘Time Average‘.

Time average reflects what happens to the average gambler who gambles regularly for 100 days. Aggregate Average on the other hand reflects what happens to an aggregate of 100 gamblers in a Casino on a single day.

Hence, time average is not equal to the aggregate average.

This means that gambling is not an Ergodic process.

When something is not Ergodic, it means that the aggregate average cannot be used to calculate risk for the individual.

Taleb points out that because of these differences in aggregate average and time average, we have to be very careful about any risk analysis.

When Casinos claim that the odd of going bust for their customers is only 1%, they are hiding the Time average of going bust for a compulsive gambler, which is 100%.

The Common-Sense Thinking problem of making Ergodic Hypothesis

The confusion of Common-Sense thinking occurs when a Compulsive Gambler assumes that the aggregate average is applicable to him. When he goes bust, he calls himself unlucky instead of calling himself foolish!!

The belief system of the compulsive gambler has been hacked by this play on averages and this Compulsive Gambler is doomed to go bust.

In Common Sense thinking, we make such wrong assumptions for a number of things. This causes gaps in our understanding.

We have to understand that what happens to the aggregate does not reflect what is happening to the individual.

These differences become very important when the underlying distributions are Power Law as we will see in the next section.

This common-sense assumptions leads to Bad Science as has been shown by many studies in Psychology and other Human subject studies (See here and here). Bad science leads to bad results – as is reflected by scores of gamblers ruining their families.

As Mind and Body Hackers, we are very much interested in knowing what happens to the average person and not what happens to the ensemble.

But what does this above discussion lead to? How does Misery and the Power Law come into the picture?

Intrigued by Taleb’s writing, I then went and read a few things about Ergodicity.

This is when I discovered that the Power Law formation is behind Misery in Life.

Power Laws cause the mean values to shift from middle quartiles to top quartiles.

Hence, 80 percent of the wealth ends up belonging to top 20 percent of the people. This is the hidden culprit which makes life so hard.

How the Power Law Formation is behind making Life Hard and Unfair?

I started with a one of the most popular research papers on Ergodicity written in 2016. The paper was written by Ole Peters, of London Mathematical Laboratory and Murray Gell-Mann, the late Nobel Laureate.

Using examples from Ole Peters lecture notes and blog posts, I ran some simple excel models of comparing the aggregate average with time average for a large group of people over a longish time. I just wanted to understand how Common Sense does not work when we extrapolate Group Averages to Individual Time averages.

Little did I know that this simple exercise will reveal to me about how power laws are formed!!

From my playing around with this example – I realized that in this World of ours, being average itself is very difficult. To be high above average is extremely difficult and also very rare.

These excel models gave me the mathematical simulation of Power Law formation that leads to Misery in Life. And how we humans, ignore certain aspects of our world such as randomness and iterations, in calculation of cause-and-effect scenarios.

I will take you through the example below. It is just a simple mathematical simulation.

Simple Excel Model Simulation to demonstrate Formation of Power Laws in our life

This mathematical example starts with a group of 1000 individuals. Each of this individual is represented by a Serial Number from 1 to 1000. These individuals are entirely similar to each other. This group is called as an Ensemble.

We assign a wealth amount of 100 at Time 0 to all of these individuals. The situation is represented by the chart below.

These individuals now undertake to grow this 100 wealth with their effort for 500 weeks with some returns.

We will play two scenarios related to growth of this initial wealth.

Scenario 1: Fixed Growth Model with no Randomness

In the first scenario, all the individuals grow their wealth with a fixed 2.5% increase every week.

After 500 weeks their wealth changes with this growth.

Hence, for everyone the same growth is getting added every week and the new wealth after 500 weeks becomes uniformly 22.1 million for every one of these individuals.

The total wealth of the 1000 individuals becomes 22.1 Billion. This is shown in this chart.

Hence, the average wealth is 22.1 million. And the average of the group is also equal to the average of the individual person in the aggregate. Hence, this example is Ergodic.

The above is the ideal scenario where same effort and investment leads to similar growth which lead to similar results. There are no surprises here so let’s move on to the next scenario.

Scenario 2: Random Return Growth Model

In the Scenario 2, we stick to our similar effort and similar expected growth rate scenario. The only change is that we introduce an element of probability by making the growth rate as randomized.

