Only by stopping habitual self-improvement can the self be developed.
The Inner Strength That Builds the Best You: The Conatus Life Theory

Have you ever considered why, despite your consistent efforts at self-improvement, your ego is being squandered rather than developed? Other people's success is different from your own.
If you get stuck in a stereotypical self-development routine and an elevated average, growth becomes distant and your world becomes easily eroded.

Conatus, a concept mentioned by the philosopher Spinoza, is the tendency to exist for oneself and the desire to expand oneself.
This book, "Conatus," guides each reader to discover and develop their own "conatus."
And it guides you on how to create your own growth theory, or life theory, using three tools: experience, thought, and language.

To achieve success, you must not be swayed by the desires that the world encourages.
You have to think with your body, not your head, and you have to cultivate your own language.
Here are the countless success stories and real success tips for those tired of routine self-improvement.
You can learn to explore, expand, and apply conatus, the inner strength necessary for true growth.
『Conatus』 helps you build and practice your best self.

Those who are addicted to habitual self-improvement are so addicted to other people's success stories and secrets that they just move their fingers.
And then, they fall into the illusion of already being successful, and they appear to be addicted to the dopamine of success.
Self-development is not something you do with your eyes on social media, but rather a situational product that occurs when you put in the effort with your hands and feet.

--- p.20

Life reveals its secrets only to those who cherish it.
No matter how grand your dreams or grand visions are, if they don't begin in your daily life, they will remain nothing more than a mirage.
To achieve true success, you must not miss the wondrous moments of life hidden in the repetitive routine of everyday life.
Rather than sacrificing the present for future success, we must be able to live faithfully to the demands of this moment.
--- p.48

One day, philosophers and novelists gathered together at the call of Kierkegaard, the philosopher of anxiety and despair.
The reason they gathered together was to establish a theory of life and to advise people who want to live their lives in their own way without being swayed by the temptations of the world.
These philosophers and novelists have something in common.
Rather than looking at reality through established logic and theories, it means persuading others through the body language acquired through direct practice, and living according to the desires of one's own conatus.
If you bring up someone else's story that you haven't experienced, it will only become more complicated and difficult.
On the other hand, ‘self-story’ evokes empathy.
Stories that pierce the skin, messages that pierce the lungs, and meanings that shake the frontal lobe are possible when the physicality of the body meets the specificity of life.
--- p.54

Even if you've been living your life 'up until now' addicted to other people's secrets to success or insights, it's not too late.
Even from now on, if I focus on Conatus, where my own instinctive desires stir, the future will change.
This requires decisive action along with resolution.
There are philosophers who have lived according to conatus, which promotes joy, despite the fear that fundamentally threatens their lives.
Spinoza, Merleau-Ponty, who lived as a philosopher of the body and flesh; Derrida, who tried to dismantle the existing fixed meaning with differences different from yesterday; Foucault, who tried to transform into a unique self that had never been before with self-care bordering on self-destruction; Maturana, who tried to change the world with action knowledge ingrained in him by making knowledge, life, and doing into a trinity; and Rorty, who tried to recreate the self by redefining the self in a language different from yesterday.
--- p.79

Let's say a duck, a rabbit, and a sparrow enter animal school.
The first day of class is about swimming.
Ducks are the best swimmers.
However, rabbits are animals that are not naturally good at swimming.
The rabbit wants to catch up with the duck's 'talent' of swimming.
So I went to Guam for training.
Still, rabbits can't swim as well as ducks.
The second day's subject is hiking on a snowy day.
The most stressed animal during class is the duck.
The duck goes to Alaska for training to become a good mountain climber like a rabbit.
He trained with the determination to cut his bones, but all he was left with were torn webbed feet, frostbitten feet, arthritis, and a herniated disc.
The last day's subject is singing.
Sparrows sing best.
Of course, ducks can do it to some extent too.
Rabbits can't sing at all.
No matter what you do, singing will never be a rabbit's talent.
Tragic? But if you think about it another way, this story becomes a happy fairy tale.
A rabbit doesn't need to swim, a duck doesn't need to climb a mountain ridge, and a sparrow can live happily all its life just by singing.
--- p.151

The process of building a life theory is broadly divided into four stages.
The first step is to observe reality and collect and record various data.
The second step is to organize the recorded data into a certain system or structure to create information.
The collected data becomes meaningful information that reveals the truth through examination.
The third stage is to build knowledge based on established information.
By understanding patterns in information or relationships between information, we can glean meaningful knowledge.
This requires scientific and critical thinking.
The fourth and final stage is to perfect knowledge with your own wisdom.
Wisdom is created through deep reflection and application of previously discovered knowledge to life.
Wisdom at this time is a provisional truth that is effective for a certain period of time and in a certain situation.
--- p.185

The way to break out of the old frame is to constantly provide your brain with different experiential stimulation so that it can think differently.
Just as we eat food when we are hungry, our brains also need to consume knowledge.
'My brain is hungry' means that I am in a situation that cannot be solved with my existing experience and knowledge.
When this happens, our brain realizes the deficiency and begins to move.
They try hard to absorb new information and knowledge from outside.
This is the best time to acquire knowledge.
The brain doesn't have a set meal time.
I only eat when I'm 'brain hungry'.
However, if this state of brain hunger persists, new thoughts cannot be generated.
--- p.190

To creatively express or convey 'different thoughts from yesterday', two things are needed.
First of all, it's a different experience from yesterday.
Experience is a source of enlightenment and a stimulant that shakes the body from becoming complacent.
However, we must avoid the 'experience trap' of trying to interpret future experiences based on past experiences.
Experience is a source of learning, but if it is not accumulated anew, it can at some point turn into an obstacle that blocks learning.
Next is the language needed to translate the experience differently from yesterday.
If your language skills are poor or inadequate, you cannot conceptualize unfamiliar experiences in a new way.
The meaning cannot be fully understood through language steeped in habit.
An inspiring writer intentionally repeats unfamiliar experiences, sharpens and separates sharp language, and constructs sentences that call for new thoughts.
--- p.206

The vocabulary you like to use varies depending on your occupation, age, and where you live.
The same words are used differently.
Conversation provides a great opportunity to experience these differences.
So, if you want to build your own language, you have to meet a variety of people.
Especially when I meet younger people, I often hear new and interesting things.
It may be unfamiliar, but you'll find yourself nodding along as you listen to the explanation.
These are new concepts of language that make you think about their meaning again.
In this way, conversations with others are a great opportunity to learn new concepts.

--- p.270

There are many things in our lives that don't go as planned no matter how hard we try.
The very idea that you can control everything is absurd.
What changes me and the world is not my will, but concrete actions that I take while moving my body.
I can only go down that path if it makes me as difficult and uncomfortable as possible.
It is difficult, but at the end, the light of truth that dispels the darkness awaits.
The moment comes when I overcome my past self and am reborn with new thoughts.

--- p.303

A person cannot prove his own existence.
Only in our relationship with others can the meaning and reason for our existence be revealed.
Likewise, the meaning and value of a book are discovered and proven only in its relationship with the reader.
The books I write are my own interpretations of my life, but when they are delivered to readers, they are accompanied by annotations that interpret them through the reader's life.
For me, writing a book was an effort to transform facts into truth by not taking established facts for granted but looking behind the scenes, and to prove their possibility.

--- p.346