The default structures you can find in Minecraft look like this:

Many default Minecraft in-game structures.

They are simple and unassuming. I’ve heard people complain about how shit these are and seen mods adding more impressive structures to the game:

A very impressive Minecraft city in in a mesa biome.

As sexy as this is, those unimpressive default structures are actually a gift. Imagine how demoralizing it would be to start a new Minecraft world and immediately see something more impressive than you could probably ever build. The default structures in the game are shit, so you can feel good for outdoing them. Because when your friend’s house looks like this, you suddenly don’t want to play anymore:

A very impressive Minecraft house in a forest biome.

Real life is just as demoralizing because it’s saturated with genius. You’ll likely never make anything as good as the song you’re listening to right now. Every movie you watch and every song you listen to is the pinnacle of someone’s career, created after decades of practice. When you walk down the aisles at the store, every product’s packaging has been carefully crafted by a professional artist. The phone you’re holding is the product of millions of man-hours. But it’s just “my phone” to you. We are utterly used to genius and see it as the default. The only time we notice it is in comparison to our own mediocrity.

In a world where every artist seems like a van Gogh or a da Vince, our own creations feel like macaroni art. How can you hope to be the guitar guy in a world of Hendrixes and Van Halens?

Most people just give up. Awash in a sea of genius, most people (correctly) sense that they can’t compete, and become permanent members of the consuming class. People focus on lives of pleasure and ease. They buy food pre-chewed and ideas pre-thought and never try to create anything worth consuming. Mostly, people can only critique what others have created, like the couch potato who loudly complains about how badly the quarterback on TV is playing, as if he could do better.

Those who don’t give up on producing form the creating class. These are the unfortunate people who burn years of their lives in effigy in hopes of a little recognition. Surrounded by intellectual skyscrapers, they build their whole lives just to maybe get a little sun.

Before history, everyone was a member of the creating class. Everyone in the tribe could be the best at something. The advent of writing, followed by the Internet, expanded our consciousness so that we not only had to compete with those in our immediate surroundings but also those far away in time and space. The number of people you have to beat to gain respect is increasing. As a result, more and more people give up on being great at anything and join the consuming class.

As for me? I wish I could say I am part of a third group of people who creates without caring what anyone thinks, but such a class of people does not exist. I’m just writing this hoping to get some likes and retweets, the same as everyone else. But I’m trying to get better about posting things without needing them to be perfect or being demoralized by what’s out there. There are thousands of better posts out there, but this post is my crappy, dirt Minecraft house, and I’m proud of it.

Secret Rich Text Copyer for Substack