We achieve this randomness by making the conditions of the expected growth rate fluctuate between two possibilities, i.e., as either:

1. Each of the individual gets a positive growth rate of 10% with 50% probability. (OR)
2. The individual gets a negative growth rate of -5% with a probability of 50%.

This is like a coin toss with equal probability of heads or tails coming.

When this game is played over a long time the number of heads and number of tails should be nearly same.

Hence, the expected return of each turn can be calculated as the sum of:

• 10% return multiplied by 50% probability and
• -5% return multiplied by remaining 50% probability.

This gives the expected return as 2.5%. (Calculation: (10% x 50%) + (-5% x 50%) = 2.5%)

This 2.5% growth rate is kept as same as I had mentioned Scenario 1. Since, this is a probabilistic scenario, after running the simulation, we will recalculate the average growth rate.

Again, I want to reemphasize that the same situation applies to each and every individual as before and hence there are no individual differences.

The only difference is that for one individual if he gets a series of Heads, Heads, Tails, Tails, then he will see the wealth as 100, 110, 121, 114.95, 109.2025 and so on.

Another person gets Heads, Tail, Heads, Tail will see the wealth fluctuate as 100, 110,104.5,114.95, 109.2025 and so on.

Just like scenario 1, we run this randomized simulation for 500 weeks. Sure enough, the total wealth for all the individuals comes to be again 22.1 billion.

This is the same as the total wealth of all individuals in Scenario 1. And based on 1000 individuals, the average is again 22.1 million which is same as in Scenario 1. Hence, process parameters are the same for both scenarios.

Now, since randomness was introduced, we expect that there will be some differences in the growth rates of different individuals in Scenario 2 unlike the Scenario 1, where everyone had the same wealth.

Now, I want you to pause reading and take a guess at the difference of the lowest wealth total and the highest wealth total.

Write that guess down.

Really – write it down!!

After running this simulation, I asked two of my friends about their guesses. One guessed the difference at around 40%, the other at around 80%.

Well fair enough. I am not sure what your guess is but when I saw the difference, I spent around half an hour to check my excel sheet.

The actual difference is 4,444,604%, i.e. 4.5 Million percent!!

Yes! You read that right!!

After 500 turns, the person with the least amount had accumulated only 12,734 wealth and the top person had accumulated 566 million wealth. (Take that sucker!!)

Isn’t that something?!!

Remember there was no difference in the starting 1000 except for randomness of returns over time.

The question is obviously, doesn’t luck average out?

Shockingly Not!!

When randomness is occurring in an iterative system, randomness accumulates and does not cancel out.

Some very odd phenomenon of life which confuses us on regular basis is actually explained by this simple mathematical behavior of randomness over time. There’s a lot more to learn from this simple exercise. Let me show to you.

The Power Law formation makes Life Hard and Unfair by shifting mean values from 50 percent to 80 percent

I actually plotted the wealth of all the thousand individuals from the highest to the lowest. I got the following chart:

What did just happen?!

This is a Power Law curve!!

Where did this curve come from?!

Most of the wealth is just stacked up with a few individuals. (I can hear the lucky rich sniggering!!)

It looks like as if a few individuals have done very good and the rest have been slackers. Doesn’t that seem like the start-up scene, where a few successful people get all the returns.

The question is – were the remaining slackers?!

When I superimposed Scenario 1 of fixed returns with Scenario 2 of with the random returns, I got this chart:

Look at the above chart carefully. It appears as if someone just shifted the wealth of people from right to left.

The so-called aggregate average of Scenario 1 which was 2.1 Million in scenario 1 and was same for everyone, now lies at around number 235 instead of number 500.

Clearly, when randomness was introduced, the process stopped being Ergodic and the group average of 22.1 million is clearly not applicable to the whole group due to such a large divergence of the group from the average.

From the 236^th individual onwards, some invisible hand has shifted the wealth of the remaining 765 to the top 235 without anything being different between these individuals.

The total wealth of 12.7 Billion from the bottom 765 individuals got transferred to the top 235 individuals. After this wealth transfer, the bottom 765 individuals have only 4.2 Billion wealth. This is only 19% of the total wealth of 22.1 billion. The top 235 have a total of 17.9 billion. This is 81% of the total wealth of 22.1 billion.

