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you only have to ask a stupid question
once you ask a stupid question and if
you're in a crowd and you ask a stupid
question 80% of the people in the crowd
have the same question they're just too
cowardly to ask but you ask and then
someone actually tells you you never
have to ask that question again you're
no longer
stupid what stupid thing am I doing that
I could quit
doing that I would quit doing cuz those
aren't the same thing right cuz you know
there stupid things that you're doing
that you're just not going to quit doing
cuz you like them but there might be
something on the edge there where you
could stop that if you want to know
something about yourself sit on your bed
one night and say to yourself you got to
mean this like you got to be desperate
this is no game this my life is not
everything I want it to be and perhaps
it's not everything that I need it to be
and by need I mean my life is so
unbearable that the suffering that's
attended upon that is make me nihilistic
cynical bitter resentful driving the BR
City to see evil everywhere except
within my own Heart Like These are
problems man and you ask yourself you
sit on the bed and say okay man I'm
ready to learn
something what's one thing I'm doing
wrong that I know I'm doing wrong that I
could fix that I would fix it's like you
meditate on that you'll get an answer
and it won't be one you want but it'll
be the necessary one
you know and it it's often something
that will point you to small things like
that works you start making those micro
improvements like real micro
improvements real on the ground actual
micro improvements to things you know
that are wrong you'll improve
unbelievably
rapidly the the great people I know are
brutally truthful to themselves and
other people and they have insanely
adventurous lives get rid of everything
you say that you only say to impress
other people and just see if you can say
what you believe to be true that's an
adventure that's the thing about the
truth you know well you got to ask
yourself if you're not speaking the
truth who is it that's talking if you're
saying something that you do not believe
to be true it's not you talking it's
something else it might be the part of
you that wants to manipulate the other
person into delivering what you think
you want from them well what is that
Spirit of manipulation that you've
allowed to possess you it's not you
let's say you decide to live your whole
life in that instrumental manner you're
going to craft your words like the
student who says well I'm going to write
what the professor wants to hear so I
get the grade it's like well you just
turn yourself into that well who is it
that's doing that manipulating it's not
you cuz those aren't your words so even
if you get the grade it's not you that
got the great it's the false you it's
the manipulative you so you do that your
whole life you don't have your life and
then you think well God that was a
miserable life I manipulated everybody
they were so damn stupid they were
sucked in by it they're all contemptible
everyone does it you know which they
don't by the way and so that's a pathway
to bitterness partly because if you're a
manipulator and you use your language
falsely you don't live your own life you
live the life of whatever possesses you
when you think it's you manipulating and
so you live the life of the spirit of
manipulation there there's a book it's
there's a book called about face it's
it's about a guy that was in the Korean
War and then new was in the Vietnam War
and his name is Colonel David
hackworth when I was on deployment I
would read open up that book anywhere
and I would read two pages or three
pages before I'd go to bed if I was in
my bed that night and and there was so
many lessons that correlated to what I
was actually going through and a real
obvious example was when you read you
can learn and you don't have to you
don't have to go through the School of
Hard Knocks you don't have to get
punched in the face repeatedly with
things that turn out to be situations
that other people have absolutely gone
through the the the the the level of
capability increases so much by seeing
something one single time well if I see
something one time I I'm I'm infinitely
better than if I'd never seen it before
it's like those you those little puzzles
they give you a little puzzle some kind
of a mind Bender right the mindbenders
only work on you one time the riddle
only works on you one time then you go I
I know the answer to that
that's the answer you you never get
fooled by that again so just knowing
just seeing it one time you're
infinitely better so when you read
enough you're capturing all these
lessons of course you want to put the
book on you want to become that person
that can rattle you up man especially if
the person is thinking all sorts of
things that you've never thought I mean
I love reading for that reason I could
pick my peers too which I really loved
it's like well you know I have have
these people around me but then there's
these people who who've lived before me
and in different places and I can set
them up on my shelf I can enter into
their world and I can benefit from
