Man desires to be out and about? Woman cares less to be out and about, and doesn’t mind *as much* to stay at home?
For example the downside of a woman and her menstrual cycle — it does make things much much worse.
Does man have a similar thing, in regards to his mood, hormones, testosterone?
My first duty is towards my wife and kid. To protect, defend, avenge them!
Currently settling down in my new life here in Culver, Culver City (Los Angeles), and feeling insanely happy. Then the thought: what is the philosophy of happiness? Why happiness, and how to become it?
The first thought is that health is prime, health is peak. That is, I believe that your focuses must first be critically directed towards your health. For example, simple things:
Time to re-up your Bitcoin baby!
Brave new world for photographers and crypto:
Man would not desire the world without women, but if there were no men… Women would probably be fine?
Thought paving.
Some morning thoughts: what is the point and purpose of aesthetics? Why is it important and towards what ends?
The first thought I have is in regards to beauty, the philosophy of beauty, the significance of beauty etc. On the first hand, I believe that beauty has to do with health. Physiological health, wellness, grandeur.
For example, beautiful women, finding a beautiful wife, begetting children with a beautiful woman. I think the significance of beauty, a beautiful woman is the promise that your offspring will be superior, strong, great. I believe to some degree physical and physiological beauty, aesthetic beauty, also beauty in the face has to do with the promise advancement. Your kids will be stronger, more intelligent, taller, stronger, better than you.
Then, beauty in the context of things. For example, what is the significance of beauty in regards to things, objects, spaces etc?
On the firsthand, I think it has to do with hygiene. Often places which look ugly signal some sort of degeneracy, or poor hygiene. For example, indoor places which are small tight cramped, dark and musty, perhaps signals some sort of mold, fungus, or poor air circulation, lack of natural light etc. Often beautiful spaces signal some sort of hygiene; natural light greater disinfectant from the sun, big windows, floor to ceiling windows, and windows which open which allow and lot airflow is good for our circulation and health, and also brand new spaces, especially interior spaces signal some sort of great hygiene.
Another thing in which we Americans or modern go gaga over is cars. We seem to be very very obsessed with cars, the newest car, the newest model, etc. We are addicted to cars and innovation in cars.
However is there some sort of objective measure to beauty in cars? I think there is some.
For example, beauty in the context of ugliness. Difficult to ascertain what a beautiful car is, but very very easy to ascertain what an ugly car is. An ugly car is rusted, yellowing headlights, peeling clear coat, rust, and components which have faded or haven’t aged well. For example my extreme disgust and hatred in my mom’s old car; a 1995 Nissan Maxima, six cylinder, black paint, which had 1 trillion headaches and nightmares. Peeling clearcoat made it insanely ugly, and also the V6 engine had so many problems. That car was hell.
Ultimately I think new is beautiful. New cars look beautiful because they are bright and shiny, all the components are new, nothing has faded. For example crystal clear headlights, window and car side molding, etc.
One thing I have observed about clothing is that there is no such thing as beautiful clothes, only beautiful people. For example the people who tend to wear these beautiful clothes also tend to be beautiful people. That means, a beautiful person can wear ugly clothes and still look beautiful. An ugly person, if they wear a beautiful clothes, do not become beautiful. Because there is no such thing as beautiful clothes.
Something I am obsessed about is bodily beauty and physique. Why?
What is the point of life?
The first thought I have is the point of life is to feel more powerful, more dominant. I think there is a root and a stem both in the metaphorical and the physiological.
For example, when you get a raise, or some sort of increase, or obtain something or increase something etc.… physiologically what does one feel? I believe it is a rush of power. Feeling more powerful, more secure, greater.
Perhaps this is also the feeling of getting some sort of new tool or device or phone or car; a feeling that you are progressing, becoming stronger etc.
My thought is the goal of power, feeling more powerful etc. is for the goal and towards the goal of art and arts production. To give birth to more art, greater art.
For example, let us consider art, art objects, etc. Essentially what is the artist doing? The artist is getting more metaphorical children in the substance form and output of art work.
For example Cindy is currently working on her first book, and truth be told, it is like metaphorically giving birth to a child.
Also, currently as I raise Seneca, he is currently two years and eight months old, he is my ultimate artistic art project.
To me, art is metaphorical birth. That is, when you photograph something, make photos of it, produce it what are you doing? You are imputing your own metaphorical ideals into what you create and put out there.
For example, my personal suggestion is before you look at the artwork of somebody, first look at them as a human being, look at them physiologically. For example a lot of sick artists can only beget sick art. This is why I am very very suspicious of people who rely on drugs, alcohol, marijuana, or other forms of amphetamines to create artwork. I suppose my only device is coffee; But beyond that I am 100% sober, no weed no alcohol etc.
There is this strange modern day notion of the artist being some sort of strange, emaciated, pale, sickly, strange feeble individual. It is difficult to imagine an artist looking like an Arnold Schwarzenegger, or Ronnie Coleman, or like Thor with a six pack. My thought is the more physiologically strong and fit you are, the more strong and fit your photos will be in your artwork will be as well.
Ever since my Ricoh GR 3X has died, I’ve been experimenting a lot with different camera setups. One of them is simple: just using the old Lumix G9 I had lying around, using the Lumix Leica 12mm F1.4 lens, and more recently, getting this really great tiny pancake Lumix 14 mm F2.5 lens.
First and foremost, I think our primary preoccupation as photographer-artists is to create beautiful photos.
I never really thought it would make a difference, but switching from the Leica Lumix 12 mm F1.4 lens to the Lumix 14mm f2.5 lens, I could actually see an insanely huge difference. Things I noticed:
The first huge obvious difference is that the Lumix 14 mm F2.5 lens photos, in terms of shooting portraits, up close portraits of Seneca, the photos are aesthetically a lot uglier. It is almost too rough, too grainy, too gritty. Also something about the out of focus bokeh effect, is really ugly on the F2.5 lens.
Another thing is that the colors, when shooting color photos, intelligent auto mode on the F2.5 lens, the colors look really off and ugly. Something I didn’t think too much about, but if you shoot intelligent auto JPEG mode, straight up on the Lumix G9 with the Lumix 12 mm F1.4 lens, the photos look insanely perfect. The colors are true to life, vibrant, and beautiful.
Another huge shocking factor is that when I saw all of these photos that I shot of Seneca, with the new 14 mm F2.5 lens, of Seneca, I had some sort of visual, photo dissonance, which means that I almost didn’t recognize the photos of Seneca.
Then my simple thought: maybe I should just keep the Lumix G9 permanently paired with the 14 mm F14 lens, and just use it as a portrait art camera, and then figure out a more pocketful portable solution for street photography of strangers in public? Or just maybe use an iPhone for street photography of strangers in public and urban landscapes?
Walking around Culver City, downtown Culver City, the Culver City arts District, driving around LA, Sunset, West Hollywood, and just LA in general, my general thought is that it seems that at the end of the day, what we are primarily passionate about is art. For example, even being on Rodeo Drive and seeing the new Mr. Brainwash art museum, thinking about Jean-Michel Basquiat, Andy Warhol, etc.… it seems that the true and goal is towards art.
Even when we think about all these clothing brands, luxury object brands, what is it? Essentially it is consumer art, codified into objects. For example, getting a Richard Mille watch, is essentially an art object on your wrist. Or any sort of designer luxury designer thing, whether it be clothes, shoes, a handbag, sunglasses, I had piece etc.… They are essentially art objects you could purchase and wear and use.
Then what I believe is this: perhaps the ultimate goal that we have is to create beautiful things, beautiful art objects, etc., designed in our own eyes.
Free spirits, free souls. Why? They wish they were as free spirited and unbounded like me!
Funny enough, when all these people said that computers are bad for your eyes monitors are bad for your eyes etc., I think they were right. For example, busting out Cindy‘s old Dell monitor, and being shocked on how poor the sharpness and resolution is; it might be true that it is really bad for your eyes. After staring at the monitor for even a few minutes, my eyes already hurt.
Lesson:
Become more skeptical towards technology!
Learn more: Start Here >
Some morning thoughts: what is the point in purpose of aesthetics? Why is it important and towards what ends?
First thought I have is in regards to beauty, the philosophy of beauty, the significance of beauty etc. On the first hand, I believe that beauty has to do with health. Physiological health, wellness, grandeur.
For example, beautiful women, finding a beautiful wife, getting children with a beautiful woman. I think the significance of beauty, a beautiful woman is the promise that your offspring will be superior, strong, great. I believe to some degree physical and physiological beauty, aesthetic beauty, also beauty in the face has to do with the promise advancement. Your kids will be stronger, more intelligent, taller, stronger, better than you.
Then, beauty in the context of things. For example, what is the significance of beauty in regards to things, objects, spaces etc?
on the firsthand, I think it has to do with hygiene. Often places which look ugly signal some sort of degeneracy, or poor hygiene. For example, indoor places which are small tight cramp, dark and musty, perhaps signals some sort of mold, fungus, or air circulation, black and natural light etc. Often beautiful spaces signal some sort of hygiene; natural light greater disinfectant from the sun, big windows, floor to ceiling windows, and windows which open which allow and lot airflow is good for our circulation and health, and also brand new spaces, especially interior spaces signal some sort of great hygiene.
Another thing in which we Americans or modern go gaga over his cars. He seem to be very very obsessed with cars, the newest car, the newest model, etc. We are addicted to cars and innovation in cars.
However is there some sort of objective measure to beauty in cars? I think there is some.
For example, beauty in the context of ugliness. Difficult to ascertain what a beautiful car is, but very very easy to ascertain what an ugly car is. Ugly car is rusted, yellowing headlights, peeling clear coat, rust, and components which have faded or haven’t aged well. For example my extreme discussed in my families old car; a 1995 Nissan Maxima, six cylinder, black paint, which had 1 trillion headaches and nightmares. Peeling clearcoat made it insanely ugly, and also the V6 engine had so many problems. That car was hell.
Ultimately I think new is beautiful. New cars look beautiful because they are bright and shiny, all the components are new, nothing has faded. For example crystal clear headlights, window and car side molding, etc.
One thing I have observed about clothing is that there is no such thing as beautiful clothes, only beautiful people. For example the people who tend to wear these beautiful clothes also tend to be beautiful people. That means, a beautiful person can wear ugly clothes and still look beautiful. An ugly person, if they wear a beautiful clothes, do not become beautiful. Because there is no such thing as beautiful clothes.
What is the point of life?
The first thought I have is the point of life is to feel more powerful, more dominant. I think there is a root and a stem both in the metaphorical and the physiological.
For example, when you get a raise, or some sort of increase, or obtain something or increase something etc.… physiologically what does one feel? I believe it is a rush of power. Feeling more powerful, more secure, greater.
Perhaps this is also the feeling of getting some sort of new tool or device or phone or car; a feeling that you are progressing, becoming stronger etc.
My thought is the goal of power, feeling more powerful etc. is for the goal and towards the goal of art and arts production. To give birth to more art, greater art.
For example, let us consider art, art objects, etc. Essentially what is the artist doing? The artist is getting more metaphorical children in the substance form and output of art work.
For example Cindy is currently working on her first book, and truth be told, it is like metaphorically giving birth to a child.
Also, currently as I raise Seneca, he is currently two years and eight months old, he is my ultimate artistic art project.
To me, art is metaphorical birth. That is, when you photograph some thing, make photos of it, produce it what are you doing? You are imputing your own metaphorical ideals into what you create and put out there.
For example, my personal suggestion is before you look at the artwork of somebody, first look at them as a human being, look at them physiologically. For example a lot of sick artist can only be get sick art. This is why I am very very suspicious of people who rely on drugs, alcohol, marijuana, or other forms of amphetamines to create artwork. I suppose my only device is coffee; But beyond that I am 100% sober, no weed no alcohol etc.
Avoid miserable people like the plague! And miserable news! Just quit the news.
Misos— hatred. Also people who are “miserly” (excessively scroogey about money and “saving money”)— it is all connected?
Miserable people are miserly.
Miserable people hate, hate existence and hate their lives and selves?
Your Own Personal Code of Ethics:
Ever since my Ricoh GR 3X has died, I’ve been experimenting a lot with different camera setups. One of them is simple: just using the old Lumix G9 I had lying around, using the Lumix Leica 12mm F1.4 lens, and more recently, getting this really great tiny pancake Lumix 14 mm F2.5 lens.
First and foremost, I think our primary preoccupation as photographer-artists is to create beautiful photos.
I never really thought it would make a difference, but switching from the Leica Lumix 12 mm F1.4 lens to the Lumix 14mm f2.5 lens, I could actually see an insanely huge difference. Things I noticed:
The first huge obvious difference is that the Lumix 14 mm F2.5 lens photos, in terms of shooting portraits, up close portraits of Seneca, the photos are aesthetically a lot uglier. It is almost too rough, too grainy, too gritty. Also something about the out of focus bokeh effect, is really ugly on the F2.5 lens.
Another thing is that the colors, when shooting color photos, intelligent auto mode on the F2.5 lens, the colors look really off and ugly. Something I didn’t think too much about, but if you shoot intelligent auto JPEG mode, straight up on the Lumix G9 with the Lumix 12 mm F1.4 lens, the photos look insanely perfect. The colors are true to life, vibrant, and beautiful.
Another huge shocking factor is that when I saw all of these photos that I shot of Seneca, with the new 14 mm F2.5 lens, of Seneca, I had some sort of visual, photo dissonance, which means that I almost didn’t recognize the photos of Seneca.
Then my simple thought: maybe I should just keep the Lumix G9 permanently paired with the 14 mm F1 .4 lens, and just use it as a portrait art camera, and then figure out a more pocketful portable solution for street photography of strangers in public? or just maybe use an iPhone for street photography of strangers in public and urban landscapes?
“Virtuous” uses of your time vs “foolish“ uses of your time?
Dear friend,
If you’re new to photography, start here:
“He without a past has no future.”
Start here:
Classics never die:
Body thoughts:
When I was a kid growing up, to be a “overachiever“ was seen as a double edged sword; on one hand, it was greatly respected admired, a desired thing. Yet at the same time, a lot of kids would tease and make fun of kids who were “tryhard“. That in fact, trying “too” hard, and aiming to achieve was seen as a negatively bad thing.
It is my personal thought that to overachieve is a positively good thing. For example, can one imagine an Elon Musk who wasn’t an overachiever? Or a Kanye West who wasn’t was an overachiever? Or a Jay Z who wasn’t an overachiever?
Achieve — head? Same as chief?
To (ad) caput?
What does it mean to achieve, and what are the logical consequences of it?
*kap- head. Same word as capital.
Achever— to finish, to complete.
I think in modern day English, or modern day times, to achieve is to seen as succeed, to be number one, to advance, and a lot of achievement notions typically comes from academics and academia. For example, to achieve or scholastic achievement has to deal with getting straight A’s, getting a 4.0 GPA or a beyond a 4.0 GPA, getting into high-ranking universities, scoring high on standardized testing etc.
A generalize way we could think about achievement it’s a simply set a personal goal on something, and obtain it. To seize it.
*kap- to seize, to hold.
HODL — hold on for dear life, a notion that we get from the cryptocurrency world.
To hold. What does it mean to hold? To grip onto something, to grasp. It has to do with grip strength, and wrist strength.
In the world of finance and economics, holding onto assets, or in Texas “hold-‘em”— you have the option to hold.
Perhaps true hold is a really really good idea. To hold is a good idea in so far much as holding seems like a passive action, but in actuality, it is one of the most virtuous things that you could do. It takes courage and skill to hold, rather than to quickly buy or to sell, in which people over act.
For example one of my friends used to own 50 bitcoin, a while back, but this is when it was valued very low, and after a huge spike, he freaked out, and sold it all. Perhaps the better strategy was for him to just hold, hold it for a decade or two, and if that were the case, he would be able to quit his job and retire.
Seneca is currently two years, eight months old. A new trick you could do is when at the park with me, she can grab the chin up rings, grab it, and hold his body up off the floor! The other day at Barnes & Noble, when washing our hands, she was actually able to Hold and grasp the edge of the sink table, and successfully hold and suspend himself on it!
Maybe this is a new thing we could innovate; to see how strong and how much you could hold?
Even my 1000 pound infamous atlas lift, part of it is a lifting motion, in which I lift the weight off of the rack with my shoulder and legs, but then I hold it up for a second or two before putting it down.
