Overcoming Akrasia
by Eric Rockwell
Selfishness sucks. It really does. I mean, if I were to be truly selfish, I would want to create a life for myself that is full of meaning and success. If I were truly selfish, I’d want to develop a healthy body and a healthy mind, and to put them to good use. Creating a productive, flourishing, successful, healthy, and meaningful life requires an extraordinary amount of effort. That’s why selfishness sucks.
When I first learned the meaning of the Greek word eudaimonia, I knew I wanted it. Yet it seemed as if there was always something keeping me from achieving it, an aspect of myself for which I had no name until I recently encountered another Greek word, akrasia. And I knew if I wanted the flourishing and fulfilling life that is defined as eudaimonia, it was akrasia that stood in my way.
Akrasia is roughly defined as “weakness of will” or “acting against one’s better judgement.” For example, when after making a firm commitment to eat healthy and exercise daily, I find myself spending inordinate amounts of time eating raw cookie dough in front of the television, that’s akrasia. My failure to follow through on a plan is no one’s fault but my own. The psychological aspect responsible for the undermining of my plans is akrasia.
Akrasia succeeds in part because of an implicit acceptance of the mind-body dichotomy. When people want to avoid effort, they might say something like, “I’d planned to work thirty minutes a day on my project, but after about a week I found myself only working ten minutes a day.” The mind-body dichotomy is implicit in this statement. There are, in a sense, two entities which are at war with one another. One is the “I” that planned to spend a certain amount a time each day on a project and the other is the “I” that did otherwise. One is the “I” that pursues eudaimonia, while the other “I” is a victim of akrasia.
“I started a diet on Monday, but then on Thursday I pigged out.”
“Last month, I promised myself that I’d write one essay a week, but I pooped out.”
“I intended to begin practicing the piano, but I find I’m always procrastinating.”
Pigging out, pooping out, and perpetual procrastination are all manifestations of akrasia. And they all imply a dualistic view of the self.
Whatever the specifics, the fundamental assumption is the same: The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. When we come to see ourselves as composed of one part ineffectual mind and one part delinquent body, a vague kind of hopelessness dampens our dreams and ambitions. Perhaps you’ve heard someone say, “I don’t make New Year’s resolutions because I always break them.” That person actually has a great deal of confidence … in their akrasia!
Or maybe you’ve heard someone who has so completely surrendered to akrasia that they say things like, “I’m just not the type who sees things through to completion.” This ends in a shrug of “such is life” having reached the conclusion that if they started writing that poem but gave up when they were stuck for a rhyme, things couldn’t have gone any other way. They believe they were destined to merely start it and give up halfway through. To them, akrasia seems to be an unalterable part of nature.
One belief is that akrasia can only be overcome by admitting powerlessness. This is popular among faith-based mentalities. The idea is that, by declaring yourself powerless, you will then be able to assign a higher power (such as god or society or a therapist) power over your life. Having renounced your own power, you’ll then be able to receive this second-hand power, which is supposedly more efficacious than your own.
But must this helplessness be accepted, or is it possible to overcome it? Can one wage a battle with akrasia and win? Can belief in the mind-body dichotomy be overcome?
Of course it can. It begins by grasping that the “I” that makes plans and the “I” that carries them out are united. In order to come to know this, evidence must be shown. The “I” that makes the plans and the “I” that carries them out must demonstrate in experiment after experiment that they are integrated. Life is full of opportunities to demonstrate this. And each successful demonstration not only proves, but strengthens the integration of mind and body. Akrasia loses its power.
Many people have spent years practicing and demonstrating just the opposite. For them, the incident of failing to follow through on things is ingrained and habitual. If you were to suggest to them that there is no mind-body dichotomy, they’d disagree and be able to provide you with a lifetime of evidence that proves their point. What made their weakness so strong took years and years of practice. Every time a person makes a decision, and fails to follow through, their akrasia is strengthened.
To be efficacious, a person must push through their akrasia by applying the very thing which akrasia attempts to undermine: Effort. Each time you are victorious over akrasia, you are developing Self-Integration. This means that your body and your mind work together. If your rational decision is to give up a bad habit, you simply do so. If your mind concludes that regular physical exercise would be in your long-term best interest, your body does the work. It means the “You” that makes a decision and the “You” that takes action are the same entity.
Each victory, however small, will affirm your Self Integration. Bolder choices will then be made and achieved. Akrasia will diminish, while eudaimonia increases. But it all starts with selfishness, without which nothing is possible, which is why selfishness most definitely does not suck!
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