I thought this morning… About modular clothing, modular cameras, Modular systems.

 so one of the big benefits of modular clothing, like using merino wool leggings paired with shorts, or even wearing vests, blazers, layers, linen long sleeves, linen tank tops or even linen shirts, is that… They are modular. You can mix and match as you want, when it gets too hot you could just take off modular layers, when it gets cold you can add on modular layers, button zippers, interchangeable things makes sense.

Even I’m having a problem with my lumix S9 camera,,,  mysteriously another day, the camera started to make a strange responsive clicking sound, and then it gave me an error message that I had to turn off the camera and then turn it on again. It’s essentially broken, not sure if a lens issue or a body issue or whatever… but at least the upside is, in theory… If it was just a lens issue I could just buy another lens which is a cheap fix, the body is a bigger issue… But at least you could break it down.

Vehicles

Once again this is the issue with the electric car or a Tesla or whatever… You cannot detach the engine from the body, it is all one modular system. Kind of like an iPhone with wheels.

And this is still where… I am very suspicious of iPhone, because once again… Once you purchased it you can’t upgrade it anymore, you cannot swap out the parts or whatever… you’re essentially stuck.

Therefore the ideal strategy with iPhone is, in theory purchased the cheapest iPhone like the iPhone E,,, but, have like the maximum storage because down the road you’re probably going to run out of storage. And actually storage issues are a bigger issue than processing power. For example on my iPhone SE,,, I got the middle option which was 128 GB, 164 GB was the base… And already I hit the limit so many times. I should’ve just spent a few extra hundred bucks and got the maximum storage knowing that down the line… Storage would be an issue.

Modular capital

I think this is also where bitcoin is fascinating because… You could infinitely break down bitcoins into Satoshi’s or any infinitely small amount. Like for example, you cannot break down 1/10 of an apartment on fifth Avenue to sell or rent out or use as collateral… But you could do it with bitcoin.

So with bitcoin it becomes fasting because… Whether you have .1, .5, 12345678 910, 1112 1314 1516 1718 1920, 21 2223 2425 316 728 2930, 42, 84, 164, whatever… You could break it down infinitesimally.

Why modular?

Better to have more focused and concentrated wealth and capital, than more yet less focused wealth and capital?

Goals?

So the first insight: certainly number go up is a great feeling. To see your Whether you measure it in US dollars or bitcoins or whatever.

However, if we think about this critically… Typically the idea is that the more wealth you have the more you have the more powerful you feel, the more happy and joyful you feel, the more secure you feel, the more pride you feel etc. but is this the case? 

Numbers

For example, let us say that you have $500, thousand dollars, $5000, $10,000, $20,000, $40,000, $80,000, $100,000, $200,000, 20 $50,000, $500,000, 700,000, 800,000, 1 million, 2 million, 3 million, 4 million, 10 million, 20 million, 50 million, 100 million, 200 million, 500 million, 1 billion, 2 billion etc. At what point do you feel strong and prosperous?

Framing

Certainly it is all a framing and inquiring thing. For example, once you hit a certain number, you become fixated on that number, and truth be told… It is very difficult to shake yourself from that number. I know this especially in bodybuilding and weightlifting and powerlifting, it is all about numbers. Like bodybuilders want to weigh 200 pounds with a six pack, power lifters want to dead lift over 1000 pounds etc., numbers matter.

Why? Typically the numbers and the feeling of progress is happiness. Yet, consider;

What’s better? Somebody who starts with $500 in their checking account and then gets $10,000, or somebody who has $50 million in their Investments and sees it go down to like 9 million?

The person in the first scenario because, once again… It is like the relative growth and the percentage growth up or down which matters the most.

Spartan grim perspective

We Spartans don’t ask how many are the enemy… We ask where they are.

a man once telling the Spartans, the enemy is close by! In the Spartan smiles and says, then also… they are close to us.

towards a more Dionysian line of thinking, perhaps some sort of grim and dark humor is actually beneficial?

a Persian emissary saying — “our arrows shall blot out the sun!” Spartan: “Then we shall fight in the shade”.

