In trying to discover the ideal mode of conduct, a critique of Stoicism:

In becoming more Stoic and hard, it stunts your power.

For example, some thing a lot of stoics talk about, like Seneca is about anger (ira). The stoic sage says that the wise Stoic will not feel anger, or succumb to anger. However, what if anger was simply another source of our power? That actually, unleashing our anger was a good thing, as it does not unnaturally close off a valve of our power?

Imagine anger like a fire hose. Maybe it is a wise idea to unleash the valve, and let the anger out, and get on with your life rather than unnaturally restricting it.

Stoicism and love

Another thing— in becoming more stoic, does this actually decrease our capacity to love with depth?

For example, the more controlled and Stoic you become, and the less you succumb to your anger, perhaps this also restricts our capacity to love to a deeper depth or a greater height.

STOICISM 101

Become invincible:

1. Stoicism is Mental Resistance Training
2. STOIC STRATEGIES.
3. How to Become Fearless
4. Extreme Stoicism
5. Ethics are Aesthetic
6. Indifference to Pain or Suffering
7. When is Stoicism Good? When is Stoicism Bad?
8. Why Others Criticize or Insult You
9. True Difficulty
10. What if Covid Never Goes Away?
11. SUPER STOIC
12. Anti-Hedonism
13. HOW TO CONQUER FEAR
14. ANTI FEAR
15. It is the Duty of the Strong to Help the Weak
16. The Goal is to Become Stronger
17. HYPER STOICISM
18. HYPER HERO
19. TRANSFORM EVERY DOWNSIDE INTO AN UPSIDE
20. STOICISM x Child’s Mind
21. The Art of Manly Virtue
22. Resistance Makes Us Stronger!
23. DON’T LIVE IN FEAR
24. Emotions are Good
25. Conquer Your Anger
26. BLACK EAGLE
27. DIFFICULTY AWAKENS YOUR INNER-GENIUS.
28. STOICISM IS ARMOR FOR THE MIND
29. The Spartan-Stoic Lifestyle
30. How I Conquered Fear
31. HOW TO CURE FEAR.
32. LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL.
33. The Upside of Poverty
34. How I Became Me
35. THE WILL TO POWER, OR THE WILL TO FEAR?
36. ATTACK REALITY
37. Living *THROUGH* History
38. How to Fear Less
39. Fear is the Ultimate Contagious Disease
40. STOICISM FOR DUMMIES
41. Don’t Be Scared!
42. WHAT CAN YOU CONTROL, WHAT CAN YOU NOT CONTROL?
43. HOW YOU CAN CONQUER FEAR
44. YOU’RE STRONGER THAN YOU THINK YOU ARE.
45. EXPECT THE UNEXPECTED
46. WHY AREN’T THINGS WORSE?
47. My Philosophy on Masculinity
48. A Riskier Life is a Better Life #philosophy #stoicism
49. How to Creatively Flourish in Life
50. Introduction to Stoicism
51. How to Become Stronger
52. How to Conquer Depression With Photography
53. What Doesn’t Kill You Makes You Stronger
54. How to Respect Yourself
55. How to Believe in Yourself
56. How to Steer Fear
57. How to Conquer Pessimism
58. How to Conquer Anxiety
59. How to Overcome Your Fear of People
60. How to Be Optimistic
61. Why I Don’t Take My Anger Seriously
62. HOW TO BECOME MORE POWERFUL
63. POSITIVITY.
64. HOW TO BECOME SUPERHUMAN
65. How to Give a Fuck Less
66. ALL IN.
67. Why I Cut My Dad Out of My Life.
68. Your iPhone Only Has 5% Battery Left.
69. How not to give a FUCK about your REPUTATION
70. WHAT IS A HUMAN?
71. HAPPINESS.
72. The Regret Minimization Framework in Photography and Life
73. How to Be a HERO
74. Conquer Your Fears by Making Fear Your Slave
75. Rule Circumstances; Don’t Let Your Circumstances Rule You
76. How to Love Yourself
77. How to Turn Shit into Gold
78. Your Parents Fuck You Up
79. Immortality
80. What Kills You Makes You Stronger
81. How to Be Patient
82. How to Conquer Anger
83. How to Bounce Back in Life
84. How to Overcome Resistance
85. Nothing Unlimited is Good; Nothing Good is Unlimited
86. You Have No Limits
87. Can 1’s and 0’s Hurt You?
88. The Envious Moment is Flying Now
89. Tomorrow We’ll Sail the Wide Seas Again
90. How to Forgive Others
91. Focus on Your Actions, Not the Results
92. Everything Will Be Alright
93. How to Be a Stoic Street Photographer
94. How to Be a Spartan Photographer
95. How to Overcome Your Fears in Life
96. How to Stop Worrying in Life
97. How to Use Photography as Self-Therapy
98. How to Free Your Soul From Disturbance
99. 3 Stoic Techniques that Can Help You Gain Tranquility
100. Can People Weaker than You Hurt You?
101. Does a Doctor Get Angry at a Crazy Patient?
102. Own Nothing

The Stoic Masters

Learn from the master stoics:

• Seneca
• Marcus Aurelius
• Epictetus
• Publilius Syrus
• Heraclitus

See all philosophy >

The Ricoh GR 3X is currently the best camera out there, both for creativity, artisticness, etc.

