Currently watching the Brazil versus Korea soccer/football game, and I thought that comes to my mind; why is it that Brazil is so good at soccer?
The first thought, ethnic diversity. It is much beneficial to get the best out of all worlds, regardless of ethnic group, background, race, etc. Whereas the downside of Korea is that everyone is so racially homogenous. In the realm of sports, ethnic diversity is best.
Another theory is about scrappiness. Certainly South Korea has a higher GDP and economic strength than Brazil. However, perhaps the big benefit of soccer/football in Brazil is that all kids, irregardless of how rich or poor can play soccer in the streets. It is the ultimate democratic sport which just requires a single ball.
Compare this to South Korea which is so focused on education. Sports is a non-concept in Korea.
Ultimately, does it matter who is best at sports? Not really.
What differentiates man from beast? Our ability to think, forecast, predict, our brains, etc.
What is a philosopher?
A philosopher is simply a thinker. Somebody who loves to think, and derives his or her happiness from thinking.
What inhibits our ability to think nowadays? Oversaturation of the news, social media, gossip, etc.
Why think?
Is there a pragmatic or practical upside of thinking? I think so.
To think means to challenge, to question, and to ascertain certain values two things. This is essential and critical, as man is simply a value creation being. We decide and dictate what is valuable, and what is not valuable.
Think on your own two feet
In order to think, you must move. And what is the best way to move? To walk, to stand on your own two feet. The source of all of our intelligence and thinking comes from our legs, and our ability to be bipeds.
To think more, squat more
To become a stronger thinker, strengthen your legs. Strengthen your ability to squat, squat walk, dead lift, rack pull , etc.
Vigeo— thrive, flourish. Weg— to be lively, strong.
What is the source of our vigor, or where is the source of our vigor?
If you are a man, maybe it is in your testes, your balls, your testosterone, etc. Then the question is how do we naturally get our vigor and our testosterone up?
The first thought, what kills our testosterone? My theory; beer, alcohol, weed and marijuana, sugar, carbs, etc. Also, listening to too much NPR, The “woke†media, the New Yorker, etc.
Also hilariously enough, sports. I have a simple ethical thought:
One should not watch sports media of a sport that one has actually never played in their life before.
For example, if you have never played American football before in your life, you shouldn’t watch it. It is like pornography, but worse. At least watching porn gets your adrenaline up, watching sports of a sport you have never played before only invites you to consume more beer, and other things which kill your testosterone.
Guns?
A critique of gun ownership; from a Spartan perspective, a gun might be the most cowardly weapon. Why? It doesn’t really require any hand to hand steel or courage. Any skinny fat loser, or obese person can kill you with a gun. Even the ancient Spartans saw archers as cowards. Even in the Iliad, Paris was seen as a coward, just shooting arrows from a far. The real men fight hand to hand, men to men, only with their spears and shields.
Or let us consider the movie seven samurai by Akira Kurosawa, remember when that one noble samurai was killed by that one coward hiding behind the blinds with a gun?
What modern day man lacks is some sort of physical challenge or courage. This is where the gym is our haven, because it is really the only place where we could practice physical courage.
Mental courage?
Can mental courage exists without physical courage? I think not. If you have never attempted a one repetition max for a certain lift, you have no idea.
Once again, the physical courage necessary to attempt a new personal record, a new one rep max for your dead lift, your squat, etc.
And funny enough, I think I really like auto playing videos, but on mute. Even consider when you go to the gym or the local sports bar, all of the sound on TVs are always on mute. I think there’s something invigorating about talking heads, even though there is no sound.
A thought on my mind; trying to figure out virtuous ways to spend and kill time with Seneca, typically we just go to the local outdoor mall, the Irvine spectrum, and just walk around. However what I would love would be some sort of open air, or indoor outdoor gym for kids. Not one of those stupid ones with slides and stuff, but like the ancient Spartans, with weights, mini atlas stones for kids, stuff to throw around, etc.
In terms of the future and technology, we always think about devices like our phones our laptops or tablets our cars etc. But what would future clothes look like, and what should future clothes look like?
First of all, what is the point of clothes anyways? A simple part of it is aesthetic, which is, we want to wear clothes which we believe to reflect our own personal grandeur.