Even when I think about the strongman competitions, there is this Hercules pillar hold competition in which there are two columns, each about 1000 pounds, attached with chain and hand grip. The contestant simply sees how long he can hold the weights together, before his strength gives out.
Maybe also the most virtuous path to entrepreneurship is towards tenacity? How long can you hold and be tenacious?
A concept I am trying to currently think through is about mimesis and mimetic theory. The general gist is this; which desires are implanted in us by society, and which are truly inherent and natural?
Why does it matter? In terms of achievement, what you want to achieve… we need to set some sort of goal. But, is the goal you are setting inherently interesting to you, or is it a goal which is seen as desirable by society?
Durable. Durability. Even Nietzsche once said, “Durability is the first rate good amongst human beings!”
An interesting epiphany that I had is that it seems that with modern day consumerism, durability is actually not what we seek. For example, nobody truly seeks a 100% durable iPhone that will last forever. Why? We need some sort of excuse to upgrade. I think the same thing is with cars; cars are fashion. The second our car has any issues, or needs an “upgrade“, we are very very happy to jump ship, and then to seek some sort of new solution.
Durabilis: Durable, lasting.
I think this matters for many different reasons. First and foremost, with everything in life, we need to posit some sort of desired ends and outcomes. Therefore, if we know what we seek, and what we desire, then we can better straight shot attain, obtain, and pursue that which we desire.
Duro— harden, make hard.
Studying some etymology for the word durable, it seems that comes from the Latin, duro, which means harden, make hard.
Durus: looking further into the Proto Indo European, it seems that it means far, long. Deros— Sanskrit dura which means “far”. Long, extended.
I suppose there are several interesting interventions with this line of thought. First and foremost, then it seems that the desired end outcome is for us to go long. An extended range, and also, to last into the future. Long, extended can be seen as distance, or time and years.
Extended range as good!
Durability doesn’t just mean to be hard, to be robust. The philosophy of durability is to last for a long time, or for us to use the framework an ecosystem for a long time.
For example, cameras. I am a huge fan of the Ricoh GR series cameras, as it is so small compact and powerful. Yet the durability is poor insofar much as the duration you could use it only seems to be about a year. After hard-core use, all of my Ricohs have broken.
Surprisingly, the Lumix G9 that I bought in 2019 while in Japan, has lasted. Something about how it was engineered, and also the fact that it is an interchangeable lens system means that if the lens breaks (mine did), I can simply swap out the lens, and I could still keep using the system.
Whereas with non-interchangeable, non-modular systems, if one component breaks, it is all broken.
The same thing goes with computers. Laptops are bad in so far much as at least with MacBook laptop, you can honestly swap out the parts. This means, if one component breaks, you’re screwed.
What is a durable investment? If we think long, long-term, maybe it is best to think in the 30+ year time span.
For example, a simple thought: will bitcoin prices go up or down in 30 years? Will more people use cryptocurrency or less in 30 years? Or, will we use our phones more for financial things? Or less? Will finances become more digital, or paper hard cash based?
30 years from now, what will we still need? A habitat somewhere to live, food.
Nobody likes to think 30 years ahead, because we want to live in the now. Yet this is my simple thought:
Live today, insanely frugal and scrappy, Spartan. Yet in terms of your investments, think 30 years ahead, like a demigod.
In modern day society, we have a strange relationship with our bodies. We know that it is important and critical, yet, we sacrifice it for other things like money, prestige, “productivity”, mental faculties, building capital, etc.
Yet at the end of the day, none of these things are possible without our bodies. And also a reverse thought:
What is the opposite should be done? That the ultimate endgame is to beautify and strengthen our bodies to the maximum, and money and capital and all these other things were simply to aid that end goal?
For example, modern day work and office work. I think I got it figured out. Essentially you sacrifice your health and well-being for money.
For example, if you work in the modern day office job, doesn’t matter if it is an investment banker, lawyer, attorney, money manager, programmer, etc.… essentially what you are doing is prostituting your body mind and soul for greater money and capital gains. Let us consider the inordinate amount of time we spent sitting; sitting in a car when committing to work, or sitting in the train, or sitting in the bus, sitting in the metro, or sitting in the office, sitting at our computer office chair, sitting down in meetings, etc. And all of that time we spend indoors which is positively bad for our health.
My general thought is that morality “ethics“, religious rules of conduct is essentially soft forms of coercion and power control. For example, these “rules“ governing our speech, our social behaviors, our comportment and how we leverage and carry our bodies, what we do what we say, what we don’t do what we don’t say, what we desire what we don’t desire etc. Essentially almost 99% of our physical or mental activities is directed towards some other ends, which is often not our own.
For example, Confucianism. This ridiculous idea that no matter what, whether good or bad, one must always respect their elders. But why? Once again, another form of social control.
Or, the notion of “saving money“, or “not wasting“ water, electricity, etc. Yet once again, why are these things considered a virtue?
My general thought is that morality “ethics“, religious rules of conduct is essentially soft forms of coercion and power control. For example, these “rules“ governing our speech, our social behaviors, our comportment and how we leverage and carry our bodies, what we do what we say, what we don’t do what we don’t say, what we desire what we don’t desire etc. Essentially almost 99% of our physical or mental activities is directed towards some other ends, which is often not our own.
For example, Confucianism. This ridiculous idea that no matter what, whether good or bad, one must always respect their elders. But why? Once again, another form of social control.
Or, the notion of “saving money“, or “not wasting“ water, electricity, etc. Yet once again, why are these things considered a virtue?
Brave new world for photographers and crypto:
Durable. Durability. Even Nietzsche once said, “Durability is the first rate good amongst human beings!”
An interesting epiphany that I had is that it seems that with modern day consumerism, durability is actually not what we seek. For example, nobody truly seeks a 100% durable iPhone that will last forever. Why? We need some sort of excuse to upgrade. I think the same thing is with cars; cars are fashion. The second our car has any issues, or needs an “upgrade“, we are very very happy to jump ship, and then to seek some sort of new solution.
Durabilis: Durable, lasting.
I think this matters for many different reasons. First and foremost, with everything in life, we need to posit some sort of desired ends and outcomes. Therefore, if we know what we seek, and what we desire, then we can better straight shot attain, obtain, and pursue that which we desire.
Duro— harden, make hard.
Studying some etymology for the word durable, it seems that comes from the Latin, duro, which means harden, make hard.
Durus: looking further into the Proto Indo European, it seems that it means far, long. Deros— Sanskrit dura which means “far”. Long, extended.
I suppose there are several interesting interventions with this line of thought. First and foremost, then it seems that the desired end outcome is for us to go long. An extended range, and also, to last into the future. Long, extended can be seen as distance, or time and years.
Extended range as good!
Durability doesn’t just mean to be hard, to be robust. The philosophy of durability is to last for a long time, or for us to use the framework an ecosystem for a long time.
For example, cameras. I am a huge fan of the Ricoh GR series cameras, as it is so small compact and powerful. Yet the durability is poor insofar much as the duration you could use it only seems to be about a year. After hard-core use, all of my Ricohs have broken.
Surprisingly, the Lumix G9 that I bought in 2019 while in Japan, has lasted. Something about how it was engineered, and also the fact that it is an interchangeable lens system means that if the lens breaks (mine did), I can simply swap out the lens, and I could still keep using the system.
Whereas with non-interchangeable, non-modular systems, if one component breaks, it is all broken.
The same thing goes with computers. Laptops are bad in so far much as at least with MacBook laptop, you can honestly swap out the parts. This means, if one component breaks, you’re screwed.
When I was a kid growing up, to be a “overachiever“ was seen as a double edged sword; on one hand, it was greatly respected admired, a desired thing. Yet at the same time, a lot of kids would tease and make fun of kids who were “tryhard“. That in fact, trying “too” hard, and aiming to achieve was seen as a negatively bad thing.
It is my personal thought that to overachieve is a positively good thing. For example, can one imagine an Elon Musk who wasn’t an overachiever? Or a Kanye West who wasn’t was an overachiever? Or a Jay Z who wasn’t an overachiever?
Achieve — head? Same as chief?
To (ad) caput?
What does it mean to achieve, and what are the logical consequences of it?
*kap- head. Same word as capital.
Achever— to finish, to complete.
I think in modern day English, or modern day times, to achieve is to seen as succeed, to be number one, to advance, and a lot of achievement notions typically comes from academics and academia. For example, to achieve or scholastic achievement has to deal with getting straight A’s, getting a 4.0 GPA or a beyond a 4.0 GPA, getting into high-ranking universities, scoring high on standardized testing etc.
A generalize way we could think about achievement it’s a simply set a personal goal on something, and obtain it. To seize it.
*kap- to seize, to hold.
HODL — hold on for dear life, a notion that we get from the cryptocurrency world.
To hold. What does it mean to hold? To grip onto something, to grasp. It has to do with grip strength, and wrist strength.
In the world of finance and economics, holding onto assets, or in Texas “hold-‘em”— you have the option to hold.
Perhaps true hold is a really really good idea. To hold is a good idea in so far much as holding seems like a passive action, but in actuality, it is one of the most virtuous things that you could do. It takes courage and skill to hold, rather than to quickly buy or to sell, in which people over act.
For example one of my friends used to own 50 bitcoin, a while back, but this is when it was valued very low, and after a huge spike, he freaked out, and sold it all. Perhaps the better strategy was for him to just hold, hold it for a decade or two, and if that were the case, he would be able to quit his job and retire.
Seneca is currently two years, eight months old. A new trick you could do is when at the park with me, she can grab the chin up rings, grab it, and hold his body up off the floor! The other day at Barnes & Noble, when washing our hands, she was actually able to Hold and grasp the edge of the sink table, and successfully hold and suspend himself on it!
Maybe this is a new thing we could innovate; to see how strong and how much you could hold?
Even my 1000 pound infamous atlas lift, part of it is a lifting motion, in which I lift the weight off of the rack with my shoulder and legs, but then I hold it up for a second or two before putting it down.
Even when I think about the strongman competitions, there is this Hercules pillar hold competition in which there are two columns, each about 1000 pounds, attached with chain and hand grip. The contestant simply sees how long he can hold the weights together, before his strength gives out.
Maybe also the most virtuous path to entrepreneurship is towards tenacity? How long can you hold and be tenacious?
A concept I am trying to currently think through is about mimesis and mimetic theory. The general gist is this; which desires are implanted in us by society, and which are truly inherent and natural?
Why does it matter? In terms of achievement, what you want to achieve… we need to set some sort of goal. But, is the goal you are setting inherently interesting to you, or is it a goal which is seen as desirable by society?
We hate things and people we cannot control.
The genesis of hate and hatred: fear of the unknown, or fear of that which we cannot control?
Our new goal and ideal:
Become invincible:
Learn from the master stoics:
Durable. Durability. Even Nietzsche once said, “Durability is the first rate good amongst human beings!”
An interesting epiphany that I had is that it seems that with modern day consumerism, durability is actually not what we seek. For example, nobody truly seeks a 100% durable iPhone that will last forever. Why? We need some sort of excuse to upgrade. I think the same thing is with cars; cars are fashion. The second our car has any issues, or needs an “upgrade“, we are very very happy to jump ship, and then to seek some sort of new solution.
Durabilis: Durable, lasting.
I think this matters for many different reasons. First and foremost, with everything in life, we need to posit some sort of desired ends and outcomes. Therefore, if we know what we seek, and what we desire, then we can better straight shot attain, obtain, and pursue that which we desire.
Duro— harden, make hard.
Studying some etymology for the word durable, it seems that comes from the Latin, duro, which means harden, make hard.
Durus: looking further into the Proto Indo European, it seems that it means far, long. Deros— Sanskrit dura which means “far”. Long, extended.
I suppose there are several interesting interventions with this line of thought. First and foremost, then it seems that the desired end outcome is for us to go long. An extended range, and also, to last into the future. Long, extended can be seen as distance, or time and years.
Extended range as good!
Durability doesn’t just mean to be hard, to be robust. The philosophy of durability is to last for a long time, or for us to use the framework an ecosystem for a long time.
For example, cameras. I am a huge fan of the Ricoh GR series cameras, as it is so small compact and powerful. Yet the durability is poor insofar much as the duration you could use it only seems to be about a year. After hard-core use, all of my Ricohs have broken.
Surprisingly, the Lumix G9 that I bought in 2019 while in Japan, has lasted. Something about how it was engineered, and also the fact that it is an interchangeable lens system means that if the lens breaks (mine did), I can simply swap out the lens, and I could still keep using the system.
Whereas with non-interchangeable, non-modular systems, if one component breaks, it is all broken.
The same thing goes with computers. Laptops are bad in so far much as at least with MacBook laptop, you can honestly swap out the parts. This means, if one component breaks, you’re screwed.
When I was a kid growing up, to be a “overachiever“ was seen as a double edged sword; on one hand, it was greatly respected admired, a desired thing. Yet at the same time, a lot of kids would tease and make fun of kids who were “tryhard“. That in fact, trying “too” hard, and aiming to achieve was seen as a negatively bad thing.
It is my personal thought that to overachieve is a positively good thing. For example, can one imagine an Elon Musk who wasn’t an overachiever? Or a Kanye West who wasn’t was an overachiever? Or a Jay Z who wasn’t an overachiever?
Achieve — head? Same as chief?
To (ad) caput?
What does it mean to achieve, and what are the logical consequences of it?
*kap- head. Same word as capital.
Achever— to finish, to complete.
I think in modern day English, or modern day times, to achieve is to seen as succeed, to be number one, to advance, and a lot of achievement notions typically comes from academics and academia. For example, to achieve or scholastic achievement has to deal with getting straight A’s, getting a 4.0 GPA or a beyond a 4.0 GPA, getting into high-ranking universities, scoring high on standardized testing etc.
A generalize way we could think about achievement it’s a simply set a personal goal on something, and obtain it. To seize it.
*kap- to seize, to hold.
HODL — hold on for dear life, a notion that we get from the cryptocurrency world.
To hold. What does it mean to hold? To grip onto something, to grasp. It has to do with grip strength, and wrist strength.
In the world of finance and economics, holding onto assets, or in Texas “hold-‘em”— you have the option to hold.
Perhaps true hold is a really really good idea. To hold is a good idea in so far much as holding seems like a passive action, but in actuality, it is one of the most virtuous things that you could do. It takes courage and skill to hold, rather than to quickly buy or to sell, in which people over act.
For example one of my friends used to own 50 bitcoin, a while back, but this is when it was valued very low, and after a huge spike, he freaked out, and sold it all. Perhaps the better strategy was for him to just hold, hold it for a decade or two, and if that were the case, he would be able to quit his job and retire.
Seneca is currently two years, eight months old. A new trick you could do is when at the park with me, she can grab the chin up rings, grab it, and hold his body up off the floor! The other day at Barnes & Noble, when washing our hands, she was actually able to Hold and grasp the edge of the sink table, and successfully hold and suspend himself on it!
Maybe this is a new thing we could innovate; to see how strong and how much you could hold?
Even my 1000 pound infamous atlas lift, part of it is a lifting motion, in which I lift the weight off of the rack with my shoulder and legs, but then I hold it up for a second or two before putting it down.
Even when I think about the strongman competitions, there is this Hercules pillar hold competition in which there are two columns, each about 1000 pounds, attached with chain and hand grip. The contestant simply sees how long he can hold the weights together, before his strength gives out.
Maybe also the most virtuous path to entrepreneurship is towards tenacity? How long can you hold and be tenacious?
A concept I am trying to currently think through is about mimesis and mimetic theory. The general gist is this; which desires are implanted in us by society, and which are truly inherent and natural?
Why does it matter? In terms of achievement, what you want to achieve… we need to set some sort of goal. But, is the goal you are setting inherently interesting to you, or is it a goal which is seen as desirable by society?
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To become more intelligent … be very critical about your environment?
My theory
When I was a kid growing up, to be a “overachiever“ was seen as a double edged sword; on one hand, it was greatly respected admired, a desired thing. Yet at the same time, a lot of kids would tease and make fun of kids who were “tryhard“. That in fact, trying “too” hard, and aiming to achieve was seen as a negatively bad thing.
It is my personal thought that to overachieve is a positively good thing. For example, can one imagine an Elon Musk who wasn’t an overachiever? Or a Kanye West who wasn’t was an overachiever? Or a Jay Z who wasn’t an overachiever?
