Are there objectively better or worse priorities in life?

[Medhansh]

I came across a thought today... is there such a thing as an objectively better priority in life, or is it all through subjective lenses? 

Let's say person A is a full sports enthusiast and follows all sportperson, dedicating serious hrs of his life into this. He even debates and argues if someone says against his fav sportsperson.

Person B, views this as a waste of time and focuses on his career more- as he thinks the sports isn't gonna pay his bills, money is.

Person C, delves deep into relationships and enjoys spending time with people/ enjoys his youth with chicks... He thinks both A and B are wrong to not really enjoy the social part of their life.

Person D delves into spirituality from a rather young age and debunks all other 3.

Now, all of them think they are right in their minds. Because they are thinking from their personal mental framework that will inevitably land their chosen prioirity at the top (and very logically so). Each person will think his prioirity is objectively the best, and the others are misguided/ lazy/ stupid etc. 

A hardcore video gamer who spends 8 hrs a day gaming doesn't care what's happening in the outside world, for him that virtual reality is more immersive than real life. He debunks most social people and thinks his way of life is good, it doesn't harm anyone and he enjoys it a lot (his passion in his own mind :P).

So the question is, are there objectively better / worse priorities in life? 
If no, how do we escape this biasness trap?
If yes, how do we decide which priority is objectively better or worse?

 

We walk through lives and judge every person from our own lens/ filter of what success means, and how many of our subjective success checkboxes xyz person is ticking. If they tick many, they are great. But if they don't, they aren't. This is even more intense amongst people deep into the self improvement rabbit hole.

This is an important question because we basically build our entire lives around our priorities.

[Psychonaut]

No. Objection your honor!

There is no objectively better or worse. You have to do what feels right for you in the moment, I have found that if I follow my heart I usually can't go that wrong. It leads me were I need to go, even if I need to be in hell for a bit. In the end every time I visited hell I came back stronger, wiser. But heck you can also be completely incincerated in hell and never come back. That is death and it will come either way 

Follow the feeling in your heart and if someone tells you something else and it doesn't feel right for you. Go back to the beginning of the line and say "I trust my heart, you have lead me here, you keep beating every day, you know what is right for me ."

Cheers, Psico

Edited Thursday at 09:16 AM by Psychonaut

[Salvijus]

Some priorities are pro life, some priorities are anti life. Pro life priorities are objectively true and anti life values are a cancer. 

Edited Thursday at 09:41 AM by Salvijus

[Ulax]

Yes.

Prioritise the wrong thing and you're dead.

[enchanted]

What ever makes you the most happy. Not coincidentally, this is pretty consistent for everyone: food, shelter, love. 

[Psychonaut]

1 minute ago, enchanted said:

What ever makes you the most happy. Not coincidentally, this is pretty consistent for everyone: food, shelter, love. 

I love that!

1. Food
2. Shelter
3. Love

[gettoefl]

Die before you die. Then we can talk. If that makes sense.

[Psychonaut]

11 minutes ago, gettoefl said:

Die before you die. Then we can talk. If that makes sense.

I already did.

[Joshe]

2 hours ago, Medhansh said:

I came across a thought today... is there such a thing as an objectively better priority in life, or is it all through subjective lenses? 

Let's say person A is a full sports enthusiast and follows all sportperson, dedicating serious hrs of his life into this. He even debates and argues if someone says against his fav sportsperson.

Person B, views this as a waste of time and focuses on his career more- as he thinks the sports isn't gonna pay his bills, money is.

Person C, delves deep into relationships and enjoys spending time with people/ enjoys his youth with chicks... He thinks both A and B are wrong to not really enjoy the social part of their life.

Person D delves into spirituality from a rather young age and debunks all other 3.

Now, all of them think they are right in their minds. Because they are thinking from their personal mental framework that will inevitably land their chosen prioirity at the top (and very logically so). Each person will think his prioirity is objectively the best, and the others are misguided/ lazy/ stupid etc. 

A hardcore video gamer who spends 8 hrs a day gaming doesn't care what's happening in the outside world, for him that virtual reality is more immersive than real life. He debunks most social people and thinks his way of life is good, it doesn't harm anyone and he enjoys it a lot (his passion in his own mind :P).