Second, the functional aspect. Like Kanye said, it is illegal to be naked outdoors. However beyond that, what is the best way to think about clothes? My thought: clothes which are the least obtrusive and obstructive to your movement.
For a very long time, I never understood why anyone would wear a vest. Didn’t it make sense to have sleeves as well? And a hood?
However, now that it is the winter months, wearing an ultra light down vest, no sleeves and no hood is insanely clutch. Why is that? It really does keep you warm, without obstructing movement in your arms and shoulders.
Then, with pants or shorts, what are the ideal pants and shorts? It seems ideal pants and shorts are once again, the least obstructive to our movement. This means that jeans are out of the picture, as they are probably one of the most restrictive to your movement.
I think this is the great innovation of yoga pants, and leggings for women, it has really liberated women to be far more mobile, rather than wearing obstructive clothing, which gets in their way.
How does one become a stoic and why become a stoic?
The first thought is try to position yourself in such a way that you interpret everything as having a hidden benefit for yourself. That life is all upside, not downside.
Second, start hypelifting. The best way to become more invincible is through lifting very very heavy weights.
Third, don’t give shit, but also don’t take shit. If you believe that somebody is giving you shit, call it out loud.
Fourth, think insanely long-term. Even with minor setbacks in life, think to yourself, in the long run, in a decade or two or three, how can this event have helped me in the long run?
My vibram five finger shoes, the EL- X model, my iPad Pro M series, my iPhone SE, my Lululemon license to train shorts, my outlier.NYC black merino wool T-shirt. My ex officio boxer briefs
A random thought; perhaps the root of all of our ambition and power is in our legs. That is, if you could squat over 700 pounds, certainly wouldn’t it give you more elevated and lofty thoughts, chutzpah, balls and courage for anything in life?
For example, I really love my high viz. orange tank top and I really love my new faded zap hyper fluorescent yellow neon colored Lululemon license to train shorts, but separately. For example I like the high viz. orange tank top paired with black shorts, and I really love the faded zap shorts with a black T-shirt. When I pair the hyper orange in the hyper neon green together, I really hate the way it looks.
Therefore a theory on colors; hyper loud colors are good, only when used in isolation, or as a single component. For example, it is cool to have an all black everything outfit, but just a hyper neon glow in the dark YEEZY 350 sneakers.
Or good to have an all black everything outfit, with just one high viz. orange component.
Or, let us say you have an all black everything car, but, it would look more interesting if you had high viz. orange rims, or, if you had a car that was high viz. yellow, just have black rims.
What does it mean to be happy, and how to become happy?
First of all, what is happiness? Personally speaking, I think happiness is a situation in which you have great physical and physiological strength, elevated mood, lofty thoughts, no second-guessing or doubting yourself, extreme pride in one’s self, lofty visions, and great appetites and ambition. Also, great nutritive health, lots of meat high in cholesterol such as beef liver, beef heart, beef intestines, beef ribs, beef brisket etc.
The artistic and creative component
Also, when are people happiest? When they are creating. When they are learning, playing, manipulating things, and changing and affecting things. For example, when I observe Seneca, he is happiest when he experiences new things, sees new things, recognizes old things, learns new ways to communicate, plays with the physics of water, learns how to roll up and down automatic windows in the car, open and close the glass sunroof, learns the understanding of bluetooth, and makes beats in GarageBand. Also drawing, and learning how to read.
For myself, I am the happiest when I am dancing and engaging in great conversation with Cindy, when I am training Seneca, when I am at the gym attempting to hit new personal records, when I am writing, blogging, vloggimg, making photos, selecting photos, teaching traveling etc.
Why be happy?
A practical thought; why be happy?
What are the positive outcomes of being happy, and how and who does it benefit?
First of all, I could certainly say that nobody wants to be miserable or depressed. But is happiness the opposite of depression? No. It is something else. My philosophical thought or practical thought of depression is that depression is a physiological disorder, that one is not “mentally†depressed, but physiologically depressed. What does this mean? Let us assume that you are locked in a cube with no natural light, and no outside stimulation, and given enough food to survive. What would happen to your physiological state of being? Certainly you would atrophy.