If you think about it, life real life, assuming that you’re an entrepreneur, risk taker, and or risk loving human being… It’s impossible to go throughout all of life without some sort of damage or wounds, or to suffer in injuries from attacks?

Hyper growth

 I actually had a really optimistic thought last night, the idea of hyper growth. That deep severe wounds are actually insanely desirable because… They are the hyper stimulus to our hyper growth and that is what matters the most?

ERIC

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I’m never satisfied can’t match my hustle.

Perhaps this is the funny thing about… Sometimes when you have enough, it’s not enough. And sometimes when it is not enough, actually… It is enough?

what’s in your power and what is not in your power?

So certain things which are not in your power: macro economics, the stock market, bitcoin, price, etc. Therefore, as a simple principle… Economic, wealth, and power is maybe like 50% in your control? Because you do have agency you do have a choice in control, however… You do not have 100% power over it.

What do you have 100% power over?  you have 100% ambition, and control of your hustle.

The principle of life

I think the principle of life is overcoming any and every obstacle, the deepest of hells, the most sublime tragedies.

Dionysian ecstasy

OK, I’m not gonna lie… This might be one of the most difficult points to make:

What if… The worst most extreme tragedies in real life, magnified by 1 million… Or in fact, the stimulus is for supreme Joy gratitude and Thanksgiving…?

is life about gratitude?

In some ways… There are many unknown unknown… Unknown tragedies, like the loss of life… Which is in fact, the most supreme tragedies of them all.

I used to think that economic loss was the worst, but it is not. Human life is the worst.

Even Marcus Aurelius meditated much on this –> apparently he had like, lost almost all 10 of his kids , and if you think about it… Being emperor is no easy task.

do you want to be the emperor?

I suppose the big question is… whether you would want to be emperor or not.

I suppose the good thing is when you think about the treasury of the empire… You depersonalize it… It is not your treasury or your wealth, but the both of the empire. And therefore, it is your task to manage it as Wesely as possible, not for your own benefit, but for the benefit of the empire.

a wise empire?

Marcus Aurelius was the last good emperor, maybe the only one.

I think the reason why his meditations are so pure is because he just wrote them for himself, Autotelic, in order to give him some personal tranquility. Therefore everything he writes is raw and honest because these were not intended to be published, it was kind of more of like a private journal or diary he wrote for himself.

hyper stimulus

The other day I did a trap bar deadlift of over 1000 pounds, and, obviously, I am very sore, the evening of, and onto the next day. Fortunately, I ate well, got some good digestive movements this morning, slept well, etc.

So the first thought is, the supreme thing to monitor is health, biological health.

When we think about money and wealth… It is almost like tokens or points or a measure of health.

So when we established or frame a certain amount of wealth, as being like 100% health and vitality… That becomes our new anchor point, and any deviation from that weather up or down is seen as gain or loss.

According to Nietzsche ,,, if we think about this more deeply or more critically… Assuming a world of no gain or no loss. This is a powerful idea.

how to reframe or re-anchor your thinking

I think this is where supreme thinking, philosophy comes into play.

Honestly, I don’t really have a clear answer for you… The only advice I could give is try to walk 30,000 steps a day, think deeply about it, right about it, jot down some notes, maybe even vlog about it ,,, give yourself at least a month or two or three, or even more… Six months, nine months, a year… Four years, a decade or two. Maybe you’ll never get over it and that is OK.

I think the grounding principle is, how to transform suffering pain into a positive obstacle for both and strengthening.

Weightlifting is an interesting metaphor because… You actually need a grand dosage of pushing yourself to the limit and also exceeding your limit, and then the pain actually ends up feeling good?

For example, as a bodybuilder… Bodybuilders only ever really feel satisfied if the next day they feel sore, delayed onset muscle soreness.

However, maybe then it is a reinterpretation of our pain. That, whenever we feel deep pain, or tragedy… For us to transform that into a Dionysian smile,,,, And the truth is, perhaps a little bit of madness, disconnection with reality, or sort of grim optimism is necessary here?

the more extreme the circumstance, the more extreme the remedy?

Another thought from Marcus Aurelius ,,, honestly at the end of the day… You’re not that important, nor does your biological flesh body self need much.