This is the famous 80:20 Rule where the average person instead of lying at 50 percentile lies somewhere near the 80 percentile. And the 80% of total wealth now belongs to the top 20%.

And this is the crux of Misery. The Crux of why Life is so Hard. Just to be average, you have to be in the top 20 percent, not the top 50 percent. Power Law formation shifts 80% of all wealth to the top 20 percent.

Just to be average, you have to be in the top bracket.

Moreover, even after making same effort, there is no guarantee that you will even become average. The chance for you being below average is actual 80 percent!!

Even after undertaking multiple randomizations with different parameters, I observed similar statistics in every Scenario.

In these other repetitions, I observed the following:

1. With increase in variability (example: making the returns -10% and +20% from the earlier -5% and +10%), the wealth transfer was even more. Sometimes a single individual cornered all the wealth.
2. Conversely, with decrease in variability, the wealth transfer declined.
3. I also observed that the wealth transfer was random – with every different randomization a different lucky individual was getting the wealth.
4. Additionally, in the same Scenario 2, over time, the top individual changes as time progresses week by week. In the above charted Scenario 2, the individual ranked first after 100 weeks finally ranked 273. One of the individuals who at Day 169 had double the wealth than the ultimate top guy was finally ranked right near the bottom at 948 in the final count.

From the above it can now clearly be seen that the philosophers were intuiting a deep-seated Mathematical Truth when they advised humanity to forsake attachment to results.

The majority 80% people have to be content with only 20% of the wealth and 20 percent enjoy the 80% of the wealth. What sin did these 80% people do that their wealth got transferred to the 20% individuals.

Isn’t this exactly the wealth gap problem in the world right now?

This is the Maths behind Misery and Fate.

Randomness of growth rates over time acts on a population of similar humans as an Invisible hand. This invisible hand redistributes expected result causing few to benefit at the expense of many. The distribution of randomness follows Power Laws. Randomness accumulates over time rather than cancelling over time.

The History of the Power Law and 80:20 Rule

The famous 80:20 rule, which is the Power Law, was first observed by Vilfredo Pareto in the early twentieth century. While studying income distribution in Italy, Pareto observed that 80% of wealth of Italy belonged to 20% of the population.

In 1980, seeing the universality of this principle, Management Guru Joseph Juran named this axiom after Pareto. Power Law Pareto distributions are seen in health care costs (another example is here), in social costs, in sales, in spreading of epidemic disease etc.

The above mathematical simulation model, which I performed, leads to the suggestion that the Pareto Principle is a Law rather than merely a principle.

Now, the curious thing is that while Pareto was the first to observe the Power Law principle in the distribution of wealth, his conclusions were strikingly contrary to our observation.

Pareto did not attribute the Power Law distribution as a Mathematical Causation of random returns over time.

Pareto was very rational and using ‘common-sense’, he rationally concluded that this was ‘something in the nature of man’.”

In his book Misbehaviour of Markets Benoit Mandelbrot reveals that Pareto wrote of the reason for the curve as, “Human nature is primitive, emotional, unyielding. The smarter, abler, stronger, and shrewder take the lion’s share. The weak starve, lest society become degenerate. One can, Pareto wrote, compare the social body to the human body, which will promptly perish if prevented from eliminating toxins.”

Even though Pareto observed the principle, he still attributed the reasons behind the principle to Common Sense.

In some ways our failure to intuit deep seated philosophical truths, even after observation, is the difference between Wisdom and Naiveté.

We like to give reasons for everything.

Most strikingly we like to attribute Smartness, Shrewdness and Strength to the successful and weakness to the unsuccessful.

While sometimes it may be skill set, but it needs to be understood that the above power law distribution is a natural cause of randomness over time.

Moreover, this is not a small or a minor shift. The individual differences cross more than a million percentage points. The total shift is that 80% of the total wealth gets distributed to the lucky 20%.

Randomness over time leads to Power Law Formation which forces the average to shift to top quartile

I was quite dumbfounded by the above Power Law inferences. Like I had mentioned earlier that I was doing research to write my book of wisdom. Little did I know that this research itself would start uncovering for me these hidden truths of life.

