there’s something interesting that happens when you void the warranty on your received indoctrination and get really into tinkering with your own mind – there comes this weird point where there’s a full-stack, full-spectrum teardown of everything from physiology to philosophy
https://mobile.twitter.com/visakanv/status/1487465133123448832
That was the catch-phrase from an old advertisement. “Be all that you can be . . . in the Army.”
You cannot stop the shitshow by trying to stop the shitshow. (American society is a shitshow right now but — spoiler alert — it has been a shitshow in one way or another for my entire life.)
You be as strong as you can possibly be. That’s how you change the shitshow. The Kingdom of God is not in the sky. It is in you.
[Y]our job is to be as you as you can be.”
Jen Sincero, You are a Badass, page 50.
I needed that insight today.
The Kingdom of God is within. Seek God there, not Out There.
Achievement is within, not Out There.
Infinity is within, not Out There.
Be as Me as possible. Don’t be as Elon Musk as possible. Or be rich, famous, admired, whatever.
Hmmm. Having the book in my lap and having tapped this out with my thumbs on my phone . . . what’s that emptiness I feel?
If you are in “save the whales” mode, stop and ask what the inner reality is that you’re trying to run away from. It’s ok, baby. Who hurt you? Let’s make it better.
Excessive concern about abstraction—externalities—tells me that something is wrong inside.
Look inside. Deal with the trauma you are avoiding. Then, if you want, go save the whales.
And by “save the whales” I am, of course, referencing any do-good feel-good amorphous bullshit. Example: “society is so racist!” Something’s going on inside you. Deal with it. Heal the inside man, not “society.” And if you’re truly concerned with racism, go be kind to one human being. Change the world retail-style, not wholesale.
And global warming. And microplastics. And communists. And suggestive lyrics in the music kids are listening to these days. And those gyrating hips on that young man, Elvis Presley. He is going to corrupt the youth. There oughta be a law. And everything else that alarms you.
It ain’t the outside stuff that you think needs fixing. Your reaction tells you that there’s something that needs attention inside you.
Greta Thunberg’s inner life just might be a shitshow. That doesn’t matter. She can live a shitshow-filled life if she wants. You do you.
It is a spiritual axiom that when we are disturbed, no matter what the cause, there is something wrong with us. Good quote, right? That sentence has stuck with me for decades.
Also reference Gurdjieff’s idea of people as machines, and how so many are broken machines. If you push the button on your coffee maker and it makes coffee, that’s one thing. But if you push the button and it starts throwing knives across the kitchen, that’s another.
The information is in your reaction, not in the thing you’re reacting to.
If you use the word “triggered” for any reason other than a joke, it’s time for introspection and inner healing.
And for that matter, remember Bob’s assertion: “There is no such thing as a joke.” Meaning that jokes are disguised spears of truth thrown straight at the heart of a hidden problem. Though he used it mostly in the tall poppy context, of seeing one person try to cut another person down by using a joke. “Just kidding, man! It’s a joke!” Yeah but it still hurts.
Put on your own oxygen mask first.
Save yourself and you’ll inadvertently save the whales. The reverse is false.
How to get your life under control incrementally:
Meaning . . . don’t add to the mess you’re dealing with. That’s first. Then, hack away at the mess in front of you.
Another VGR idea.
You can’t see past the next identity-altering thing in your future that’s keeping you in suspense. The most “what happens next” thing.
Implication: if you can identify this thing, run like hell toward it because beyond it lies clarity.
@vgr on Twitter.
“I came here for me. I didn’t come here for you.” Bob A.
A Cernovich tweet made the point that destiny is fundamentally made by character.
My further thoughts on this: Luck etc happens all around you but character determines the direction you take. Character helps you filter the luck (you see what you see based on the character you have) and adapt as necessary (you choose and act based on your character).
Don’t want to. Doing it anyway.
Strategic behavior is not hard.
In other words, just think. Take the time to think about your life. After all, your life may be important to you. 😀
Then, critically make a decision and do whatever looks right to you. The thing you do is a tactic. The thinking process and the decision you make is strategy.
What if your strategic thinking is wrong? Hey, no problem. Keep thinking. You will see, soon enough, that (2) is creating a trend line as way from (1). You make adjustments and change either (1) or (2).