It’s kind of interesting how a lot of our pain and suffering is situated in our brain, which I suppose is connected to the nerves, it must be 100% physiological in the body, our nerves, our hormones, our blood, etc.

Therefore, I don’t really think that thinking away your problems is actually an effective solution. It must be bodily and physiological. Once again, 30,000 steps today, insanely heavy, weightlifting every day, fasting, strong, coffee, and stimulants in the morning, 100% robusta or some really strong green tea or Matcha, sun exposure, heat exposure, cold exposure, hot sauna, hot yoga, cold showers, jumping into a swimming pool etc.

Ambition for what

I think the desire to desire to be the best is a noble one. This ambition is what drove me to become the number one street photographer blogger on the planet.

When you exceed a certain goal, then the next step is, maybe discovering or uncovering new domains to conquer.

I think a lot of people know me now as a philosopher and follow me for my stoicism, which I made a strong impact in, I’m certainly not number one in this domain, but maybe I should strive to be?

hustle

Hustle is interesting because, it’s like having that burning ambition and fire, to do something grand, to do something great, to exceed yourself in your own expectations, for the sake of it? Once again… Autotelic. 

are goals a trap?

I think, having some sort of general realistic goal or guiding principle is a good one… But certainly… Lacks something.

Even with economic financial goals, I could personally attest… Even when you set an ambitious goal, and you hit it, ,,, You never satisfied, you’re not satisfied. You will always want more.

Obstacles, loss, downsides… Drawdowns, are precisely what you desire?

For example, bitcoin… Without a violent 50% drawdowns, you cannot have a violent 50% rise.

Maybe also thinking about this from a life, philosophy idea, we actually desire the drawdowns, the supreme tragedies, in order to hyper stimulate our growth?

Dionysian gratitude 

So I suppose the closing thought is this: a Dionysian sense of gratitude is, tragic, but in a beautiful, joyful way? 

LOVE THE PAIN & TRAGEDY!!!

ERIC

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Ok, kind of a big thought while here in Cambodia: the idea that… everything that we do… is simply for the sake of itself… Or better yet, for the sake of ourselves?

Beyond the sake of extracting maximum economic value from yourself

So I think this is a big thought especially while leaving the states –>

So the first big idea is, in America… Essentially we quantify our value in terms of economic value. I think structurally the reason why this is the case is because,… The truth is, America’s actually kind of a middle class society… And also the truth is, even the act of living and paying the bills is actually very difficult. And actually the true insight I have is it doesn’t matter how rich you are in America… You will always feel poor because there’s somebody far more rich than you… Or even worse, somebody who seems richer than you because they have more expensive vehicles or whatever’s, but in fact, you actually may be richer or wealthy or better often than them. 

Asia

So I just met some 23 year-old International Khmer-Cambodian-Canadian kids, more or less we’re raised here, in the elite illuminati. And rich Khmer Cambodian people make American rich people look poor. For example, one of the 23-year-old guys that I met, one of his friends from school who is also like 23 years old… Owns a Bugatti Chiron, and also, his other friend just bought seven Rolls-Royce cullinan suv cars ,,, all in each color tone, with his moms written on the side of it.

Also… It seems that he has at least five friends with Lamborghini Aventador’s, and growing up was super normal for him to ride around in Lamborghinis with his buddies.

Even the gym that I go to every day here in Cambodia, just saw a Lamborghini urus casually parked in front.

why does this matter

So I think in America… Our sense of self-worth is typically assigned to some sort of economical numerical value. And this seems to be a very very fragile position to be in because, like if the markets are up or down or whatever… These are things which are outside your control, so from a stoic perspective, it doesn’t really make sense to outsource your self-esteem to the markets because once again… You could be the most insightful trader or investor in the world but, Black Swan events like a random war or other random happenings… These things are outside our control.

doing things for the sake of it or investing in ourselves

So I’m currently prototyping some interesting 100% all black linen clothing, shirts tank tops and also shorts because… The first motive I have is for myself, like I wanna make insanely great or the best possible clothing items that best suits my fitness lifestyle every day needs.

