Month: July 2020

More faith in older art, older religions, older poems, older literature.

I forget who said it (Nassim Taleb quotes it)

Keep old friends, drink old wine, but eat fresh food.

We moderns all want to be more productive, but towards what end? For what end? Why?

Yeah yeah yeah, we all know that “non-GMO” and organic food is “better” for us. But I’m more pragmatic and practical. I just eat industrial food, and frankly speaking, I feel fine, and have been able to increase my meat intake, increase my muscular mass, lower my body fat, *AND* save money!

Smaller is almost always better. Why? Simple reasons:

1. The smaller something is, the more frequently you will use it. Also, the smaller something is, the more ‘usable’ it is.
2. For example, the human hand is a fixed size. A smaller smartphone is ALWAYS better.
3. Smaller cars are better. Easier to park, easier to turn, easier to parallel park, easier to do U-Turns. Also, you are more likely to find a parking spot for a smaller car.

“Even a hair casts its own shadow” – Publilius Syrus (this means even the most minute, small, mundane, everyday thing you share can be interesting!)

When in doubt, just share it.

When in doubt, just flex.

If you don’t want to think about things, get it out of your sight.

Inspired by my buddy Jun Goodhouse Kim, I decided to start shooting more ‘muk bang’ videos and photos (“muk bang” in Korean literally means “eat, room”). So showing people behind the scenes footage of how you cook, how you eat, and how you live:

How do you know if someone is a true friend or not? Simple:

A true friend is someone who legitimately wants what is best for you, not themselves.

Happiness is impossible without health. Health as “physiological power overwhelming”. Our mind cannot exist without a body; a body can exist without a mind.

When I don’t force myself to be “productive”, I’m actually MORE productive.

Powerlifters should get into photography, and photographers should also get into powerlifting. Why? Powerlifters are zen masters, and can gain much from being creative in photography. And photographers will grow more of a backbone and spine after powerlifting and deadlifts.

No moralistic problems against porn. It is just a distraction, and also sucks away your “chi” energy life force. Jerking off to porn as “energy suicide”. The idea which I realized:

Would you jerk off before attempting a one rep max in your deadlift? Certainly not.

So I wonder … jerking off actually depletes our energy force and source?

How does photography work? We see photos which *suggest* movement. This inspires us to move!

Besides wanting to become a bitcoin billionaire, I see cryptocurrency as a future economy; a future form of human trust (sociology of cryptocurrency), and I’m also interested in cryptocurrency as being the new internet; perhaps Internet 3.0?

Thought from my friend Natalie Jing Ma:

When money can fix a problem, just buy away the problem.

Money then as a tool to buy away problems, rather than “buying stuff” to “improve” your life.

Strong yet flexible and pliant.

The goal— master our own motivation, our own movement, our own.

Practical thoughts and tips:

To lose fat (adipose tissue — body fat) is simple. It might be hard, but the steps are easy:

1. Cut out all starches, sugars, carbohydrates (both the ‘good’ complex carbs and the simple carbs). No sugar, high fructose corn syrup, artificial and “natural” sweeteners. No fruit (it is modern candy).
2. No beer, wine, alcohol. These contribute to fat (adipose tissue) gain.
3. Cut out all dairy. Most humans are quite lactose-intolerant anyways. Lactose is just sugar– in cow milk form.
4. No pastries, cookies, sweets, breads (both whole wheat and white bread).
5. Intermittent fasting (no breakfast or lunch); one huge meal a day. When you break your fast, eat lots of meat and vinegary foods/fermented foods.
6. Stick to drinking only tea (no sugar or cream or milk or weird milk substitutes like almond milk/cashew milk/oat milk), drink only black coffee, and drink only water. If you want to extend your fast, drink 100% cocoa powder.

Photography as one of the best tools to become more fit (more muscular, more skeletal muscle mass, and less body fat [adipose tissue]).

Also, photography as a tool to become happier, more productive, and to transform your bodily aesthetics into a Greek or Roman statue.

Turbo thought:

Morality is subjective and doesn’t “exist”, but ethics is what we should really care for. Ethics as the philosophy and approach (technique, art; tekhne) of how to interact with other real human beings in real life.

The best way to save money and get more “bang for the buck”. For example buy a second hand Leica, second hand Leica lens, a used Tesla Model S, or even a used iPhone. Best way to maximize the utility of something while minimizing the cost.

Case in point — buying a 13 inch MacBook Pro Touch Bar maxed out specs in the Apple Refurbished store.

The best stuff on Amazon:

My one (huge) meal a day philosophy —

This is how I break my fast:

Real thoughts:

The quadrillion dollar question:

How can I effectively monetize my passion for photography?

