I’m sitting in the Cosmos right now and life is like Pizza: It comes in slices. Some slices ain’t that enjoyable because we eat them too fast. Some slices burn us because we eat them too early. Some slices get cold because we don’t eat them when they’re meant to be eaten and instead do other things. At the end of the day though, we’re hungry and pizza get’s the job done. Who wants to eat with me?
Everybody loves my Grandma’s art work. Mostly abstract pieces, painted on canvas with an array of pastels, watercolors, and oils. They’re as colorful as they are random, but the randomness is methodical, calculated. That’s what everybody loves about my Grandma’s artwork—the chaotic precision within each brush stroke. The art tells stories, but the stories it tells depend on the listener.
My grandma submits her artwork to local shows and exhibits, receiving praise from viewers and money from the occasional buyer. My grandma takes pride in her artwork, but I’m not really sure why. She doesn’t make it.
My Grandma’s art studio is a closet, 6 feet wide and 10 feet long. It’s really cramped but many great paintings have come out of it. There are no windows in the closet. It’s lone light source comes from a half-burnt bulb on the ceiling directly above the center of the closet. The walls of the studio are lined with shelves filled with art supplies. Stencils, pencils, paintbrushes, paints, papers, oils, charcoal—if it can be used to make art, my Grandma has it in her closet.
But there’s something else in my Grandma’s closet that if seen, would change people’s perception of her. What I’m about to tell you is a secret known to nobody but me and my Grandma. Until now.
In the far-right corner of the closet is a metal stake that sticks into the concrete floor, and wrapped around that metal stake is a metal chain, which connects to the right leg of—and I’m not lying—a small Elf.
This Elf has no name, but he wears a deep blue button-down shirt with green cuffs and gold linings and a pair of striped yellow and black pants with pointy red-velvet shoes. He wears a matching blue beret hat with a feather on the left side, which really accentuates the curls in his dirty brown hair that runs down his neck in a directional frenzy. But the thing that really strikes me about the Elf are his purple eyes—I’ve never seen so much truth as I did when I looked into them and met his stare for a brief moment. Those eyes hold a lot of soul.
I’ve felt guilty about this for a while so now I must confess the truth: Everybody thinks my Grandma makes those paintings but the truth is that she doesn’t. Her Elf does. She locked him in that closet and forces him to paint. If he doesn’t produce artwork, he doesn’t get fed. My Grandma makes the best cookies, so I guess that’s why he paints so much.
I can’t help but feel sorry for the little Elf though, because no matter how much he does for my Grandma, he never gets to remove his chain and leave her closet. The only way he can leave that closet is through his paintings. Even though the Elf must hate my grandma for keeping him prisoner, he loves when she tells him all the compliments she receives for her artwork. He feels hope knowing that even though he is never seen, he is heard—at least in some small way.
The Elf admitted to me once that he’s thought about murdering my grandma so that he could escape her closet. He’s afraid to do it though, because he doesn’t know if there’s a place for elves in this world. The Elf told me that if he were to escape, he’s not even sure where he would go, or if people would still appreciate his art, knowing that it came from an elf. I told him not to worry—my Grandma is 95 years old and she’ll be dead soon enough. Once she passes, he’ll be free to leave her closet and show the world his artwork.
I hope for the Elf’s sake that he does leave her closet one day, but part of me wonders if he’d prefer to remain in there since it’s all he’s ever known. I told him that if he decides to stay, I’ll do him a favor and continue to send out his artwork to the shows and exhibits. That way, he can remain where he’s comfortable and still be free.
You read the title—who do you think they are?
Make a list and write down the first names that come to mind. Who’s on your “Worst Men in History” list? Is Hitler on that list?
Let me give you my opinion. I hope it rubs you the wrong way because if it does then it means I’m making you think.
I don’t think Hitler qualifies among the worst men in history. In fact, I place Hitler among the greatest men. Morally, Hitler was inept and uninformed. He failed to recognize the potential in all humans, not just the potential of his own race. But Hitler indisputably had vision and ambition. He had a goal and fought hard to accomplish it. He inspired millions to follow suit. Hitler’s actions incited a global war whose outcome dictated the future of the human race. Luckily he lost that war, but that’s beside the point. Hitler saw an unsatisfactory world and actually did something about it. For that reason, Hitler was great.
A man who paints his vision is an artist. A man who fights for his vision is a soldier. A man who sees his vision before anyone else is a leader. Hitler may not have had love for all people in his heart, but he certainly had a vision and was determined to achieve it. For this reason, Hitler was great man. A bad man, but a great man. I am not ashamed to admit that I admire his drive.
The WORST men in history are neither bad nor good. The WORST men in history are complacent. These men sit around and fit in while the world changes for them. These men do not lead; they are led. They do not provide; they are provided for. These men are filler. They are not of value. They are normal. There is no negative number on the greatness scale. You’re either great, or you are not. Where do you want to be? If you do wish to be great, get out there and fight for your vision.