I spent like hundreds of thousands of dollars on stupid Lululemon clothing, and other elite fitness brand attire,  and it’s funny because… I think the traditional thought is, clothing attire stuff like that as soon as very very unimportant and superficial but, I actually think, the clothes that you wear actually may be more important than your iPhone, your iPad, your laptop, your car, your watch etc. After your clothing, perhaps your shoes, ideally some sort of zero drop minimalist Vibram five finger style shoes, is more important.

So the first thought: create the products and the services which you desire to see manifested in the world, the first motive is to just serve yourself. 

Also, I think when you are starting off and prototyping things, I don’t think that the economic motive is actually the primary driver because… The truth is, prototyping new products or trying to introduce you products to the world or the marketplace, it is impossible to know that there will be any demand or people are actually willing to pay money for it. But I guess… If you’re curious enough to find out, or you know… You simply do it for the sake of it.

towards Autotelic self development

What is the most important thing for us to invest in? Not the markets but ourselves.

I think an American Society… Our economic value is more important than our self value or our self-determined value. That idea is investing time into ourselves to either build up our philosophical thinking… Or our bodily fitness is seen as a waste of time unless it equates to some sort of economic output. For example… Exercise is only justified if it helps “reduce our stress levels“, in order for us to work harder and earn more capital.

Same thing goes with philosophy… Even though philosophy may be the supreme field, higher than economics, to study philosophy or to be a philosopher or whatever… Is seen as wasted effort unless once again, it equates to some sort of economic output value.

end games and goals

On a base basic level, certainly there are simple things we gotta do like pay the rent, pay for groceries, pay the mortgage or whatever. But beyond this… It actually seems more important for us to preserve our freedom. If there’s a certain point in which earning more money or capital … Leads you to enslaving yourself, it actually is not worth it. 

For example… If you think about the ancient Spartans, what did they care for? All they care for was their freedom, their small lots of land, and just spending the rest of their time and the day on military exercises, presumably working out topless outside, during target practice with helots, playing music reading poetry philosophy related stuff, and that was it. It seemed that they limited their acquisition goals, like when each Spartan just owned a small plot of land, that was it, that is all he needed, and then they just kind of stopped at that point.

In America… There are no limits, it doesn’t matter if you have 1 million 2 million 5 million 10 million 100 million 1 billion 500 billion whatever, enough is never enough.

Life goals

According to Nietzsche, the purpose of life is for more power. I do think that this is pretty accurate, but, maybe it’s not just economic power but other types of power.

For example, physical physiological fitness power, art artistic creative power, philosophical mind power, and also more Zen power, tranquility power. 

Also the power to be present.

Why does this all matter?

Concentration and focus. Like for example in Los Angeles… Just thinking consider, how much mind soul time attention power is wasted on thinking about the automobile you drive?

In Asia, Cambodia Phnom Penh in particular, this is essentially a non-thought. Like literally… If someone just gave me a free Lamborghini Aventador here in Cambodia I would probably refuse it because, A: functionally speaking it’s just kind of impossible to drive on the streets, 2) I don’t really trust myself driving is here anyways because the visibility is so poor, and 3)–> I actually love riding in a ramorque tuk-tuk open aired, skinny tiny vehicle, rather than being in a stuffy car with no view and the air-conditioning on?

Centering and focusing on yourself

I think spending large chunks of time abroad, in Asia southeast Asia wherever… Maybe 3 to 6 months, maybe even a year… Is very formative because once again, you could just like focus 100% of your energy into self development and self advancement.

For the year that I went off the grid in Vietnam, just reading philosophy for like eight hours a day and spending all my time writing and thinking, was probably one of the most formative years in my life because, it caused me to question everything, and to evolve my thinking and my soul? 


End goals?

I think on the super basic level… The purpose of life is, like getting married having kids, making sure your kids thrive, because the life of your children is far more important than your own life. And even if you decide not to have kids, or cannot or are in a position in which it just doesn’t happen, that’s cool too because you could always adopt, foster, or just turn your artwork or your writing into your metaphorical children. I think ultimately mankind we seek some sort of legacy or thing that outlives us? 

ERIC

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