Jacked Nerd Philosophy, Spanish Conquistadores, Bhagavad Gita
Three Point Thursday
Happy Three Point Thursday!
This week’s edition features a summary of the Jacked Nerd ethos, some thoughts about early Spanish explorers, and a timeless line from a classic work of Indian philosophy.
Be a bookworm and a gym rat.
On Substack Notes, people seem to resonate with posts on the Jacked Nerd theme, like the ones below, so I thought I’d share some of them here:
Be a thinker and an athlete. Play sports and read novels. Do rows and ponder philosophy. Read history and do push-ups. Contemplate essays and go on walks. Run and study scientific works. Write down your ideas and do squats.
Build both mind and muscle. Embrace books and barbells. Study philosophy and do pull-ups. Read scientific works and do squats. Contemplate history and do push-ups. Journal and stretch. Write and run. Be a healthy intellectual.
Read ancient religious texts and do pull-ups. Contemplate thoughtful essays and go on long walks. Enjoy poetry and do push-ups. Study history and go on long runs. Write on the internet and do dumbbell lunges. Be a jacked nerd.
The stories of Spanish conquistadores are insane.
There are many reasons why I wanted to learn Spanish. One of them is a fact that has always screamed out to me: More or less half of the Western Hemisphere speaks it. Growing up, we learned a more British-centered history, and understandably so. After all, we are all English speakers, and lived in New England. But I always wondered, wait, what about all these places to the south, where everyone speaks that other language, from that other big European empire? This question has led to me reading a decent amount about the ways of the Spanish conquistadores. The good, the bad, and the ugly. It’s super fascinating. Especially the dramatic stories of Hernán Cortés taking over Tenochtitlan from the Aztecs, and Francisco Pizarro defeating the Incan empire. It is also wild to think about what we still may not know about the history of civilization in Central and South America, considering that such enormous empires already existed when the Spanish first started arriving in the 16th century.
The wisdom of the Bhagavad Gita.
“You have the right to work, but never to the fruit of work. You should never engage in action for the sake of reward, nor should you long for inaction. Perform work in this world, Arjuna, as a man established within himself – without selfish attachments, and alike in success and defeat. For yoga is perfect evenness of mind.
Seek refuge in the attitude of detachment and you will amass the wealth of spiritual awareness. Those who are motivated only by desire for the fruits of action are miserable, for they are constantly anxious about the results of what they do.”
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"Be a thinker and an athlete." Six words to build a good life on. Thinking without movement is fantasy. Movement without thinking is folly.
THANK YOU JEFF.ORALE! JAIMITO