Better to buy a new Porsche Macan (cheapest model) than the most expensive Toyota. Or better to buy the cheapest iPhone than the most expensive Android phone.
Also, maybe it’s better to buy the cheapest Leica camera, the Leica CL, than the most expensive Fujifilm camera.
Dear friends, a thought on my mind: perhaps the goal of our photography is to become more Zen. My personal ideal is becoming a more Zen photographer. Some quick thoughts:
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There are a lot of things which are ugly which I experience on a daily basis. As a visual artist, I’m very sensitive to visual stimulate. Things which I perceive as ugly, often rub me the wrong way.
However, I realize that if you had a option of just staying at home, and being bored, or be out in the real world experiencing ugly things, better to be out in the real world experiencing ugly things. Why? Even ugly things act as a positive stimulus.
What is true luxury? The luxury of becoming more like a Spartan. Becoming much more simple, harder, bare, and raw. True luxury is having fewer options, fewer superfluous things in matter, and more discomfort.
For example, when I think about the movie 300, one of my favorite films, I love their clothing. That to think that the most impressive and fearsome warriors of all time didn’t wear a shirt, or pants. Essentially all they had was a cod piece, a cape, and a ferocious bronze helmet. And of course their weapons.
If I think about my real ideal notion of luxury, it is less. To live a more luxurious life, rather than adding more Apple gadgets and devices to my life, and instead of buying newer and better clothing, or by buying newer and better cars, it is reverse: to be able to subtract the amount of cares and worries and concerns of my life, and having fewer less things to maintain, manage, and deal with.
For example, my Apex notion of luxury when it comes to cars is to not own a car. Rather than having the newest Lamborghini, or the newest Tesla car, I would just prefer to Uber everywhere, and if I really did want to go on a joyride, I could just either rent a Lamborghini, or even rent an experience center at the local race track, being able to drive cars really fast without danger.
I like the idea that when you become really rich and successful, you no longer need to flex in order to impress others. I have this notion of a “reverse flex“, that in which you actually choose more basic options, much lower than what you could afford, in order to be different.
For example, typically only poor or low class people go to McDonald’s. Maybe it is a better statement to just probably tell others that you love McDonald’s coffee, rather than trying to be a pretentious snobby espresso expert.
Also, typically Walmart is he as the low of the low. But truth be told, what is the difference between Amazon and Walmart? I think Amazon is just Walmart 2.0, with a good conscience. Because you don’t actually see poor people having to labor for you, you actually feel better about yourself. Amazon and Walmart is essentially the same thing. So perhaps, instead of just ordering everything on Amazon, it’s not a bad idea to just stop by Walmart to pick up something quick.
Or with cars, rather than trying to flex by how expensive your car is, but it is a more interesting reversed flex to show others how cheap your car is. in fact, I had more pride and joy and bragging about how I was able to buy my old Subaru for only $800 in cash, instead of bragging that I bought a new Tesla, or even a new Lamborghini.
By moving to a more poor neighborhood. And the quickest way to become poor is to move to a rich neighborhood.
For example, I was very impressed when I saw my friend Don Dillon, who is very successful, just using a basic iPhone SE even though he could probably afford 1 trillion iPhone pros. He told me he just prefers the smaller design.
If anything, I see this funny thing in which when people have the brand new iPhone Pro, it is just a tryhard flex. That in fact, a lot of poor working class people will waste all their money buying the brand newest iPhone, in order to try to assert that they’re richer than they actually are. Similar how aspiring rich people wear Louis Vuitton, whereas the really rich people wear unbranded yet very expensive goods. Also I’ve noticed in very very rich neighborhoods, where people live in $10 million homes, they just drive super basic cars, either Subarus, or drive some old Honda Odyssey minivan. If you are really really rich, you don’t want others to know that you’re rich, out of fear that you might be robbed.
I like this notion of Spartan luxury, that is, true luxury is having fewer options, more simple, more direct. Whenever I buy groceries, I actually prefer the local Aldi, why? Because there are fewer options, and it is just much faster and more efficient. I don’t like Whole Foods because there are too many options, and often the lines are way too long. Even at this point going to Costco is a funny luxury, I just like to go to Costco to take pictures.
Something I’ve discovered: it is not necessarily beauty that we are searching for, it is health.