everything they've thought and saturate
myself with that person it's and it's
very disruptive especially if the person
that you're reading has a mind that's
more powerful and more well-developed
than your own it was very disruptive but
unbelievably useful unbelievably useful
to try on other people like that and you
get the benefit of their entire life
distilled into their into their book you
know it it it's 30 years of work I I
read this one book called The neuros
pychology of anxiety which is a it's a
great scientific work it's very hard
book I think it has 1800 references
something like that and this guy Jeffrey
gray he actually read all those
references and he understood them and so
it took me six months to read the book
but I got an entire education out of it
I got to experienceing 6 months what it
took him 30 years to learn like what a
gift that is it's it's it's
unbelievable what were you reading when
you were in University was it was it
fiction novels was it non-fiction what
what were you what were you focusing on
as trit as this may sound it was
actually the the most impact was from
Shakespeare the most impact on on
multiple levels and I'll tell you the
primary level and when I've covered
Shakespeare on my podcast I explain this
to people people think well you know I
didn't really understand I read it I
understand it if you think you're going
to just pick up Shakespeare open it up
and read it and understand it you're not
going to because it's barely written in
English it's barely written in English
it's almost another language so what you
have to do is you have to start to
interpret it and so what I realized with
with Shakespeare is number one the
weight of the words that these words
were so pregnant with meaning that you
had to pull those words and parse those
words and pull those words apart to see
all the depth that each individual word
had and then the way that they're put
together and what was great about this
was by the time I was back cuz then I
went right back into the SEAL Teams and
somebody would hand me a Rules of
Engagement document that was written by
some lawyer in Washington DC and I'd
pull it out and say wait a second this
word I don't know what this word means
let's pull this word out let's see what
this let's see what this actual
definition of this particular word is
and how that changes my viewpoint of the
Rules of Engagement and how can I
translate that for my troops so that
they actually know what to do so that
part uh for me was from a reading
perspective starting to read Shakespeare
and and saying oh okay you're not going
to understand this and if you don't
understand something that's okay you
pull out the Oxford English Dictionary
and you look it up and then you not just
find out what the meaning of the word is
but what's the root word and where does
it come from and what kind of depth and
what kind of yeah and that's really
that's that's unbelievable useful too
virtually every word is like that
because a word is an ancient artifact
it's like it's it's it's like an it's
like an animal in some sense it has an
evolutionary history and it transforms
across time and each word kind of it
carries The Echoes of its past with it
too because each word um attracts other
words in a particular unique way so it
kind of lives in a word ecosystem as
well and the ecosystem contain
information about the history of that
word and you think well why is that
important it's like well hey guess what
you think in words you talk in words you
have all these archaic entities these
words these living entities that you use
it's like the more you know about them
the more you know about you the more you
know about other people and the better
you are at formulating and communicating
your ideas there's nothing there's
nothing lost in that kind of
Investigation nothing there's nothing
but gain there your ambition if you have
any sense is actually to become
competent do you want want to be
competent and dangerous or do you want
to be vague and useless it is definitely
the case that there is no more
exceptional form of the capacity to be
dangerous than to be articulate and so
it's a moral Endeavor in some real sense
right to become articulate is to become
the master of your own tongue every
Advantage comes with a disadvantage so
if you're extroverted you're social and
you're positive but you're impulsive and
you can tilt towards Hedonism and you
can't stand being alone no matter where
you land in the temperamental landscape
you're going to have your Associated
faults and temptations you got a goal
and you'll see that as you progress
towards the goal there'll be obstacles
that emerge and some of them you don't
want to confront it's why it's useful to
order your room chaotic room makes you
anxious why too many Pathways man people
don't really repress the things they
don't want to face they just fail to
unpack them you want a horizon of ever
expanding possibility we're built to
walk uphill and when you reach the
Pinnacle of the Hill you want to stop
and appreciate appreciate the vision but
the next thing you want is a higher Hill
in the distance beware of unintended
consequences it's like oh no this thing
will just do what I want it to do and
