In ‘Fight Club’ the narrator lives his normal life, but has always needed something to feel alive. He needs something to feel alive because he’s been cucked by the modern world. Told to live a life that makes him miserable, a reality which deep down makes him depressed. As the narrator meets his alter ego, Tyler Durden, a figure created by his imagination, this alter ego shows the potential he could have if he would only learn to let go.
Tyler is a representation of what we really know deep down and what we truly desire, but through societal programming we choose to hide deep inside of ourselves. As most people throw away their dreams & deepest desires for material goods & the path most travelled.
“I felt sorry for guys packed into gyms, trying to look like how Calvin Klein or Tommy Hilfiger said they should.”
The lifestyle displayed on advertisements are created to evoke a certain emotion in men, targeting weakness, in order to purchase more of that company’s material goods, hence the reason why companies have switched to appease more overweight people. Making men think that they too can also feel better about themselves if they buy their product. As more of the population continues to become fatter, it’s clear that companies & corporations must tap into different markets in order to make more money.
This statement is then followed up by Tyler saying, “self-improvement is masturbation, now self-destruction…” By completely annihilating who you are now & the way you view yourself is how you will reach your full potential.
This is where men feel most alive, they’re in their natural state, men need to self-destruct to build themselves up. If conditions are always perfect, you’ll never learn because you never go through the pain of adversity. You will live in comfort your whole life, not leaning into your true nature because you’re too scared to take a risk, and that’s only because you’re designed to be another cog in the machine.
If you’re not satisfied with the life you are living, who are you living it for?
“An entire generation pumping gas, waiting tables, slaves with white collars, advertising has us chasing cars and clothes, working jobs we hate, so we can buy shit we don’t need.” “We’re the middle children of history man, no purpose, no place, we have no great war, no great depression, our great war is a spiritual war, our great depression is our lives.”
You must accept that you’re not special like we’re told when we’re younger. But you have the ability to change the life you’re living. If you continue to live the life you’re living even though it is not fulfilling, you will for sure have regrets, so you must learn to be bold, audacious, and make the necessary changes to live a fulfilling life.
We know who we want to be & what we want to achieve, it’s in our minds, but how many people throw that away for false safety and false comfort? Most people do. Most people hide their true desires, they hide what they really want, suppressing their true wants.
In a world full of fallacies it’s important to display our true selves, this is how Tyler Durden is able to bridge the gap between what others tell us we want and what we truly want. Giving us the courage to accomplish what we really want, and change our reality.
Self improvement has people thinking they’re better than others because they do small tasks. When the reality is a person that is really making progress in their lives doesn’t turn improvement into their whole personality, they only continue to succeed.
The car scene in the rain teaches us that we have to stop trying to control everything because at some points in life we have to learn to let go, and learn from what the situation in front of us is trying to teach us.
Overall we must understand that experience is the biggest factor for growth. Through fighting and meeting new like minded men, the narrator had experienced the biggest amount of growth in his life, all because he took a risk, whether he was conscious of it or not.
Showing us that even rebelling against the system can turn into a cult-like movement similar to what your favourite gurus try to preach. I’m not saying people with online communities are bad, but don’t just take everything that they say as the absolute truth, they’re just people, capable of making the same mistakes that you make.
Self-improvement is something people use to find meaning, something where people get rid of their bad habits, not realising that their bad habits & the fact that they are who they are gives them an edge over everyone else. No one can speak like you, or has the same skill set as you, because they aren’t you, that’s your biggest edge over the competition.
The truth is you’re going to all turn out the same as everyone else if you keep listening to these self-improvement gurus, you’re going to become molded in the image that someone else has for you instead of becoming who you’re meant to be.
Yes, it’s good to learn how to fight, go to the gym, read, journal, or potentially start a business, but if your whole life revolves around useless habits and being perfect all the time you won’t make it. Because the reality is nothing is going to breed more growth than failure, adversity and learning the hard way, and that’s something that no self-improvement guru will teach you.