It took me some time to wrap my head around the fact that it is just randomness and there is no other Cause for Power Law formations. Some of you might get shocked and ask, how can there be no Cause as we are taught to believe from childhood that there is always a Cause for any effect.

In this case, the Cause for Power Law formation is Randomness over Time.

But again, we are also taught in the science classes that randomness over time cancels out.

We are taught that ‘Certius Paribus’ (all other things being equal), Randomness is never a cause to be considered.

But ‘Certius Paribus’ is an assumption to indicate closed system analysis. The world unfortunately is not a closed system.

Ignoring errors is a basic mistake of Common-Sense thinking. What the errors do is that they cluster around the mean value in a normal distribution.

But Normal distributions don’t cancel out. They only have a well-defined mean. Unfortunately, we have made it a habit to replace the distributed values with the mean.

I explored my simulation data further to check for normal distribution.  Since there were 500 turns, on the average, each individual should have around 250 heads and tails each.

The individual with maximum number of heads had 284 heads. And the minimum had 208.

The frequency of heads looks as below with 1’s signifying Gain outcomes. As expected, this is a normal distribution.

Then I examined how the power law pattern forms.

When I lowered the rates to 1% and -0.5%, the pattern has started to form in the chart below. Randomness is causing re-organization on its own.

Now, we draw the charts for 1%, 2%, 4%, 6%, 8% and 10% returns. Then we can see how 80:20 is emerging. As there is increase in the returns, the 80:20 pattern of power law forms. At first the differences are less. But slowly with increase in return variability the power law emerges.

Hence, we can see that besides randomness, the variability of randomness also contributes towards the formation of the Power Law pattern.

Now, let us explore how iterations contribute towards formation of the Power Law pattern. For that I mapped the 10% and -5% returns scenario over 10 iterations, 50 iterations, 100 iterations, 250 iterations and finally the 500 iterations. The charts are below:

As you can see, randomness which is being iterated will never cancel out. If there are iterations, then errors or rather small differences amplify rather than cancelling out.

Earlier our belief system was that there were deliberate psychological reasons for such power curves like Vilfred Pareto had written. After this exercise in Ergodicity economics, we can understand that from the straight line to the Power law, there are three non-deliberate causes:

1. First is the Randomness,
2. Then is the Variability and
3. Finally, are the Number of iterations over time.

Isn’t that amazing? As we will see in the next section, effort or deliberate cause can either amplify or dampen these incidental causes.

The Effect of Effort on improving life’s conditions

The next natural question to as is if fate is unfair then what use is Effort? Is human effort worth nothing? Is it all luck?

I will now show you examples for that.

To test the differentiated effort case, I reasoned that if a Human makes an effort, the same will result in better probabilistic outcomes than the other individuals in the population. If a sportsperson practises again and again, his probability of success increases.

Hence, for 25 random individuals, I changed the expected results from earlier. Each of these 25 individuals get a positive return of 11% with 50% probability. Or these individuals get a negative return of -5% with a probability of 50%.

Hence for these individuals, the expected return becomes the sum of 11% return multiplied by 50% probability and -5% return multiplied by remaining 50% probability. This gives the expected return as 3.0% instead of the earlier 2.5%. This is the benefit of making effort.

After running the same simulation, sure enough all these individuals got a bump. One of the individuals who was earlier at 7.1 percentile jumped to a percentile of 42.9. Another individual jumped from 22.3 percentile to 66.7 percentile. The person at 75.3 percentile jumped to 98.1 percentile. For a few percentiles, who were already in the top, they ended up with a wealth far more than the earlier top person. The following table shows the changes which occurred.

On the other hand, what if these above personnel become lazy and hence their return falls?

For that case, I made each of the 25 individuals get a lower positive return of 9% with 50% probability or the individual gets a negative return of -5% with a probability of 50%.

Hence, for these lazy individuals, the expected return becomes the sum of 9% return multiplied by 50% probability and -5% return multiplied by remaining 50% probability. This gives the expected return as 2.0% instead of the earlier 2.5%.

In this case, all the percentiles fall. The individual with 93.1 percentile falls to 53.3 percentile. The individual with 99.6 percentile falls to 83.3 percentile. The individual who was earlier at 7.1 percentile now falls to 0.3 percentile i.e. he has only 3 more individuals now below him. See the table below: The following table shows the ‘lazy’ case returns

The above improvement and fall is quite expected. If Human Effort is used to increasing our odds, then we can do better. Any increase in our odds will positively impact our returns in the long run. But most importantly, if we slack off or the effort decreases than we will go down even more.