For example, what is the indication of supple breasts in a woman? Healthiness, and fertility. Also, with legs in the backside of a woman, it is more of a sign of health, rather than aesthetic.
Even women having full lips, I wonder if it is simply a sign of healthiness.
We try to beautify ourselves with certain products, make up, and certain types of clothing. But, if the ultimate goal is to show ourselves to others as being the maximal healthy, isn’t focusing on our health the real goal?
More sleep, more intermittent fasting, more muscle mass, less bodyfat, less alcohol and weed, etc. More weightlifting, more time outdoors, more sun exposure, more time in nature, no sugar and simple starches, no bad food.
Also, think hormones.
Become the best version of you
What do you do with your life, when you’ve achieved all your life dreams, and no longer need or desire anything?
Some simple and quick thoughts:
What is the privilege of the thinker and philosopher? To think bigger, and to think beyond.
For example, beyond concern for the self, and thinking beyond the self. Thinking about humanity in general, and humanity in the future, 300 years from now and beyond.
To think of the should for humankind, in the direction you want to move the needle for humanity into the future.
Something that was always very bizarre to me was watching sports. Growing up, I played a lot of sports, but didn’t watch any sports. And this is the funny thing with being a spectator versus being a doer, it is literally not even the same thing.
For example, even though I played linebacker, outside and inside linebacker, my sophomore and junior year of high school, I had very little idea how the game of football was played by the other positions. In fact, when you’re actually playing football, your position is highly specialized, and your vision is actually very poor. For example, if you’re a wide receiver, to be able to run topspeed and peer over your cramped shoulder (you are very bulky with all the protective equipment), peering through the tiny limited visor of your helmet, it is almost impossible to see the ball coming at you.
Compare this to being a football fanatic, watching football on TV. You see a birds eye Panopticon view of everything, you have god mode. And when you see certain players mess up, you yell at them with indignation. But once again, nobody in real life actually has that Birdseye view perspective. What would actually be more accurate, is if you strapped a GoPro to to the front facing helmet of a player, and saw from their perspective.
Another realization that I had about porn, nobody has sex like that in real life. Real life sex, is often done in the dark, and you have limited visibility, and most of your focus and your sensations is in your nether regions, and sight isn’t actually that important. Also, there is an interaction in interplay with your partner, that is more subtle, which is not a concept in porn.
This is why I find when non-Street Photographers critique street photography to be absurd: non-practitioners should not critique practitioners, if one does not actually have real life experience doing the thing. In other words, if you don’t play basketball yet you watch basketball and critique basketball players, you are a nerd.
So then what is the purpose of observing, and spectating? Is it adrenaline seeking? Novelty seeking? Self education learning, or something else?
At least with television, it is to feed you more advertisements.
There is no ultimate right and wrong in life, all is opinion. Therefore, it seems most logical for you to just share your own personal opinion, share your own personal philosophy. This is how people, society, and ideas evolve and thrive.
There is no such thing as ultimate, irrefutable truth. Truth is just a reconfiguration of certain value judgments to things, and truth finding is not the goal of philosophy. I see philosophy as an art form, but instead of creating art objects, we create artwork out of ideas.
And what is true to you may not be true for another. Also, what I value is not what you value. Therefore, it is the task of every individual to discover their own true personal preferences, without getting indoctrinated or suckered from others or society.
I wonder if Socrates were alive today, he would really like blogging. Why? It seems that Socrates and a lot of philosophers of the past didn’t like writing down what they wrote, out of fear that when they changed their mind, they would be seen as hypocrites. But, if you live long enough, sooner or later you will contradict yourself. For example, let’s say when you were a kid you told people you want to grow up and become an astronaut, and when you grew older and you did not become an astronaut, people might say that you’re contradicting yourself. Certainly we do not see this to children, but we do say it to adults.
People change. Lifestyles change. Our life conditions change. To be tenacious to a certain opinion for the sake of it, is unwise.
Therefore the great thing with blogging is that if we change our opinion, you could either delete the post, or modify it.
My life mission is simple: to maximally empower, motivate, and help photographers become more. To help photographers become more inspired, more motivated, more creative, more entrepreneurial, and more fearless.
One thing I think a lot about is cars. I was always into cars, ever since I was 15 years old, and even today, I’m still very interested. Why is that? In America, we see more cars than people. Also, because I’m interested in design, industrial design, car design, I wonder a lot about car color combinations.