nothing else it's like no turns out that
not only is what we want from each other
the real thing but that's also the
adventure of your life and so if you
aren't truthful and that means
unfortunately especially at the
beginning when you start to be truthful
it means deeply coming to terms with
your inadequacies in humility so it's
very painful with without that you don't
have the adventure of your life you have
the role that you've acquiesced to and
that'll take all the meaning out of your
life it's good for you to go take your
place in the world have some ambition
have a vision have a goal have a
strategy try to be a good person not
because it's your duty precisely because
that's the proper way to live you sit on
the bed and say okay man I'm ready to
learn something what's one thing I'm
doing wrong that I know I'm doing wrong
that I could fix you meditate on that
you'll get an answer you grow in
proportion to the weight you take on
voluntarily and it's also true that we
have no idea what the upper limit to
that
is it's from the uphill climb that we
derive our value and I mean this
technically so almost all the positive
emotion we feel especially the emotion
that fills us with enthusiasm and that's
experienced in relationship to a goal
and so in some sense you want a goal
that you can never attain so you can
always move closer to the goal that
recedes as you move towards it you think
well that's frustrating it's like sfus
pushing the rock uphill but it's not
because as you pursue that goal you put
yourself together and your life does get
better and richer and more abundant
that's why the highest levels of virtue
and goal are in some sense Transcendent
you want them to be above everything
you're doing so you can continually move
towards something that's more Sublime
and better that's what you are you're
you're here to live not to not to sleep
and the problem with the vision of my
Ties on the beach is that well first of
all that's a vision of of drug induced
unconsciousness second it's only going
to work for about a week third you're
going to be a laughing stalk in a month
and depressed and aimless and and
goalless it's no that's not it's it's
you want a horizon of ever expanding
possibility and so it does happen to
people is they because they've Stak
their soul on the attainment of an
instrumental goal and it it can be a
pretty high order goal but then you
think now I'm there now what well the
answer can't be well I'm going to live
in the lp of luxury and never have to
leave a f what do you want to be a giant
infant with a gold with a gold bottle
you never have to do anything but lay in
your back and suck it's like you see the
problem with that as a conceptualization
it's no you want to be like an active
Warrior moving uphill with your sword in
hand and that's that's Dynamic that's
exciting people are afraid of the truth
because often if you reveal it it causes
conflict in the moment telling the truth
is definitely an adventure seeking for
sure but also telling another way of
going about it is to just say what you
think and see what happens that's an
adventure CU you don't know what the
outcome is going to be so look there's
this old idea that it's necessary to
have faith in the truth and so here's
here's a way of thinking about that
someone asks you a question and you
might think well here's the outcome I
want and so here's how I'm going to
answer that question so that's one way
of approaching it but another way of
approach approaching it is you ask me a
question I'm going to think about the
answer and I'm just going to tell you
what I think and it doesn't matter what
the outcome is because I'm willing to
see what the outcome will be predicated
on the idea that there isn't a better
outcome than the one that truth produces
even if it's harsh and terrible in the
in the short term and sometimes it is
it's like there isn't a better way of
doing it now you might say well how do
you know that and the answer is well I
don't know that that's why it's an
Article of Faith cuz I believe and and I
believe this deep the being that you
produce as a consequence of telling the
truth is good by definition even though
it's harsh and and often uncomfortable
because you get in trouble one of the
things that I've really learned recently
or learned to articulate better is that
there's a very tight relationship
between aspiration and responsibility
the first question might be do you need
to Aspire to something and answer is
well yes because you have to do
something you can't if you just sit
there you'll die you can't just sit
there you have to go act out in
okay so act towards what well that's
whatever your aspiration is you have to
have an aim okay well what should the
aim be well it should be something worth
doing let's say why do something that
you don't feel is worth doing what do
you think's worth doing well if you
watch other people and you judge when
they're doing something worthwhile you
usually judge them positively if you see
that they're taking responsibility at
least for themselves but you want to be
completely useless so other people have
to take care of you that's pretty
pathetic and maybe you could get your
act together so you're taking care of