Deep down, we all want this to be over. We love happiness, yes, but we run desperately from sadness. When we spend too long in the light, life loses it’s luster. Immersing ourselves in darkness makes us greatful to be in the light again. That’s what keeps us living.
Yet even when we enjoy the light, darkness pulls at us and intrigues us in the deepest possible way. It makes us curious about the unknowable. And each time we turn to it, we hope to get a glimpse of what lurks deep in the murky water: Truth about our purpose and about our existence; truth about what we really are. It’s these dark fantasies that drive people towards death.
Now we live in a world riddled by anxiety and uncertainty. More data is available to us than ever before, and it leads to more confusion because more answers create more questions. With the advent of the World Wide Web, we have access to an unprecedented database of knowledge. It’s too much for any single one of us to process, and this realization is what makes us feel helpless in the modern world. This is why suicide rates are higher than they’ve ever been.
Yet, a milder means of suicide is steadily on the rise as well, a type of suicide that isn’t conventionally considered as such. I’m talking about ego death.
When experienced, ego death obliterates our mental but retains our physical. Our conception of self dissolves and The Walls Come Tumbling Down, as Eyedea would say. Once we regain control and our ego rebuilds itself, we’re no longer who we once we’re. Our understanding of self simultaneously increases and decreases, increasing because we understand ourselves to be more than this personality we contrived, and decreasing because we realize if we are not who we think, then who are we? These questions draw our eyes to the darkness, where we intuitively seek answers to all that which cannot be physically observed. So there it is in a nutshell: we look into death in hopes of finding the answer to life.
Feel sorry for those who seek ego death because their curiosity is simply a consequence of the uncertainty in these modern times, but do not condemn these seekers. In their quest for answers, these people tread the tenuous line between this world and darkness and come back with insights about the unknown. Do not be deceived, however; the darkness is unknowable as long as we are alive. Those who choose to enter darkness receive a mere glimpse. Their curiosity remains unsettled.
In older times, religion helped to negate our curiosity by offering a map of the afterlife to those who needed it. Nowadays, we condemn religion, in the process removing it’s safety blanket from our backs. We are desperately in need of a new map. These seekers of darkness are gradually giving us one, using ego death to come back into the light and tell a story.
This is inspired by Steven Crowder and his debate with Veronica. It was pleasant watching a girl I used to debate with try to hold her own against a true pro. I think she did a great job, but if I’m being perfectly honest, I think I would have done a better one. Veronica has always been smart but I’ve always considered myself smarter. Hey, that’s just my opinion and for now, I have the freedom to say it.
My opinion is simple. Humans should have freedom to express themselves however they choose to. That includes speech. I believe we should have the freedom to say whatever we want. However, HOWEVER, (and I cannot emphasize this point enough) if you speak hatefully, you are not free. You cannot be free if you hate, because your hate destroys the freedom of others. If your words are intended to degrade and tear down people as they express themselves, you are confining their freedom. You are speaking freely as an individual, but in the process, are preventing others from doing the same.
Thus we see the root of the issue: limited space. If we lived in a universe with infinite space and potential, then we could build, and build, and build, without ever having to destroy. We could truly speak freely. However, as human beings in 2018 our range is limited. We cannot speak freely without impacting others. The fact is that repercussions from our own free speech will inevitably restrict other people from also expressing themselves freely.
The good news is that the universe is expanding and that we are advancing as a species technologically and intellectually. Our range of freedom will only continue to increase. We will still have limits on freedom, but we will have more of it than we once did and more room to express ourselves freely, including the ability to speak hatefully without affecting others as much. Praise the future!
My roommate made a fake Tinder profile because he’s super insecure about his looks. He stole pictures from a relatively unknown male model on Instagram and now has 1000s of likes on his Tinder profile using the model’s pictures as his own. This bizarre catfish experiment of my roommate’s is derivative from his desire to be more well-liked, as well as his insecurity that his average physical appearance is the reason the girl he has a crush on doesn’t like him back.
Now, as my roommate admires the appreciation his catfish Tinder profile has achieved and the 1000s of likes from attractive girls, he must also feel helpless as he realizes he never could have achieved this with his own real photos. He feels significantly at a disadvantage because of his less impressive looks. He thinks he was cheated at birth. He’s convinced ugly people are at a natural disadvantage.
Let’s take the opposite approach and analyze. Let’s say an actual male model makes a Tinder profile and gets 1000s of likes. He has received a superfluous amount of validation of his looks, validation he didn’t need because he’s always been known as “good looking”. The model’s dilemma is that he cannot discern who likes him for his good looks from who likes him for his personality. Thus, at this higher end of the looks spectrum, a new problem arises: a lack of genuine intentions from others. Somewhere, I’d like to imagine that there is a disgruntled male Instagram model using my roommate’s actual photos for his own catfish profile to see who likes him for who he is on the inside. It’s easy to criticize models who preach that looks aren’t important when looks are literally the basis of their careers. But step in their shoes for a second; understand that looks have hindered their ability to foster genuine relationships.