Some quick thoughts on color combinations for cars:
I’ve been making a lot of photos recently and I feel better than ever. This is some stuff I wish I could tell myself:
(more…)Wearing the right outfit is very important. If we consider that clothing is like our armor, and also that our personal aesthetic greatly affects our mood in our feeling a self-confidence, then the clothes and shoes where are much more important than your car, your home, and your gadgets.
Dear friend,
Something on my mind–
How can we live the most optimal and the best life? The most optimal mode of existence?
Define it for yourself:
First of all, perhaps a life in which we are focused on our arts creation is the best life. For us, this is photography.
I enjoy all forms of art, but it seems for me, photography still reigns king.
Why? In a life in which art is so short (ars longa vita brevis [art is long, life is short]), perhaps it is best for us to hone into our #1 art skill, which is making photos.
If anything I predict a new future in which we photographers reign king and supreme.
Let us consider already right now, photography is the primary form of arts-creation amongst most people. Considering that Apple is now a 3+trillion dollar company, and practically everyone has an iPhone, everyone is a photographer. And everyone makes photos, and thus makes art.
Once again:
The iPhone is by far the most popular and most used camera on the planet.
It also seems that Adobe and Lightroom is doing so well– why? The exodus of all these new photographers.
Even thinking about photography vs video– at this point, it seems that photography is just a lot more direct and simple. I love video, cinema, and film, but videos don’t keep well. It is easy to print and frame a photo and share photos, videos are harder.
Considering that we are for simplicity and minimalism, perhaps we should double-down on our photography.
Perhaps beyond being ‘happy’, better to just be active. To act, to do, to create, to explore.
Or in other words, more time outside of the house.
Going to the local market, the local hipster indoor-outdoor market, the local coffee shop, the local mall, to restaurants/bars/cafes, going hiking, going on a mini road trip, etc.
Even personally, I have found the best way to become ‘happier’ is to just try to walk 30,000 steps a day. I’ve not hit it yet (my record is around 28,000 steps in a day), yet — I have found all parts of my life existence to improve. More thinking, more idea generation (ideation), and overall better well-being.
The more mobile you can become, the better.
With investing, crypto, etc … it seems we are all dreaming of a future in which we become rich or richer.
But — why not just speculate for the day? Speculate —
I wonder what I can do, attempt, accomplish, or pursue today?
Becoming more ambitious, but for the day.
Ultimately, I believe it is about the self– for we to become more self focused. For us to become a self priority.
Make ourselves and our photography a priority.
WordPress.org or WordPress.com. By sharing and publishing your thoughts, you better solidify your thoughts and ideas.
If you’re stuck at home, and itching for some new photographic inspiration and motivation, I cordially invite you to my online DISCOVER YOUR UNIQUE VISION IN PHOTOGRAPHY WORKSHOP (Saturday, Feb 12, 2022 from 11am-2pm PST, Pacific SF Time).
Upload your best “nature†photo to arsbeta.com
Try to do it in a “street†style, black and white, or perhaps go on a hike and shoot new photos!
To gain deeper truth in your life, never stop asking why?
With photography, composition and design — asymmetry is more beautiful than symmetry.
The reason I love black so much is that black is a blank canvas, a blank slate. And the beauty of a blank slate is that it invites newness.
Every day is a new day, therefore, approach every single new day with openness and gratitude. Do not be a slave to routine, or expectations.
Why it’s always good to keep some work undone for the next day — have something to look forward to working on!
Currently I have the most blessed life, the most blessed existence. Strong health, wealth, and happiness. Cindy’s mom and my mom to help Seneca. Cindy doing well, baby Seneca doing well, I’m doing well. The most peaceful, simple, nature-forward, focused, and productive life.
Now — what?
90% good enough, then just call it a day. The best percentage in my mind to satisfice (suffice + satisfy).
In life, let us avoid getting suckered by things which are “nice to haveâ€, but not essential. Stick to and invest only on the essential.
For example, owning an iPad is nice to have, but not essential. Owning a laptop is essential.
What has greater intelligence? Your body. Your body has 1 trillion times more self wisdom intelligence than your mind. I personally believe that what we think is simply an amalgamation of indoctrination from our teachers, society, and our teachers.
For example, or mind tells us what we should do, but our body tells us what we must do.
