Ideas to think upon.

If you are following my posts then you might know I talked about the podcast episode I was listening to and I enjoyed it but I forgot all of that? Well I have finished and here I am writing the ideas that inspired me to take a look at them in the future again. This might going to be bunch of one-liners but I know you’ll take that.

Little bit of suffering is what makes life more human.

Suffering is an essential part of human experience. It is the sense of consciousness and it is what drives human desire and sustains the being. People always try to convince you that if you are suffering there is something wrong with you and your life. But it is not the case every time. You are a human being (are you sure?) and you are bound to suffer. Only when you have experienced the lows of life will you truly admire the beauty of highs.

You can not optimize everything.

They say I do this and that, I organize my calendar, I tick off every checkbox and what not. But only upon self-questioning and I have realized that too much discipline is also not good. I mean does Julius Caesar ever wear a fitbit and constantly fear walking 10000 steps each day? Does Alexander measure his calorie intake and try to optimize it? The simple answer is NO. In Jordan Peterson’s language when there exists 100% order, no matter what you do chaos will sneak in. And I think that is acceptable. Having no calendar is fine when you could have become the slave of the calendar and wished your will and death according to it.

Go with the flow

Stoicism is not as good as it appears

Stoicism says that you should not react to anything immediately and try to remain calm. Basically have a flat emotion line. You are a human, you are bound to have emotion. What’s separating you from all other animals? Your emotion is one of them and you are trying to get rid of it. If you want a flat emotional line why don’t you go to dead people? Life teaches you at every stage. You would not remain free from emotions for long.

Why read old books?

This is an interesting take. It takes either time or human effort to filter out the best books. There are more than plenty of books being printed every year. Let’s be honest, more than half of them will be utter garbage. The remaining will need some kind of criteria to filter the best of the best. The thing wil old books is that time has done the work. Time has filtered out the best. Read it and you will have the knowledge. I think You should treat Napoleon, Plato and Socrates as your peers. Friends from the past. I don’t care what Plato of Jupiter says, all I am concerned about is what the great thinkers of earth think. Absorb the greatness of others even when you don’t have any to give

Most of my friends are dead [indicating the great authors of the past]

Lex fridman with Jordan Peterson on his podcast

Do not play fair always

When do a person or team of individuals play fair? When there is a referee / umpire to watch. Only the worst performing teams in IPL get the Fair Play Award trophy. In the game of life where is the referee? Who is there to watch and moderate? Hence you don’t need to (always) play fair. If it is working in your fever, exploit it.

Some of the one liner for you to think upon

1. Either Lean into your extreme (your niche) or experience feeling lost
2. The only raw material you require is desire
3. Women do not tend to like mansplaining