Achieve — head? Same as chief?
To (ad) caput?
What does it mean to achieve, and what are the logical consequences of it?
*kap- head. Same word as capital.
Achever— to finish, to complete.
I think in modern day English, or modern day times, to achieve is to seen as succeed, to be number one, to advance, and a lot of achievement notions typically comes from academics and academia. For example, to achieve or scholastic achievement has to deal with getting straight A’s, getting a 4.0 GPA or a beyond a 4.0 GPA, getting into high-ranking universities, scoring high on standardized testing etc.
A generalize way we could think about achievement it’s a simply set a personal goal on something, and obtain it. To seize it.
*kap- to seize, to hold.
HODL — hold on for dear life, a notion that we get from the cryptocurrency world.
To hold. What does it mean to hold? To grip onto something, to grasp. It has to do with grip strength, and wrist strength.
In the world of finance and economics, holding onto assets, or in Texas “hold-‘em”— you have the option to hold.
Perhaps true hold is a really really good idea. To hold is a good idea in so far much as holding seems like a passive action, but in actuality, it is one of the most virtuous things that you could do. It takes courage and skill to hold, rather than to quickly buy or to sell, in which people over act.
For example one of my friends used to own 50 bitcoin, a while back, but this is when it was valued very low, and after a huge spike, he freaked out, and sold it all. Perhaps the better strategy was for him to just hold, hold it for a decade or two, and if that were the case, he would be able to quit his job and retire.
Seneca is currently two years, eight months old. A new trick you could do is when at the park with me, she can grab the chin up rings, grab it, and hold his body up off the floor! The other day at Barnes & Noble, when washing our hands, she was actually able to Hold and grasp the edge of the sink table, and successfully hold and suspend himself on it!
Maybe this is a new thing we could innovate; to see how strong and how much you could hold?
Even my 1000 pound infamous atlas lift, part of it is a lifting motion, in which I lift the weight off of the rack with my shoulder and legs, but then I hold it up for a second or two before putting it down.
Even when I think about the strongman competitions, there is this Hercules pillar hold competition in which there are two columns, each about 1000 pounds, attached with chain and hand grip. The contestant simply sees how long he can hold the weights together, before his strength gives out.
Maybe also the most virtuous path to entrepreneurship is towards tenacity? How long can you hold and be tenacious?
A concept I am trying to currently think through is about mimesis and mimetic theory. The general gist is this; which desires are implanted in us by society, and which are truly inherent and natural?
Why does it matter? In terms of achievement, what you want to achieve… we need to set some sort of goal. But, is the goal you are setting inherently interesting to you, or is it a goal which is seen as desirable by society?
The true gods are simple? They think simple, their lifestyle is simple, their concerns are simple, how they conduct their affairs is simple?
Beyond simple!
Durable. Durability. Even Nietzsche once said, “Durability is the first rate good amongst human beings!”
An interesting epiphany that I had is that it seems that with modern day consumerism, durability is actually not what we seek. For example, nobody truly seeks a 100% durable iPhone that will last forever. Why? We need some sort of excuse to upgrade. I think the same thing is with cars; cars are fashion. The second our car has any issues, or needs an “upgrade“, we are very very happy to jump ship, and then to seek some sort of new solution.
Durabilis: Durable, lasting.
I think this matters for many different reasons. First and foremost, with everything in life, we need to posit some sort of desired ends and outcomes. Therefore, if we know what we seek, and what we desire, then we can better straight shot attain, obtain, and pursue that which we desire.
Duro— harden, make hard.
Studying some etymology for the word durable, it seems that comes from the Latin, duro, which means harden, make hard.
Durus: looking further into the Proto Indo European, it seems that it means far, long. Deros— Sanskrit dura which means “far”. Long, extended.
I suppose there are several interesting interventions with this line of thought. First and foremost, then it seems that the desired end outcome is for us to go long. An extended range, and also, to last into the future. Long, extended can be seen as distance, or time and years.
Extended range as good!
Durability doesn’t just mean to be hard, to be robust. The philosophy of durability is to last for a long time, or for us to use the framework an ecosystem for a long time.
For example, cameras. I am a huge fan of the Ricoh GR series cameras, as it is so small compact and powerful. Yet the durability is poor insofar much as the duration you could use it only seems to be about a year. After hard-core use, all of my Ricohs have broken.
Surprisingly, the Lumix G9 that I bought in 2019 while in Japan, has lasted. Something about how it was engineered, and also the fact that it is an interchangeable lens system means that if the lens breaks (mine did), I can simply swap out the lens, and I could still keep using the system.
Whereas with non-interchangeable, non-modular systems, if one component breaks, it is all broken.
The same thing goes with computers. Laptops are bad in so far much as at least with MacBook laptop, you can honestly swap out the parts. This means, if one component breaks, you’re screwed.
Beautiful subjects, beautiful aesthetics, beautiful compositions:
I first heard about this notion of mimesis., mimetic theory from Peter Thiel from his zero to one book, quoting his mentor Renee Girard. Essentially the gist and the notion is that most of our “desires“ are sociological ones; not inherent in us, but rather, programmed into us by society.
When I was a kid growing up, to be a “overachiever“ was seen as a double edged sword; on one hand, it was greatly respected admired, a desired thing. Yet at the same time, a lot of kids would tease and make fun of kids who were “tryhard“. That in fact, trying “too” hard, and aiming to achieve was seen as a negatively bad thing.
It is my personal thought that to overachieve is a positively good thing. For example, can one imagine an Elon Musk who wasn’t an overachiever? Or a Kanye West who wasn’t was an overachiever? Or a Jay Z who wasn’t an overachiever?
Achieve — head? Same as chief?
To (ad) caput?
What does it mean to achieve, and what are the logical consequences of it?
*kap- head. Same word as capital.
Achever— to finish, to complete.
I think in modern day English, or modern day times, to achieve is to seen as succeed, to be number one, to advance, and a lot of achievement notions typically comes from academics and academia. For example, to achieve or scholastic achievement has to deal with getting straight A’s, getting a 4.0 GPA or a beyond a 4.0 GPA, getting into high-ranking universities, scoring high on standardized testing etc.
A generalize way we could think about achievement it’s a simply set a personal goal on something, and obtain it. To seize it.
*kap- to seize, to hold.
HODL — hold on for dear life, a notion that we get from the cryptocurrency world.
To hold. What does it mean to hold? To grip onto something, to grasp. It has to do with grip strength, and wrist strength.
In the world of finance and economics, holding onto assets, or in Texas “hold-‘em”— you have the option to hold.
Perhaps true hold is a really really good idea. To hold is a good idea in so far much as holding seems like a passive action, but in actuality, it is one of the most virtuous things that you could do. It takes courage and skill to hold, rather than to quickly buy or to sell, in which people over act.
For example one of my friends used to own 50 bitcoin, a while back, but this is when it was valued very low, and after a huge spike, he freaked out, and sold it all. Perhaps the better strategy was for him to just hold, hold it for a decade or two, and if that were the case, he would be able to quit his job and retire.
Seneca is currently two years, eight months old. A new trick you could do is when at the park with me, she can grab the chin up rings, grab it, and hold his body up off the floor! The other day at Barnes & Noble, when washing our hands, she was actually able to Hold and grasp the edge of the sink table, and successfully hold and suspend himself on it!
Maybe this is a new thing we could innovate; to see how strong and how much you could hold?
Even my 1000 pound infamous atlas lift, part of it is a lifting motion, in which I lift the weight off of the rack with my shoulder and legs, but then I hold it up for a second or two before putting it down.
Even when I think about the strongman competitions, there is this Hercules pillar hold competition in which there are two columns, each about 1000 pounds, attached with chain and hand grip. The contestant simply sees how long he can hold the weights together, before his strength gives out.
Maybe also the most virtuous path to entrepreneurship is towards tenacity? How long can you hold and be tenacious?
A thought and theory; perhaps success, a “successful” person is somebody who has a healthy dose of autism or Asperger’s; being able to ignore avoid or not to placate to traditional desires.
Anti mimetic desires.
Become the change which you desire to see manifested in the world!
Never stop innovating.
Is it really wisdom that we are seeking? Wisdom as a means to a greater end, not the end in itself.
And wisdom maybe seems like wise actions which are beneficial to your desired ends or outcomes or process.
For example, I am currently 35 years old. In a decade, I will only be 45, or 55 years old! Still young.
And also, Seneca will only be 12 years old, 22 years old! Still young.
Perhaps with things, possessions, cars, devices, property, situation’s, investments etc.; think to yourself, will it still be tenable in 10 years or 20 years?
For example, I can easily see myself driving my Prius for another 10 to 20 years. I am dubious that any electric car or Tesla will last for another 10 or 20 years.
Also, iPhone, computers laptops, devices cameras etc.; none of them will last 10 to 20 years.
“Life is a game of monopoly, go outside and cop yourself some property.” – MIGOS
A random thing on the road to moving to LA is this — a random thing that was coming into my mind was this idea of finding some sort of property space, like buying a Triplex or a quadPlex, and essentially becoming some sort of noveau slumlord.
I had a funny interesting turbo thought when going to the Costco Business Center the other day, and buying some meat. Essentially the idea is simple:
Essentially the meat you buy and purchase is the raw material, and cooking it yourself is very simple and easy; yet, the reason why so many restaurants and businesses, even all you can eat Korean BBQ restaurants is that they make the process so complex, and intimidating to you.
Real estate is interesting to me because then you have the raw material which is the land, and then you could customize it later to your liking.
The primary reason why I love cars so much is that ever since I was a kid, around 15 or 16 years old, it was an open creative canvas for me. Note, I actually got into cars before I got into photography; I was into cars ever since I was 15 years old and got my first drivers license permit in California, I only going to photography later, around the age of 18 when I graduated high school and was about to go to college.
Growing up, my family only ever rented. The notion that I could modify or do anything to my house or home was a non-concept.
The great joy and promise of being able to have my own car was that I could do anything to it that I wanted. The first car I ever got was a 1991 Sentra XE, a four-door sedan, which was surprisingly a five speed manual transmission car, with no tachometer! I had so much fun modifying and customizing and swapping it up, installing headers, intake and exhaust, repainting it, painting the dashboard from the ugly ass brown to black, and also even changing the headliner from the ugly brown beige color to a solid black felt.
Lesson:
Having the freedom, and the ability to modify and change things to your liking is great joy!
A funny difference that I’ve noted from my family, my family upbringing, and Cindy‘s family; Cindy grew up to owning their own home and property, therefore things like pouring cement, mixing cement, painting the walls, fixing home stuff was natural. Yet for them, cars were a mysterious black box; therefore the general concept was always buy new.
However, my great pride and joy is that in my whole adult life, I’ve never spent more than $2500 USD on a car. The last two cars which came under my wing including my mom‘s old 2009 Hyundai sonata, which was essentially acquired by me for free, as it sat dormant for about three years in my sister’s garage, collecting dust. About $2000 of repairs at the mechanic, and $1000 of overdue DMV fines, it essentially ran brand new! And a little bit of muscle wax from me, waxing the paint, painting the rims, debadging it, etc.
Then more recently, re-inheriting the family Prius; 2010 Prius. Essentially once again, acquiring it for nothing, spending $2700 to get a new catalytic converter which was stolen earlier, $300 for a catalytic converter shield, and about $2700 on a new ABS brake sensor, and also, about $600 for new Yokohama tires. Otherwise I got the car for free!
Thought:
Real men drive old (used) white Priuses!
Some fun facts I’ve learned:
I think I have a good definition for millennials; essentially somebody who foolishly uses their money.
For example, it seems that millennials are overeager to buy new cars. Let’s say a modest new car is $30,000, and they down around $10,000. A monthly payment is around $350-$500. Then they forget that they bought a new car, and they probably want full coverage, so insurance wise, it might be another three to $500 a month! Boom, you’ve just added another thousand dollars a month in monthly expenses, which will haunt you for either 3 to 5 years. That’s money that you’re not putting in your bank account.
Or, it seems that any new car is such an insane rip off. Apparently even a Toyota Sienna Hybrid out the door is over $60,000 USD! That’s a lot of money.
“Fuck I’m broke as fuck! Why? I just came back from Vegas and blew all my money on food! Fuck, I gotta move out of SoCal!” – one of my friends in the gym hot sauna locker room
Another way that young people millennials etc. waste money is silly things like going to “festivals“, doing drugs, smoking marijuana, drinking alcohol, going out to drink alcohol and cocktails, going to Vegas, gambling, eating out at new trendy restaurants, etc.
Also, having too much subscriptions to these media services like Netflix, Hulu, Disney+ etc.
The overall bad thing is that many people just cannot save money. Why? The societal bias that one should partake in these activities. But, the wisdom is knowing that these things are not imperatives.
Poking around this real estate and financing market, honestly it all seems like such a scam. For example, let us say that you take out a loan at 7% or 6.5%. But I say you borrow around $700,000. Almost the first 10 yours is devoted to paying off your interest, not even the principal.
What did Elon Musk do? When starting Tesla, he took out a massive loan from the US government, to build factories, battery packs, etc.
Therefore, it seems that if one is going to take out a massive loan, the goal is to quickly pay it back. Borrowing money as leverage to do something very very great and epic, and quickly leapfrog to the next thing.
Or, the goal is to just flip it. Do not get attached to it, and just think of real estate like a product.
For example, buying a property for $1.5 million, and then hopefully in the next 10 years, flipping it for $3 million USD! Then I suppose the goal is to just cop the profit, and then leapfrog onto the next bigger project.
Then things get interesting, because the goal isn’t about making money necessarily; but rather using your capital as leverage to keep leapfrogging to bigger and bigger things!
However, towards what ends? I don’t think there’s an end; the goal is bigger and better for the sake of it; the American ethos!
It also seems a lot of these real estate corporations, who knows maybe the investment comes from overseas, Saudi Arabia, mainland China, etc., is that somebody will buy at a property all in cash, maybe to wash the money, and then price it up, and then sit on it, and perhaps try to resell it for a profit into the future.
Why do people do this? Honestly a lot of people who have money which is illegit don’t seem to really care; they don’t really think about it too much.
Another thought on capital in capitalism, what is it that the new religion of capital seeks?
Essentially, make money don’t spend it (Kanye West).
And also, accumulating more and more capital towards infinite ends!
Once again, perhaps the best way to think about capital and capitalism is to just think of it like a game of monopoly, a game, and do not take it too seriously.
I just hit a 9 plate rack pull for the first time, and before doing it, I felt zero ounces of fear. This was interesting, because then it is no longer a fear issue; simply it is an issue of ability and capability.
Then before attempting the nine plates, my only concern and focus was focusing, hyping myself up, and also striving to successfully maximally output all of my strength at the same time!
Perhaps than the best way to approach life is first strive to conquer fear, and then the next issue is a matter of technique, form and approach, and the physical and physiological strength to achieve and attempt things!
For example in street photography, a big consideration between the fear of shooting street photos, and then having the compositional ability to make photos you deem beautiful.
Both are critical.
A thought on value, in the context of photos and photography;
Which photos and street photos have the greatest value? Perhaps the photos which required the most courage to shoot!
Street photography is 99% balls.
Another big consideration on my mind is in regards to life narrative.
When you’re on your deathbed, looking back at your life, thinking and considering certain parts of your life narrative that you were proud of attempting and doing — it doesn’t really matter whether you’re successful or not, simply, do an attempt what is epic and grand!
I think in America we’re too caught up on the notion of being “successful“ or not. I think my intervention is to think rather, the grandeur and courage of the attempt. To me it doesn’t really matter whether you’re successful or not. What matters more is whether you had the courage to attempt it in the first place!
However, this is where wisdom is critical; I think it’s a good idea to attempt things when you’re interested in it, but at the same time, you don’t want to be foolish about it. For example, to simply attempt something because you want some sort of external validation seems like a poor or a foolish decision. Rather, only attempt that which is personally interesting to you!
A thought this morning; perhaps that which motivates me is the desire to dominate, to become master, to become number one!
For example, my personal past life goal was to dominate street photography, to become number one on Google for street photography! Also do become number one on Google for “ERIC KIM”.
Now that I have achieved these, perhaps then my next goal is to become number one on Google for philosophy?
Certainly Google is not a good litmus test, because now, I think there are too many foreign factors at play. Yet, the striving and desire to become ascendant, the top dog, number one, is what drives our American passion. Even at the gym, now that I have successfully atlas lifted 995 pounds, I am at least one trillion miles ahead of anyone else in my realm, not even people internationally can touch me!