Should is moral and ethical indoctrination from external sources. Must is an internal bodily command.
I think in modern times, no. Nobody can hear what their body is trying to tell them, because morality has also taught us that the body is evil, cannot be trusted, and is foolish.
For example, what is the first step of Christianity? To castrate your sexual desires. The Christian and Catholic church teaches us that any sexual impulse or desire is evil, and is the devil.
The motto of American fitness is simple: no pain, no gain. And it becomes the strange thing in which pain is glorified, and worthiness is seen as the amount of self pain you inflict upon yourself.
For example, we are taught that it is industrious to wake up at 4:30 AM to 6 AM to work out, regardless of how tired or exhausted we may be. We are taught that mental power should triumph over bodily exhaustion. But is this wise? No. I found that if you’re exhausted, the best thing you could do is sleep more, or just take a nap.
In fact, I think the philosophy of fitness at least in America and in the west, is all wrong. There is too much morality and ethics built into it, when did not enough scientific skepticism.
A new trend I am seeing when it comes to clothes, aesthetics, and lifestyle — this popularization of a ‘trail’ aesthetic.
Why is this? Some thoughts:
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The modern notion is work life balance, but isn’t a more effective approach work life integration?
What is progress? Full stack integration. Vertical integration. Becoming a full stack solution.
This means, creating the components which completes the full stream. For example, in photography, it is my aspiration to become a full stack Photography solution. This means giving the knowledge education and resources and tools to help photographers thrive, and also giving them an outlet or a platform to share their photos and get feedback. This was the big motivation I had behind creating arsbeta.com — creating the anti-social media, in order for photographers to get real feedback and have a real place to share their photos.
The goal isn’t simple for the sake of simple, but simplicity and simple as a means of strengthening.
The goal isn’t to eat more, but, eat more nutritious, higher density food. My theory is food with higher cholesterol, and higher saturated fat is better. Or perhaps this is why organ meat is superior than flesh meat, beef liver as having one of the highest cholesterol levels, which is essentially a steroid and testosterone booster (cholesterol is a steroid).
With eggs, pasture raised eggs, eggs with deeper amber yolks, as having higher nutritional density.
Also with meat, grass fed beef as having a higher nutritional density and quality than standard beef.
What is willpower? Will power is via negativa, that is, you build your willpower via abstinence, or what you abstain from doing. Will power is not forcing yourself to do positive action.
Don’t “work out†unless you are prepared to attempt a new personal record, in terms of overall weight, or repetitions.
This means, for any given movement, do not do it more than once a week. For example, if I attempt a new one rep max for my squat, and whether I succeed or fail, I will not do it at least for another week.
Even with bodyweight exercises, let us say it comes to chin ups. I will not do any chin ups, unless I do it as an attempt to attempt to break my previous personal record for the number of total chin-ups I can do.
Even with kettlebell exercises, don’t just do it every day or every day as a form of discipline training. Rather, better to attempt a new personal record in any of your kettlebell swings once a week, than to do it every day with regularity.
Dear friends, something I’ve been thinking a lot about is creativity. That creativity is probably our apex value, yet, the word is used so imprecisely. When we talk about creativity, people mean to talk about artistic ingenuity, being unique and one-of-a-kind. However, I think originality and uniqueness in art is not the goal.
For example, let’s say that your kid starts drawing smiley faces. Would you discourage your kid from drawing :-) faces on the account that it has “already been done before “? Or, would you discourage a kid from doing anything, or eating anything, because “other kids have done it before, and perhaps better than you?“ Of course not.
This is our biggest threat in photography, that there are lots of snobby and pretentious photographers who feed their own low self-esteem by putting down other newbie photographers. Originality and photography is not so important. What is more important is enthusiasm, curiosity, and passion.
I coined this new word, which I call Creatism. The idea is that we have the greatest joy in creating. That we create in order to learn, and we also create in order to have fun.
Let me give you an example: the best way I was able to learn about cars was to build and modify my car. And also when something broke, or needed to do an oil change, and I did it myself, I understood it through doing.
Also, I am very grateful to my high school friend eric moon who taught me how to build computers. After building your own computer, it teaches you that computers are not as complex as we think they are. If I never built a computer, I may be more intimidated by technology.
