ERIC KIM

Follow Yourself!

Let us make this our own personal imperative in life:

To obey ourselves, our own inclinations, to follow our own instincts, and when our gut says something is bad for us — to listen to our gut!

To become more self-focused. To obey our own selfish needs and desires (not to see “selfishness” as a vice, but our ultimate creative virtue!)

Lead or follow?

“There’s leaders and there’s followers. But I’d rather be a dick than a follower.” – Kanye West

Were you a good student in school, or a “bad” and disobedient student?

It seems that the primary task of schooling, education, and religious classrooms is to:

  1. Teach us to obey
  2. Teach us to extinguish our inner child — in order to become “adults” who learn to cower and obey authority, against our own desires and wishes.
  3. To teach us to become fearful of our teachers and authority. To distrust our own instincts and inner-guide. To learn that our own inner impulses are evil, illegitimate, and “bad”.
  4. To teach us to become “focused” and productive cogs in the machine of society.

In essence — schools, religions, and traditional education teaches us to become more generic, more obedient, more able to withstand boredom for “virtuous” ends, and for us to prefer the collective over our individual selves.

What is the problem here?

Do we want a future society of only followers who listen to algorithms which are programmed by nerds who only trust “metrics” (online clicking decisions by the uneducated masses)? Or do we want a noble, bold, and audacious future of epic individuals?

Of course there will always be a need for both leaders AND followers. But if you’re reading this and you’re one of the rare, brave, and few — better for you to strive to become a leader (instead of follower). It takes no remarkable skill to obey orders and to follow trends and what is popular and acceptable. It is far more difficult, challenging, and even dangerous to embark on your own path — and to live contrary to the desires and beliefs of society. To act differently, to think differently, and to act/create differently.

“You was who you was before you came here.” – JAY Z

Don’t try to become anyone else besides yourself.

It seems the best role model you should have is yourself at age 5, 6, 7, 8 or even 12, 13, 14, 15 — before you were corrupted by higher education and society at large.

For myself this was me at a younger age:

  1. Didn’t really care for money
  2. Loved to create artwork, to be social, to explore.
  3. Love of technology
  4. Interest in travel, philosophy, photography, music, dance, physical fitness.

Free spirit

My personal goal is for myself to become more free spirited, more foolish, more brazen, and more bold everyday. I see this as my own personal apotheosis and becoming stronger and more powerful.

Everyday, to censor myself less. To speak my mind more brazenly, even though my words or actions may offend others. To be seen more as “without social sense”. To lose the ability to “read the air” (from a social sense).

It seems to live the best life is to live life with the least amount of fetters, chains, or things which impede your personal movement, thinking, acting, or creating.

How high can you fly? Let’s devote our lives to this bold task, and see how strong our wings are!

BE BOLD.

ERIC