We live in a society where people are still judged by their physical appearance. It’s not necessarily bad; it’s just the way things are right now. Whichever end of the looks spectrum you fall on Bro, just remember that everyone struggles as a result of this natural human flaw. We must work to accept everyone and view looks as secondary to personality. Most of all, we must stop using Tinder if we’re insecure.
This little excerpt here was a rant I went on during a Q/A at a lecture I attended about the American Dream. An individual at the lecture depressingly attempted to propose that the college system is taking away all creative value from it’s disciplines. That students are meant to do busy work and there’s no furthering of the person. I agreed with her but disagreed with her pessimistic tone. I believe that we hold the key to furthering ourselves, and it starts with removing ourselves from the masses.
So often nowadays we go through life following suit with everyone around us. Like sheep we walk blindly behind one another into an Apple store to purchase the next iPhone or iWatch, despite the lack of noticeable differences with the one currently in our pocket. Why do we do this? This is a question of conformity.
We’ve been taught since we were young that we have to go to school, graduate with a good degree, and some of us have been taught to then go to graduate school and eventually get a job, a wife, a decent house, some kids, maybe a dog or a cat, a nice car, and then call it quits. Coast lazily along through a life full of merely contentness, lacking of any variety. This is the American lifestyle we’ve chewed up, swallowed, regurgitated, and spit up into numerous generations. Yet, no one seems to notice or even more importantly,
no one seems to care.
We don’t have to follow this dull, overvalued schema. We can travel the world or go live on a farm. We can experience new things daily and constantly challenge ourselves. Who cares if all our Bros from high school have already graduated from school and have hot pregnant wives. While it’s awesome for them to reach those events in their lives, it shouldn’t put pressure on us even a little bit. We live in our own vessels, with our own thoughts, why should we adhere to what everyone else is doing? It’s a trick question, we don’t.
Have we been living on a schedule constructed by the masses of society? Are we existing among a line of individuals striving for the same systematic life? Or are we living each day out of our best interests, becoming more enriched as each day passes, without regard for how the people around may perceive us? If not, are we really living?
I just watched Pie, the first film by Darren Aronofsky, for the second time. I have thought deep into many concepts tonight, and have come up with a new ratio: the ratio between opposites and infinity. I will try to explain this as carefully as I can, because the Illuminati is considering recruiting me.
We humans have 2 normal eyes, and a Third Eye. We use the 2 normal eyes for logical, physical thought about the tangible realms. We use observations made by this set of eyes to process our physical world. We use logic to see. However, all we see with these 2 eyes can be likened to Plato’s metaphor of the Cave. The observer, who is inside the Cave, can never conceive of the true outside world. It is incomprehensible.
Everything we see in our quasi-3D, 2-eyed world is logical. We can use measurements to quantize all sort of data from our physical world. The physical world is filled with apparent opposites, on/off states, 1s and 0s.
It is binary.
Our Third Eye takes us out of this binary cave and places us into the infinite realm. What we cannot quantize is emotion. Emotion is infinite.
The Third Eye is our view from above. It’s feed comes from outside of Plato’s Cave. We can use it to see the simplicity of our 2-eyed, 3D world, the underlying patterns behind it. We use our Third Eye to perceive the duality. This outside processing is not logical, no; it is emotional.
We use emotions to perceive logic. Consciousness powers the facilitation of data between our 2-eyed and Third Eye systems. This communication occurs between duality and infinity. Our consciousness is the mediator between these two realms.
Consciousness, as far as we know, can only access one of these realms at a time. For this is why we cannot be both asleep and awake, both alive and dead. We can only be one or the other. We can only switch between duality and infinity; we cannot be both at once.
The path between duality and infinity is a spiral. This spiral is the vessel of creation in this realm. Followed outward, a spiral creates an infinitely expanding pattern from a single point. Pure emotion. Conversely, if we follow a spiral inward, we reduce an infinitely large pattern to that single point. That single point the final step before the void, which exists between infinity and duality. Pure logic. This point is brought up in Pi, when Max and Sol are playing Go and discussing probability. Sol states that at the beginning of a Go game, there are seemingly infinite possibilities for the arrangement of the pieces. Max, however, counters that right before the end of the game, there is only one possible move left.
Throughout nature, we find examples of the golden ratio. Life follows this sequence as it expands. Can we retract life with that sequence? Can we switch from emotion to logic? Is logic truly death, or is it life, as something else?
If consciousness is a light switch, life is when the the switch to ON and death is when the switch is OFF. Life is emotion. Infinite. Death is logic. Binary. The switch itself, the in-between, is consciousness.
