The principle problem of Americans: our inability to deal with “free time”. Our fear of free time, an open schedule, and a calendar without appointments.

Horror Vaccuum

The ancients had a notion of “horror vaccui”: fear of the vacuum. The basic notion in natural philosophy (physics) was that atoms hated being in a vacuum, and would always move to fill the vacuum.

The beauty of empty space

In Taoism the philosophy is:

An empty space is more useful than a full space.

Also in terms of aesthetics, empty and minimal spaces are more beautiful.

Why this fear of emptiness?

My thought:

We’ve been trained our entire lives to be useful instruments to society. Thus when we are “idle” we are no longer of use to society. As a consequence, we are “useless” and feel existential angst.

What is existential angst?

Existential angst: the nagging feeling that your life has no purpose or point.

But who decrees what a “purposeful” life is? Generally society, religion, and our parents.

But what if we dictated our own life purposes?

Fill your life with what you care for; remove what you don’t care for.

It is simple: fill your life with creative work and labor you consider worthy of yourself, and don’t do what you consider “bullshit work”.

Never stop iterating, changing, and evolving

Life: to constantly become stronger, more intelligent, more impactful, and more influential!

ERIC