Narratives & Concepts (2022)

1. “A nation is born stoic, and dies epicurean. At its cradle (to repeat a thoughtful adage) religion stands, and philosophy accompanies it to the grave. In the beginning of all cultures, a strong religious faith conceals and softens the nature of things, and gives men courage to bear pain and hardship patiently; at every step the gods are with them, and will not let them perish, until they do. Even then a firm faith will explain that it was the sins of the people that turned their gods to an avenging wrath; evil does not destroy faith, but strengthens it. If victory comes, if war is forgotten in security and peace, then wealth grows; the life of the body gives way, in the dominant classes, to the life of the senses and the mind; toil and suffering are replaced by pleasure and ease; science weakens faith even while thought and comfort weaken virility and fortitude. At last men begin to doubt the gods; they mourn the tragedy of knowledge, and seek refuge in every passing delight. Achilles is at the beginning, Epicurus at the end.” – Will Durant, Our Oriental Heritage
2. Autobiography in Five Short Chapters Chapter One: I walk down the street. There is a deep hole in the sidewalk. I fall in. I am lost… I am helpless. It isn’t my fault. It takes forever to find a way out. Chapter Two: I walk down the same street. There is a deep hole in the sidewalk. I pretend I don’t see it. I fall in again. I can’t believe I am in the same place. But, it isn’t my fault. It still takes me a long time to get out. Chapter Three: I walk down the same street. There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.I see it is there. I still fall in…It’s a habit…but, my eyes are open. I know where I am. It is my fault. I get out immediately. Chapter Four: I walk down the same street. There is a deep hole in the sidewalk. I walk around it.                                  Chapter Five: I walk down another street. — Portia Nelson, There’s a Hole in My Sidewalk: The Romance of Self-Discovery

3. 1,000 True Fans (https://kk.org/thetechnium/1000-true-fans/)
4. “Rarely do we stop to ask ourselves questions about the media we consume: Is this good for me? Is this dense with detailed information? Is this important? Is this going to stand the test of time? Is the person writing someone who is well informed on the issue? Asking those questions makes it clear the news isn’t good for you.” – Farnam Street 
5. Newtonian physics described the universe in an arrow – time is the same everywhere; Einstein described it like a river, can speed up or slow down depending on circumstances and where you are (ie: time moves faster on moon and slower on jupiter)
6. “SLOW PRODUCTIVITY” – Productivity depends on scale – if you look at productivity over a span of weeks, you’re going to have much more stimulation and activity; but if you look at it over a span of a few years and as an example, only want to produce 3 great things over that period. then you’ll have much less activity, and can slowly work towards builting something great
7. Victimology – idolizing our suffering; becoming self righteous because of our suffering to those that caused suffering for us; “Oppression Olympics”
8. The only way to become good at something is to practice the ordinary basics for an uncommon length of time. Most people get bored. They want excitement. They want something to talk about and no one talks about the boring basics. For example, we know that dollar-cost averaging into an index fund is likely to generate wealth, but cryptocurrency will give us a bigger thrill. Boredom encourages you to stop doing what you know works and do something that might work. Another way to mess up a good thing is to try and accelerate the natural pace of things into an unnatural one. A good idea taken to the extreme is always a bad idea. Working out for 15 hours a day won’t make you healthier, it will get you injured. Investing with a lot of leverage won’t make you rich faster, it will wipe you out. A lack of patience changes the outcome. It’s hard to be above average if you can’t find a way to do the same thing over and over again. As Bruce Lee observed, “I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times.” In a world of social media, we glorify the results and not the process. We see the kick that knocked someone out but not the years of effort that went into perfecting it. We see the results, not the hard work. The difference between good and great results is often found in consistently doing the boring things you know you should do exactly when you feel like doing them the least.
9. Basics of starting career – show up on time, work your ass off, do good work, dont be a pain in the ass, keep your head low, figure out the lay of the land, dont act like you own the place
10. When you sit to meditate, you will find yourself assailed by thoughts—your mind is like having some maniac following you around your house from room to room refusing to stop talking, this happens every day; it is possible to quiet the mind by focusing on the breath; real relief comes when we recognize thoughts for what they are—mere appearances in consciousness, bits of images—it doesnt give a necessary claim on your life and need not have any implications; meditation gives you a choice, do you really want to follow this next thought wherever it leads? (Sam Harris) 