Let us consider modern day man. What is a day in the life of the modern-day man? Let us say that he commutes to work, he wakes up, has coffee, jumps in the car, and has to deal with the hateful hour to hour and a half drive to the office. At the office he has to deal with petty office politics, hateful emails, and boring meetings. The most creative thing he might do is create some sort of PowerPoint presentation. He has to stress out about his mortgage, his kids, other financial difficulties, and the stress and drama of trying to get that promotion. He then has to jump back into his car, deal with an even worse commute home, maybe an hour 45 minutes, listening to the same old podcast, the same old advertisements. He then goes home, might have enough time to microwave himself something, and “catch up on his shows“. He then stays up too late, dicking around on the Internet, sleeps a little bit too late, and then repeats the cycle all over again. I do not wish this type of existence even on my worst enemy.
What is your destiny?
I do not believe in destiny from a hocus-pocus perspective. I think of destiny in terms of destination. Where do you want to go? Where do you see yourself in the future? What were you destined for?
For myself, although I just see myself like a normal mere human being, I have so much insane pride and lofty visions of myself that I believe myself to become the next great philosopher, the next great thinker, a name that hopefully even 300 years from now, people will know. ERIC KIM as being a combination of philosopher, artist, entrepreneur, photographer, blogger, vlogger, thinker, innovator, etc.
I want to become the next Steve Jobs, the next Elon Musk, the next Kanye West, the next Jeff Bezos, etc.
Have insanely lofty visions for yourself
We are all human beings. Truth be told, genetically speaking, there is nothing that unique or remarkable about any of us. Let us consider the genius of Kanye West, and his insane ambition, and let us consider that he has only a 5 foot 7 man. Also, Elon Musk is just one human being, Steve Jobs was only one human being, and Jeff Bezos was also just one human being. Although Steve Jobs seems like mostly an absentee father, he still did have a family, wife and kids, and I think Kanye West might have four kids now.
I believe the path to the greatest happiness in life involves having the highest visions for yourself, and the highest ambitions for yourself. I don’t think this is the money making thing, or purchasing part thing. It goes beyond that. It goes towards creating, innovating, and innovating something new.
For example, desires. A big way we could innovate is to create new desires for ourselves. For example, rather than desiring to buy that thing, better to desire to become insanely strong. For example, I would much be happier being able to rack pull 800 pounds, than to own and drive that new Lamborghini. In fact, my new ambition is to make my body become the Lamborghini, and even more epic and greater than the Lamborghini. For example, when I grunt, scream, and become an animal and beast at the gym, hypelifting, hyping myself up, I want to roar louder than the exhaust pipes of the new Lamborghini, or any V12 engine. or, personally speaking, I would be much more happy and proud being able to deadlift 502 kilograms (over 1220 pounds), than be a billionaire.
In fact, if I were a billionaire, I would positively not want to own a car. Why? According to my friend Kevin, even having the full Tesla auto pilot function is not 100% secure or safe. He told me that he doesn’t feel comfortable using his Tesla model 3 autopilot when his family is in the car. Even when he is by himself, he says it is terrifying. Instead, I much prefer the idea that I could just Uber anywhere and everywhere, and just take a nap while my Uber driver takes me to my destinations safely. In fact, it is the new modern day flex to not own a car. Really really really really rich people don’t own cars.
Also another big thing that I think people get suckered by, even us millennials is the notion of home ownership. I think home ownership makes sense if you have a big ass family all living under the same roof, and everyone chips in. For example, currently living at Cindy’s mom‘s house, in her massive Southern California home, with myself, Cindy, Seneca, my brother and sister-in-law and their two kids. This makes sense because being able to live in a massive house compound with many people is economically efficient. However, the notion of a nuclear family just owning their own home is I think an insane idea. Not wise. Even if I were a trillionaire, I would not wish homeownership on my worst enemy, all the headaches that come with homeownership, Trying to fix broken toilets, trips to Home Depot, etc. Even if you were rich enough to hire the worlds most capable contractor, you still gotta call them up, or message them, schedule times to fix things, etc.
Out of all of my really rich and older friends, who are insanely successful, they all just live in condos now, because there is a lot less they need to maintain. Even when I was living in Providence Rhode Island, in a minimalistic studio apartment, I loved it because we had maintenance stuff on hand more or less 24 hours a day, and there was a little or nothing we had to maintain. To me that was the ultimate frictionless living.
Can money make you happier?