yourself and your family and maybe you
could even do better than that and take
care of yourself and your family and
your community well good for you that's
that's responsibility and that's an aim
well here's one of the things that's
cool about that is that your life
doesn't have meaning without aspiration
or an aim okay so you need a hierarchy
of values there's got to be something at
the top it's got to be something
important if you don't have that your
life doesn't have any meaning so if you
criticize the hierarchy or even the
ideas of idea of hierarchy you destroy
the idea of aspiration
and then people have nothing well that's
not helpful people are built for a
struggle and they're built for a weight
and you want to take on a heavy burden
voluntarily see if you can put yourself
together see what you can do out in the
world while you're waiting to die it's
an all-in game it better be
worthwhile if you gaze into the abyss
long enough you see the light not the
darkness I'm betting my life on it bring
it on the adventure along the Route man
and I would say where's that adventure
to be
found you don't want someone else's fate
man your Fate's enough and your
adventure is enough it's plenty it's
more than you can ever fully realize and
so that's also part of the reason that
we all believe that the individual has
some intrinsic dignity it's don't be so
sure that your position in your room is
so damn trivial might be your attitude
towards it that's trivial and if you're
in Dire Straits and dire circumstances
just look at how much opportunity you
have to make things better well maybe
the same thing's true of life right you
bind yourself to it and the tighter you
bind yourself to it the more you find
out what it is and that's like a radical
Embrace we're built to walk uphill and
when you reach the Pinnicle of the Hill
you want to stop and appreciate the
vision but the next thing you want is a
higher Hill in the distance because it's
from the uphill climb that we derive our
value almost all the positive emotion we
feel especially the emotion that FS us
with enthusiasm that's experienced in
relationship to a goal and so in some
sense you want a goal that you can never
attain there's nothing that makes you
more formidable than verbal competence
than being able to articulate be able to
think to Marshal your arguments right
aim yourself in One Direction and you
might say well I've gone halfway down
this path and I found out it's wrong
well how do you distinguish that from
just giving up well that's a really hard
question right it's it's a moral hazard
but then the Absol is yeah but you have
to play one of them you have to learn to
play one of them you have to become an
expert at at least one of them and then
that's not a relative proposition and I
I believe that's true so you want to
commit to something and then when you
commit to something you require yourself
to bring all of your desperate
components moving in a single Direction
United in a single Direction so it's a
unifying it's a unifying
act you said that a harmless man is not
a good man A Good Man is a very
dangerous man who has that under
voluntary control how should people
become more
dangerous oh becoming more articulate is
definitely I would
say that's the
primary array of
weapons I mean physical prowess is
something and and it's not nothing that
physical confidence that comes along
with that as well
but the same thing replicated at the
level of the ability to communicate and
to think
that's way broader field of of battle
and
opportunity in a world with seemingly
infinite options it can be challenging
to decide on the best course of action
for one's life Peterson suggests that a
useful approach is to focus on what
bothers you or what you find most
challenging these discomforts or
challenges can be an indication of where
one should focus their time and energy
by leaning into what is difficult ult or
uncomfortable individuals can discover
their strengths and find direction in
their
lives be honest with yourself about your
interests abilities and limitations and
pursue the path that aligns most closely
with your values and passions there's a
lot of things you could be bothered by
like a million things man but some
things grip you they bug you and they
might make you resentful and bitter cuz
they bug you so much like they're your
things man they've got you so then I
look for a question that I would like
the answer to I would really like the
answer to it so I don't assume I already
have the answer cuz I would actually
really like to have the answer so if I
could get a better
answer great and so that's the first
thing and that's like a prayer it's like
okay here's a mystery I would like to
delve into it further well so that's
humility it's like here's a mystery
which means I don't know I would like to
delve into it further which means I
don't know enough
already and then then comes the
Revelation it's like well what's a
revelation well if you ask yourself a
question it's a real question do you get
an answer or not the answer is well yeah
thoughts start to appear in your head so
from somewhere that's right from
somewhere where do they come from do you
have a sense depends on what you're