Photography is the same way: I actually think that when you’re starting off as a beginner, taking photography classes, or getting a photography teacher is not good. Why? You become indoctrinated far too quickly. Better to self experiment by yourself, and figure it out long as you go, and maybe seek a teacher or some sort of mentor leader, when you have hit some sort of dead end. Maybe take a photography workshop or class when you feel like you have hit a plateau. But if you’re progressing along by yourself in photography just fine by yourself, stay solo.
Give yourself permission to make lots of “bad,†or “cliché†photos. also, do not trap yourself in the reductive category. Become an all encompassing star for, in which you literally photograph everything. Photograph all parts of your life in existence, from the food you eat, to the clothes you wear, to your selfie, to your friends and family members, to your receipts, to your shoes and feet, with the products you use, or strangers, or nature, or urban city life. Photography to me is one of the most interesting art forms, because we must walk and be outdoors and interact with embodied reality in order to make photos. Therefore, it is one of the most active forms of art. Compare this with the depressing nature of the painter, who must sit down, indoors, in front of an easel in a cramped studio, in order to paint. I think this is also why a lot of the impressionist painters love to pick up doors in the open, standing, with fresh air and sunlight like Claude Monet
In order for an optimal existence, optimize your life to create. For example, on your phone, you could write with the iA Writer app, use voice dictation to write, download the anchor app on your phone to record your own voice podcast, use your iPhone selfie video camera to shoot blogs, use Zen Brush 2 app to make calligraphy, or use procreate on the iPhone to make illustrations. Also, of course your phone and your camera can take pictures.
Also, curating your photos is also an act of creation. By rearranging, re-editing, and laying something out in another way, you also create something new. Curation is a form of creation.
Something that I’ve been having a lot of fun doing is using the procreate app to add color gradients on top of my photos, glitch them, add chromatic aberration, add noise and grain, etc. When you apply a filter on top of your photos, it is also an act of creation. Remixing is also creation.
It is good for us to progress by becoming more open and accepting towards all forms of creativity. For example, there is snobbery when it comes to some sorts of creativity, like adult coloring books etc. But for myself, whenever I hear that anyone is doing anything active, creatively artistically, in any sort of way, I am very happy for them. It is unbecoming of us to judge the artwork of others as less than us, rather, it is best for us to think that all of humanity can artistically thrive together.
For me, walking around and taking photos very fun and interesting and entertaining to me. The act of choosing your exposure competition framing, and selecting what is in and outside of the frame is like a game to me.
Instead of playing call of duty or any other first person shooter, street photography is also much more fun and interesting, as it takes real social risk, as well as quick footing, and sharpshooter accuracy.
Ultimately my take away for you is this: just have more fun creating, playing and doing artistic things. We are all in this together!
ERIC
Upload your favorite creative photos to arsbeta.com
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More fresh ideas on the eric kim blog
If this gave you any new ideas, or sparked anything creative in your mind, feel free to forward to it a friend.
When you curate your photos, or curate your artwork, or even curate the work of others, it is an act of creation.
To my knowledge, nobody has written about the Philosophy of food, in a manner which I find rigorous. Also, talking about food in a more practical and empirical way, rather than thinking about politics, global warming, “animal rightsâ€, etc.
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I do not believe in pre-determinism, nor do I believe in fate from a mystic perspective. However, I do like the notion of fate as a general one, in which random happenings in life events often occur to your personal benefit, but you never know the hidden benefit until the future.
For example, one of the best things has ever happened to me was getting made redundant from my old job. It was always my dream to pursue my photography and blogging full-time, yet I didn’t think I had enough money in my savings, and also, I liked the courage to just quit my job. But after my company I peeled, and then the stock plummeted, I lost my job along with alcohol, including even my boss. I didn’t know it at the time, but it was the best thing that ever happened to me.
Currently being in the blazing hot, ruthless Southern California sun, this is what I have realized about white cars: they are an eyesore. That means, they have too much contrast, and they are too bright. Also when the light reflects on the white car, it blinds you.
Black is a good option in terms of being more low-key. In fact, I think it was Henry Ford who said of the original model T: you can have any color, as long as it is black.