Real thoughts:

Some rich ideas:

Never forget– best to promote yourself (not others). You are the brand.

No need to ‘explain’ yourself. Just assert yourself and your own opinion!

The goal:

Master yourself.

An uber-simple way of approaching life:

Just do dope shit or create dope shit and share it with others.

Sharecropping was just Slavery 2.0 — a more sneaky form of slavery that a lot of people got suckered into.

In today’s world, we are currently slaves to social media. If you’ve ever felt happy, sad, upset or anxious when using FacebookGram, YouTube, Twitter or whatever… you’re a slave. This is why I deleted my Instagram, and now am highly highly suspicious of any of these ‘free’ social media services. The more robust path:

Own yourself. Own your own platform. Build your own blog and web-site.

You can no longer become slave; you must become the master!

ERIC

As long as Google runs society, we will always be slaves to data.

To quantify yourself is anti-human:

The biggest problem for us photographers:

We think our lives are boring and uninteresting and we *MUST* travel to some exotic place in order to make good photos (National Geographic Mindset)

But I say let us praise the everyday and mundane! I still think my definition of street photography is good:

“Capturing beauty in the mundane”.

My vision for society. A society in which we can all thrive to our personal maximum and beyond:

Photos of your kids — the most priceless photos. Some thoughts:

Away from notions of “equality”. Better to think about dynamic symmetry — a more flexible, robust and dynamic form of ethics and social behavior.

The problem in society — too much masculine or too much feminine. We need both to yin-yang augment ourselves to the max.

For example, as men we should not not do things because it is “feminine” (like dancing sexy). Also women should lift weights and augment their muscle mass. We shouldn’t separate both — both are essential.

When you were born, you were born an artist. All children are artists. Why have we “un-artistified” ourselves as adults?

A new fun approach:

What I’ve discovered while shooting photos and videos both with a shirt on, and without a shirt:

The footage with my top off is always more interesting

Why is this? My theories:

All cameras are good cameras. All photos you shoot irregardless of what you shoot with is good. Don’t concern yourself with visual consistency in your images — just keep shooting!

Life is all about progression. Perfection as anti-progress.

The fewer choices and options in your life, the better.

In praise of bricolage, trial-and-error, and constant self-iteration:

Less equipment, or limited equipment might be better to become more creative with your workouts!

Hindsight is always 20-20. I am very grateful I studied sociology (purely on a whim). Shout-out to Terri Anderson and Mark Jepson, and all my great sociology professors at UCLA. I learned soooooo much from sociology, and I am starting to truly reap the rewards now (I am born in 1988) almost a decade later:

The basic tenent of social aversion therapy. Ironically this might also be the best way to build trust, build clout, become more interesting and become more successful.

The science and philosophy of ethics in society; applied. This is the task of us new sociologists!

A new mindset and approach:

If we’re always in a state of becoming, then perhaps we are always in beta mode. Perhaps then a beta-forward mindset is a good mindset to approaching life! No finality! Constant iteration.

All beta everything!

In our Brave New COVID world, we cannot plan anymore. So what are we to do? My thought:

Live as if everyday were your last.

What’s the hardest thing to do? To decide. To make a decision. Here are some of my pragmatic heuristics to decide:

As a blogger, photographer, and creator you’re a media-creator. Media as general — audio, visual, text, whatever that can show up on a screen!

Rather than seeking to get “signed” or “discovered” by another platform or media empire, why not strive to build your own?

Durability issues aside, RICOH GR III is a perfect camera for photography. The uber-heavyweight camera in terms of bang for the buck, and the strongest power-to-weight ratio.

The ocean is vast.

Let us think beyond just being good — let us strive for great and beyond.

My passion in life and my purpose in life — empower myself and others to their personal maximum and beyond.

Try out ZEN OF ERIC on Facebook Messenger.

• Facebook messenger link
• Facebook page link
• https://www.messenger.com/t/ZenOfEric

Consult yourself, your own conscience, your own opinion before consulting others for THEIR thoughts, opinion, and conscience.

Develop everything of you: your body, mind, soul, intelligence, wisdom, art and innovation. It is all connected; don’t just do one. Do it all!

The difference: if you focus on “self improvement”, it infers you are already somehow inept, deficient, or need improving. Self development: you’re already great, and the goal is to become greater.

We think we want more money, cars, property, etc… but the real goal is this: augment your personal wisdom to the maximum, and share your wisdom with others.

As a Bay Area (born and raised) liberal (former) Democrat, I really don’t like left politics anymore. Why? In some ways, the left is becoming even MORE intolerant than the “backwards” right.

A noble and interesting life goal: master your metabolism. Uber-high and uber-hyper energy and vigor throughout the day to write, think, walk, workout and make art!