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Letting go of the fiat world also means being able to let go of bitcoin. Let me explain by telling you a story about how I died.
I grew up in Germany as the oldest of four children. My father worked at the local energy company but outside of that he was always politically active. At age 16 he joined the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD), equivalent to the Democrats in the United States. His
My life, and therefore mine, was dominated by the SPD. He spent a lot of time helping with campaigns and doing political work; Sometimes I felt like I had forgotten I had children. But that was good. One day he asked me and my brothers if he should run for mayor of our hometown of 350,000 souls. We said yes, of course. We were excited for him. I was excited. He announced his candidacy and the campaign took off.
I followed his example and joined the Social Democratic Party. I wanted to support him and the cause. I identified with his and the SPD’s political views, and thought this was the only “correct way” to see things and the world. The conservative kids at my school started debating me about political issues. I love debating with people. But I got very angry with them because, honestly, I had no other arguments than my father’s. And every time it made my blood boil.
He believed in things like universal basic income and that capitalism was the cause of all evil.
I hated people like Donald Trump or similar figures from Germany who were considered “right-wing,” and I never questioned that I was on the “right” side.
Maybe now you’re wondering, “What does this have to do with bitcoin?” Please bear with me; we’re going to get there I started attending party meetings and met other party members: young leftist students, mostly men. I always had a strange feeling when I went to those meetings. I wasn’t aware of it at the time, but in retrospect, I always felt uncomfortable being around them. I didn’t know why, but what I observed was a discrepancy between what my party colleagues said and how they acted and appeared. It was like they didn’t even believe in their own ideas.
However, a couple of months later, my father won the election and became mayor of the city. It was an exciting moment. I have never received so much attention in my life. I felt like a local celebrity: people recognized me and suddenly everyone was very friendly.
A year passed and my interest in politics waned. Although I was not a passionate member of the party before, I began to miss meetings. However, I remained a member. Years passed.
Then came the year 2020. Governments around the world locked down people, confining them to their homes. COVID-19 restrictions dominated our lives. My freelance jobs dried up; In practice they ordered me to stop working as a filmmaker. I had nothing to do all day. A couple of months earlier, a good friend told me and my girlfriend about bitcoin. And now that I had the time, I started researching it and inevitably, dear reader, I fell deep down the rabbit hole. I don’t think I need to explain how it was.
All this intellectual process triggered some kind of pain. The more I read books and listened to podcasts, the more I realized how little I knew about how the world works. And I slowly realized that the worldview I had, influenced primarily by my father’s political views, was certainly not my own. Everything I ever identified with was suddenly torn away from me, as if something had taken away my sense of self. The opinions I thought I had about politics, society, government, and money, of course, transcended into an orange light. It was very painful because until then I thought that all those things were deeply ingrained in my personality. On top of that, I realized that the ideas I had in my head weren’t even mine; They were from my father, my mother, my fellow students, my friends. Certainly not mine. And I never questioned it. Learning about bitcoin makes you question everything. This triggers an awakening and ultimately forces you to let go of everything you ever believed in. Lesson learned. Side effects include your friends and family thinking you are going crazy, especially if you criticize COVID-19 restrictions. But it was worth it.
If you let go of your worldview, you tend to exchange it for another. I have observed this a lot in the bitcoin community.
Many Bitcoiners have identified so deeply with bitcoin that their lives depend on it. Not only materialistically, but mentally. And in the unlikely event that bitcoin was not successful, they would be completely lost. And I think that if you identify with an idea, you are living in an illusion; Everything, and I mean literally everything, is just a temporary state. There is a Greek saying: “panta rhei” (English: “everything flows”). Nothing is solid. And that’s true for everything, even bitcoin. But don’t take my word for it. Experience it yourself, observe life, nature, people and you will discover that things come and go.
To fully embrace bitcoin, you must be able to let it go. You can only see the full picture at all times when you distance yourself from it and question everything. That’s what made me realize that my previous worldview had a shaky foundation. I was only able to become aware of it by dropping everything and taking a step back to look at it from an external point of view: the way you look at the water from behind a waterfall. It affected my entire life situation. I no longer tie people to their ideas.
For some, this might be helpful because I see Bitcoiners on Twitter (and worse, in real life) getting angry at people who don’t like or agree with bitcoin. These people get angry because their personality is so tied to the idea of bitcoin that they see criticism as an attack on them, their personality, and their sense of self.
The chances of bitcoin failing are extremely low. But they will increase if we continue to question everything all the time. See the full image.
We all work together, but individually, we have to let go to finally be free.
All of this happened in the last three years. Time has passed incredibly quickly. I wonder how, if my sense of identity is not tied to an idea, what is it tied to? This question goes beyond bitcoin and is so existential that I dare not answer it for you. I can only encourage you to ask yourself.
Who are you?
Who I am?
This article appears in bitcoin Magazine. “The question of withdrawal.” Click here to subscribe now.
A PDF brochure of this article is available. to download.
This is a guest post by Siddhartha.The opinions expressed are entirely their own and do not necessarily reflect those of btc Inc or bitcoin Magazine.