How can we become fully aware of consciousness itself? We must reduce consciousness to pure logic. This will be the death of consciousness, yes, but also the awakening of a new understanding of the ratio between the infinity and the duality.
We must create a new state within the void that exists in between the ON/OFF state. We must enter this state and exist within it in order to achieve a true understanding of the link between the two most important opposites.
By reducing emotion to logic, we can understand the in-between. Pi postulates that we can do this with numbers.
We move to a new town, we struggle to find a steady job, we switch schools or even more common than those, we just plain and simply get distracted. Some way or another we become unproductive, whether that’s through bad habits or bad situations, we generally have become immobile in our goals.
In the day and age of technological domination, the old school ways of being productive are getting lost on us. We don’t want to study because the answers are online, we don’t wanna put work into something because there’s an app that does it for us, we don’t wanna read because we can watch shorter, more general YouTube videos, and because of all this we don’t wanna try new things.
We know, all that sounds a bit depressing. We’re gonna go cliche here and say that, well, the truth hurts. The truly productive bros end up making it to the top in the form of a coding app or some miraculous event like a video going viral online. Not to take away from the Bros that are out there grinding and slowly climbing the ladder. Kudos to them. Although, it’s accurate to say that nowadays many of us are scraping from the bottom of the jar. Why is that though?
One way this could be explained is that no one wants to be truly productive. Well what does being truly productive entail we may ask. Let us put it into an anecdote. We all (may) know that Bro who’s in college, has a part-time job, but just doesn’t seem to be moving anywhere. He’s barely getting by in his classes but still retains a B average, his jobs pays little but it’s okay because his student loans are carrying him along. Yet, with all the resources he has, he just doesn’t seem to be making much gain in the grand scheme of things. That’s because he doesn’t want to be truly productive. In his off time, instead of studying, he most likely browses social media, watches videos, over stimulates himself with music, film, TV and video-games, all for what? The satisfaction of not having to be held responsible for taking a risk on something and actually putting his time toward say, an interest in clothing design. Who knows. All that’s known is that this Bro ain’t truly Broductive.
The only thing we can really do is take steps to consciously better our productivity. Which first and foremost, is not putting ourselves 100% into one thing. When we do that we become side-dominant in the brain. For those that don’t know if we’re right brained we tend to be more artistic and creative; if we’re left-brained we’re thought to be more methodical and analytical. If we want to be Broductive to the max, we gotta be working both sides. Putting 100% of out effort and time into one thing is gonna flop because in the process we’re polarizing ourselves and becoming mentally handicapped. It’s like going to the gym and only working out the left side of our body, we’re gonna look fucked up in a couple of months if not weeks at that rate. Fortunately, the brain is more forgiving, so for the Bros that have been grinding in just one discipline, it’s not never too late.
Another aspect of productivity to touch on is time. For the most part, we try and be productive only during certain times of the day. This is a Bro sin. While yes, there are times where we should be grinding harder than others, picking times where we should be grinding is also picking times where we’ll be lacking, or becoming distracted. Our philosophy should be, if we don’t have a pressing responsibility, we’re going to be productive. In essence, be productive all the time. If we’re watching a football game, study during the commercials, so we can practice songwriting later instead. If we have a long drive on our way to work, listen to that 3-D design video we’ve been putting off for a while.
There are numerous ways in which we can remain productive, even when we may doing something else. This is not to say that we can’t have relaxing times, although your relaxation periods should be generally beneficial to your productivity. Instead of having our relaxing times be more surrounded by LED screens, tailor it more towards meditation, working out, reading poetry, heck even taking a nap will work. Quick last tip, make sure our relaxation is in line with our interests. If we’re an aspiring film maker, feel free to watch movies during your off time. If we’re a potential entrepreneur, playing Overwatch till 3 AM isn’t gonna get us ahead.
The last key to maximum productivity is indefinably important and truly simple yet passes by most people undetected. This thing is called Passion. Yes we fucking capitalized it. Make god damn sure, the thing we’re chasing is being chased with passion. If we’re going for something simply for the money, the clout, or accolades that come along with it, we’re never truly gonna be successful. We may attain more capital, be better off in life, but we will never be happy, which is the biggest part of success, if we aren’t going for something out of passion. Some of us say that the thing we’re passionate about we’re just not good at. Horse cocky, not only is most talent learned and not innate knowledge but the fact of the matter is that those of us who claim this nonsense, haven’t even tried. So now it’s time for full accountability. Look at yourself, and no not in the mirror, take a look at yourself, and deep down, ask yourself, is this my passion. If not, go back to square one and continue to diversify your interests, because if we’re not attacking something with 110% of our heart, our passion and igniting the fire within us, we’re gonna be reduced to merely ashes my Bros.
The Bro Page 