A thought: don’t admire things or possessions (like fancy cars, homes, watches, clothes, shoes, stuff, objects, etc). Instead: marvel at your own body; the ultimate sculpture you can sculpt yourself, without the need to be rich, or have access to expensive tools or resources!

It’s a bit funny and strange, we’re told that it is not considered good taste to flex or show off, yet; we do this all the time with stuff we own. For example, it’s considered rude to walk around with your shirt off (especially if you’re muscular), yet it’s okay to drive around in a BMW, Mercedes-Benz, or any other expensive sports car.

My theory is this: American culture is this strange mashup between consumerist culture and puritan culture.

The original settlers followed a strict, conservative, protestant, puritan ethic. They worked hard, to show their worth, to hopefully go into heaven (protestant concept of predestination).

Somewhere along the way, consumerism and capitalism came around. Now, to be a good Christian, you can follow strict moral guidelines, yet still show off your fancy home and car and wealth, because “God favors the rich and wealthy”.

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I had an epiphany recently that almost everything in the physical world is sculpture. We desire to own a lot of these “beautiful” objects, like beautiful clothes, accessories, watches, cars, gadgets, etc. Yet, I think a much more practical strategy is this:

Consider your own body (and mind) as a beautiful piece of ancient Roman/Greek marble. You have it in your own power to sculpt your body and mind however you desire!

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Reasons why this is a good thing and way of living

This is a great finding for myself, because it means the following:

1. I don’t need to buy expensive stuff to boost my self esteem. I don’t need to buy a fancy sports car to boost my self esteem, nor do I need lots of social media followers to feel more self confident and important. I can just work on sculpting my own body and mind, and admiring my own mind and body.
2. Anyone can sculpt their own body and mind: It don’t matter how rich or poor you are; anybody can put on muscle mass, subtract body fat, and of course sculpt their own mind. For muscle, just do chinups and push-ups at the park and eat lots of eggs, fatty meats (chicken legs, thighs, pork belly, ground beef). No need for expensive protein powder or supplements. As for cutting body fat, just follow a strict ketogenic diet (no sugar, carbohydrates, dairy, starch). And for building your mind, read empowering philosophy and literature as free PDF or epub from Gutenberg.org
3. Once you have a beautifully sculpted body, you can gain immense pleasure by flexing in front of the mirror, for yourself! No need to go to a museum and admire ancient Roman statues from the past. I’d rather be impressed with my own body than be impressed with owning a Lamborghini.

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To put on muscle mass and cut body fat mass, read my article on Ketogenic Diet + Intermittent fasting.

For your mind, read philosophy.

FLEX!
ERIC