aiming at it depends it depends on your
intent so imagine that your intent is to
make things
better then maybe they come from the
place that's designed to make things
better maybe your intent is to make
things worse then they come from
[Music]
Hell let's say you want to become who
you could be in the fullest sense so
let's say you're someone who's going to
solve some serious problems okay the
first thing you have to do is admit to
the seriousness of the problems that's
no no
joke and so the first thing is just the
terror of the problem itself and that's
enough to paralyze you right and that's
the Hydra that's the Gorgon with the
head of snakes it'll paralyze you and
and turn you to Stone that's the
Basilisk in the Harry Potter series you
look at it and turns you to Stone and
lurks underneath everything right and
it's malevolence and tragedy and and so
and so there's that and then the next is
well you're going to take responsibility
for that you're really going to do that
are you that's a hell of a load man and
so it's daunting to even consider that
and then there's the discipline and
responsibility that that necessitates
which is also daunting it's like oh my
God the problem's that serious I'm
really going to have to get my act
together in order to not contribute to
it much less solve it and so the problem
is terrible and then the the solution is
daunting
but but the upside of that is is
like well there isn't anything better to
have than a problem that's worth solving
like that's really worth
solving right and so the more of that
you take on the more you have a reason
to get out of bed in the morning no
matter what think I'm getting up I'm
trudging forward doesn't matter what I'm
suffering from I've got things that need
to be done they're necessary and that
gives you that sense of purpose that is
the antidote to
bitterness okay well let's say you want
your life to be meaningful it's like
okay then what you do matters it
actually
matters
so that's an interesting thing well so
let's say you go over your past with a
fine tooth comb and you decide you're
going to take responsibility for
everything that you did that was wrong
and everything that you failed to do
that you could have done that was right
it's like does that change the world
it's like depends on how thoroughly you
do it you might say it changes the world
like nothing else possibly can and I
think that that's actually right you
have to allow yourself a certain
latitude for error that's a useful thing
to know too one of the things I tell
people when they're trying to develop a
vision for their life or an
implementable plan is um make a bad plan
make the best one you can but don't get
obsessive about it it's like make a plan
implement it you'll figure out when you
implement it why it's stupid exactly and
then you can fix it a little
bit compare yourself to who you were
yesterday and not to who someone else is
today the same basic idea right is that
you have to get your markers for Success
right because otherwise you can end up
in the situation you described which is
that like there's always people out
there who are doing far better than you
on pretty much anything you want to
imagine and if all you're doing is
seeing yourself in their reflected light
let's say then it's going to be pretty
damn dismal but it's not a good
comparison because you shouldn't just
compare well first of all there's danger
in just comparing yourself to others
period because they're not you and God
only knows what struggles they had to
undertake to get to where they were or
what burdens they're currently carrying
that you're not aware of you just don't
know any of that but you can certainly
contrast yourself with yourself and
that's a lot better it is the only way
well it's also the only way of really of
really measuring anything approximating
proper Improvement you can actually tell
when you're a little better than you
were yesterday right so and and you can
actually do that that's another thing
that's so interesting about it is that
you can actually make yourself a little
better in some way pretty
much well I don't know if it's at every
moment but you can certainly do it every
day it's funny I mean you know obviously
if you have a problem and you think
about it but you can think of a solution
and it's not obvious how you do that you
know I mean it's not like you know how
you're manipulating your neurons or
something it it it it happens of its own
accord in some sense like you can
participate with in it I guess and you
can interfere with it and it seems to
take a certain amount of willpower but
it still all happens mysteriously behind
the
scenes one of the things that I've been
so so you know there's lots of different
ways to interpret the world and you can
maybe even make a case that there's an
endless number of ways to interpret the
world and the problem with that is that
it kind of disorients you in terms of
what you should be doing but just
because there's a very large number of
ways to interpret the world doesn't mean
there's a very large number of
productive meaningful and sustainable
ways to interpret the world and one of
the things you do have to do is figure
out how you conduct yourself today so