The funny thing about money is that it is a via negativa thing, that is, money can make you happier if you use it as a hedge and a tool to not have to do the things you hate. For example, I hate doing maintenance stuff. And therefore, it seems the most intelligent thing to do is to use money as a tool to not have to do maintenance related things.
Or, let us think of money as “fuck off†money. As Dr. Dre said. What does that mean? That you have enough money to just fuck off and go off the grid and have to do nothing and not have to worry about money, in order to do things you care about, which might not have any immediate monetary value.
Once again, the best way to think of money is as a war chest, as personal insurance for yourself, or creating your own VC, or venture-capital fund for yourself. Innovation is expensive, and yields many failures. But if you have a flush enough war chest, you can engage in super insanely epic innovation, which requires a really really long time, mini field experiments, etc. For example one thing that I learned from Mr. Dyson is that I think he had to create at least 1000 or 10,000 prototypes, it might’ve took him 10 years before he was able to successfully make a bagless vacuum. Now, Cindy and I bought a brand new refurbished vacuum cordless from Dyson, and I think I love it more than I love my iPhone.
Innovation is then the secret to happiness?
Innovations at the gym for myself include doing a very very heavy “squat walk“, and also a very very heavy rack pull instead of deadlift. In terms of my gym innovations, I have Monkifit gym in Phnom Penh Cambodia to thank. Why? When you go abroad, or somewhere that is not your own home country, it gives you a framework to think differently. This is why I think traveling and living abroad or even living nomadically is good for anybody who is passionate about innovation. Even Steve Jobs, his aesthetic visions for Apple products, the iPhone iPad etc. or come from his love of Kyoto, and sublimes zen aesthetics. Apple would have not been the Apple we know today if it weren’t Steve Jobs strange ascetic lifestyle experiments, walking around barefoot, eating nothing but fruit, not taking showers, doing weird meditation retreats in India, etc.
Therefore, think of yourself as an innovator. And it is your passion to innovate, not just purchase or consume. To create, to create new ideas, new concepts, new philosophies, to innovate and pioneer new techniques and approaches of doing things, this is your Archimedes lever and your way you can move the world.
Define happiness for yourself, and do a Vlog on it, and just upload to YouTube.
Write a blog post on your own personal definition of happiness, and your own thoughts on it.
Happiness as a means, not the final destination
I think I’m the only happy person I know. Maybe me and Seneca.
I think the common mistake that people make is that they think that happiness is the end goal. This is not true. Happiness is simply only a tool and a means toward something greater, towards artistic creation, innovation, entrepreneurship, etc.
Also, let us consider philosophy simply as a mental framework to challenge things, and to think more critically.
The other day I just did a very heavy rack pull, 635 pounds, which is six plates on each side, and the 25 on each side. The day after, I could feel it in my hips, my back around my butt area, and also my waist. And my upper back, and my biceps.
Why don’t more people do rack pulls? 
First of all, I have never witnessed anyone attempting a one rep max rack pull, that is, attempting to rack pull a very very heavy weight, for just a single repetition, near or at your maximum strength.
One theory I have on why more people do not do rack pulls is that it is not a competitive lift, it is not like a standardized lift which is done at weightlifting competitions. Therefore, powerlifters will probably not be very interested in that, if they compete.
Second, maybe people think that it is not an effective exercise for building muscle, or that it might not be a full body exercise. On the contrary, when I do very very heavy rack pulls, I could feel it in my whole body, just like a deadlift.
Third, perhaps people are afraid of hurting themselves? However I find it to be much more anatomically natural than unnaturally lifting a heavy weight or a barbell all the way on the floor. For myself, being taller at 5 foot 11, doing a deadlift off the floor feels insanely unnatural. I felt much more natural when I did a hex bar/trap bar deadlift with the elevated handles.
Maybe people think it is not difficult enough, and do not attempt it. Yet, assuming you’re not using straps, wrist straps or hand straps, and you are just using a normal grip or mixed grip with chalk, to simply even lift up the weight and have a strong enough grip is quite the challenge.
For example, I have been attempting to rock pool 635 pounds for quite a while now, and have been unsuccessful for about three weeks. After much diligent practice, I finally got it up. Therefore, in the early days my grip strength or my hand strength simply wasn’t enough, or my whole bodily strength wasn’t enough. I recommend you to just try it, put on seven plates on each side, and see if you can simply lift it off the rack.