So the question is, are there objectively better / worse priorities in life? 
If no, how do we escape this biasness trap?
If yes, how do we decide which priority is objectively better or worse?

 

We walk through lives and judge every person from our own lens/ filter of what success means, and how many of our subjective success checkboxes xyz person is ticking. If they tick many, they are great. But if they don't, they aren't. This is even more intense amongst people deep into the self improvement rabbit hole.

This is an important question because we basically build our entire lives around our priorities.

I call this concept “perceptual priority”. It’s a very deep psychological thing. My perceptual priority is structural coherence. I’m always looking out for structural inconsistencies because that is my priority. But why is that my priority? 

Someone else might have a social priority and doesn’t give two shits about structural coherence. Structural coherence types like to call these people fools. Each perceptual priority sees the others as less than ideal ways of being.

The interesting thing is, no one can choose a different priority. Deep implications here. 

My conclusion is that none of the priorities are objectively better or worse - they just are. There are objectively better and worse ways of being within your specific priority (to the extent one has goals or cares about reality), but the priorities themselves can’t really be said to be superior or inferior to each other, because such a claim is made from inside your own priority, and this reality actually needs various priorities to function well. If the spiritual or structural coherence types were 90% the population, we’d be fucked because physical reality progress would be slow as hell.

[Jirh]

Health is the #1 priority.

[LastThursday]

One priority would be to minimise your own suffering and the suffering of others. 

[blankisomeone]

6 hours ago, Jirh said:

Health is the #1 priority.

100%

[Medhansh]

On 12/11/2026 at 2:45 PM, Psychonaut said:

No. Objection your honor!

There is no objectively better or worse. You have to do what feels right for you in the moment, I have found that if I follow my heart I usually can't go that wrong. It leads me were I need to go, even if I need to be in hell for a bit. In the end every time I visited hell I came back stronger, wiser. But heck you can also be completely incincerated in hell and never come back. That is death and it will come either way 

Follow the feeling in your heart and if someone tells you something else and it doesn't feel right for you. Go back to the beginning of the line and say "I trust my heart, you have lead me here, you keep beating every day, you know what is right for me ."

Cheers, Psico

That's the whole point. "What my heart believes best" is the subjective bias I was pointing towards.

[Medhansh]

On 12/11/2026 at 3:08 PM, Salvijus said:

Some priorities are pro life, some priorities are anti life. Pro life priorities are objectively true and anti life values are a cancer. 

How do you decide whether a priority is pro or anti life, especially when it comes to the higher Maslow's heirarchy levels? 

[Medhansh]

On 12/11/2026 at 3:10 PM, Ulax said:

Yes.

Prioritise the wrong thing and you're dead.

Only is true for the survival based priorities. A guys prioritizing career growth and another one prioritizing family time- both won't die. But have starkly differing priorities.

[Medhansh]

On 12/11/2026 at 3:50 PM, enchanted said:

What ever makes you the most happy. 

This is the subjective bias I am pointing to. Different things make different people happy.

[Medhansh]

On 12/11/2026 at 4:12 PM, gettoefl said:

Die before you die. Then we can talk. If that makes sense.

Didn't get you

[Medhansh]

On 12/11/2026 at 4:58 PM, Joshe said:

I call this concept “perceptual priority”. It’s a very deep psychological thing. My perceptual priority is structural coherence. I’m always looking out for structural inconsistencies because that is my priority. But why is that my priority? 

Someone else might have a social priority and doesn’t give two shits about structural coherence. Structural coherence types like to call these people fools. Each perceptual priority sees the others as less than ideal ways of being.

The interesting thing is, no one can choose a different priority. Deep implications here. 

My conclusion is that none of the priorities are objectively better or worse - they just are. There are objectively better and worse ways of being within your specific priority (to the extent one has goals or cares about reality), but the priorities themselves can’t really be said to be superior or inferior to each other, because such a claim is made from inside your own priority, and this reality actually needs various priorities to function well. If the spiritual or structural coherence types were 90% the population, we’d be fucked because physical reality progress would be slow as hell.

Interesting take. Can you elaborate further or share some material in relation to this?

[Lyubov]

Just become clear within yourself and from within you'll find your path.

 

[Leo Gura]

Yes, if you care how your life feels.

If you don't care how it feels, then do whatever.