that you don't upset the apple card in a
week or a month or a
year and so you know what what you do in
some sense psychologically is you admit
to yourself that your current frame of
reference is faulty and then you start
opening the door to a different kind of
thinking which is more creative thinking
it's more lateral thinking saying well
I'm wrong but that's not necessarily a
problem because I could be right if I
thought some other way well you know
that's great often it works yeah there's
there's almost No Lack there's almost no
end to the utility of trying to figure
out which ways that you're wrong cuz
there's lots of them and every time you
discover one then you don't have to be
quite so wrong anymore that's a really
good deal
yeah what's your time worth you're a
university student well it's certainly
worth minimum wage cuz obviously but
it's worth way more than that because if
you spend a productive hour when you're
20 then you gain the benefits of that
hour for the rest of your life so
there's the compounding effect of time
spent when you're young so I say well
let's assume your time's worth 50 bucks
an hour which I think is an
underestimate but whatever let's call it
50 we can call it 25 we'll call it 50
that's $2,000 a week you're wasting it's
$100,000 a year it's like how much
better would your life be if you weren't
wasting $100,000 a year the DiVinci Code
everyone liked that it sold a
lot and you know it was full of little
Mysteries and was full of hints that
there was more to the world than you
think and which is definitely true and
that you know there was a way of getting
access to that knowledge and that it
would really be worthwhile and people
like that they like that idea and the
reason for that is cuz it's actually
it's
true learn to
write I'm I'm dead serious like I'm dead
serious about that um because writing is
formalized thinking and so the way you
write
is first of all you need a
problem cuz why write if you don't have
a problem so this is good advice if
you're just writing an essay by the way
for your classes it's like pick a bloody
problem that you want to write about cuz
otherwise it's false right from the
start it's up to you to engage with the
material until you find something that
grips you that you desire to investigate
okay so you need a
problem well the next thing you need to
do is well you need to have something to
say about the problem well so reading
reading is really good for that read as
much as you can get your your hands on
that addresses the problem okay so now
now you now you know a bunch of things
or at least provisionally know them you
at least have access to them well now
you start you start sorting through it
it's like okay well maybe I need to
summarize what I've learned and then I
need to iron out the contradictions
between what I've learned and I need to
elegantly formulate that and and I need
to get my word choice right and my
phrase choice right and my sentence
choice right and I need to organize the
sentences into proper paragraphs and the
paragraphs into proper sequence so that
I have a coherent argument and at the
same time what you're doing is is your
your your you're um you're integrating
your own personality at the highest and
most abstract level of organization and
you're sharpening your tools and you're
putting yourself straight because you're
learning to think you learn to do that
by writing many many years you hone your
words they're they're the most powerful
thing about you bar are none if you're
an effective writer and speaker and
Communicator you you have all the
authority and confidence that there is
and so you're at University maybe you're
taking Humanities degree well that
what's the humanities degree for it's to
teach you how to think you learn to
think by writing now there's more to
read to speak and all of that but the
best thing you can do is read and write
every day couple of hours every day
write about things you find important
and see if you can see if you can
discover what you believe to be true and
that'll build you a foundation and it's
unbelievably practical like if you look
at people who are phenomenally
successful across life there's various
reasons but one of them is is that
they're unbelievably good at
articulating what they what they're
aiming at and strategizing and
negotiating and and and and enticing
people with a vision forward it's like
get your words together man that's that
makes you Unstoppable and that that's
really that's the core of the humanity
that idea get your words together make
yourself an articulate creature and then
you're you're deadly in the best
possible way so and take that seriously
the best thing you can do is teach
people to write cuz there's no
difference between that and thinking and
one of the things that just blows me
away about universities is that no one
ever tells students why they should
write something it's like well you have
to do this assignment well why are you
writing well you need the grade it's
like no you need to learn to
think because thinking makes you act
effectively in the world thinking makes
you win the battles you Undertake and
those could be battles for good things
if you can think and speak and write you