And truth be told, it seems that it’s all or nothing in America. To live the grandest and best life, you got to be number one. For example, Tesl is one trillion ahead of any electric car company out there; I’m quite certain all of the other electric car companies in the long run or fail. Once the cybertruck comes out, Rivian will go under. And these other electric car companies by China and Vietnam? Good luck.
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More thoughts:
When in doubt,
Another big consideration on my mind is in regards to life narrative.
When you’re on your deathbed, looking back at your life, thinking and considering certain parts of your life narrative that you were proud of attempting and doing — it doesn’t really matter whether you’re successful or not, simply, do an attempt what is epic and grand!
I think in America we’re too caught up on the notion of being “successful“ or not. I think my intervention is to think rather, the grandeur and courage of the attempt. To me it doesn’t really matter whether you’re successful or not. What matters more is whether you had the courage to attempt it in the first place!
However, this is where wisdom is critical; I think it’s a good idea to attempt things when you’re interested, but at the same time, you don’t want to be foolish about it. For example, to simply attempt some thing because you want some sort of external validation seems like a poor or a foolish decision. Rather, only attempt that which is personally interesting to you!
The more you flex, the more virtuous you’ll become!
Do what you consider is the wise decision, not the ethically “right” decision!
The reason why video game is no longer interested is that there is no real risk associated with them; only grind.
I wonder if modern day life is also the same; in America at least on the way, we are taught that it is virtuous to grind. However, I have some more noble path in a more virtuous path is to forgo grinding, and think about the joy in risk instead? The Stoic Spartan Entrepreneurial path to life!
Become invincible:
Learn from the master stoics:
The stamina to keep shooting and to keep going!
Men scapegoats woman to be the root of his ills and vice versa.
The German Nazis and Hitler scapegoated the Jews.
Now America is trying to scapegoat China for her economic ills.
Nobody has the extreme courage to take responsibility for him or herself?
Essentially — we, out of weakness, refuse to blame our present bad situation on ourselves and we seek someone else to blame instead?
Solution: If you witness anyone scapegoating you, refuse to tolerate that shit!
Bricolage — essentially to just MacGyver it; what we Americans treat as a “ghetto” job.
What this means is given you have fewer resources, how can you Jerry rig a more novel solution? To common problems?
To meditate just means to think. To reflect, to consider.
*med– to measure, to heal, to consider
“Life is a game of monopoly, go out and cop yourself some property.” – MIGOS
A random thing on the road to moving to LA is this — a random thing that was coming into my mind was this idea of find some sort of property space, like buying a Triplex or a quadPlex, and essentially becoming some sort of noveau slumlord.
I had a funny interesting turbo thought when going to the Costco Business Center the other day, and buying some meat. Essentially the idea is simple:
Essentially the meat you buy and purchase is the raw material, and cooking it yourself is very simple and easy; yet, the reason why so many restaurants and businesses, even all you can eat Korean BBQ restaurants is that they make the process so complex, and intimidating to you.
The primary reason why I love cars so much is that ever since I was a kid, around 15 or 16 years old, it was an open creative canvas for me. Note, I actually got into cars before I got into photography; I was into cars ever since I was 15 years old and got my first drivers license permit in California, I only going to photography later, around the age of 18 when I graduated high school and was about to go to college.
Growing up, my family only ever rented. The notion that I could modify or do anything to my house or home was a non-concept.
The great joy and promise of being able to have my own car was that I could do anything to it that I wanted. The first car I ever got was a 1991 Sentra XE, a four-door sedan, which was surprisingly a five speed manual transmission car, with no tachometer! I had so much fun modifying and customizing and swapping it up, installing headers, intake and exhaust, repainting it, painting the dashboard from the ugly ass brown to black, and also even changing the headliner from the ugly brown beige color to a solid black felt.
A funny difference that I’ve noted from my family, my family upbringing, and Cindy‘s family; Cindy grew up to owning their own home and property, therefore things like pouring cement, mixing cement, painting the walls, fixing home stuff was natural. Yet for them, cars were a mysterious black box; therefore the general concept was always buy new.
However, my great pride and joy is that in my whole adult life, I’ve never spent more than $2500 USD on a car. The last two cars which came under my wing including my mom‘s old 2009 Hyundai sonata, which was essentially acquired by me for free, as it sat dormant for about three years in my sister’s garage, collecting dust. About $2000 of repairs at the mechanic, and $1000 of overdue DMV fines, it essentially ran brand new! And a little bit of muscle wax from me, waxing the paint, painting the rims, debadging it, etc.
Then more recently, re-inheriting the family Prius; 2010 Prius. Essentially once again, acquiring it for nothing, spending $2700 to get a new catalytic converter which was stolen earlier, $300 for a catalytic converter shield, and about $2700 on a new ABS brake sensor, and also, about $600 for new Yokohama tires. Otherwise I got the car for free!
Some fun facts I’ve learned:
I think I have a good definition for millennials; essentially somebody who foolishly uses their money.
For example, it seems that millennials are overeager to buy new cars. Let’s say a modest new car is $30,000, and they down around $10,000. A monthly payment is around $350-$500. Then they forget that they bought a new car, and they probably want full coverage, so insurance wise, it might be another three to $500 a month! Boom, you’ve just added another thousand dollars a month in monthly expenses, which will haunt you for either 3 to 5 years. That’s money that you’re not putting in your bank account.
“Fuck I’m broke as fuck! Why? I just came back from Vegas and blew all my money on food! Fuck, I gotta move out of SoCal!” – one of my friends in the gym hot sauna locker room
Another way that young people millennials etc. waste money is silly things like going to “festivals“, doing drugs, smoking marijuana, drinking alcohol, going out to drink alcohol and cocktails, going to Vegas, gambling, eating out at new trendy restaurants, etc.
Also, having too much subscriptions to these media services like Netflix, Hulu, Disney+ etc.
The overall bad thing is that many people just cannot save money. Why? The societal bias that one should partake in these activities. But, the wisdom is knowing that these things are not imperatives.
My new optimization in life. Moving forward, I will only opt for the insanely beautiful.
I think this is paid off well. For example my wife Cindy, as insanely beautiful. As a consequence, my first son and child, Seneca, also insanely beautiful. You’re going to look at your wife and your kid all day, don’t you want them to be insanely beautiful?
Also, homes in living quarters. I think we spend more time indoors at home than we think we do. Therefore doesn’t make sense to choose a living quarters or habitat which is insanely beautiful?
Also for myself, making my body, my physique, my look and appearance as beautiful as possible? When people stop, stare and seem dumbfounded?
It’s seems that man likes to think of the idea to seek paradise. But why, for the sake of what, towards what ends?
I think typically when people think of paradise, I think of eternal happiness, joy, carelessness, and thanksgiving. But, what is the better and to do instead was to seek war, challenge, conquest?
Better Spartan than Stoic?
The first thought is ultimately, reality is supreme. I love stoicism, but my overall critique of stoicism is that it seems a bit divorced from reality. That is, a lot of Stoic thought is theoretical, whereas Spartan thought and practice is more deeply intertwined.
For example, in terms of bodily physique aesthetics, what does a Stoic look like? Nobody knows. But we have a very vivid depiction of what a spartan looks like; just watch the movie 300 on repeat.
It seems almost universal in history, everybody respects the Spartans. For their courage, their witness, their manliness, etc.
What is also very interesting about the Spartans is that they were not positive warmongers. Rather, they were just focused on defense. They didn’t fuck with anybody, and also, they didn’t want to be fucked with.
What doesn’t a spartan look like? It seems the best way to become spartan is figure out what not to do. What petty actions not to engage in, etc.
All is permitted!
I believe this to be one of the assassins creeds. Apparently this was actually historical fact.
I don’t think of war like a literal war in which you’re dealing with killing people. I am very anti-war. I believe in a metaphorical war; some sort of battle, challenge, conquest, overcoming.
For example, on my road to at atlas lifting over 990 pounds, everyone told me to “be careful”, that I may “hurt myself”, but in fact, that is precisely what makes it interesting; because I could seriously hurt myself, that is what forces me to focus.
On the road to my 990 pound atlas lift, I’ve been going super hard-core on yoga, flexibility, mobility, etc. The heavier I go, the more time I spend slowly preparing, warming up, stretching etc.
Therefore a theory;
The higher the chance of danger, the more glorious it is!
I think ultimately what is most interesting is having the privilege to craft your own philosophy. Your own school of thought, your own thinking, and simply sharing it with others and propagating it outside.
Th simplest way to do this is simply through your own website and blog.
A simple way you could do this is just register a website and domain with your first and last name philosophy.com
The second is just start your own YouTube channel, and share your own philosophical thoughts.
Third, you could just start a podcast, anchor.fm
So let us say that you become the uber Spartan, nothing perturbs you, you’re infinitely strong, then what?
Then, I think a good idea is to devote yourself in your life to philosophical thought, and continuing to pave new ideas and propagating it!
ERIC
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If this sparked even one interesting idea within you, feel free to forward to a friend!
Lady Fortune gives wings to the insanely brave, reckless and audacious.
The website that I use more than Google is wiktionary.org. Typically what I do is this;
When there is a word, a concept or thing that I’m curious about, I go to wiktionary.org and I study the history or the etymology of it.
Why is this so beneficial? It gives me a greater clarity about the concept or thing, for example when studying the notion of “finance“; discovering that ultimately it just means finish. Therefore, maybe the wise way to think about an approach to finance is to think about the end?
Not being a fool!
Learn more: Start Here >
Perhaps the best way to deal with the ‘bad’ stuff in life, just make it morosely entertaining for yourself!
Become invincible:
Learn from the master stoics:
Critical, kritikos, means to judge.
To think critically means to wisely judge things, whether you deem it fit or not.
Or, judge it as being profitable or not, or advantageous or not.
There is no such thing as good or bad, or evil. To me it all comes down to wise or foolish.
What is foolish, foolishness, foolish behavior? Typically things which can cause permanent bodily mutilation, or a traumatic death. Driving fast, racing, texting while driving, drinking while driving or being high while driving etc.
A life of pure theory divorced from action seems a bit flaccid. I believe that your thoughts should also be in accordance with your actions.
For example, my thoughts or philosophies on fitness and weightlifting; I actually apply it to my own approach, and my thoughts and thinking often come to me after much experimentation.
Action first, thoughts later.
Rather, the goal is to become a solo thinker:
Empower yourself in life:
First ascertain what you really desire in life, and then, choose the intelligent strategy how to most directly get there.
Learn more: Start Here >
I studied sociology as an undergrad, and it might’ve been one of the most formative things for me. But what is sociology, and what is the difference between sociology and philosophy?
My personal thought is sociology is practical, pragmatic, applied philosophy to society, other people, every day life.
Carte blanche baby!
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Everyone wants to be happy, even our best friend Aristotle said it is the one thing that men seek for the sake of itself.
What what is happiness? I think I got the answer; walking is happiness. Any sort of life, lifestyle, lifestyle approach which allows you to maximize your walking is happiness.
I cannot speak for most people, because I don’t have a “real job“. That is, I don’t have a workplace, an office, or a place I must typically commute to.
However Cindy does.
A simple thought that I had is if you have the option, spend extra money which affords you the privilege to walk. For example, I wonder if in fact, shelling out the extra thousand, 2000, 3000, 4000, $5000, maybe even $10,000 a month would be positively beneficial to give you the privilege of walking.
It seems that the modern-day strategy that people partake in is that they sacrifice time in foolish ways. They decide to live further out, further away from work, in the suburbs, which means that they must spend more time driving in order to get to their workplace, in order to have the privilege of having a bigger house, a cheaper house, a smaller mortgage, cheaper rent etc.
Being forced to be indoors against your own will, this is cruel.
Also, being forced to be stuck in a car, in a bus, in an Uber, even if you had your own private driver, this is cruel.
For example, I once read an interview with Jony Ive, this is when he was still at Apple, in which he would commute for almost 2 hours a day (one way, so 4 hours every day in total), going from a desirable area of San Francisco to the Apple office in Cupertino, having a private driver chauffeur him in his Bentley,and I suppose Jony would just be in the backseat, doing work on his iPhone, iPad, MacBook laptop, etc. If I was Joni and truly committed, I would not make this foolish decision. I would literally just rent a hotel or an apartment or a house literally right next to Apple campus, or who knows, be like Elon Musk and just sleep in a sleeping bag in the office.
However, if you were forced to be sedentary or sitting, for four hours a day, or five hours a day, even if you were the backseat of a Rolls-Royce, a Bentley, Lamborghini, a McLaren, whatever; would it be worth it? No. Even as a thought experiment, if you had a totally maxed out Tesla model S plaid, or a Tesla model X plaid, with 100% auto pilot, assuming the technology was flawless, and you could do other stuff while being autonomously driven around, would you still want to be forced to be sedentary, for 4-5 hours a day? No.
You cannot buy happiness. You can buy insanely great coffee, ERIC KIM OMAKASE COFFEE, 100% fine robusta which physiologically speaking, will give you a marvelous happiness bump and boost, but ultimately, beyond coffee, happiness cannot be bought.
Things that money can do which can assist you and aid you in happiness include,
There’s a strange bias in today’s world that we have to somehow maximize our productivity, in order for the sake to work more, contribute more to society, “make a difference“.
For example, the modern-day notion of going to the gym and working out and exercising, the only thought is this:
It is critical for you to exercise daily, because it will make you healthy and healthier, in order for you to keep working more.
The reason why this line of thinking is so twisted is that it is for the sake of maximizing your work capacity, not your own personal happiness. Man is not permitted to be happy for the sake of being happy.
The other day, I was so insanely happy, maybe a 50 out of 10. But at the end of the day, happiness is a bit inconsequential. For me what is more critical is having the opportunity, physiological energy to pursue my creative tasks. Whether it be reviewing my photos, writing and blogging, thinking, producing knowledge, sending out email newsletters, etc.
Peter Limberg— shout out to him for his great “Minimum Viable Philosophy” essay. I like his tagline, “Less Foolish”.
A cool trend I see is the trend towards philosophy. Why? This is what I think:
“Self development” is just philosophy in (modern day capitalistic) disguise.
And what do I mean by this? Ultimately any sort of business, self development book is centered around a certain philosophy. And the book typically preaches some sort of strategy and technique in order to achieve that philosophical end.
In life, there is no such thing as virtue, or sin, vice. To me, it is all about wisdom, knowledge, becoming less foolish, and “not being a dummy.”
I like the word dummy, because it is not so serious. For example, we joke around with kids to not be a dummy. Maybe this is a better path for us.
Oh and today’s world of ChatGPT, AI assisted writing, the question,
How do you know if something was written by ChatGPT, or a real human being?
For the most part you can’t. However, anything written by ERIC KIM passes the Turing test. Why? The way I talk is non-standard, the way I write is genuine, and ultimately I think the future of writing and thinking is predicated around philosophy. That is, there is already enough information and wisdom on the Internet on how to do anything. But not much information on why do XYZ. Or, should we do XYZ.
For example, I firmly believe that if your goal is to become superhuman, eating beef and meat is critical. But I philosophical question is should we eat beef and meat? Even if it is bad for the planet?
For example, if someone tells me, “Eric, you shouldn’t eat meat because it is bad for the planet“. But what if I say, “I know that eating meat is bad for the planet, but eating beef is best for me. So I don’t care.” Is one permitted to talk like this? This is the task and role of philosophy and ethics.
The etymology of hygiene, in ancient Greek is the art of health.
In modern day times, hygiene as a concept has fallen out of vogue. Why? In the states, a lot of the modernized westernized world, we take it for granted. There is regular trash pick ups, we have clean albeit not too tasty running tapwater, and mostly clean air. And also, most foods we buy or eat, whether it be at the grocery store or a restaurant will not cause us food poisoning.
Food hygiene is very underrated as a concept. We moderns prefer tasty or good tasting food, we don’t really care much for hygiene anymore.
Here is where I find hygiene critical; some people, mentally, physically or unwell, their mental hygiene is poor, and their physical physiological bodily hygiene is also probably poor. Used as a metaphor.
If you see weird homeless people on the street, cracked out, smelling bad, do you distain the way they act? No. You just keep your distance, and run away.
