King of Kings, Confucius' Analects, The Story of Philosophy, Siddhartha, and more
King of Kings, Confucius' Analects, The Story of Philosophy, Siddhartha, and more
Premium Post #5
Hi reader,
Remember: on social media, everyone seems happier than they are, and everyone’s life looks more exciting than it is in reality.
It’s surprising how easy it is to forget this.
Every time you go online, you have to realize you are watching someone else’s highlight reel. You are often even looking at people literally pretending to be happy.
It’s no secret that social media can lead to a toxic spiral of comparison games that make you sad. Yet how often do we fail to apply this knowledge?
Montesquieu, the 18th century French man of letters, observed this long ago. “If you only wished to be happy,” he writes, “this could be easily accomplished: but we wish to be happier than other people, and this is always difficult, for we believe others to be happier than they are.”
We would be wise to follow Jordan Peterson’s rule to “compare yourself to who you were yesterday, not to who someone else is today.” Not only is this a powerful remedy for the mind, but also, considering how complex everyone’s life is, the most logical way to think.
Articles
The Techno-Optimist Manifesto by Marc Andreesen
Inequality is Not a Problem, Poverty is by Arjun Khemani
I’m So Sick of The Gender Divide by Freya India
How To Get Over the Fear of Creating Things by Nat Eliason
Podcasts
Douglas Murray - We Need to Stop Listening to These People - Modern Wisdom
Greg Lukianoff: Cancel Culture, Deplatforming, Censorship & Free Speech - Lex Fridman Podcast
You’re Only Squandering Your Future and All Your Potential - Jocko Podcast
Ozymandias
By Percy Bysshe Shelley
“I met a traveller from an antique land,
Who said—“Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. . . . Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed;
And on the pedestal, these words appear:
My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings;
Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal Wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.”
The Master
I started reading The Analects while I was on vacation in Texas with my family. Alternating between this and The Lord of The Flies in the Lone Star State was a wild experience.
There is something magical about reading old books. As Douglas Murray said “one of the greatest thrills in literature is when a voice from across the centuries comes and seems to leave a handprint.”
Confucius says that when you meet a worthy person, think about how you can become their equal; when you meet an unworthy person, turn inward and examine yourself. For “it is the peculiar quality of the fool to perceive other people’s faults while forgetting his own.”1
There is a terracotta army of golden nuggets hiding away in this masterpiece of deep antiquity.
There Is No Tomorrow Rock
My brother, cousin, and I used to spazz out while watching Rocky. How can you not get fired up from these movies?
Recently, I listened to one of the greatest podcast episodes I’ve ever uploaded into my brain — Alex Hormozi on Chris Williamson’s show. One part that has been resonating with people was when they were talking about Rocky cut scenes.
In the movie, they last for a few minutes. But in real life. they could last a lifetime. There is no guarantee that the city of Philadelphia will start sprinting alongside you, cheering you on. The real life grind is longer and less romantic, and that’s ok. C’est la vie.2
Get to work.
Wisdom Lovers
Will Durant is a hero.
A writer, historian, and true master of the English language, Durant and his wife Ariel created the eleven volume Story of Civilization series.
The scholarly couple spent their lives reading, traveling, and writing about human culture — religions, science, human nature, wars, and more.
Above all, though, Durant had a love for philosophy, which is apparent when you read this book. He covers the lives and ideas of the giants of philosophy with great elegance. His depth of knowledge and sharp thinking shines when he gives his own perspectives and insights.