The Clay Theory of Life

Why you can change yourself and your world

“The world is a very malleable place. If you know what you want, and you go for it with maximum energy and drive and passion, the world will often reconfigure itself around you much more quickly and easily than you would think.”

― Marc Andreessen, The pmarca blog Archives, Marc Andreessen

The Clay theory of life states that the entire world is made up of clay.

Some types of clay are soft, and some are exceedingly hard to mould. 

Each type of clay has its own properties and can be used with other types of clay to shape the world into your vision.

Clay comes in all shapes, forms and materials

The world is made up of clay, and so are you.

When you are young, the clay is soft. You are easy to mould into any shape. But being young, you cannot mould yourself just yet. You are moulded by your parents, friends, relatives, people around you and their thoughts, dreams, and environment.

“You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.” — Jim Rohn

As you grow older, you start gaining the ability to mould and sculpt yourself in the way you want. 

But the clay also starts hardening.

You are free to sculpt yourself but are still influenced by the clay around you. And you will always have some part of your early childhood mould.

Everything you read, everything you see, everything you listen to, and everyone you speak to plays a role in determining how you decide to mould yourself. 

If the clay around is round, you will likely choose to be round;
If the clay around is colourful, you will lean towards becoming colourful;
If the clay around you is full of sharp edges, you will carve sharp edges

But you still have the power to choose. 

You can choose to move to a different environment which has the best clay for you.

The older you get, the more your clay hardens. 
The more difficult it gets to change your mould. 
After a certain age, it is almost impossible. 

Sculpture of Self Made Man

When you can't sculpt yourself, learn from experts.
When you want specific features, but don't know how, take the help of others.
When you find someone who needs your expertise in sculpting themselves, help them.

Mould Yourself and the World

“The people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones who do." - Steve Jobs.

Just as you are made of clay, so is the entire world.
Just as you can mould yourself, you can also mould the world around you as you see fit. 

Some things are easier to mould than others. 

You can mould smaller blobs of clay yourself.
For bigger, harder blobs, you will need people to join you on your journey to help sculpt the massive blob of clay into the vision you have.

But everyone has the capability to mould themselves and the world around them. 

It is a question of how much time, effort, energy and luck you need to sculpt the world the way you want.

If you have kids, you are moulding the basic structure of their lives.

While you live, there is no escaping the continuous moulding, re-moulding and sculpting. 

Embrace it.

Men are born soft and supple;
dead, they are stiff and hard.
Plants are born tender and pliant;
dead, they are brittle and dry.

Thus whoever is stiff and inflexible
is a disciple of death.
Whoever is soft and yielding
is a disciple of life.

The hard and stiff will be broken.
The soft and supple will prevail.

Tao Te Ching - Verse 76