are absolutely deadly nothing can get in
your way so that's why you learn to
write it's
like and I can't believe that people
aren't just told that it's it's it's
like it's the most powerful weapon you
can possibly provide someone with and I
I mean I know lots of people who've been
staggeringly successful and watched them
throughout my life I mean those people
you don't want to have an argument with
them they'll just slash you into pieces
and not in a malevolent way it's like if
you're going to make your point and
they're going to make their point you
better have your points organized
because otherwise you are going to look
like and be an absolute idiot you are
not going to get
anywhere the truth of the matter is is
that you have a lot of potential as a
child but none of that is capable of
manifesting itself as Freedom before you
become
disciplined and discipline is a matter
of the imposition of order and the order
is necessary especially for people who
are hopeless and
nihilistic and what does it mean well it
doesn't mean gez I hate getting up at 8:
in the morning to get ready for work
that's just means that you're not very
disciplined you know or or maybe that it
might might mean something deeper but
I'd start with lack of discipline before
you know rearranging your whole life
because you might say well I hate
getting up at 8:00 in the morning no
matter what I'm doing and then it's not
your job I don't mean don't do difficult
things I
mean watch yourself and if you see that
you're doing things that make you hate
yourself then
consider the cost of
continuing you know if something's
valuable you'll make sacrifices to
attain it that that discovery of
sacrifice I think that's what separates
human it's one of the primary factors
separating human beings from
animals because we discovered that we
could let go of something we value in
the present and we would gain something
we value even more in the future lay a
disciplinary structure on yourself get
the chaos in in in check and then you
can move towards a state that's Freer
cuz it's discipline first like look if
you're going to become a concert pianist
there's going to be several thousand
hours of extraordinarily disciplined
practice that's the imposition of order
on your potential let's say but what
comes out of that is a much grander
freedom and so virtually every freedom
that you have in life that's true
freedom is purchased at the price of
discipline but it's not some casual
self-help Doctrine it's that if you
don't organize yourself properly you'll
pay for it and in a big way and so will
the people around
you and I would say start where you can
start you know if if something announces
itself to you as in need of repair that
you could repair then hey fix it you fix
a hundred things like that your life
will be a lot different now I often tell
people too fix the things you repeat
every day cuz people tend to think of
those as trivial you get up you brush
your teeth you you have your breakfast
you know you have your routines that you
go through every day well those probably
constitute 50% of your life and people
think well they're mundane and I don't
need to pay attention to them it's like
no no that's exactly wrong the things
you do every day those are the most
important things you do hands
down well there isn't anything better to
have than a problem that's worth solving
like that's really worth
solving right and so the more of that
you take on the more you have a reason
to get out of bed in the morning no
matter what think I'm getting up I'm
trudging forward doesn't matter what I'm
suffering from I've got things that need
to be done they're necessary and that
gives you that sense of purpose that is
the antidote to bitterness
so yeah there's lots of reasons to you
know cuz I thought for a long time
imagine that imagine you have choice in
front of you cuz you do so here's the
choice your life life is either
meaningful or meaningless okay so let's
go through the meaningless part first
because you think well of course I don't
want it to be meaningless it's like yeah
just hold on a second nothing you do
matters and so impulsive pleasure is the
order of the day no responsibility
that's you can do whatever you want it's
like Pleasure Island in pinio right or
it's it's like Neverland in in in in
Peter Pan you're still a kid you can
play all the time impulsive pleasure and
and no
responsibility that's the reward for
meaninglessness well but then the other
side is okay well let's say you want
your life to be meaningful it's like
okay then what you do matters it
actually matters right make a mistake
hurts you hurts your family hurts the
world in a deeper way than you think and
you have to be awake to that and then
you have to take it on yourself so if
you're at a particular stage right now
and that stage would involve a
particular world view and the behaviors
that go along with that so the
perceptions and behaviors but it's not
enough because you haven't mastered the
whole world and you're making mistakes
all the time and then there's other
neurological mechanisms that so maybe
that's a more left hemisphere phenomena
the instantiation of that identity um
then there's right hemisphere mechanisms