This is again an important component of understanding the 80:20 Rule behind Misery.

Surprisingly, these above truths have been known intuitively for centuries. The famous ‘Karma’ quote (verse number – 2:47) from the Holy Bhagwad Gita, one of the famous Holy books of ancient India, beautifully summarized this learning. The Karma (Karma means action) quotes says:

कर्मण्येवाधिकारस्ते मा फलेषु कदाचन |

मा कर्मफलहेतुर्भूर्मा ते सङ्गोऽस्त्वकर्मणि || 2:47 ||

You have a right to action (Karma); but not to the fruits of your actions.

You should never engage in action for the sake of reward; nor you should be attached to inaction.

Again, the above is a deep intuitive Philosophical Truth. You have the right to action but not for the sake of fruits of the action. For the randomness in life over time ensures that the fruits are distributed in an arbitrary manner. Hence, do not engage in action for the sake of reward. This is what is meant by Nishkama Karma (Desireless Action).

Moreover, never be attached to inaction. Although this last part of the verse is sometimes ignored, it is essential to make our understanding of Karma complete.

Going even deeper, we see that throughout mythology, the Hero is the revered person. In fact, every individual is called out to be a Hero. Bums and fools are detested world over. The Power Law formation is the reason. The Call to becoming a Hero is not some shitty trope. The call to be a hero is mathematically required to survive. Because, as per the 80:20 Power Law rule, the average lies in the first quarter. If the individual does not strive towards the first quarter, he or she or they lose out. That is the ultimate law of nature.

Eustress, Resilience, Grit, Anti-fragility – these are a required reality. Just embrace them.

Inaction on the other hand will pull you down even further. Through inaction, life energy deserts you. Bums and fools prove incapable of undertaking the action that is required to be in the first quarter.

This brings us to the Final Learnings from discussing the Power Law formation behind the question of Why life is so Hard? First we look at the ways in which Power Laws Make our Life Hard. Then we look at the three stages of Mental Growth Model which we can use to improve our Mindset in a Power Law filled world and finally we look at what all can be done by the individual to survive these Power Laws.

How Power Laws Lead to a Hard & Unfair Life?

Finally we can answer the question ‘Why is Life So Hard?’ Power Laws manifest in Life allowing a small percentage of individuals to dominate success, recognition, and resources while leaving the majority in relative obscurity. This unfair concentration of power and rewards has profound implications for our overall well-being. Falling in the trap of Power Laws leads to the following detrimental behaviors and situations for the common person:

Unfulfilled Quest for External Validation

In a society shaped by power laws, individuals often find themselves relentlessly pursuing external validation. The allure of being part of the elite top percentile can create a never-ending cycle of comparison, competition, and striving for recognition. This perpetual quest for validation from others can lead to a sense of inadequacy, self-doubt, and ultimately, misery.

Disparity and Inequality

Power laws exacerbate social and economic inequality, perpetuating a system where a few individuals control a disproportionate amount of resources and opportunities. This inherent imbalance can result in feelings of frustration, injustice, and despair among those who find themselves on the disadvantaged side of the equation. The constant struggle to overcome these disparities can drain one’s energy and hinder personal growth and happiness.

Stressful Impact on Mental Health

The impact of power laws on mental health is significant. The relentless pursuit of success, fueled by a society fixated on the top percentiles, can lead to stress, anxiety, and burnout. The pressure to achieve, maintain status, and meet societal expectations can take a toll on one’s mental well-being, ultimately contributing to feelings of unhappiness and dissatisfaction.

Erosion of Self-Worth and Identity

Power laws can shape our perception of self-worth and identity. When success and recognition are primarily measured by external markers such as wealth, fame, or accolades, individuals may struggle to find validation and purpose outside of these narrow definitions. This limited perspective can erode self-esteem and hinder personal growth, leading to a sense of emptiness and misery.

Breaking free from the misery-inducing impact of power laws requires a shift in perspective and focus. Embrace the idea that true fulfillment comes from within, not from external validation or societal comparisons. Cultivate a sense of purpose based on your values, passions, and personal growth rather than solely chasing external markers of success. To achieve this we have to understand the Three Stages of Mental Growth.

