Download<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\nBeyond the sake of extracting maximum economic value from yourself<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
So I think this is a big thought especially while leaving the states –><\/p>\n\n\n\n
So the first big idea is, in America\u2026 Essentially we quantify our value in terms of economic value. I think structurally the reason why this is the case is because,\u2026 The truth is, America\u2019s actually kind of a middle class society\u2026 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\u2019t matter how rich you are in America\u2026 You will always feel poor because there\u2019s somebody far more rich than you\u2026 Or even worse, somebody who seems richer than you because they have more expensive vehicles or whatever\u2019s, but in fact, you actually may be richer or wealthy or better often than them. \ufffc<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Asia<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
So I just met some 23 year-old International Khmer-Cambodian-Canadian kids, more or less we\u2019re 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\u2026 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Also\u2026 It seems that he has at least five friends with Lamborghini Aventador\u2019s, and growing up was super normal for him to ride around in Lamborghinis with his buddies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Even the gym that I go to every day here in Cambodia, just saw a Lamborghini urus casually parked in front.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
why does this matter<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
So I think in America\u2026 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\u2026 These are things which are outside your control, so from a stoic perspective, it doesn\u2019t really make sense to outsource your self-esteem to the markets because once again\u2026 You could be the most insightful trader or investor in the world but, Black Swan events like a random war or other random happenings\u2026 These things are outside our control.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
doing things for the sake of it or investing in ourselves<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
So I\u2019m currently prototyping some interesting 100% all black linen clothing, shirts tank tops and also shorts because\u2026 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I spent like hundreds of thousands of dollars on stupid Lululemon clothing, and other elite fitness brand attire, \ufffc\ufffc and it\u2019s funny because\u2026 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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<\/strong>. \ufffc<\/p>\n\n\n\nAlso, I think when you are starting off and prototyping things, I don\u2019t think that the economic motive is actually the primary driver because\u2026 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\u2026 If you\u2019re curious enough to find out, or you know\u2026 You simply do it for the sake of it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
towards Autotelic self development<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
What is the most important thing for us to invest in? Not the markets but ourselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I think an American Society\u2026 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\u2026 Or our bodily fitness is seen as a waste of time unless it equates to some sort of economic output. For example\u2026 Exercise is only justified if it helps \u201creduce our stress levels\u201c, in order for us to work harder and earn more capital.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Same thing goes with philosophy\u2026 Even though philosophy may be the supreme field, higher than economics, to study philosophy or to be a philosopher or whatever\u2026 Is seen as wasted effort unless once again, it equates to some sort of economic output value.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
end games and goals<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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\u2026 It actually seems more important for us to preserve our freedom. If there\u2019s a certain point in which earning more money or capital \u2026 Leads you to enslaving yourself, it actually is not worth it<\/strong>. \ufffc\ufffc\ufffc<\/p>\n\n\n\nFor example\u2026 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In America\u2026 There are no limits, it doesn\u2019t matter if you have 1 million 2 million 5 million 10 million 100 million 1 billion 500 billion whatever, enough is never enough.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Life goals<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
According to Nietzsche, the purpose of life is for more power. I do think that this is pretty accurate, but, maybe it\u2019s not just economic power but other types of power.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For example, physical physiological fitness power, art artistic creative power, philosophical mind power, and also more Zen power, tranquility power<\/strong>. \ufffc<\/p>\n\n\n\nAlso the power to be present.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why does this all matter?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Concentration and focus. Like for example in Los Angeles\u2026 Just thinking consider, how much mind soul time attention power is wasted on thinking about the automobile you drive?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Asia, Cambodia Phnom Penh in particular, this is essentially a non-thought. Like literally\u2026 If someone just gave me a free Lamborghini Aventador here in Cambodia I would probably refuse it because, A: functionally speaking it\u2019s just kind of impossible to drive on the streets, 2) I don\u2019t 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?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Centering and focusing on yourself<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
I think spending large chunks of time abroad, in Asia southeast Asia wherever\u2026 Maybe 3 to 6 months, maybe even a year\u2026 Is very formative because once again, you could just like focus 100% of your energy into self development and self advancement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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? \ufffc
\ufffc<\/p>\n\n\n\n
End goals?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
I think on the super basic level\u2026 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\u2019t happen, that\u2019s 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? \ufffc<\/p>\n\n\n\n
ERIC<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ok, kind of a big thought while here in Cambodia: the idea that\u2026 everything that we do\u2026 is simply for the sake of itself\u2026 Or better yet, for the sake of ourselves? Beyond the \u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_ek_photo_artist_note":"","_ek_photo_thesis":"","_ek_photo_camera":"","_ek_photo_place":"","_ek_photo_human_moment":"","_ek_photo_sequence":"","_ek_photo_question":"","_ek_photo_canonical_claim":"","_ek_photo_ai_summary":"","_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-669740","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-posts"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/669740","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=669740"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/669740\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":669743,"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/669740\/revisions\/669743"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=669740"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=669740"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=669740"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}