But the downside of black cars is that they are notoriously hard to keep clean, and also the attract so much dirt and dust, and also it makes scratches and swirl marks and other imperfections more easily visible. I think this is where matte black is an interesting option, as it is even more stealth and more low-key than shiny or gloss black. In fact, the best iPhone color or a laptop color or Apple device color is probably some sort of matte black. Even on the iPhone 7, there was an option for either a gloss black or a flat matte black. And I considered the matte black flat black option much more beautiful, and much more Zen.
Something I’ve also seen was this matte white color. In some ways, this makes sense because it better reflects heat, especially if you live in a hot place. And I suppose the benefit is because it is matte, it is not as annoyingly shiny.
I even recall on the earlier Apple monitors, there was an option to have a matte screen, instead of the shiny reflective one. I prefer the matte because it was less reflective.
I find the new iPhone pro design to be very bizarre. The sides are the very shiny stainless steel, which blinds you, and is far too shiny. Why could they not just opt for a matte stainless steel instead? I feel that because of that design flaw, it is the dealbreaker for getting a new iPhone Pro.
For homes, I like all white interiors. Why? It reflects the maximum amount of natural light, and typically I love interiors with more natural light. More natural light gives me more physiological energy and power and also improves my mood.
But with almost everything else, I still prefer all black. If you wear white clothes, or light colored clothes, it to easily shows coffee spills. This is where having all black clothing has high utility.
The best car paint I have ever seen in person is the matte black satin option for the Mercedes G wagon AMG edition. It is very stoic, calm, Zen, and self-assured. It doesn’t need to be flash or stand out, and it is elegant on its own.
Regardless of what people say, the color of something is very important. The color of your phone, the color of your shoes, the color of your outfit, the color of your car, etc. Why? Color is simply an external manifestation of what you believe in, and what you desire to convey to the outside world.
For example, if you go to a party and you see somebody wearing an all red tuxedo, they certainly want to be seen, and they want their outfit to be loud. The same thing goes with the gym goer who is wearing all bright fluorescent yellow Nike fitness clothing.
So I suppose with color, just ask yourself:
Do I desire to become more hidden, or more seen? And why? Towards what ends?
For myself, I already see my personality as being very extroverted. Therefore, the color palette of my own personal wardrobe is all black, the color is much more stoic and hidden. I do not want my clothes to be seen, and actually I like my privacy as well.
I’ve always liked the idea of having bright red sneakers, but whenever I wear it, it is a huge distraction to me. I spend more time looking at my feet and walking.
Also, assuming that I want to be more low-key, and not attract attention to myself, perhaps the best car for me is some sort of obscure, all matte black vehicle. Ideally I would want the card to be all debadged, and as stealth as possible. I do not want anyone else to know the brand, model or make up my car. Also, it would be advantageous to my pride to know that there are no other cars of this kind on the road.
Also, this is why none of my clothing has any brand imprints on it. This is why I love Uniqlo and Muji so much, no annoying and obtrusive branding. Also OUTLIER.nyc is great because there is no annoying logo on the outside.
This is also why with all HAPTIC products, there is no annoying logo on the outside. I want the product become yours, with maximal beauty and utility, with minimal annoyance or loudness.
It seems in today’s world, we are obsessed about upgrading. For example we want to upgrade our clothes, our phones, our laptops, our cars, our homes, etc. But when we desire upgrades, what is it that we really seek?
The first part is maybe we desire more higher power and ammunition, thinking of our tools like our modern day weapons. For example, you could make the analogy that your iPhone is like your modern day sword, and your car is almost like your modern day attack or defense vehicle. Consider that a lot of people with big trucks, SUVs, they almost look like military vehicles.
Second, a sense of progress. It seems that we humans like having a feeling that we are progressing. But what is progress? Accumulation. Accumulation of more power, influence, and space.
Third, getting rid of the old, getting the new. It seems that the typical biases that we prefer the new and young over the old and withered. For example, nobody seeks old age, everyone wants to be young forever. Therefore, if we have an old car that is falling apart, maybe it feels like we are falling apart. That your car becomes an externalization of your ego, and when you see your car in ill repair, you feel like yourself and your ego is in ill repair.
Perhaps this is the proper task: to have the will to create. But the question is, why the will to create, and where does the will to create come from?
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What is ultimate privilege? The privilege to create. The privilege to procreate and create children, the privilege of having abundant leisure and mindspace in order to create, and having via negativa mind space in order to come up with creative thoughts.