The Three Stages of Mental Growth to deal with an Unfair Life

To deal with a Hard and Unfair Life, mental strength is of utmost importance. A strong mind can withstand powerful headwinds of misery. To get to that required Mental Strength, Mental Growth can be broken into three main stages.

Stage 1 – Common-Sense Stage of Mental Growth: The Stage of Naivety

In this stage, the simple practitioner never realises the Karmic truth. He or she undertakes action but does not know the law of Karma. Or they misunderstand the law of Karma. He or she expects that if they are undertaking Karma, then they have the right to the fruits of Karma.

The naïve practitioner makes the mistake in assuming about his or her ‘Right’ to the results. This is a logical common-sense assumption but as we saw it is incorrect. Effort should lead to result. But it is not straightforward. Why? Because ‘Certius Paribus’ is never applicable here. Karma is never undertaken in a closed system. The world is an open system.

An entrepreneur is not making a company in a closed system. He or she is making a company in a complex environment. Even if the entrepreneur is doing all the right things – such as the Segway founder was doing, there is still no guarantee of success.

This ‘Expectation’ of ‘Right’ to fruit of Karma is the basic root cause of mental misery. This mental misery leads to depression and mental problems. Moreover, it leads to a defeatist attitude where one assumes that the problem is with the individual and not the was the system is designed.

The second problem in the stage of naivete is when someone gets some fruit and assumes that his or her effort alone has brought this fruit. This leads to the problem of egoism. An entrepreneur thinking that he alone is responsible for the success of the company or a ruler thinking that the country is run only by his dictate. By forgetting the laws of Karma, these naïve but successful people set themselves up or their companies for even bigger failures later on.

The key thing is the realisation that even after finding success, success is not guaranteed. There are umpteen examples of this in the world – Nokia, Blackberry, Kodak. So many of them.

Gita, thousands of years ago, guided the naïve learner through the first three operand conditions of the Karma mantra.

Gita specifically stated the laws of Karma as:

1. Firstly: you have right to Karma, but no right to the fruits of Karma.
2. Secondly: Do not undertake any Karma for the sake of reward. And,
3. Thirdly: do not think that some fruit that you have got, you have got that fruit through your efforts alone.

With these three directions, for the naïve practitioner, the Karmic mantra corrects the root cause of mental misery as listed above.

Stage 2 – Akarma Stage of Mental Growth: Nihilist Stage

After the naivety stage comes the next stage of mental growth. Here the problem of Nihilism surfaces. Nihilism means the philosophy that life is ultimately meaningless.

This problem surfaces due to the existential question – if there is no guarantee for Karmic returns, then why undertake Karma at all?

This is the barrier of Nihilism which Nietzsche, the famous eighteenth-century European philosopher, highlighted.

The rejection of human values, the meaninglessness of life, the impossibility of knowledge is all tied to the frustration of graduating from the first stage of Naivety and landing into the second stage of Nihilism.

Good Karma does not lead to good outcomes and Bad Karma does not lead to bad outcomes.

For the simple mind, this is difficult to grasp.

How to go beyond that?

For this stage, Gita gives the fourth directive – ‘do not be attached to inaction.’

In the stage of nihilism, lies the danger of inaction, and inaction is the ending of all Karma, the danger of suicide. And as we saw in the above mathematical example, inaction directly leads to sliding down further as per the power law.

Stage 3 – Nishkama Karma Stage of Mental Growth: The Enlightenment Stage

With Gita’s fourth directive (‘do not be attached to inaction’) lies the potential for growth. To graduate beyond Nihilism, and to realise the true potential of the Karma law, we have to clearly see that Karma builds on Karma. This is the law of positive Karmic iterations.

The simplest example of positive Karmic iterations is building body strength through exercise. If you exercise, you never gain strength immediately. The weaker muscle and connective tissue get damaged when you exercise. Due to this damage to the muscle, you feel sore after strenuous activities. But then your body muscles get re-built after exercise and because you had exercised, these new muscles are stronger than earlier. Hence, you gain strength.

If you continue exercising, your muscles keep on getting stronger and stronger. Conversely, if you stop exercising, your muscles atrophy and become weaker.