that are tracking your errors and sort
of and keeping track of them and the
errors are in indication that your
theory is incomplete so it ACC the
errors accumulate and the information
around the errors accumulate and another
identity starts to become formulated and
it it solves all the problems you're
previous identity did but also some
additional ones when you have an AA
moment like that it's the manifestation
of that next identity that's that's
making itself known it's you know
because it's being built from the bottom
up it isn't explicit yet then you'll
encounter an explicit statement you you
you mentioned a couple there and they
map on to that and that's the Ahab it's
like oh yes oh yes that's what ties
together these things that I've been
wrestling with in the back of my mind
right someone made it
explicit and that's what well that's one
of the great things about language that
can also help fill in the gaps too
because you then you know you you can
start to make arguments based on that
observation that I have that's that's
that that's the
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manifestation what is the consequence
the long-term consequence of acting so
many people especially because of the
world I live in in Instagram and social
media we we kind of build out these
personas and then we most follow the
implicit instructions that come with
those personas well that's the problem
right there is that I think Pinocchio is
brilliant work of art if you're a puppet
and an actor and Pinocchio is both at
times in that movie both a puppet and an
actor so why an actor like why is there
why is there something wrong with being
an actor well the first question is well
who sets your
role and then the second question is
who's pulling your strings so you've put
on this front that is there to make you
popular and sexy and desirable and to
mask from yourself your own inadequacies
but that's a role well who wrote it and
for what
purpose and you know maybe you're acting
out a tragedy may maybe you're acting
out narcissist you don't know because
you've put that you've put that on
yourself in an attempt in some ways to
deliver to people what they want or more
accurately to look as though you're
delivering to people what they want and
it's not nothing to do that right
because at least you're attempting in
some sense to adapt to the social World
someone who's really infantile and
dependent someone who's never left home
part of their problem is that they
haven't crafted a
Persona so you don't want to denigrate
it entirely but it's no substitute for
the real thing and it turns out that not
only is what we want from each other the
real thing but that's also the adventure
of your life and so if you aren't
truthful and that means unfortunately
especially at the beginning when you
start to be truthful it means deeply
coming to terms with your inadequacies
in humility so it's very painful without
that you don't have the adventure of
your life you have the role that has
been that
you've acquiesced to and that'll take
all the meaning out of your life right
imagine that the world was constituted
so that the true adventure of your life
emerged as a consequence of Truth in
speed in action cuz that would be
reflective of the real you so it would
be you living and then imagine that the
adventure that would occur if you
dwelled in the truth would be so
overwhelming that it would justify all
the suffering I've really contended with
this idea of struggle and Chaos in my
life and the role it plays and once upon
a time I thought I was trying to rid my
life of chaos and struggle I thought
that's why I was trying to get rich and
get the Ferrari and the blonde I thought
that would create a life um free of Free
of struggle but then I looked at some
studies and I S heard about this thing
called gold medal depression when
Olympians come back from the Olympics
and they've lost orientation and I and I
tried to understand the role that
struggle would would would have to play
for me to be a fulfilled human being for
the rest of my life we're built to walk
up hill and when you reach the Pinnacle
of the Hill you want to stop and
appreciate the vision but the next thing
you want is a higher Hill in the
distance because it's the uphill climb
that it's it's from the up up hill climb
that we derive our value and I mean this
technically so almost all the positive
emotion we feel especially the emotion
that fills us with enthusiasm that's
experienced in relationship to a goal
and so in some sense you want a goal
that you can never
attain right so you can always move
closer to the goal that recedes as you
move towards it you think well that's
frustrating it's like szipus pushing the
rock uphill but it's not because as you
pursue that goal you put yourself
together and your life does get better
and richer and more abundant that's why
the highest levels of virtue and goal
are in some sense Transcendent you want
them to be above everything you're doing
so you can continually move towards
something that's more Sublime and better
that's what you are you're you're here
to live not to not to
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sleep
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