It seems in life, discovering what we want is critical. Once we discover what we want, then everything else falls neatly into place.
For example, let us say that our passion is photography, art, travel creativity, and other things. Then the question is, what is it that we want out of it?
First, I think we want to live a more interesting life. To not just stay in the same bubble or place, but to travel to different places, nomad around, explore new territories, etc.
Traveling is good for us. Why? Traveling forces us to re-challenge our typical way of approaching things, and allows us to innovate new approaches. For example, weightlifting, I discovered all these new techniques and approaches when I was living in Phnom Penh Cambodia, at a different type of gym. For example, I discovered the high handle trap bar, the open hex bar, and also, because the gym was empty and devoid of any other humans, I was able to just focus more and innovate and experiment with new types of lifts.
Also, I think there is some sort of deep connection between man and his environment in so far much as novel environments stimulate us. There is this funny bias and Zen and Buddhism, and maybe Puritan American Protestant ethic that says:
You should be grateful for what you have, instead of what you don’t have.
I am starting to realize that this is a weak and small way of thinking. Instead, to reach our apex of development, we must explore new territories new places etc.
The physical is underrated?
Physics, the physical, the real world. Our bodies are physical, the connections in our body is physical, the electricity and blood in our bodies are physical, the hormones in our body or physical, etc.
Our bodies are physical.
Why is it that in today’s world, there seems to be a bias against the physical? There is this overdevelopment of the “mental“ faculties, for example, the focus on studying, schooling, information, â€work†etc.
And where does this bias originate? My theory is that it is this general Quaker protestant American, western, Judaism, Christian, Islamic thought of an afterlife; the thought that is after we die, our soul and our mind remains, but the body dies.
As a consequence, the negative bias is that the body doesn’t really matter. The general gist that they try to propose is this:
Yeah yeah yeah, the body is kind of important. Just do the bare minimum to maintain it, in order to do more virtuous things, related to good works, the mind, spirituality, “the soul“, etc.
As a consequence, it seems that in today’s modern-day world, 99.9% of our efforts is around optimizing for our mind. In order to be more “productive“, to “work“ more, to make more money, to build more capital, to accumulate more, purchase and consume more, etc.
A more physical life?
What I love most about photography, street photography, traveling, etc. is this: the focus on the physical. This means our ability to walk, use our legs, explore new geospatial spaces, etc.
For example, when you’re traveling in on the world, what is the most essential in critical Tim? Your legs, your body. Your physicality.
This is why I believe that when it comes to traveling, some things which are really important include maximizing your mobility. Vibram five fingers shoes, some sort of athletic pants, shorts, and leggings (I like the lululemon vital Drive compression half short leggings, and the Lululemon license to train shorts, with zippers in the front and the back pocket.) And also, clothing that doesn’t get in your way, as simple as when you’re traveling, just wear a T-shirt, some sort of either merino wool T-shirt, I like the Outlier.nyc merino wool T-shirt, or even the Lululemon “metal vent†t shirt. Or a merino wool blend t shirt — clothing which does not restrict your mobility.
Also, the biggest benefit of traveling insanely light, and not bringing too much stuff is it usually practical one; don’t think of it like some sort of virtuous minimalistic thing, just think practically:
The less stuff you carry with you when you travel, the more mobility you have, the further you can venture without exhaustion and fatigue, the more you could conquer, etc.
Simple ways to travel light is when you are on the road, leave your laptop at home, just bring along your iPad Pro, the smaller one.
Also, with your camera, the most small camera viably possible, currently speaking, the Ricoh GR 3X digital camera. I still think it is a quadrillion times better than any other camera on the market, irregardless of price.
Now what?
Once you have become a bitcoin billionaire, once you have total life freedom, then what?
My personal thought and intervention is that then, you can use your stability and security to simply pursue things which are more interesting to you, and to go bigger.
New epic life goals?
I think the reason why Elon Musk and Kanye West are such a great inspiration and motivation to me is this; it is precisely their “craziness“, or their “detachment from reality“, which is fun and interesting to me.
For example, if a decade or two ago, Elon Musk said that he would start an electric car company, and a space company, people would think he is high on crack. But now that he has done did it, now other people, small people, find other things to criticize him about, simply because they hate that they are no match for him.
Become crazier and more audacious?
So then, the next step is this:
Given your insane uberabundance, what do you want to do?