An innovative thought that I had this morning is that if you think about it, there is a good hybrid mix and cross pollination between Street photography and being Spartan. That is, I believe street photography to be the most courageous form and approach of photography out there, maybe even more courageous than war photography, because in war photography or conflict photography or photojournalism, do you got a press badge. But in street photography, you don’t.
In street photography, you have no “reason“ or ultimate authority. What drives you instead is your own personal interest, guts, and ambition.
It is all about the attempt, and your own personal courage
Also I think there is a good crossover between weightlifting and courage, audacity in Street photography. That is, the stronger I get in the gym, and the more hypelifting I practice, the more courage I actually gain in street photography. Nowadays, I am far less fearful in the context of street photography now than I was in the past. Why? My personal theory is that with weightlifting, hypelifting, powerlifting, etc., it boosts your testosterone, your courage, your muscle, and helps you conquer the fear of failure, and also makes you more risk loving. Once you’re able to rack pull over six plates, and you find out that everything‘s OK, if you find out that you could really do anything.
Courage in street photography
Seek danger. That means in the context of street photography, try to put yourself into more situations or scenarios which require you to exhibit your courage.
For example, I’ve discovered in the context of weightlifting, I am not interested in attempting any sort of weightlifting style exercise in which I am 100% certain I will succeed. In fact, I am actually more interested when at the back of my head, there is a potential for failure. Why? Danger, risk, and adventure are all intertwined. If you already know you’re going to succeed at something 100%, before doing it, I have zero interest in doing it.
So maybe in Street Photography, the reason why it is so fun and interesting is because you never know what’s going to happen. Also, when you interact and engage with a person, when there is a risk of something going south, that is what makes it fun and interesting.
Therefore as a philosophical twist, maybe the only way to keep street photography fun and interesting for us is to keep seeking danger, social risk-taking, and uncomfortable situations.
Pragmatic ways to become more courageous in street photography
Intentionally try to get rejected: The assignment is approach the most unfriendly looking people, and ask to make a portrait of them. Do you have to keep asking until you get 10 people to intentionally reject you. The reason why this is such a powerful and effective approach is that once you get rejected at least 10 times, you actually find out that it wasn’t as bad as scary as you thought it would be. Also, often people who you think would reject you, actually end up saying OK. This is a good way to rewire your brain.
Learn to love risk: What is the best way to seek happiness? Love risk and danger. What is the secret to the happiest life? The life with the most danger and risk. That is seek a life and existence in which you expose yourself to the maximum amount of danger and risk, without losing a limb or dying.
So where is the best place to shoot street photography?
Go to where the people are! It depends on your environment and where you live. For example, if you’re in orange county, just go to the Irvine spectrum, where you have lots of people walking around, and lots of foot traffic. It looks like if you’re in the suburbs, the best place to go to is the mall.
It is a good idea to go to downtown areas if people are actually walking around.
April 15th, 2023 (Saturday): BERKELEY INSANE INNOVATION WORKSHOP — Learn to radically think outside the box, to channel innovation in your favor.
June 19-23rd, HADONG SOUTH KOREA ZEN PHOTO RETREAT // Stay updated here.
What do I want for Christmas this year?
Maybe as a minimalistic experience and thought process for the next year, best to tell people not to get you anything this year, and in respect, you also don’t give anyone anything this year.
Nice idea for a gift is give somebody a hand written card, telling them what you appreciate about them. Also a good hybrid approach is you could just write it out on a piece of paper, shoot a photo of it on your iPhone, and just text it to them.
What if I want to buy myself something?
Just buy yourself a Ricoh GR 3X, and/or an iPad Pro.
The future of street photography?
Now that COVID-19 has calm down a lot, and people are starting to travel again, I think it is a bright time and future for Street Photography. The iPhone Pro is excellent, and is a very capable tool for street photography. I still prefer a Ricoh GR IIIX over an iPhone, because the ergonomically are at least 10,000 times better.
But ultimately, anything that you shoot is good, and any tool that you use in Street Photography is also good. When in doubt just shoot it.
You have more control than you think you do. You have more choice than you think you do. Ultimately, everything is a choice, you just have to weigh the risks, the outcomes, etc.