In fact, I think the reason why a lot of people desire to become financially independent, or desire a life in which they no longer need to work is in order to free up time and mindspace in order to create.
Also, the goal isn’t to stop working necessarily. The goal is to no longer work on things that you don’t care for. The privilege is having the opportunity, time and resources in order to create and work on that what you love and care for.
A random thought: would you desire a life in which everything were beautiful? That you were only surrounded by beautiful people, beautiful objects, beautiful architecture, beautiful landscapes, beautiful things, and beautiful thoughts? Maybe not. Why is this? Perhaps we need the ugly in order to appreciate the beautiful, and vice versa.
And also maybe the task of the artist is to transform the ugly, and elevate and make it beautiful. Or to take what is pre-existing ugly, and to beautify it. This is the joy we have and restoration of old homes, and old cars. Also perhaps the joy we have in TV shows in which you turn a nerdy person into a stylish and beautiful person, or where you turn an overfat person into a fit and muscular person.
I’ve also discovered that my joy in hiking and natural landscapes is that because I’m so accustomed to the ugly suburbs, I can actually appreciate the beauty of nature. If we never had ugly things to compare and contrast with, we would never deem other things as beautiful. Or we would never appreciate the beautiful, because it is our norm.
Therefore my take away is this: do not desire an existence that is 100% devoid of the ugly. Rather, be grateful of the ugly, and it is your task as an artist to transform things and create the beautiful.
Also, a paradise, a utopia is not desirable. Also, pain and suffering and injustice is a necessity for thriving and beautiful life.
One thing I’ve discovered is that I am insanely picky. And even the best things aren’t good enough for me. therefore, what I either do is buy nothing, or keep looking for something I consider perfect.
For example, I love cars and car design, yet, I have never seen or experienced a car which I consider perfect. Every car seems to be some sort of compromise, irregardless of how expensive it is. The only car that I really loved in my whole life was my 1991 Sentra SER, five speed coupe, with the SR 20 DE engine. Therefore, if I ever want a car as simply a toy, I’ll just try to find another one. And as a kid, one of my dreams was to have a Sentra SER, and turbo charge it. Therefore, if I ever have the desire, I’ll just find another Sentra SER and turbo charge it.
Also, I love shoes, yet I can never find a perfect shoe which fits all of my aesthetic preferences, as well as my functional preferences. The same thing with clothes, I’ve never discovered a perfect clothing item, besides the Outlier.nyc black merino wool T-shirt that was gifted to me from my friend Kevin and Justin.
With devices, I consider the MacBook Air perfect, as well as the Ricoh GR 3 digital camera perfect. Yet, my ideal Ricoh GR camera would still have a flash.
Therefore, when it comes to material or consumer things, never buy anything unless you discover that it is absolutely perfect in your own eyes. Whenever in doubt, even an ounce of doubt, just don’t buy it.
I have a concept called meta-editing — in which you publish a bunch of photos in a blog post, and then you review the blog post and you re-save the photos which pop out in your eye. Then you re-upload and re-publish it. It is like a recursive form of editing and filtering, and republishing.
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One thing I’ve discovered is that the notion of creativity is not a good one. Why? When people talk about creativity, what they really mean to say is creative ingenuity. Or another words, originality. When we call somebody creative, we mean to say that they are able to formulate novel ideas, and novel ways of saying the world.
I have actually discovered that for myself, I Best learn through the act of creation. And for me, my greatest joy in life is creating.
Therefore, I think we need a new word or a term: I call it creatorism. The general gist is the purpose and tell us of our life is to create. That a life focused on creation is the supreme life.
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One of the thoughts I had after reading the book Ready Player Two is this: what if there will be no earth death? What if in theory, humans can continue to inhabit planet earth for another billion years?
It seems nowadays the focus on life is wealth accumulation, novelty searching, purchasing and consumerism, fashion, or watching entertainment, traveling, etc.
But, ultimately I think what we really desire is to create. To create things, to create products, to create ideas, etc.
When you create, you take your soul energy force, and you impute it into an external manifestation of something else. And the more you create, the more you become.
This is the magic of photography : every time you click the shutter, you create something.
After over a decade of being addicted to coffee, some quick thoughts:
First of all, how much coffee should one drink? I say as much as you can tolerate, as long as it is before 12 o’clock noon. Absolutely in every condition, no coffee after 12 o’clock noon. Even if you’re tired, just take a nap. And even if you’re tired and something needs attending to, figure a way how to attend to it safely, while still taking a nap.
