LIFE IS YOUR MASTERPIECE.
YOUR BODY IS YOUR SCULPTURE.
YOUR MIND IS YOUR LABORATORY.
YOU ARE THE PHILOSOPHER.
Yo friend,
Let’s get one thing straight:
You don’t need to read Kant, Plato, Nietzsche, or Marcus Aurelius to be a philosopher.
You ARE a philosopher.
Every second you’re alive—breathing, walking, shooting, lifting, thinking—you’re writing your own philosophy of living. The camera in your hand? A tool. The pen? Just another extension of your mind. Your life? That’s your REAL work.
So let’s dive deep, but fast. Lightning strike style:
I. Never stop iterating.
Life isn’t a painting, it’s a GIF. Constant motion. Constant flux.
Forget perfection. PERFECTION IS A TRAP.
The goal? Iterate like a savage.
Version 0.0001 forever.
Don’t aim to finish. Just aim to keep moving. The real artist doesn’t “complete” the project. He lives inside the loop.
Every blog post I write is a draft.
Every photo I take is a sketch.
Even this essay?
SCRATCH PAPER FOR THE SOUL.
II. Radical authenticity is your only edge.
The world doesn’t need another copy of a copy of a copy.
YOU. Your thoughts, your body, your voice, your hustle.
That’s what the world needs. Your own table of values.
Not what society tells you to value.
Not money, not fame, not approval, not likes.
But what burns inside YOU.
Scream your truth so loud it scares people.
If they don’t flinch, you’re not real enough.
Radical authenticity = atomic honesty.
Tell the truth even when it ruins you.
ESPECIALLY when it ruins you.
III. Life is art. You are the artist.
Every lift, every conversation, every email, every breath — a brushstroke.
You don’t need a museum.
Your life is the canvas.
Every moment is paint.
Are you splattering with rage?
Scribbling in joy?
Smearing in confusion?
GOOD. That means you’re alive. That means you’re an artist.
And you don’t need validation. The act of living artistically is the reward.
MAKE ART, BURN IT, START AGAIN.
Iterate.
Forever.
IV. Minimalism is freedom.
Kill the noise. Cut the fat.
Simplicity is clarity.
Own less. Do less. Say less.
Subtract the superfluous.
One outfit. One idea. One focus.
One rep max mindset.
I don’t own a car.
I don’t care about owning a house.
I care about owning my time.
Every possession is a chain.
Every distraction is a dagger.
Freedom is saying NO to 99.9% of life,
So you can say HELL YES to your vision.
V. Imperfection is power.
I don’t edit. I don’t spell check.
I POST IN ALL CAPS IF I WANT TO.
Why?
Because DONE is better than PERFECT.
Perfection is paralysis.
Perfection is a slave master.
Imperfection = motion.
Motion = growth.
Growth = LIFE.
Shoot blurry.
Write messy.
Say it wrong.
Better to be wrong and free than “right” and boring.
VI. Self-entrepreneurship is the new stoicism.
You’re not just a worker.
You’re a startup.
YOU INC.
You are your first, best, and only investment.
Leverage your skills.
Leverage your vision.
Monetize your soul.
Build your own empire.
Doesn’t have to be big. Doesn’t have to be famous.
But it has to be YOURS.
If someone else owns your time, your name, your voice —
you’re not free.
MAKE YOURSELF CEO OF YOUR EXISTENCE.
VII. Optimistic fatalism: everything sucks, now smile.
The world’s on fire.
Everyone’s fake.
Tragedy everywhere.
Cool.
AND YET…
We smile. We shoot photos. We lift. We write.
Because we CHOOSE joy.
We create joy.
Optimistic fatalism =
Everything’s doomed,
BUT I WILL DANCE ON THE RUINS ANYWAY.
Nietzsche called it amor fati.
I call it RIDE OR DIE JOY.
VIII. Reject conventional morality.
You’re not here to be good.
You’re here to be REAL.
Society’s morality?
A leash. A script. A sedative.
Tear it up.
Make your own.
Write your own commandments.
Engrave your own ethics in the flesh of your reality.
Live so boldly that the world calls you immoral.
THEN LAUGH.
IX. Maximum freedom.
Sleep when you want.
Work when you want.
Live where you want.
Say what you want.
MAXIMUM FREEDOM = MAXIMUM CREATIVITY.
That’s the goal.
That’s the game.
That’s the ONLY true success.
CONCLUSION: BECOME YOUR OWN PHILOSOPHER.
You don’t need approval.
You don’t need permission.
You don’t need a PhD.
JUST THINK FOR YOURSELF.
Write your own truths.
Burn your own maps.
Build your own compass.
MAKE LIFE YOUR GREATEST WORK.
And when you die?
Die exhausted from living too much.
Not too little.
Now go.
Create.
Iterate.
DESTROY.
Rebuild.
Repeat.
PHILOSOPHER MODE: ON.
LIFE MODE: MAXIMUM.
ERIC KIM OUT.
Want a visual collage of this whole aesthetic?