11. Identity theory – we have these behaviors that we do that we assign to specific identities we have which we detach from ourselves allowing ourselves to let it continue and not take responsibility
12. Ubuntu – African Philosophy – “I am because of you.” People are not people without other people—the relational nature of life; how I’m learning about myself thru my encounter w the world. In Western life, the focus on individualism, lost focus on greater interconnectivity of life, the search for meaning reduced to constant state of comparison — how were doing comparison to others v being harmony (Boyd Varty) 
13. “In an information-drenched society that tempts us to choose unhappiness over uncertainty, its helpful to remember that one of the key gifts to travel has been uncertainty itself.” (Idea of preparation vs leaving yourself open to chance; throw the menu away then we can experience what we didnt expect to find; WALK UNTIL YOUR DAY BECOMES INTERESTING; dont need to always have a list of things to do) (Rolf Potts) 
14. Keys to life – 1) deep work, solitude; 2) simplicity; 3) time in flow state; 4) quality time with people we love (Jim Collins)
15. You go to the doctor, you get inoperable cancer 3 weeks to live, think about the person you care about the most in your life, theyre gonna be without you in 3 weeks, you now have to pick someone in your life to help that person have a soft landing and ease the burden o f losing you — take a pause — who is that person? did you pick the richest person or did you pick the best person? of course you picked the best person…dont let money be the driver in your life
16. Life is full of so much information, we must train ourselves to see what we’re looking for; this isn’t as simple as it sounds bc its not rational, we can’t think ourselves to our calling; finding what is uniquely yours requires more than rationality; you have to learn how your body speaks, how you know what you know, follow inner tracks of your feelings, instincts, sensations, the integrity and truth that are deeper than ideas about what you should do; learn to follow a deeper, wiser, wilder place inside yourself; the ability to read the field of life with discernment (Lion Tracker’s Guide to Life) 
17. Bring our awareness back to the inner trail of the self and learn to see its path, yet most of us have so much of the social conditioning of modern life that the track of the wild self has been lost. We live with our attention directed outward. We focus on the social cues of our culture. We look to others to define our path, value and purpose. We lose ourselves in shoulds. Shoulds are full of traps. Traps led by society and your limited rules for yourself. No wild animal has ever participated in a should. What you know to do is deeper than that. No one can tell you what your track will be or how to know what calls and brings you to life, that’s your work to do. But ask yourself, “how do you know when you love something? how do you feel when you’re fully expressing yourself?” Learn that feeling and then start looking, not for the thing, but the feeling. Its there if you can tune yourself to it. (Lion Tracker’s Guide to Life) 
18. Our fathers often over estimate our capabilities but the scorn of this makes us feel like we should know even if we have never been taught; this leads to a terrible uncertainty and us believing we are inadequate as kids and not able to trust ourselves; our ability never seems to match our fathers expectations, this is common between a father and son, making for an innate tension; this is why in Native tribes the mentor of young men was never the father but a close male relativeThe track of the father is to find him within you. To find what he gave you and what he didnt give you. You must use both sides. The medicine of the transformation is innately built into this relationship. (Lion Tracker’s Guide to Life) 
19. The instrument of the body is wild, and natural and full of instinctual wisdom; we must think but also feel; we have become so disconnected from our bodies, obsessed with thinking, modern culture has forgotten the innate knowledge of the body, how its signals are a guide, how it knows what it needs to be healthy, how it can tell you if something is right or not for you by the way it feels. We must learn to read the subtle tracks of the body. The way it relaxes and opens when something feels right. The contraction and tightness when we are not where we are meant to be. (Lion Tracker’s Guide to Life) 
20. Its hard to know when the lesson is to persist or the lesson is to let go; we experience angst and paralysis by too many options; the only choice is the one we make and that will set something in motion; set your intention, make your choice, and let go; the lesson is more about discovery than being right; the only mistake is doing nothing (Lion Trackers Guide to Life) 
21. “The Path of Notya” – going down a path and not finding the track, is part of finding the track—no action is considered a waste—the key is to keep moving; think of all the people who say, “when I know exactly what the next thing is, I’ll make a move”; when we lose our track, we want to be certain of the right path forward before we move; we need to try things, enter a process of discovery that’s fluid, a process of elimination, inquiry, confirmation, and feedback—a ritual of focused attention

Art Cred: https://fineartamerica.com/featured/the-philosophers-master-of-the-judgment-of-solomon.html