Gita’s fourth directive obliquely refers to this process by stating that any attachment to inaction will lead to atrophy.

But before we graduate from Stage 2 to Stage 3, the nihilistic question again resurfaces – is doing desireless action really the ultimate solution to life’s problem?

The answer to this demoralizing question is both Very Surprising and Very Beautiful. For that, in the next blog, I will take you through the beautiful science of how in a magical manner Spontaneous Order emerges amidst Chaos through the law of Emergence and State Change.

But to see this magic, this apparently desireless action needs to done, day after day – till finally one day the magic of State Change will occur and transform your life.

What to do when Life gets hard?

By undertaking desireless actions towards our goals, we can start working towards giving a semblance of meaning to our lives. By cultivating certain habits and taking specific actions, we can navigate through the difficulties of Life with resilience and create a more fulfilling and less burdensome life.

Some impactful habits and actions that help to make life less hard, and empower us to overcome obstacles and thrive, include the following:

Practice Self-Compassion

One of the most powerful habits you can develop is self-compassion. Treat yourself with kindness, understanding that you are only human and bound to make mistakes. Embrace self-forgiveness and let go of self-judgment. By cultivating self-compassion, you can develop a healthier mindset and build the emotional strength needed to face life’s challenges.

Hence, even if you suffer by the vagaries of the Power Law formation, by practicing self-compassion you will be able to continue the journey of Nishkama Karma.

Embrace Mindfulness

Living in the present moment through mindfulness can alleviate much of life’s hardships. Take time each day to engage in mindfulness practices such as meditation or simply observing your thoughts and sensations. This habit enables you to develop a greater sense of self-awareness, reduce stress, and make conscious choices that align with your values and goals.

I undertake mindfulness activities every day. I had built a practice of undertaking Meditation for upto an hour. I have written a 20 page guide on building a Meditation practice. You can download the free e-book from this link.

Set Clear and Realistic Goals

Setting clear and achievable goals is crucial for making life less hard. Define what you want to achieve in various areas of your life, whether it’s personal growth, career aspirations, or relationships. Break down these goals into smaller, actionable steps to make progress manageable. Celebrate each milestone along the way, as this will motivate you to keep going.

I personally experienced a 12X improvement in productivity by combining my Personal Vision with Weekly Planning, Morning Routine and Deep Work Habits. I have written a 50 page guide on this subject. You can download the free e-book from here.

Cultivate a Positive Mindset

Your mindset plays a significant role in how you perceive and respond to challenges. Cultivate a positive mindset by focusing on gratitude, affirmations, and positive self-talk. Surround yourself with positive influences, such as supportive friends or mentors. By reframing negative situations into opportunities for growth and learning, you can build resilience and make life’s hardships more manageable.

Prioritize Self-Care

Taking care of your physical, mental, and emotional well-being is crucial for navigating life’s challenges. Make self-care a priority by engaging in activities that replenish your energy and bring you joy. Exercise regularly, eat nourishing foods, get sufficient rest, and engage in hobbies or activities that help you relax and rejuvenate. Remember, self-care is not selfish; it is essential for maintaining your overall well-being.

Build a Supportive Network

Surrounding yourself with a supportive network of friends, family, or like-minded individuals can make a world of difference when life gets tough. Seek out relationships that are positive, nurturing, and inspiring. Share your struggles and successes with trusted individuals who can provide guidance, encouragement, and perspective. Together, you can navigate challenges more effectively and make life’s journey a shared experience.

Embrace Continuous Learning

Adopt a growth mindset and embrace the concept of continuous learning. See every experience, positive or negative, as an opportunity to learn and grow. Seek knowledge, acquire new skills, and challenge yourself regularly. By expanding your knowledge and skills, you become better equipped to face life’s hardships and adapt to changing circumstances.

I personally have build a Mind-Body hacking program through the process of continuous learning. This whole website is about this Mind-Body Hacking program. Click here to learn more.

I hope that with this overview you would have developed a better understanding of why Life is Hard. We saw that Power Law formation in Everyday life due to randomness, variability and iterations cause the mean values to shift from middle quartiles to top quartiles. Hence, 80 percent of the wealth ends up belonging to top 20 percent of the people. In summary, this is the hidden culprit which makes life so hard.

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