Input Junkie

Addicts are forever trying to latch onto philosophies of self-empowerment, and forever relapsing - and this is explained as 'you just didn't believe enough'.

Fat people don't will themselves thin; if they are among one of the 1% who diet successfully (look that stat up for yourself) it's not because they gained the secret of willpower from a self-help book but rather because some new self-image, philosophy, sporting goal, medical threat, whatever, became a more powerful incentive than comfort-eating.

Oprah, the queen of self-empowerment, should amply demonstrate the truth of this to everyone. Even the Zen master Hakuin Zenji struggled to quit sweets, fags and booze. He was probably a diabetic and did not suit a lifestyle of regular fasting.

We are aggregate organisms, not self-determining monads.

If we only want to 'get things done' but not correct delusions we will busily serve delusions. We will become wise together or not at all; isolated pockets of wisdom are ineffectual. Corporate workers know this.