What makes one a happier photographer?

1. Shooting a lot. This means, having a camera as small and compact as possible, that fits in your front right pocket, and in which you don’t even think about shooting; whenever you see something, you simply respond and just shoot it.

Authority means author. You are the author and self authority to your own life.

Also, you must advocate for your kids, and protect your kids and wife.

I photographed the birth of Seneca with the Ricoh GR 3, and after my Ricoh GR3 died, I am currently using the Ricoh GR IIIX and I love it. The camera keeps surprising me how insanely good it is, even though there are lots of problems with it.

When the weather is interesting outside, a bit overcast, before or after the rain, the way that the Ricoh GR 3X is able to render the tones is incredible:

Or, something to consider is how grateful I am for the Ricoh GR 3X to have captured so many wonderful moments of Seneca. I think the GR IIIX is the best family camera, as well as the best artistic and creative camera in general.

Because we love the “new”.

This is why Twitter is such a great idea and investment for the future; the future news will be up to the second.

If it is not updated daily, or even hourly or up the minute, it is not updated enough.

Crypto, crypto currency. Information.

The reason I love vlogging so much; a more natural way to share your thoughts.

Why I like vlogging with gopro

Turn off the front LCD display. And disable the blinking lights. This helps you focus more.

Lose self-consciousness

The ultimate goal is to be able to stream your thoughts unobstructed, no self-consciousness.

Videopress with WordPress

Not just YouTube; YouTube is becoming a cesspool.

Podcast Video?

Something very interesting with anchor.fm, which is owned by Spotify; the ability to do video podcasts. Considering that YouTube is becoming a bit of a mess, it seems that video podcasts will be a good way to cut through the clutter.

ERIC KIM ANCHOR PODCASTS

Just make a podcast

Another avenue to make your information more durable long term!

Recent podcasts

Sidebars and multiple columns — anaemic design thinking.

VIDEO PODCAST

PODCAST

AUDIO

Perhaps best to approach life like combat?

The Philosophy of Expansion

Dear friends, a thought on my mind, expansion. Why is expansion important, and how does this apply to us?

What is expansion?

To spread out. ”Peth”.

To fly. Imagine the image of one spreading their wings. I think this is also the appeal of the gull wing doors on the Tesla model X, or, “billionaire doors”, in which when you’re about to enter your vehicle, your car doors expands their wings, making a great grand opening for you.

Or, think about how LeBron James does infamous chalk clap above his head. This is him spreading his wings.

So the first thought is this: why is it important for us to spread our wings?

First of all, my personal thought is that nobody likes to feel restricted. Nobody likes the idea of a glass ceiling. And I think this is what drives entrepreneurs, and companies; ever expansion.

What do bodybuilders want?

For example, I think what bodybuilders want is for them to ever expand their muscles. The bodybuilder has no interest how buff they currently are, they are interested in how buff they can become.

Where is this most conducive?

So the question that is this: is there an ideal place, state, country, nation or city which best promotes the opportunity for expansion?

Typically, the best places to be are the up-and-coming areas. Emerging markets, emerging places.

For example, the place you do not want to be is a place which is already tapped out. You do not want to be in San Francisco, New York, Los Angeles, etc. If you’re a developer, it is wise to go to where the puck will go, not where the puck currently is.

For example, there is actually a lot of space still in Southern California. It looks like new emerging places might include Victorville, and Placentia.

Or, Asia and Southeast Asia. I am currently here in Phnom Penh Cambodia, and there is still lots of opportunity for development and growth in Cambodia.

Economic Leverage

Also, one of the good thoughts about expansion in emerging markets is this; economic leverage. For example, Cindy and I currently have the benefit of living in a four-star hotel, for only about $50 a night. I think back in the states, the equivalent might be at least 200 or $300 a night.

The why I am able to see the “purchasing power parity” is this; figure out what a local service industry worker earns a month, and do the math. For example, here in Phnom Penh, it seems that the average restaurant worker might only earn $100 USD a month. And even an elementary school teacher here— university educated, only earns $250 USD a month. Therefore out of my personal math, your US dollar goes at least 10 times as far here in Cambodia.

This makes sense. Why would you live somewhere in which your dollar doesn’t go as far?

Creative expansion

In the context of creativity, I like the idea in which you could expand your mind, and also expand your avenues for creativity. This means, do not silo yourself into a single creative ghetto.

For example, why is it that photographers pigeonhole themselves into such a small category? This is also the same for all artists.

Also the bad thing is that certain artists feel like they need to look the part. For example, if you want to be well regarded as a poet, it seems that one feels pressure to look the part. For example, a poet; somebody who looks scraggly, emaciated, addicted to drugs and alcohol, long hair, And has this aura of being perpetually distressed.

also, kids are getting to skateboarding. Why is it that you must wear vans sneakers, where baggy pants, garage your hair, have a bagged T-shirt etc.? Why not wear Lululemon tights, and under Armour compression T-shirt?