Another thing that I’ve discovered is when I’m in the zone, I get so focused on the task at hand that when other people say random maybe possibly demeaning stuff to you, I don’t even have to forcibly ignore them, I just literally can’t hear them, I hear them literally, but because I’m so focused at the task at hand, what they said or intended doesn’t upset me.
I was doing some research on the etymology of happy, and no one is really quite certain where that word comes from. There are certain theories, like “happen”— fortunate, happen chance, hap— chance, luck, fortune, hampa— good luck, chance, from Proto indo European *kob— which means good fortune, prophecy, to bend, bow, fit in, work, succeed.
It seems that nowadays, English is the dominant world language. And if we operate in a certain linguistic manner, perhaps the common day words we use should be used with more precision and clarity.
For example, John Stuart Mill, a lot of the early American developers preach notions of the “pursuit of happiness“. But the issue is, if you can’t even define happiness, or if the notion of happiness is a modern day one, then perhaps this is not a good goal or path.
I say instead of seeking to be “happy“, maybe it is better to seek to be strong, well, powerful, and in a great mood. It seems that also, one of my passions being thinking, having the opportunity and clarity of thought is supreme to me.
I still think certainly at the end of the day, it is fine to use every day words colloquially. So for example, what contributes a great life to me?
First, artistic and creative productivity. To me this pertains to photography, both shooting and making photos, reviewing photos, enjoying my photos, sharing my photos, thinking about photos, and the aesthetic joy that I get from looking at my own photos.
Second, philosophical and thinking power; this means, I have a passion for thinking, and thinking interesting thoughts. A life without thoughts is not a life worth having.
Third, the health, strength, growth, and muscles of my family. This pertains to my son, and also my wife. And of course certainly myself. Other day I took Seneca to the jungle gym, and at two years seven months old, the pure undiluted joy that he gets from running across the suspension bridge and the jungle gym is pure bliss to me.
Also, witnessing his muscular development, and how much pride and joy that I get watching him eat 100% grass fed ground beef, in super mini burger patties for him, and also him eating while you thinly sliced meat that we buy from H Mart. Seeing Seneca consume beef, and building his muscles brings me great joy.
As a tangent, I think a lot of this modern-day notions of child development are skewed. Rather than trying to educate your kids, make them brain smart, I think a better goal and path is instead, to develop their muscles.
First and foremost, as biological beings, I think perhaps it is critical for us to first seek to be physically, physiologically strong and well. An optimization towards physiological well-being is a good one.
Why? It is the necessary path. Without physiological strength and well-being, you can’t do anything. For example, it doesn’t matter if you have $100 billion in the bank, if you are physically or physiologically unwell, if you only sleep two hours a night, if you have no muscles or hotspots in your body, Nothing can be done.
Willpower is not real. Muscle power is real.
What is the point of money? Having the privilege of being around other human beings. This, paying rent, and buying beef as well. But beyond this, the additional utility of money is slim; once you have your digital camera, your Internet Wi-Fi connection, your iPad Pro etc., what else do you need? Not much.
If you’re hungry to think more, deeper and further, think with me at one of my upcoming workshops:
Also incoming SUPER STOIC DOWNTOWN LA WORKSHOP— stay posted.
How about for now, let us just make our own personal happiness our priority?
If you’re having a hard time sleeping, my simple suggestion; start going to the gym at least once every single day, and use a hot sauna at least once a day, or really severe cases, go to the hot sauna twice a day.
One thing I found really interesting being in Japan, being at those random Japanese businessman hotels, or the wonderful Ryokans in Kyoto Uji, is at least in Japanese culture, the hot baths, are an integral part of their life and culture. That is, before they sleep, doing a really really hot bath is critical.
The same thing is in Korean culture, the jjim jjil bbang. Apparently in northern Scandinavian and Swedish countries, the really really hot sauna, whether it be dry or humid and steamy is also a critical part of their health.
According to the biological phenomenon hormesis, port duration of extreme heat and humidity is positively good for our physiological health and well-being.
All I need is insanely fast Wi-Fi, muscle in my legs (985 pound atlas lift), iPad Pro and EK COFFEE and I’m happy!
I never really knew, but I suppose I have very strong opinions on homes and living quarters and situations. That means for the most part I hate ugly. I hate old and ugly danky dark, dim, and ghetto apartments, especially here in LA.
I have a theory:
Perhaps ugly aesthetics actually causes our physiological happiness and well being to go down.
What is ugliness? Anything which causes our physiological well being to go downwards.
For example, I think the reason why old and danky and ghetto apartments have such an adverse reaction to us is because they scream “hygenically dangerous”. Hygiene as “the art of health”.
For example, the dark and danky typically means moldy. Mold is a poison.
Thus, the simplest thing with homes, houses, condos, duplexes, town houses, flats, hotels, airbnbs, motels sleeping or living quarters etc:
After my Ricoh GR IIIX died, I’ve just been using my LUMIX G9 and Leica LUMIX 12mm f1.4 Lens and it produces insanely beautiful photos! Downsides — insanely big and heavy, which is bad.
At this point, money is no concern for us.
In terms of innovative cameras, I’m trending towards the point and shoot, integrated flash department. For example,
The only concern:
Are the integrated in camera JPEG settings good for us?
Also,
Arsbeta.com — upload and share your best photos now!
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The goal is to gain ascendancy, not to become “happier”:
Become the change which you desire to see manifested in the world!
Never stop innovating.
The other day when going to a ReStore, some sort of random secondhand furniture store, I stumbled upon one of the greatest finds of my life; about 900 pounds of steel; a shitload of 45 pound plates, neatly talked into a container, only $.50 a pound!
I think I counted it and it was around in total 14 45-pound plates, two 35-pound plates, two 10 pounder Rogue bumper plates, two 5 pounders, and two 2.5’ers.
This was such an insanely big deal for me because the last year or so I’ve been toying with this idea of creating and starting my own gym. But the big problem was this;
Getting access to steel plates, or any 45 pound plates is insanely expensive. The cheapest I could find on Amazon was around $90 for a single 45 pound plate!
The true cheapest option which a lot of commercial gyms do is get them produced in China at one of those mega industrial factories, and get them re-branded and shipped directly to the states but via cargo ship, on boat overseas. You can get a good price on this, but the big problem is that it just takes too long; you often have to wait several months before getting your package. And also you have to deal with international commerce which is always a little bit concerning when you’re dealing with credit card transactions, financial international exchanges etc.
Anyways, a thought on my mind:
Is it best for me to continue being the goat at the gym, and continue to keep going to the gym, having fun at the gym, keep making friends and making new friends, keeping in touch with friends and making new friends, hitting your personal records, enjoying the gym life, or, is it more interesting and better for me to start something epic and interesting myself?
I think the simple solution and answer is perhaps it is more important, or more interesting, or more critical to use this opportunity to start my own gym concept.
Or in other words,
When in doubt, choose the more entrepreneurial path!
A movie that has made a massive impact on me is FIGHT CLUB. I read the book and watched the movie, I think I actually might prefer the movie. Why? Even though I like imagination blah blah blah, I like visuals.
There is something interesting that I’ve discovered about society;
The bias of how we “should” be versus how things truly are.
For example let me give you example, society, modern day society, notions of chivalry etc. says that if a man wants to attract women, he must be prim and proper, nice kind, and romantic and cartel to all of the desires of the woman.
However based on my true observations, it seems different; the best ways to be loud, rambunctious, some sort of wild untamed beast, happy, good eye contact, smiling etc.
Another way to reprogram yourself; don’t drink beer, don’t grow facial hair or a beard or a mustache, don’t wear a hat, a trucker hat, don’t wear sunglasses, don’t drive a big ass car with limo tint, etc.
I think the funny new modern day bias in today’s society is everyone wants to feel dominant, without having to somehow engage with other human beings. Therefore, people always hide behind something; once again people hide behind the tint in their cars, when they’re out in public they hide behind sunglasses, a hat, they hide behind being antisocial etc.
I would say instead, the better goal is to be insanely friendly, insanely cordial, and also insanely kind.
What is money? The current thought I have about money is that it is like some sort of legal tender for debt, both private and public.
For example, the other day I critically looked at a $100 bill, after not having looked at cash money for a long time, and I was extremely discerning and read all of the text on it. It read:
This note is legal tender for all debts, both private and public.
There are many theories behind money, debt being one of them.
When we do entrepreneurial things, create businesses, become self-employed, start selling or services and products etc., what are we doing? Technically we’re not making money, assuming that money has to do with that. Instead it seems that we are doing something else; creating new sources of value.
What is value? Value comes from valere which means strong. Colloquially, value means that which we care for, what we have heart for.
A simple approach to things in life is simply create things which we value, put yourself on the other side;
How do you know if something has value or not? Use yourself as your own litmus test; that means, if it has value to you, assuming that you used yourself as your own barometer, there is a high likelihood that it will have value for others.
How do you know? Simple; assuming that there are 7 billion people on the planet, 300, million Americans plus, and you’re using the Internet, or website a blog some sort of Ford facing platform, certainly there will be at least one human being on planet earth who will drive value from what you create and share.
Super inspired from the movie ‘FIGHT CLUB’– in terms of how to conquer my personal fears in life, how to break free from societal bullshit, and to become the best version of myself:
Here are some life lessons I’ve learned from the film:
In society, we are spoon-fed this need for constant ‘self-improvement’ in the eyes of some self-improvement guru.
But the fallacy is that we need ‘improving.’ You are already perfect the way you are.
Rather, Tyler Durden suggests we seek ‘self-destruction’ — the antithesis of self-improvement.
Not to destroy ourselves to commit suicide or cut ourselves. Rather, to destroy the bullshit consumerist mentality we have in our minds.
To destroy the false veil of reality, to see the truth in life.
‘I see all this potential; and I see it all squandered. Entire generation of slaves with white collars.’ – Tyler Durden
As humans, we have so much human potential. Yet, we waste it pointlessly. We waste it becoming consumerist slaves — except instead of chains, we wear golden rolexes. We live in a golden cage. We cannot fly free.
So friend— how can you fulfill your potential in life?
‘Advertising has us chasing cars and clothes, working jobs we hate so we can buy shit we don’t need. No purpose or place. No great war, no great depression. Our great war is a spiritual war. Our great depression is our lives.’
To have a zest for life, we need struggle. We need pain. We need something to overcome.
We need to find meaning in our lives— to find some deeper purpose.
For me, I find purpose in life through creating art, through empowering others, and in terms of fulfilling my creative potential.
What is your drive in life?
‘Without pain and sacrifice, we would have nothing.’ – Tyler Durden
To me, life is all about sacrifice.
My mom (umma) sacrificed her life and suffered to give me and my sister a better shot in life. Whenever I show my love for Cindy, there is always some sacrifice. As Nassim Taleb says, ‘Love without sacrifice is theft.’
How can you put more ‘skin in the game’ to life a life with more pain and sacrifice— but in a meaningful way?
‘It is only after we’ve lost everything that we’re free to do anything.’ – Tyler Durden
Tyler Durden (Brad Pitt) — aka the alter ego of Edward Norton, blows up his own condo. But after purging himself of his prior life, he is free.
Practically speaking — I have gained much freedom by purging myself of my past. Purging my past negative memories, purging my superfluous possessions, and purging bullshit. This helped me become reborn, and now I feel free.
‘I don’t have a car’ – Tyler Duren
Be like Tyler— don’t be a slave to wanting an expensive car. In-fact, it is cooler not to have a car.
Also consider, are you a slave to debt? Does debt have you working that job you hate, just so you can buy that next $30,000 car?
Consider if you are paid $20 an hour ($40,000 a year USD). Are you willing to work 1,500 hours (62.5 days straight with no rest), or 187 eight-hour working shifts (6.25 months at $20 an hour) just to buy a car, or any other bullshit consumerist good you don’t need?
What is your time worth to you? What is your life worth to you?
‘You are not your job; you’re not how much money you have in the bank; you’re not the car you drive; you’re not the contents of your wallet.’ – Tyler Durden
Our identity is who we are as human beings— our soul, the creative work we do, our worldview, and our self-identity.
We don’t need to identify ourselves via the work we do, how many 0’s we have in our bank account, or society’s labels of us.
In one of my favorite scenes, Brad Pitt and Edward Norton enter a convenience store, pull out the cashier, and Brad Pitt puts a gun to the head of the kid.
Brad Pitt asks the cashier what his dream in life was. The kid says it was to be a veterinarian, but he dropped out of school because it was too hard.
Brad Pitt then says, ‘I will kill you unless you go back to school and pursue your dream.’ The kid runs away.
Edward Norton says something like, ‘What the fuck — why did you do that?’
Brad Pitt then says to Edward Norton:
“Imagine how he feels— tomorrow will be the most beautiful day of his life. his breakfast will taste better than any meal you and I have ever tasted.“
Brad Pitt then also says that in life, when we have no fear or distractions, we can let ‘that which does not matter— truly slide.’
The best part— Edward Norton opens up the pistol, and sees that the gun has no bullets inside.
Assignment: If someone put a gun to the back of your head, and asked you what your life dream was — how would you answer? And what would you do tonight or tomorrow to pursue your dream?
The interesting concept of Fight Club — Tyler Durden is the same person. Brad Pitt and Edward Norton are the same person.
However Brad Pitt is the idealized version of Edward Norton. Brad Pitt is everything that Edward Norton wants to be.
We all have an inner-Brad Pitt (or Tyler Durden). The only thing we need to do is to take radical change in our lives, to become what Nietzsche calls— the ‘over-man’ (or ‘superman’) who overcomes all the difficulties in his life.
We need to take responsibility for our lives. Not to blame others or make excuses. We just need to go out and pursue our dreams and do what we truly believe in — refusing to let the rules of society cage us in.
Fight Club isn’t about winning or losing. It is rather about fighting your inner-self, your inner-ego, your inner-fears. In Fight Club, you aren’t beating another person — you are just conquering your own fears in life. And you are getting closer to another human being in fraternity.
In real life, there is no winning or losing. We are all on the same team in this world community of humanity. We need to help one another— build each other up, instead of tearing each other down.
Let’s win in life together. Empower yourself in life:
Be strong,
Eric
If you want to conquer your fears and meet new peers, attend an ERIC KIM WORKSHOP >
Cinematography and life lessons:
I think for myself, ultimately one of my greatest passions is thinking and thoughts. And also health. But the question is this; how does one actually think better, and also, towards what ends?
Whenever I wake up, it is typically a slow start. It takes a while to get my thoughts going.
Typically I start off the day with ERIC KIM OMAKASE COFFEE, and I permit myself to have as many shots of espresso as I would like. I keep taking shots until I feel good.
Then I actually think the more critical component is just going outside, going outside in the direct sun, getting direct UV exposure, to the direct sun and the direct light.
Some theories:
First, I have a theory that man is not that different from plant, except we move quicker. Let us consider how plants and flowers bloom when the sun is out, and the shrivel when there is no sun.
There’s a funny saying amongst gardeners that the most critical thing to grow plants is lots of love, sunlight, water, and good soil. I wonder if the same applies to humans?
The question is how much sun is enough sun? And how long should we be outside? I say just follow your gut; it is just a feeling. If I haven’t had enough time outdoors, I spend more time outdoors. But if my skin is starting to hurt because the sun is starting to get too strong on my skin, I just go inside.
Another thought on health; I’ve discovered that actually, it seems that the best indicator of health is skin. That is, you could determine the health of somebody just by looking at the quality of their skin.
Also one thing that I’ve learned from one of my doctor friends, a past workshop student is that the best way to determine how old somebody is, to look at their hands. You can get lots of cosmetic surgery on your face and other parts of your body, but typically the hands tell all.
Even common gym dwellers; even though they may spend all day in the gym, and get impressive muscles and physique, typically bodybuilders before they get ready for a competition they either go out in the sun, and sunbathe a lot, or they get these fake dark brown spray tans to accentuate their muscles. But what I actually think what they’re trying to do is trying to show that they’re healthy by getting a fake spray tan.
This is tricky because there is a dosage issue here; too much time in the sun causes your skin to wear too quickly. If you are a poor migrant worker, and do not have any protective covering when you’re in the sun all day, your skin will age poorly. So there’s a fine line here; you don’t want to be the typical office worker or tech worker who is simply stuck indoors all day, without access to adequate sun or sunlight.