Second, is life better with or without coffee? I can firmly say yes, it is better with coffee. Yet, coffee is only bad when you drink it when you’re tired. Ironically enough, it seems that the best time to drink coffee is when you actually feel good.
When should you abstain from coffee, or at least detox from coffee? For me, I do my detox at randomly. I do not set a schedule. When my body does not feel well, I detox it for at least 24 hours. And during that detox, I make it a personal rule not to try to be productive at all, and the simple focus of my day is just to recover. And once again, do not forget: absolutely under no conditions, no coffee or caffeine intake or stimulants after 12 o’clock noon. This includes green tea, and cacao powder.
I just finished the book ready player two. Some quick thoughts:
Despite some of my boredom of the book, I still think it is a two thumbs up from me. If you’re interested in the virtual reality philosophy the things, or digital things, my highly recommend a read.
A life experiment thought: in the evening, shut off your iPhone, and also, shut down your laptop. With iPhone, you have to do the strange sequence: up volume down volume and side button and literally shut your iPhone totally off. This will prevent you from having the temptation to check it or use it.
With your laptop, do not just close the screen and put it into sleep mode. Instead, shut it down and power it off completely.
In terms of timing, some ideas: turn off your phone in your laptop before dinner time, or after dinner time. Or assuming if you go to work and have to commute, the second you come home turn off your phone and your laptop. or, turn off your phone and laptop after you take your evening shower.
But what if someone needs to contact you? C’est la vie.
Why do this? At least for myself, I found that when I use any devices in the evening, whether it be my phone or my laptop, I get a headache. Also, I am quite certain that if my goal is to have an earlier bedtime, using any type of screen, no matter whether it is in night mode or not, is inimical to my goal.
Also, in terms of my physiological well-being, I found the greatest predictor whether I’m going to have a good day or not is this: how early I slept. Or how early I got into bed.
Now that we started sleep training baby Seneca, the earliest I’ve been successfully able to jump in to bed is around 9:30 PM. It probably took me an hour to of lying in bed before I actually fell asleep, but, this is better than me jumping in bed at 11 PM or midnight, not sleeping until one or 2 AM.
I am very convinced: if your goal is to have maximal productivity in life, be insanely rigid and disciplined about not using any device in the evening. This will allow you to power down sooner, sleep better at night, and therefore have more power to conquer the next day. With almost 99% of things in life, it could wait until tomorrow.
One of the things I’ve learned from Cindy, and history as a discipline, is the notion of significance. Ultimately, with almost all matters, you could put it in a binary: is it significant or not significant? Or when you are trying to advance an argument, you must be clear what the significance of your statement is.
And this is the big downside of all conspiracy theories: even if the conspiracy were true, would it be significant in your own real life? Most of the time no.
For example, there are 1 billion conspiracy theories when it comes to politics, or global affairs. But, even if the conspiracy theories were true, would it actually change how you live your life? Most likely not. The only thing that really might affect you include your household indoor politics and economics, your neighborhood, and then maybe your local city. Let us also not forget the ancient Greek notion of economics, which literally means household management. In other words, the original notion of economics was not related to worldwide financial institutions, but literally how you conducted the affairs of your own house: how you manage your own personal affairs in your home, your slaves, your servants, your animals, your food, and your children, your maids, and your wife. Very interesting to note that at least to my understanding, the ancient Greek‘s did not have multiple wives, only one.
One of the things I am the most grateful for is having the opportunity for me to shape the culture of street photography, and photography in general. Also notions of Minimalism, zen, taoism, stoicism, and philosophy and photography.
Therefore what I suggest to you is this: do not be a slave or a follower of the mainstream culture, but, you as an independent agent is the active one creating a new culture, or reshaping and reconfiguring the pre-existing culture.
Something I realized: in our basic human minds, we love the idea of a buffets. But in reality, buffets are not good. Why? For example, we like the idea of having unlimited options, but the downside of buffets are that most of the options are very mediocre.
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This is how and where philosophical thinking is very useful. Rather than how to do it, consider the deeper question —
What should it do?
What should social media or photography social media do? Or what should a car, clothes do?
How should a parent raise their kids, and what should a child become?
What should photographs or a blog do?