My epic life goals
Another funny irony is that I have discovered that after achieving all of my life goals and dreams, I no longer really have any life goals or dreams anymore. Simply on a daily, weekly, or monthly level, I simply want to pursue things which are personal interesting to me. Whatever is interesting to me at the moment.
For example, what is currently interesting to me is thinking about the body, physique, powerlifting 2.0, and more strongman-style weight lifting and training.
For example, I just did an atlas lift of nine plates, and a 2.5 pound plate on each side, effectively maxing out the bar, assuming that I’m using clips on each side for “safety“. 865 pounds.
The reason why this is so interesting to me is that currently speaking, I don’t think anyone in the world has had as interesting thoughts and innovative thoughts on weight lifting, diet health and fitness, etc.
For example, I think I am the first and only person that I know, maybe even in the world who does powerlifting style lifts, one rep max while fasted. I never eat breakfast or lunch, only one massive dinner, I typically break my fast around 8 PM. And also for the most part, I am 100% carnivore. I also don’t take any supplements, not even protein powder!
My big innovations:
- Everyone says that you need to eat some sort of sugar or carbs, but I have proven that to be false. I consume no carbohydrates, no sugar and no starches, no “vegetablesâ€, no “fruitâ€, or even “fiber“, And it is fine, I am still able to poop at least once or twice every day.
- People always say that you have to eat something before lifting really heavy weights, like a small snack, or even a way protein shake. I’ve also discovered this to be totally false; before I go to the gym, for the whole day I have consumed nothing, the only thing I drank was black coffee and water.
- I think I am the only person that I personally know who lifts so heavy, who does one rep max style lifting, who doesn’t use any sort of straps, hand or wrist straps, or weight lifting belt, knee wraps, knee sleeves, etc.
Theory —
The best way to distinguish yourself is on what you do NOT do, rather than what you do do.
Art photography
Recently, my Ricoh GR 3X went kaput, it doesn’t even charge or turn on anymore. Therefore for last month or so, I was just experimenting with my iPhone SE, the built-in camera app, the noir mode, and the photographic styles putting on rich contrast, and also the provoke app.
Typically speaking, I actually do believe that it is possible to make artistic and also beautiful photos on an iPhone, even an iPhone SE. Certainly you could also do it on the iPhone Pro. However, this is what I discovered:
To make artistic and beautiful photos, aesthetically pleasing photos on an iPhone, or a smartphone is more difficult, as it requires more “massaging“ of the images.
For example, when I’d shoot with a Ricoh GR 3 or 3X, in high contrast black-and-white monochrome mode, with the contrast to max, the JPEG images out of camera already look 1000 times better than the iPhone photos. You could make the iPhone photos look beautiful as well, but it requires more post processing, adjusting the contrast and black-and-white points, etc.
Also, third-party camera apps on the iPhone are not well integrated into the iOS. That is from the lock screen, it is very difficult to “quick draw“, the camera app. Even the built-in iPhone camera app, having to push and hold the camera icon on the bottom right corner is another layer of friction. My simple proposal is this:
iPhone “quick draw†camera mode: to have some sort of setting in the camera app that when you just take your phone out of your pocket it automatically opens the camera app.
Also something else I discovered; the benefit of having a standalone digital camera, like a pocketable digital RICOH GR camera in your front right pocket is that when you are using GPS on your iPhone to get somewhere, you can still take pictures.
For example, something that I was doing was when I am driving and I see something interesting while I am stuck at a stoplight, I will shoot a photo by taking my Ricoh GR out of my front right pocket, and just shooting it, or even turning around and shooting photos a Seneca or Cindy on my right.
Black and white
Certainly you can make very beautiful photos in color as well as black and white. But why is it that I prefer black and white? For myself, it is all about option Allotey. That means, I just see more photo opportunities in black-and-white than I do in color.
Color is tricky, especially in the context of high ISO photography. Aesthetically speaking, when you should color photos at a high ISO, the photos look pretty ugly. However if you shoot high ISO photos in black-and-white, the photos still look beautiful.
Also the big things that we do not see the world in black-and-white. Therefore, black-and-white photos are intrinsically interesting, as I did automatically looks different.
Then, perhaps art photography is this; transfigurating the world to look different.
Now what?
Some ideas:
- If you want honest feedback on your photos, upload them to arsbeta.com
- Start your own blog. Bluehost.com and install WordPress.org
- Zen of Eric WHY APP?