In fact, even going to some of the most elite shopping malls and places and looking at other humans, it is actually very rare that you could see somebody with healthy looking real skin, with healthy skin and a healthy tan.
Even a lot of people, I think they would look more beautiful if they spent more time outdoors in the direct sun, without a shirt on, getting a good tan.
Nietzsche one said, ”Trust no thought which doesn’t come to you while walking outdoors!” Also, don’t trust any thoughts while you are sitting. He had a funny Latin pun, in which the only sin against the Holy Spirit was sitting on your ass.
The last few days and week, I’ve been spending an inordinate amount of time driving in a car, and I’ve been away from the gym for about five days. As a consequence, I actually literally feel my ligaments, tendons, sinews, and body atrophying. My theory is that when you spend a lot of time sitting or sedentary, there is not as much an opportunity for your body to bear the weight of your body on your hips, your back, your knees, ankles feet etc. Therefore literally any time spent sitting is bad for you.
My personal theory on happiness is that happiness is walking. Any life or lifestyle which promotes walking is the greatest blessing.
One of the greatest things on my mind is that ultimately, what is the point in desired end of thinking and thoughts?
The first of the hugely pragmatic one; often your thoughts manifest your desires and motivators etc.
For example, if you’re always thinking about money, making more money, buying that new car, etc., then your real life activities will manifest in wasting lots of time to trying earn more money. But, what if a more effective approach instead would be to think; what is my personal philosophy of money? What do I want money for, what is the meaning of money, is this a worthwhile goal for me? And or how much time should I devote to trying to earn money? Also, how much money is enough?
Even Seneca once said,
What if right now, you already have too much money?
Nobody ever thinks this! Even back in ancient Roman times.
Currently speaking, the most worshiped thing is business, economics, entrepreneurship, capital, capitalism, production, producerism, consumerism, media, or money and money accumulation.
However, perhaps a more interesting thing to consider is that philosophy is more critical.
For example, Elon Musk. Tesla and SpaceX. The underlying philosophical question is; should we strive to go to Mars or become an intergalactic species? Because in theory, I think if we took all the world resources, human talent and effort to create spaceships and stuff, we probably could do it.
Also with Tesla; the philosophical question is should we produce, drive, and operate electric cars? Certainly the execution of producing electric cars and putting them into existence is more difficult, but the first philosophical question is, should we do this?
Currently speaking, my new favorite food may be beef intestines, specifically, large beef intestines. The other night Cindy and I went to our favorite all you can eat Korean barbecue restaurant, and after sampling and eating all of the foods, I think my personal favorite was the large beef intestine. It is so insanely rich, it feels like you’re eating liquid gold. Similar and akin to bone marrow.
Maybe even better than beef liver?
I personally believe this to be critical. Why? I think a lot of the modern day philosophies on diet and nutrition is nonsensical. Example there is a strange quantification of calories, protein, carbs, sugar, etc. But I think maybe a more interesting thought is trying to be more critical about the substances we consume.
For example, let us say that we broke down beef intestines into a certain quantified measure, and compared it and measured it to some sort of fake vegetable supplement. Would it yield the same thing? No.
Or another example; is eating 4 pounds of ribeye beef steak equivalent to eating 4 pounds of pea protein powder a day? Assuming that the grammage of protein was the same? No.
My personal thought on the anti-meat conspiracy is that ultimately it comes down to economics; meat is not efficient. It spoils to quickly, it’s not shelf stable, and also doesn’t yield great profit margins.
Also, this strange modern day trend we have towards “animal rights“; for example, animals, pets, dogs and cats have just become another consumer item. For example, getting that pug or Shiba Inu is almost like buying a new Louis Vuitton bag, or a Cartier watch. Also social media; for the most part everyone likes cute dogs and pets and animals. They don’t really offend anybody.
I thought while weightlifting and taking on things, I think my only enemy is the sun and physics!
It is so funny because just other day, I remember Southern California being so cold during the cruel winter. Now the sun is insanely hot, even I can barely take it. Now I understand why people wear baseball caps; it keeps the top of your forehead from burning, and also gives you a little bit better visibility when looking into the distance.
This is also another plus one for Tesla solar, or Tesla in general; if you could indeed harness all the power from the sun and convert into electricity energy, we’re set.
To think beyond and look beyond — the generalized idea I have is that life is too short for the petty and inconsequential. Perhaps the greatest thing we could do it is to think beyond, and look beyond, which means, only grant yourself the privilege of attempting monsters of a task, things that the normal human being would not even think of or attempt!
For example, as I write these words it is currently the year 2023. Just three years ago, before all this Covid stuff happened, it was the year 2020. This was supposed to be an insanely important and pivotal year; the future.
Yet, we are still falling into the same memes, the same modes of living, the same boring old stuff. Why not attempt to look beyond, and become beyond?
What is the time modern day man deserves to become? A beast, a monster, something else?
Why not just drive to become man? The most glorious and peak and over notion of a man?
Thus, my current life task and direction is becoming my own over man, the uberman as Nietzsche says.
What does this mean?
The last critical ingredient is sleep. Sleep is the ultimate tonic; even the gods sleep.
Throughout the day if you’re tired, the most effective thing to do is just take a nap. Also ironically enough, if you’re tired, don’t drink coffee. I think coffee ironically should be done this way:
Only drink coffee when you feel good.
During the day, if you’re tired, just take a nap! Power Nap or turbo nap.
Also, one of the best ways to deal with insomnia is simple; hit the hot sauna at least once or twice a day. Just go to your local gym membership place and do it there, or sign up for some sort of hot yoga, CorePower, local studio etc.
Thoughts on being an Asian American man in America
Thoughts on justice and revenge
EK WORKSHOPS
Something which is often underrated about Amazon is Amazon web services. Amazon Web services runs the Internet.
Forward the turbo!
Infinite futures for you!
Fortune favors the insanely brave!
ERIC
Life is too short to be basic. My personal recommendation instead is to think beyond and look behind. What does that mean? That means don’t just be another basic human being; set yourself insanely audacious life goals. Ultimately it doesn’t really matter whether you achieve them or not, what is more critical is the vision and the attempt!
Learn more: Start Here >
I think for myself, ultimately one of my greatest passions is thinking and thoughts. And also health. But the question is this; how does one actually think better, and also, towards what ends?
Whenever I wake up, it is typically a slow start. It takes a while to get my thoughts going.
Typically I start off the day with ERIC KIM OMAKASE COFFEE, and I permit myself to have as many shots of espresso as I would like. I keep taking shots until I feel good.
Then I actually think the more critical component is just going outside, going outside in the direct sun, getting direct UV exposure, to the direct sun and the direct light.
Some theories:
First, I have a theory that man is not that different from plant, except we move quicker. Let us consider how plants and flowers bloom when the sun is out, and the shrivel when there is no sun.
There’s a funny saying amongst gardeners that the most critical thing to grow plants is lots of love, sunlight, water, and good soil. I wonder if the same applies to humans?
The question is how much sun is enough sun? And how long should we be outside? I say just follow your gut; it is just a feeling. If I haven’t had enough time outdoors, I spend more time outdoors. But if my skin is starting to hurt because the sun is starting to get too strong on my skin, I just go inside.
Another thought on health; I’ve discovered that actually, it seems that the best indicator of health is skin. That is, you could determine the health of somebody just by looking at the quality of their skin.
Also one thing that I’ve learned from one of my doctor friends, a past workshop student is that the best way to determine how old somebody is, to look at their hands. You can get lots of cosmetic surgery on your face and other parts of your body, but typically the hands tell all.
Even common gym dwellers; even though they may spend all day in the gym, and get impressive muscles and physique, typically bodybuilders before they get ready for a competition they either go out in the sun, and sunbathe a lot, or they get these fake dark brown spray tans to accentuate their muscles. But what I actually think what they’re trying to do is trying to show that they’re healthy by getting a fake spray tan.
This is tricky because there is a dosage issue here; too much time in the sun causes your skin to wear too quickly. If you are a poor migrant worker, and do not have any protective covering when you’re in the sun all day, your skin will age poorly. So there’s a fine line here; you don’t want to be the typical office worker or tech worker who is simply stuck indoors all day, without access to adequate sun or sunlight.
In fact, even going to some of the most elite shopping malls and places and looking at other humans, it is actually very rare that you could see somebody with healthy looking real skin, with healthy skin and a healthy tan.
Even a lot of people, I think they would look more beautiful if they spent more time outdoors in the direct sun, without a shirt on, getting a good tan.
Nietzsche one said, ”Trust no thought which doesn’t come to you while walking outdoors!” Also, don’t trust any thoughts while you are sitting. He had a funny Latin pun, in which the only sin against the Holy Spirit was sitting on your ass.
The last few days and week, I’ve been spending an inordinate amount of time driving in a car, and I’ve been away from the gym for about five days. As a consequence, I actually literally feel my ligaments, tendons, sinews, and body atrophying. My theory is that when you spend a lot of time sitting or sedentary, there is not as much an opportunity for your body to bear the weight of your body on your hips, your back, your knees, ankles feet etc. Therefore literally any time spent sitting is bad for you.
My personal theory on happiness is that happiness is walking. Any life or lifestyle which promotes walking is the greatest blessing.
One of the greatest things on my mind is that ultimately, what is the point in desired end of thinking and thoughts?
The first of the hugely pragmatic one; often your thoughts manifest your desires and motivators etc.
For example, if you’re always thinking about money, making more money, buying that new car, etc., then your real life activities will manifest in wasting lots of time to trying earn more money. But, what if a more effective approach instead would be to think; what is my personal philosophy of money? What do I want money for, what is the meaning of money, is this a worthwhile goal for me? And or how much time should I devote to trying to earn money? Also, how much money is enough?
Even Seneca once said,
What if right now, you already have too much money?
Nobody ever thinks this! Even back in ancient Roman times.
Currently speaking, the most worshiped thing is business, economics, entrepreneurship, capital, capitalism, production, producerism, consumerism, media, or money and money accumulation.
However, perhaps a more interesting thing to consider is that philosophy is more critical.
For example, Elon Musk. Tesla and SpaceX. The underlying philosophical question is; should we strive to go to Mars or become an intergalactic species? Because in theory, I think if we took all the world resources, human talent and effort to create spaceships and stuff, we probably could do it.
Also with Tesla; the philosophical question is should we produce, drive, and operate electric cars? Certainly the execution of producing electric cars and putting them into existence is more difficult, but the first philosophical question is, should we do this?
Currently speaking, my new favorite food may be beef intestines, specifically, large beef intestines. The other night Cindy and I went to our favorite all you can eat Korean barbecue restaurant, and after sampling and eating all of the foods, I think my personal favorite was the large beef intestine. It is so insanely rich, it feels like you’re eating liquid gold. Similar and akin to bone marrow.
Maybe even better than beef liver?
I personally believe this to be critical. Why? I think a lot of the modern day philosophies on diet and nutrition is nonsensical. Example there is a strange quantification of calories, protein, carbs, sugar, etc. But I think maybe a more interesting thought is trying to be more critical about the substances we consume.
For example, let us say that we broke down beef intestines into a certain quantified measure, and compared it and measured it to some sort of fake vegetable supplement. Would it yield the same thing? No.
Or another example; is eating 4 pounds of ribeye beef steak equivalent to eating 4 pounds of pea protein powder a day? Assuming that the grammage of protein was the same? No.
My personal thought on the anti-meat conspiracy is that ultimately it comes down to economics; meat is not efficient. It spoils to quickly, it’s not shelf stable, and also doesn’t yield great profit margins.
Also, this strange modern day trend we have towards “animal rights“; for example, animals, pets, dogs and cats have just become another consumer item. For example, getting that pug or Shiba Inu is almost like buying a new Louis Vuitton bag, or a Cartier watch. Also social media; for the most part everyone likes cute dogs and pets and animals. They don’t really offend anybody.
A thought while getting hyped up with ERIC KIM OMAKASE COFFEE:
I want to do it all!
I think for myself, entrepreneurship is in my veins. It is my passion, my lust, my personal interest, that which I am the most passionate about.
I think this is the great glory and gratitude and joy of America, being born in America, etc. Essentially the gist is that in America, you could do anything, become anything, create anything, attempt anything.
In America the nuance is that success or “making it“ is not guaranteed or promised. In fact, in America, the only privilege you have is the freedom to attempt something, not to succeed.
Several things to consider;
First, you are alive, and one day you will die.
Second, it seems that a lot of life is personal preferences, and also, you have the power to dictate a certain type of lifestyle approach.
For example, we all have certain preferences, and to some degree we can control where we want to live, what kind of work to do, what to spend money on, what not to spend our money on, etc.
I think the biggest thing in modern day times is in regards to media. The reason why I discourage any sort of consumption of watching of sports is that it is essentially prostituted athleticism.
Let us consider why we like to watch sports. Essentially what it is is we get a second hand adrenaline high from watching and consuming sports.
I think the best visual that I have is from battle Angel Alita, the manga comic, in which in this dystopic future, we can get a first hand, POV of other athletes fighting racing and doing other dangerous things. Essentially we literally put ourselves in the shoes of others.
Perhaps a good way to visualize things or how to think about it is this; there is a certain desired outcome that you have, and, there might be a certain things which get in your way.
But is this true?
I think not.
For example, I think the big problem is in today’s world, we simply don’t know what we want in life.
The reason why I innovated Zen of Eric, or the why app is essentially a means to encourage people to think more critically about their desired outcomes in life.
It seems that a great downside of modern day times and living is that we believe that we must kowtow to some sort of other foreign authority. That we are not permitted to become our own authority.
For example, now that I critically think about it, maybe studying too much Taoism, zen, stoicism has been detrimental to myself.
I think aesthetically, to read philosophy is almost like reading practical and pragmatic philosophy. But ultimately we shouldn’t take things too literally.
Also another strange bias; in modern day times we are indoctrinated that reading more books is more better for us. That is, to read 1000 pages a day is considered virtuous.
However what I believe in is the opposite. Perhaps actually we should read less, walk more, think more, contemplate more, go to the gym more frequently, use the hot sauna more, drink more fine robusta, lift more, one rep max more, etc.
I think the problem in modern-day society, America, most of the westernized world, capitalism and consumerism is that we have to purchase happiness, well-being, innovation etc. For example, I’m a huge fan of Tesla Musk, Tesla, electric cars, car culture design, aesthetics etc.
I think the reason why critical thinking is so useful is that it cut to the chase.
For example, a lot of people desire or lust after a certain car; a Mercedes-Benz AMG wagon, a Porsche GT3 RS, a certain model of Tesla, Ferrari Lamborghini etc. Often times people spend an inordinate amount of time thinking and considering these things whereas maybe the best timesaver is this:
What if I just took all of that time effort and money and just invested in my self in my own body, perhaps this would give me more happiness?
For example, the other day while househunting in LA, I walked down Rodeo Drive with Seneca, and trolled around Beverly Hills a bit, and I realize that in regards to cars, everyone is just following the same old memes.
Also a fun trick; instead of looking in the car, look really hard at who the driver is.
For example the typical trope I see is that a lot of these high powered big SUVs are driven by women with sunglasses on, or a lot of these convertible sports cars with the top down is driven with men for balding, old, often over-fat.
So the funny thing is in regards to cars, when we see impressive cars, the question is this:
Do you desire the car, or find the car fascinating? Or do you desire to become the person who is driving the car?
We want to become insanely happy?
Most people are unwell. Most people have poor health, even people who go to the gym every single day. Health can be characterized by many things, some of it is mental health, some of it is physical health, but ultimately all of it is physiological. That is, happiness joy and health cannot exist outside of your human body.
I personally believe in a “mortal” soul. That is, we all have a soul, which is essentially a metaphorical configuration of the blood, sinews, electric impulses, DNA, everything which is contained within this 3-D wire mesh which we call our human body. When we die our soul dies with us.
How are people unwell? People are unwell in regards to many things;
Currently speaking, there are a lot of things on the chopping block:
I’m super pumped to announce my first, insanely unique INTRODUCTION TO STOICISM WORKSHOP. This workshop is limited to only three passionate individuals, and it will take place in downtown LA, December 2, 2023. If you’ve been curious about learning more about stoicism, or deepening your philosophical inquiry to life, this workshop is for you!
Also, I am very excited to go back to Philly, October 14th! Cindy is going to Philly for a conference, and concurrently I will also teach a CONQUER STREET PHOTOGRAPHY WORKSHOP there!