I think it might have been Cato who refused to even take a horse, and would walk all the way to Rome by himself. That was his hard style of living and approach to life.
The other day when I rack pulled 635 pounds at the gym, a new personal record, I asked the guy who worked at the front desk for a hair tie or a rubber band, in order to tie up my T-shirt behind me, and roll it up into a crop top, so it wouldn’t get in the way when I was lifting.
And then I thought, why is it that it is so normal for women to wear crop tops, but not men?
If you’re a man, and you have a beer gut, then it makes sense to not wear a crop top, because nobody wants to see your stomach fat. But assuming you have a low body fat percentage, is there any downside to wearing a crop top?
The same thing goes with wearing short shorts, it is common for women to wear short shorts, or even wear tights at the gym in which you could literally see into their butt hole. But why is this not the case for men?
The first theory is sociological signaling theory. That is typically if you’re a gay man, the way that you signal that you are gay is that you dress in a certain way, in order to low-key signal that you are gay to other gay men. Typically this is done via the way you talk, the way you walk, the way you dress, even your color palette.
However, if you’re a straight heterosexual male like myself, why is there a fear to wear clothes that might be perceived as looking “gay� Or another words, is homophobia, and homophobic thinking in the context of men holding us back?
We are the new Spartans. That means, we are more indifferent to success or failure, we are more interested in courage and the attempt.
An innovative thought that I had this morning is that if you think about it, there is a good hybrid mix and cross pollination between Street photography and being Spartan. That is, I believe street photography to be the most courageous form and approach of photography out there, maybe even more courageous than war photography, because in war photography or conflict photography or photojournalism, do you got a press badge. But in street photography, you don’t.
In street photography, you have no “reason“ or ultimate authority. What drives you instead is your own personal interest, guts, and ambition.
It is all about the attempt, and your own personal courage
Also I think there is a good crossover between weightlifting and courage, audacity in Street photography. That is, the stronger I get in the gym, and the more hypelifting I practice, the more courage I actually gain in street photography. Nowadays, I am far less fearful in the context of street photography now than I was in the past. Why? My personal theory is that with weightlifting, hypelifting, powerlifting, etc., it boosts your testosterone, your courage, your muscle, and helps you conquer the fear of failure, and also makes you more risk loving. Once you’re able to rack pull over six plates, and you find out that everything‘s OK, if you find out that you could really do anything.
Courage in street photography
Seek danger. That means in the context of street photography, try to put yourself into more situations or scenarios which require you to exhibit your courage.
For example, I’ve discovered in the context of weightlifting, I am not interested in attempting any sort of weightlifting style exercise in which I am 100% certain I will succeed. In fact, I am actually more interested when at the back of my head, there is a potential for failure. Why? Danger, risk, and adventure are all intertwined. If you already know you’re going to succeed at something 100%, before doing it, I have zero interest in doing it.
So maybe in Street Photography, the reason why it is so fun and interesting is because you never know what’s going to happen. Also, when you interact and engage with a person, when there is a risk of something going south, that is what makes it fun and interesting.
Therefore as a philosophical twist, maybe the only way to keep street photography fun and interesting for us is to keep seeking danger, social risk-taking, and uncomfortable situations.
Pragmatic ways to become more courageous in street photography
Intentionally try to get rejected: The assignment is approach the most unfriendly looking people, and ask to make a portrait of them. Do you have to keep asking until you get 10 people to intentionally reject you. The reason why this is such a powerful and effective approach is that once you get rejected at least 10 times, you actually find out that it wasn’t as bad as scary as you thought it would be. Also, often people who you think would reject you, actually end up saying OK. This is a good way to rewire your brain.
Learn to love risk: What is the best way to seek happiness? Love risk and danger. What is the secret to the happiest life? The life with the most danger and risk. That is seek a life and existence in which you expose yourself to the maximum amount of danger and risk, without losing a limb or dying.
So where is the best place to shoot street photography?
And go to where the people are! It depends on your environment and where you live. For example, if you’re in orange county, just go to the Irvine spectrum, where you have lots of people walking around, and lots of foot traffic. It looks like if you’re in the suburbs, the best place to go to is the mall.
It is a good idea to go to downtown areas if people are actually walking around.