Also some thing I’m starting to realize that streetwear is the new emo; kids who get into streetwear feel like they all need to look antisocial, always have their head stuck down on their phones, and be incommunicable.

Also, women who are into yoga; why are they all pressured to wear Lululemon tights, and sports bras? Why not baggy pants instead?

How to expand yourself creatively

Become more creatively promiscuous. This means, sleep around creatively.

For example, dabble in any sort of creative endeavors which has personal interest to you. 3-D sculpture with nomadsculpt on iPad or iPhone, digital illustrations with procreate, digital calligraphy with zen brush 2, making beats (GarageBand), etc.

Also, dance.

What are you so scared of?

Success is a trap. When you become successful, you are afraid of losing your success. Also, you are afraid of losing your views, followers, fans, and identity. Truly creatures artist an elevator is not afraid of self cannibalization.

Even Steve Jobs, one book he was very interested in was the “innovators dilemma;” once you’ve innovated and become successful and on the top — what traps do innovators fall into?

The innovators dilemma is this:

The way you were initially able to innovate, and become wildly successful, is that you ignored all conventions.

However, once you’re on the top, you are afraid of losing your foothold. Therefore, rather than continually doing radical innovation, you become more risk-averse, and stick to the tried-and-true, and focus on iteration instead.

For example, consider the new iPhone Pro. There is nothing really radically innovative about it; the form factor is the same, only big innovation is the “dynamic island“ concept, which essentially means just creating a little bit more space for the display to breathe, something that technically Samsung has had forever. Also, a bad sign; when corporations start to use old marketing lingo; talking about how design and engineering meet.

Is iteration bad?

Question: would you rather be a Tesla, or a Toyota?

Toyota has worked with a kaizen approach; making their cars 3% better, indefinitely. The downside of this is that it creates generally boring cars.

Far better to be a Tesla, when you start carte blanche (vlog), from scratch. Podcast.

Radical innovation

What does it mean to be radically innovative? It means you think very very deeply about first principles, and create your own idealized thing.

For example, my initial vision for arsbeta.com; a double blind experiment for photos.

Also to think philosophically:

Rather than how to do something, should you do something?

Should you expand?

There is an interesting story about this mystic from India who was talking to Alexander the Great.

The story was this: when Alexander the great asked the mystic for some advice, the mystic simply took out a piece of dried calfskin, the one that crawls upwards, and pushed down on every single side. As the mystic pressed on other sides of the calf skin, other parts would raise, and other parts would fall.

Essentially the just was this; in trying to over expand, you lose it all.

Even if you think about history, colonialism doesn’t seem to work. “Great” Britain lost her foothold all around the world, in trying to overexpand into India. Also, even if you think about the French; their expansion into Southeast Asia, in Indochina, might have indirectly led to their demise. France should have simply taken care of matters back home.

It seems that it only makes sense to expand if back home, you’re already wildly successful and solid. Otherwise, expanding into other places will only weaken you.

For example, do not try to fix someone else’s house, if your own house is in shambles. In direct terms:

First focus on the well-being of your own direct family, a.k.a. your kid and wife, before trying to “help” other people.

This is where I get very very suspicious of people who do missionary work; are you leaving your kid and wife behind back home, in order to do evangelize abroad? This seems foolish.

When is the right time to expand?

Once you’re on top, expand.

For example, once I became number one on Google for Street Photography, I realize that it was wise for me to expand into other topics. For example, expanding into photography entrepreneurship, and also photography philosophy.

Even now, I’m very interested in photography innovation, photography motivation (video), and other pursuits. Creative photography.

The motivated photographer.

Expand yourself

Self expansion means:

Once you’ve become insanely solid yourself, then you can continue to expand and help empower others. Why empower others vlog.

But first —

Prioritize yourself, THEN focus on others.

ERIC

Photography as self therapy.

---

Expand your horizons

ERIC KIM WORKSHOPS:

1. SEOUL
2. DOWNTOWN LA (MINIMALISM)
3. VANCOUVER

---

ERIC KIM PRODUCTS

1. HENRI NECK STRAP MARK IV: The best strap on the planet.
2. ERIC KIM WRIST STRAP MARK II: Conquer the streets.
3. HENRI SHOULDER STRAP: Never be weighed down. (Low inventory)
4. HENRI WRIST STRAP PRO: Go pro.

---

Other random things on my mind

1. GarageBand for iPhone great for kids!
2. Purple color for new iPhone pro very cool.
3. Gopro hero 11– needs to market themselves as “the strongest camera on the planet”. Seneca loves the GoPro and throwing it around!
4. Phnom Penh is the new prime spot on the planet.
5. Defense.gov — funny how the military for America is the “department of defense”, not offense.
6. Are you allowed to hate dogs in America?

More thoughts:

Also really like the new http://balenciaga.com stuff.

---

Share the ideas

If this sparked any creative ideas within you feel free to forward to a friend!

ERIC KIM NEWS LINK

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