Also, November 4th I am also teaching a DISCOVER YOUR CREATIVE MISSION IN LIFE WORKSHOP in DOWNTOWN LA, NOVEMBER 4th. If you want to turbo charge your creativity and artistry, this workshop is for you.
I encourage you to start your own blog! My new thought is don’t limit yourself by anything. Permit yourself to talk about anything and everything your heart desires.
For example for myself, my passion not only for photography, street photography, but philosophy, life, entrepreneurship, and everything in between.
When in doubt, start here.
And stay posted on the blog or newsletter, for more fire! Also, feel free to forward this to a friend!
Think more with ZEN OF ERIC
If I think more critically about things, I think my greatest detriment is when I spend too much time thinking and considering too much of other philosophies. Foreign philosophies.
I believe the best philosophy is simply thinking about what you believe in, your own personal preferences, your own life experiences etc.
A thought while getting hyped up with ERIC KIM OMAKASE COFFEE:
I want to do it all!
I think for myself, entrepreneurship is in my veins. It is my passion, my lust, my personal interest, that which I am the most passionate about.
I think this is the great glory and gratitude and joy of America, being born in America, etc. Essentially the gist is that in America, you could do anything, become anything, create anything, attempt anything.
In America the nuance is that success or “making it“ is not guaranteed or promised. In fact, in America, the only privilege you have is the freedom to attempt something, not to succeed.
Several things to consider;
First, you are alive, and one day you will die.
Second, it seems that a lot of life is personal preferences, and also, you have the power to dictate a certain type of lifestyle approach.
For example, we all have certain preferences, and to some degree we can control where we want to live, what kind of work to do, what to spend money on, what not to spend our money on, etc.
I think the biggest thing in modern day times is in regards to media. The reason why I discourage any sort of consumption of watching of sports is that it is essentially prostituted athleticism.
Let us consider why we like to watch sports. Essentially what it is is we get a second hand adrenaline high from watching and consuming sports.
I think the best visual that I have is from battle Angel Alita, the manga comic, in which in this dystopic future, we can get a first hand, POV of other athletes fighting racing and doing other dangerous things. Essentially we literally put ourselves in the shoes of others.
From the EK ARCHIVES!
Never stop pruning your inner circle!
Also just jot down your thoughts somewhere?
When people seem to universally love a certain design, it is a sign that it is a bad design?
For example, the new Prius or Prius Prime. Zero innovation in it?
Or taken further —
Any sort of design which isn’t polarizing ain’t good?
Culver City is lit!
An idea from Peter Limberg—
What are stoic aesthetics?
The bad bias—
In todays world, the criticism of calling someone a bitch is that you’re saying that they’re a (weak) woman.
So to say, “Don’t be a bitch!” essentially means:
Don’t be a woman.
Inherent in this then means,
Women are inherently bad, weak, mean (base… basic, not “cruel”), irrational, lesser.
However we men… *should* we be comparing ourselves to women as some sort of lower tier benchmark? No.
A stoic aesthetic — we are more proud of *NOT* partaking in pettiness or smallness?
The corollary:
Be magnanimous!
Become invincible:
Learn from the master stoics:
Learn more: Start Here >
Everyone wants to be happy, even our best friend Aristotle said it is the one thing that men seek for the sake of itself.
What what is happiness? I think I got the answer; walking is happiness. Any sort of life, lifestyle, lifestyle approach which allows you to maximize your walking is happiness.
I cannot speak for most people, because I don’t have a “real job“. That is, I don’t have a workplace, an office, or a place I must typically commute to.
However Cindy does.
A simple thought that I had is if you have the option, spend extra money which affords you the privilege to walk. For example, I wonder if in fact, shelling out the extra thousand, 2000, 3000, 4000, $5000, maybe even $10,000 a month would be positively beneficial to give you the privilege of walking.
It seems that the modern-day strategy that people partake in is that they sacrifice time in foolish ways. They decide to live further out, further away from work, in the suburbs, which means that they must spend more time driving in order to get to their workplace, in order to have the privilege of having a bigger house, a cheaper house, a smaller mortgage, cheaper rent etc.
Being forced to be indoors against your own will, this is cruel.
Also, being forced to be stuck in a car, in a bus, in an Uber, even if you had your own private driver, this is cruel.
For example, I once read an interview with Jony Ive, this is when he was still at Apple, in which he would commute for almost 2 hours a day (one way, so 4 hours every day in total), going from a desirable area of San Francisco to the Apple office in Cupertino, having a private driver chauffeur him in his Bentley,and I suppose Jony would just be in the backseat, doing work on his iPhone, iPad, MacBook laptop, etc. If I was Joni and truly committed, I would not make this foolish decision. I would literally just rent a hotel or an apartment or a house literally right next to Apple campus, or who knows, be like Elon Musk and just sleep in a sleeping bag in the office.
However, if you were forced to be sedentary or sitting, for four hours a day, or five hours a day, even if you were the backseat of a Rolls-Royce, a Bentley, Lamborghini, a McLaren, whatever; would it be worth it? No. Even as a thought experiment, if you had a totally maxed out Tesla model S plaid, or a Tesla model X plaid, with 100% auto pilot, assuming the technology was flawless, and you could do other stuff while being autonomously driven around, would you still want to be forced to be sedentary, for 4-5 hours a day? No.
You cannot buy happiness. You can buy insanely great coffee, ERIC KIM OMAKASE COFFEE, 100% fine robusta which physiologically speaking, will give you a marvelous happiness bump and boost, but ultimately, beyond coffee, happiness cannot be bought.
Things that money can do which can assist you and aid you in happiness include,
There’s a strange bias in today’s world that we have to somehow maximize our productivity, in order for the sake to work more, contribute more to society, “make a difference“.
For example, the modern-day notion of going to the gym and working out and exercising, the only thought is this:
It is critical for you to exercise daily, because it will make you healthy and healthier, in order for you to keep working more.
The reason why this line of thinking is so twisted is that it is for the sake of maximizing your work capacity, not your own personal happiness. Man is not permitted to be happy for the sake of being happy.
The other day, I was so insanely happy, maybe a 50 out of 10. But at the end of the day, happiness is a bit inconsequential. For me what is more critical is having the opportunity, physiological energy to pursue my creative tasks. Whether it be reviewing my photos, writing and blogging, thinking, producing knowledge, sending out email newsletters, etc.
Peter Limberg— shout out to him for his great “Minimum Viable Philosophy” essay. I like his tagline, “Less Foolish”.
A cool trend I see is the trend towards philosophy. Why? This is what I think:
“Self development” is just philosophy in (modern day capitalistic) disguise.
And what do I mean by this? Ultimately any sort of business, self development book is centered around a certain philosophy. And the book typically preaches some sort of strategy and technique in order to achieve that philosophical end.
In life, there is no such thing as virtue, or sin, vice. To me, it is all about wisdom, knowledge, becoming less foolish, and “not being a dummy.”
I like the word dummy, because it is not so serious. For example, we joke around with kids to not be a dummy. Maybe this is a better path for us.
Oh and today’s world of ChatGPT, AI assisted writing, the question,
How do you know if something was written by ChatGPT, or a real human being?
For the most part you can’t. However, anything written by ERIC KIM passes the Turing test. Why? The way I talk is non-standard, the way I write is genuine, and ultimately I think the future of writing and thinking is predicated around philosophy. That is, there is already enough information and wisdom on the Internet on how to do anything. But not much information on why do XYZ. Or, should we do XYZ.
For example, I firmly believe that if your goal is to become superhuman, eating beef and meat is critical. But I philosophical question is should we eat beef and meat? Even if it is bad for the planet?
For example, if someone tells me, “Eric, you shouldn’t eat meat because it is bad for the planet“. But what if I say, “I know that eating meat is bad for the planet, but eating beef is best for me. So I don’t care.” Is one permitted to talk like this? This is the task and role of philosophy and ethics.
The etymology of hygiene, in ancient Greek is the art of health.
In modern day times, hygiene as a concept has fallen out of vogue. Why? In the states, a lot of the modernized westernized world, we take it for granted. There is regular trash pick ups, we have clean albeit not too tasty running tapwater, and mostly clean air. And also, most foods we buy or eat, whether it be at the grocery store or a restaurant will not cause us food poisoning.
Food hygiene is very underrated as a concept. We moderns prefer tasty or good tasting food, we don’t really care much for hygiene anymore.
Here is where I find hygiene critical; some people, mentally, physically or unwell, their mental hygiene is poor, and their physical physiological bodily hygiene is also probably poor. Used as a metaphor.
If you see weird homeless people on the street, cracked out, smelling bad, do you distain the way they act? No. You just keep your distance, and run away.
Another thing that I’ve discovered is when I’m in the zone, I get so focused on the task at hand that when other people say random maybe possibly demeaning stuff to you, I don’t even have to forcibly ignore them, I just literally can’t hear them, I hear them literally, but because I’m so focused at the task at hand, what they said or intended doesn’t upset me.
I was doing some research on the etymology of happy, and no one is really quite certain where that word comes from. There are certain theories, like “happen”— fortunate, happen chance, hap— chance, luck, fortune, hampa— good luck, chance, from Proto indo European *kob— which means good fortune, prophecy, to bend, bow, fit in, work, succeed.
It seems that nowadays, English is the dominant world language. And if we operate in a certain linguistic manner, perhaps the common day words we use should be used with more precision and clarity.
For example, John Stuart Mill, a lot of the early American developers preach notions of the “pursuit of happiness“. But the issue is, if you can’t even define happiness, or if the notion of happiness is a modern day one, then perhaps this is not a good goal or path.
I say instead of seeking to be “happy“, maybe it is better to seek to be strong, well, powerful, and in a great mood. It seems that also, one of my passions being thinking, having the opportunity and clarity of thought is supreme to me.
I still think certainly at the end of the day, it is fine to use every day words colloquially. So for example, what contributes a great life to me?
First, artistic and creative productivity. To me this pertains to photography, both shooting and making photos, reviewing photos, enjoying my photos, sharing my photos, thinking about photos, and the aesthetic joy that I get from looking at my own photos.
Second, philosophical and thinking power; this means, I have a passion for thinking, and thinking interesting thoughts. A life without thoughts is not a life worth having.
Third, the health, strength, growth, and muscles of my family. This pertains to my son, and also my wife. And of course certainly myself. Other day I took Seneca to the jungle gym, and at two years seven months old, the pure undiluted joy that he gets from running across the suspension bridge and the jungle gym is pure bliss to me.
Also, witnessing his muscular development, and how much pride and joy that I get watching him eat 100% grass fed ground beef, in super mini burger patties for him, and also him eating while you thinly sliced meat that we buy from H Mart. Seeing Seneca consume beef, and building his muscles brings me great joy.
As a tangent, I think a lot of this modern-day notions of child development are skewed. Rather than trying to educate your kids, make them brain smart, I think a better goal and path is instead, to develop their muscles.
First and foremost, as biological beings, I think perhaps it is critical for us to first seek to be physically, physiologically strong and well. An optimization towards physiological well-being is a good one.
Why? It is the necessary path. Without physiological strength and well-being, you can’t do anything. For example, it doesn’t matter if you have $100 billion in the bank, if you are physically or physiologically unwell, if you only sleep two hours a night, if you have no muscles or hotspots in your body, Nothing can be done.
Willpower is not real. Muscle power is real.
What is the point of money? Having the privilege of being around other human beings. This, paying rent, and buying beef as well. But beyond this, the additional utility of money is slim; once you have your digital camera, your Internet Wi-Fi connection, your iPad Pro etc., what else do you need? Not much.
If you’re hungry to think more, deeper and further, think with me at one of my upcoming workshops:
Also incoming SUPER STOIC DOWNTOWN LA WORKSHOP— stay posted.
How about for now, let us just make our own personal happiness our priority?
If you’re having a hard time sleeping, my simple suggestion; start going to the gym at least once every single day, and use a hot sauna at least once a day, or really severe cases, go to the hot sauna twice a day.
One thing I found really interesting being in Japan, being at those random Japanese businessman hotels, or the wonderful Ryokans in Kyoto Uji, is at least in Japanese culture, the hot baths, are an integral part of their life and culture. That is, before they sleep, doing a really really hot bath is critical.
The same thing is in Korean culture, the jjim jjil bbang. Apparently in northern Scandinavian and Swedish countries, the really really hot sauna, whether it be dry or humid and steamy is also a critical part of their health.
According to the biological phenomenon hormesis, port duration of extreme heat and humidity is positively good for our physiological health and well-being.
All I need is insanely fast Wi-Fi, muscle in my legs (985 pound atlas lift), iPad Pro and EK COFFEE and I’m happy!
I never really knew, but I suppose I have very strong opinions on homes and living quarters and situations. That means for the most part I hate ugly. I hate old and ugly danky dark, dim, and ghetto apartments, especially here in LA.
I have a theory:
Perhaps ugly aesthetics actually causes our physiological happiness and well being to go down.
What is ugliness? Anything which causes our physiological well being to go downwards.
For example, I think the reason why old and danky and ghetto apartments have such an adverse reaction to us is because they scream “hygenically dangerous”. Hygiene as “the art of health”.
For example, the dark and danky typically means moldy. Mold is a poison.
Thus, the simplest thing with homes, houses, condos, duplexes, town houses, flats, hotels, airbnbs, motels sleeping or living quarters etc:
After my Ricoh GR IIIX died, I’ve just been using my LUMIX G9 and Leica LUMIX 12mm f1.4 Lens and it produces insanely beautiful photos! Downsides — insanely big and heavy, which is bad.
At this point, money is no concern for us.
In terms of innovative cameras, I’m trending towards the point and shoot, integrated flash department. For example,
The only concern:
Are the integrated in camera JPEG settings good for us?
Also,
Arsbeta.com — upload and share your best photos now!
Everyone wants to be happy, even our best friend Aristotle said it is the one thing that men seek for the sake of itself.
What what is happiness? I think I got the answer; walking is happiness. Any sort of life, lifestyle, lifestyle approach which allows you to maximize your walking is happiness.
I cannot speak for most people, because I don’t have a “real job“. That is, I don’t have a workplace, an office, or a place I must typically commute to.
However Cindy does.
A simple thought that I had is if you have the option, spend extra money which affords you the privilege to walk. For example, I wonder if in fact, shelling out the extra thousand, 2000, 3000, 4000, $5000, maybe even $10,000 a month would be positively beneficial to give you the privilege of walking.
It seems that the modern-day strategy that people partake in is that they sacrifice time in foolish ways. They decide to live further out, further away from work, in the suburbs, which means that they must spend more time driving in order to get to their workplace, in order to have the privilege of having a bigger house, a cheaper house, a smaller mortgage, cheaper rent etc.
Being forced to be indoors against your own will, this is cruel.
Also, being forced to be stuck in a car, in a bus, in an Uber, even if you had your own private driver, this is cruel.
For example, I once read an interview with Jony Ive, this is when he was still at Apple, in which he would commute for almost 2 hours a day (one way, so 4 hours every day in total), going from a desirable area of San Francisco to the Apple office in Cupertino, having a private driver chauffeur him in his Bentley,and I suppose Jony would just be in the backseat, doing work on his iPhone, iPad, MacBook laptop, etc. If I was Joni and truly committed, I would not make this foolish decision. I would literally just rent a hotel or an apartment or a house literally right next to Apple campus, or who knows, be like Elon Musk and just sleep in a sleeping bag in the office.
However, if you were forced to be sedentary or sitting, for four hours a day, or five hours a day, even if you were the backseat of a Rolls-Royce, a Bentley, Lamborghini, a McLaren, whatever; would it be worth it? No. Even as a thought experiment, if you had a totally maxed out Tesla model S plaid, or a Tesla model X plaid, with 100% auto pilot, assuming the technology was flawless, and you could do other stuff while being autonomously driven around, would you still want to be forced to be sedentary, for 4-5 hours a day? No.
You cannot buy happiness. You can buy insanely great coffee, ERIC KIM OMAKASE COFFEE, 100% fine robusta which physiologically speaking, will give you a marvelous happiness bump and boost, but ultimately, beyond coffee, happiness cannot be bought.
Things that money can do which can assist you and aid you in happiness include,
There’s a strange bias in today’s world that we have to somehow maximize our productivity, in order for the sake to work more, contribute more to society, “make a difference“.
For example, the modern-day notion of going to the gym and working out and exercising, the only thought is this:
It is critical for you to exercise daily, because it will make you healthy and healthier, in order for you to keep working more.
The reason why this line of thinking is so twisted is that it is for the sake of maximizing your work capacity, not your own personal happiness. Man is not permitted to be happy for the sake of being happy.
The other day, I was so insanely happy, maybe a 50 out of 10. But at the end of the day, happiness is a bit inconsequential. For me what is more critical is having the opportunity, physiological energy to pursue my creative tasks. Whether it be reviewing my photos, writing and blogging, thinking, producing knowledge, sending out email newsletters, etc.
Peter Limberg— shout out to him for his great “Minimum Viable Philosophy” essay. I like his tagline, “Less Foolish”.
A cool trend I see is the trend towards philosophy. Why? This is what I think:
“Self development” is just philosophy in (modern day capitalistic) disguise.
And what do I mean by this? Ultimately any sort of business, self development book is centered around a certain philosophy. And the book typically preaches some sort of strategy and technique in order to achieve that philosophical end.
In life, there is no such thing as virtue, or sin, vice. To me, it is all about wisdom, knowledge, becoming less foolish, and “not being a dummy.”
I like the word dummy, because it is not so serious. For example, we joke around with kids to not be a dummy. Maybe this is a better path for us.
Oh and today’s world of ChatGPT, AI assisted writing, the question,
How do you know if something was written by ChatGPT, or a real human being?
For the most part you can’t. However, anything written by ERIC KIM passes the Turing test. Why? The way I talk is non-standard, the way I write is genuine, and ultimately I think the future of writing and thinking is predicated around philosophy. That is, there is already enough information and wisdom on the Internet on how to do anything. But not much information on why do XYZ. Or, should we do XYZ.
For example, I firmly believe that if your goal is to become superhuman, eating beef and meat is critical. But I philosophical question is should we eat beef and meat? Even if it is bad for the planet?
For example, if someone tells me, “Eric, you shouldn’t eat meat because it is bad for the planet“. But what if I say, “I know that eating meat is bad for the planet, but eating beef is best for me. So I don’t care.” Is one permitted to talk like this? This is the task and role of philosophy and ethics.
The etymology of hygiene, in ancient Greek is the art of health.
In modern day times, hygiene as a concept has fallen out of vogue. Why? In the states, a lot of the modernized westernized world, we take it for granted. There is regular trash pick ups, we have clean albeit not too tasty running tapwater, and mostly clean air. And also, most foods we buy or eat, whether it be at the grocery store or a restaurant will not cause us food poisoning.
Food hygiene is very underrated as a concept. We moderns prefer tasty or good tasting food, we don’t really care much for hygiene anymore.
Here is where I find hygiene critical; some people, mentally, physically or unwell, their mental hygiene is poor, and their physical physiological bodily hygiene is also probably poor. Used as a metaphor.
If you see weird homeless people on the street, cracked out, smelling bad, do you distain the way they act? No. You just keep your distance, and run away.
Another thing that I’ve discovered is when I’m in the zone, I get so focused on the task at hand that when other people say random maybe possibly demeaning stuff to you, I don’t even have to forcibly ignore them, I just literally can’t hear them, I hear them literally, but because I’m so focused at the task at hand, what they said or intended doesn’t upset me.
I was doing some research on the etymology of happy, and no one is really quite certain where that word comes from. There are certain theories, like “happen”— fortunate, happen chance, hap— chance, luck, fortune, hampa— good luck, chance, from Proto indo European *kob— which means good fortune, prophecy, to bend, bow, fit in, work, succeed.
It seems that nowadays, English is the dominant world language. And if we operate in a certain linguistic manner, perhaps the common day words we use should be used with more precision and clarity.
For example, John Stuart Mill, a lot of the early American developers preach notions of the “pursuit of happiness“. But the issue is, if you can’t even define happiness, or if the notion of happiness is a modern day one, then perhaps this is not a good goal or path.
I say instead of seeking to be “happy“, maybe it is better to seek to be strong, well, powerful, and in a great mood. It seems that also, one of my passions being thinking, having the opportunity and clarity of thought is supreme to me.
I still think certainly at the end of the day, it is fine to use every day words colloquially. So for example, what contributes a great life to me?
First, artistic and creative productivity. To me this pertains to photography, both shooting and making photos, reviewing photos, enjoying my photos, sharing my photos, thinking about photos, and the aesthetic joy that I get from looking at my own photos.
Second, philosophical and thinking power; this means, I have a passion for thinking, and thinking interesting thoughts. A life without thoughts is not a life worth having.
Third, the health, strength, growth, and muscles of my family. This pertains to my son, and also my wife. And of course certainly myself. Other day I took Seneca to the jungle gym, and at two years seven months old, the pure undiluted joy that he gets from running across the suspension bridge and the jungle gym is pure bliss to me.
Also, witnessing his muscular development, and how much pride and joy that I get watching him eat 100% grass fed ground beef, in super mini burger patties for him, and also him eating while you thinly sliced meat that we buy from H Mart. Seeing Seneca consume beef, and building his muscles brings me great joy.
As a tangent, I think a lot of this modern-day notions of child development are skewed. Rather than trying to educate your kids, make them brain smart, I think a better goal and path is instead, to develop their muscles.
First and foremost, as biological beings, I think perhaps it is critical for us to first seek to be physically, physiologically strong and well. An optimization towards physiological well-being is a good one.
Why? It is the necessary path. Without physiological strength and well-being, you can’t do anything. For example, it doesn’t matter if you have $100 billion in the bank, if you are physically or physiologically unwell, if you only sleep two hours a night, if you have no muscles or hotspots in your body, Nothing can be done.
Willpower is not real. Muscle power is real.
What is the point of money? Having the privilege of being around other human beings. This, paying rent, and buying beef as well. But beyond this, the additional utility of money is slim; once you have your digital camera, your Internet Wi-Fi connection, your iPad Pro etc., what else do you need? Not much.
If you’re hungry to think more, deeper and further, think with me at one of my upcoming workshops:
Also incoming SUPER STOIC DOWNTOWN LA WORKSHOP— stay posted.
How about for now, let us just make our own personal happiness our priority?
If you’re having a hard time sleeping, my simple suggestion; start going to the gym at least once every single day, and use a hot sauna at least once a day, or really severe cases, go to the hot sauna twice a day.
One thing I found really interesting being in Japan, being at those random Japanese businessman hotels, or the wonderful Ryokans in Kyoto Uji, is at least in Japanese culture, the hot baths, are an integral part of their life and culture. That is, before they sleep, doing a really really hot bath is critical.
The same thing is in Korean culture, the jjim jjil bbang. Apparently in northern Scandinavian and Swedish countries, the really really hot sauna, whether it be dry or humid and steamy is also a critical part of their health.
According to the biological phenomenon hormesis, port duration of extreme heat and humidity is positively good for our physiological health and well-being.
All I need is insanely fast Wi-Fi, muscle in my legs (985 pound atlas lift), iPad Pro and EK COFFEE and I’m happy!
I never really knew, but I suppose I have very strong opinions on homes and living quarters and situations. That means for the most part I hate ugly. I hate old and ugly danky dark, dim, and ghetto apartments, especially here in LA.
I have a theory:
Perhaps ugly aesthetics actually causes our physiological happiness and well being to go down.
What is ugliness? Anything which causes our physiological well being to go downwards.
For example, I think the reason why old and danky and ghetto apartments have such an adverse reaction to us is because they scream “hygenically dangerous”. Hygiene as “the art of health”.
For example, the dark and danky typically means moldy. Mold is a poison.
Thus, the simplest thing with homes, houses, condos, duplexes, town houses, flats, hotels, airbnbs, motels sleeping or living quarters etc:
After my Ricoh GR IIIX died, I’ve just been using my LUMIX G9 and Leica LUMIX 12mm f1.4 Lens and it produces insanely beautiful photos! Downsides — insanely big and heavy, which is bad.
Everyone wants to be happy, even our best friend Aristotle said it is the one thing that men seek for the sake of itself.
What what is happiness? I think I got the answer; walking is happiness. Any sort of life, lifestyle, lifestyle approach which allows you to maximize your walking is happiness.
I cannot speak for most people, because I don’t have a “real job“. That is, I don’t have a workplace, an office, or a place I must typically commute to.
However Cindy does.
A simple thought that I had is if you have the option, spend extra money which affords you the privilege to walk. For example, I wonder if in fact, shelling out the extra thousand, 2000, 3000, 4000, $5000, maybe even $10,000 a month would be positively beneficial to give you the privilege of walking.
It seems that the modern-day strategy that people partake in is that they sacrifice time in foolish ways. They decide to live further out, further away from work, in the suburbs, which means that they must spend more time driving in order to get to their workplace, in order to have the privilege of having a bigger house, a cheaper house, a smaller mortgage, cheaper rent etc.
Being forced to be indoors against your own will, this is cruel.
Also, being forced to be stuck in a car, in a bus, in an Uber, even if you had your own private driver, this is cruel.
For example, I once read an interview with Jony Ive, this is when he was still at Apple, in which he would commute for almost 2 hours a day (one way, so 4 hours every day in total), going from a desirable area of San Francisco to the Apple office in Cupertino, having a private driver chauffeur him in his Bentley,and I suppose Jony would just be in the backseat, doing work on his iPhone, iPad, MacBook laptop, etc. If I was Joni and truly committed, I would not make this foolish decision. I would literally just rent a hotel or an apartment or a house literally right next to Apple campus, or who knows, be like Elon Musk and just sleep in a sleeping bag in the office.
However, if you were forced to be sedentary or sitting, for four hours a day, or five hours a day, even if you were the backseat of a Rolls-Royce, a Bentley, Lamborghini, a McLaren, whatever; would it be worth it? No. Even as a thought experiment, if you had a totally maxed out Tesla model S plaid, or a Tesla model X plaid, with 100% auto pilot, assuming the technology was flawless, and you could do other stuff while being autonomously driven around, would you still want to be forced to be sedentary, for 4-5 hours a day? No.
You cannot buy happiness. You can buy insanely great coffee, ERIC KIM OMAKASE COFFEE, 100% fine robusta which physiologically speaking, will give you a marvelous happiness bump and boost, but ultimately, beyond coffee, happiness cannot be bought.
Things that money can do which can assist you and aid you in happiness include,
There’s a strange bias in today’s world that we have to somehow maximize our productivity, in order for the sake to work more, contribute more to society, “make a difference“.
For example, the modern-day notion of going to the gym and working out and exercising, the only thought is this:
It is critical for you to exercise daily, because it will make you healthy and healthier, in order for you to keep working more.
The reason why this line of thinking is so twisted is that it is for the sake of maximizing your work capacity, not your own personal happiness. Man is not permitted to be happy for the sake of being happy.
The other day, I was so insanely happy, maybe a 50 out of 10. But at the end of the day, happiness is a bit inconsequential. For me what is more critical is having the opportunity, physiological energy to pursue my creative tasks. Whether it be reviewing my photos, writing and blogging, thinking, producing knowledge, sending out email newsletters, etc.
Peter Limberg— shout out to him for his great “Minimum Viable Philosophy” essay. I like his tagline, “Less Foolish”.
A cool trend I see is the trend towards philosophy. Why? This is what I think:
“Self development” is just philosophy in (modern day capitalistic) disguise.
And what do I mean by this? Ultimately any sort of business, self development book is centered around a certain philosophy. And the book typically preaches some sort of strategy and technique in order to achieve that philosophical end.
In life, there is no such thing as virtue, or sin, vice. To me, it is all about wisdom, knowledge, becoming less foolish, and “not being a dummy.”
I like the word dummy, because it is not so serious. For example, we joke around with kids to not be a dummy. Maybe this is a better path for us.
Oh and today’s world of ChatGPT, AI assisted writing, the question,
How do you know if something was written by ChatGPT, or a real human being?
For the most part you can’t. However, anything written by ERIC KIM passes the Turing test. Why? The way I talk is non-standard, the way I write is genuine, and ultimately I think the future of writing and thinking is predicated around philosophy. That is, there is already enough information and wisdom on the Internet on how to do anything. But not much information on why do XYZ. Or, should we do XYZ.
For example, I firmly believe that if your goal is to become superhuman, eating beef and meat is critical. But I philosophical question is should we eat beef and meat? Even if it is bad for the planet?
For example, if someone tells me, “Eric, you shouldn’t eat meat because it is bad for the planet“. But what if I say, “I know that eating meat is bad for the planet, but eating beef is best for me. So I don’t care.” Is one permitted to talk like this? This is the task and role of philosophy and ethics.
The etymology of hygiene, in ancient Greek is the art of health.
In modern day times, hygiene as a concept has fallen out of vogue. Why? In the states, a lot of the modernized westernized world, we take it for granted. There is regular trash pick ups, we have clean albeit not too tasty running tapwater, and mostly clean air. And also, most foods we buy or eat, whether it be at the grocery store or a restaurant will not cause us food poisoning.
Food hygiene is very underrated as a concept. We moderns prefer tasty or good tasting food, we don’t really care much for hygiene anymore.
Here is where I find hygiene critical; some people, mentally, physically or unwell, their mental hygiene is poor, and their physical physiological bodily hygiene is also probably poor. Used as a metaphor.
If you see weird homeless people on the street, cracked out, smelling bad, do you distain the way they act? No. You just keep your distance, and run away.
Another thing that I’ve discovered is when I’m in the zone, I get so focused on the task at hand that when other people say random maybe possibly demeaning stuff to you, I don’t even have to forcibly ignore them, I just literally can’t hear them, I hear them literally, but because I’m so focused at the task at hand, what they said or intended doesn’t upset me.
I was doing some research on the etymology of happy, and no one is really quite certain where that word comes from. There are certain theories, like “happen”— fortunate, happen chance, hap— chance, luck, fortune, hampa— good luck, chance, from Proto indo European *kob— which means good fortune, prophecy, to bend, bow, fit in, work, succeed.
It seems that nowadays, English is the dominant world language. And if we operate in a certain linguistic manner, perhaps the common day words we use should be used with more precision and clarity.
For example, John Stuart Mill, a lot of the early American developers preach notions of the “pursuit of happiness“. But the issue is, if you can’t even define happiness, or if the notion of happiness is a modern day one, then perhaps this is not a good goal or path.
I say instead of seeking to be “happy“, maybe it is better to seek to be strong, well, powerful, and in a great mood. It seems that also, one of my passions being thinking, having the opportunity and clarity of thought is supreme to me.
I still think certainly at the end of the day, it is fine to use every day words colloquially. So for example, what contributes a great life to me?
First, artistic and creative productivity. To me this pertains to photography, both shooting and making photos, reviewing photos, enjoying my photos, sharing my photos, thinking about photos, and the aesthetic joy that I get from looking at my own photos.
Second, philosophical and thinking power; this means, I have a passion for thinking, and thinking interesting thoughts. A life without thoughts is not a life worth having.
Third, the health, strength, growth, and muscles of my family. This pertains to my son, and also my wife. And of course certainly myself. Other day I took Seneca to the jungle gym, and at two years seven months old, the pure undiluted joy that he gets from running across the suspension bridge and the jungle gym is pure bliss to me.
Also, witnessing his muscular development, and how much pride and joy that I get watching him eat 100% grass fed ground beef, in super mini burger patties for him, and also him eating while you thinly sliced meat that we buy from H Mart. Seeing Seneca consume beef, and building his muscles brings me great joy.
As a tangent, I think a lot of this modern-day notions of child development are skewed. Rather than trying to educate your kids, make them brain smart, I think a better goal and path is instead, to develop their muscles.
First and foremost, as biological beings, I think perhaps it is critical for us to first seek to be physically, physiologically strong and well. An optimization towards physiological well-being is a good one.
Why? It is the necessary path. Without physiological strength and well-being, you can’t do anything. For example, it doesn’t matter if you have $100 billion in the bank, if you are physically or physiologically unwell, if you only sleep two hours a night, if you have no muscles or hotspots in your body, Nothing can be done.
Willpower is not real. Muscle power is real.
What is the point of money? Having the privilege of being around other human beings. This, paying rent, and buying beef as well. But beyond this, the additional utility of money is slim; once you have your digital camera, your Internet Wi-Fi connection, your iPad Pro etc., what else do you need? Not much.
If you’re hungry to think more, deeper and further, think with me at one of my upcoming workshops:
