ERIC KIM

ERIC KIM

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ERIC KIM episodes

  • I WANNA BE ME!
    PDF TEXT:

    Learn more: https://erickimphotography.com/blog/2020/02/22/i-wanna-be-me/

    I WANNA BE ME!

    Your goal in life, not to become anyone else, but become MORE YOU!

    'I wanna be like Mike!'

    Do you remember those old-school commercials with Michael Jordan saying:

    "I wanna be like Mike."

    Why was this so catchy?

    First of all, it rhymed. Secondly, people wanted to BECOME Michael Jordan. He was the greatest athlete during his time, and everyone wanted to become more epic. Thus the notion was this:

    If you buy Michael Jordan sneakers, you can become MORE LIKE Michael Jordan.

    For example, if you wanted more dominance on the court, wearing "MJ's" would give you more of an edge. People obviously know that wearing a pair of sneakers won't magically turn you into Michael Jordan, but most people think is:

    It will augment my innate abilities to a new level.

    So the goal is with consumer purchases:

    We want to take ourselves to the next level.
    Why aren't we allowed to be ourselves?

    I wonder:

    Why are we encouraged to become OTHER PEOPLE, and not encouraged to become more of ourselves?

    My thought is this:

    In modern society, we are DISCOURAGED to become ourselves, because of the notion of 'original sin', and the notion that the only legitimate person to imitate is Jesus.

    In society we aspire towards messiah-figures. MJ was a messiah-figure in the realm of sports.

    Also, Christian morality says:

    Thou art a sinner and imperfect, and in order to gain eternal salvation in the afterlife, you must become LESS OF YOURSELF, and become more 'holy' and 'virtuous' (imitating Jesus Christ).
    Modern (American) society is weird and contradictory.

    This is the problem with American society:

    All the desiderata (things we should desire and aspire towards) is contradictory.

    For example, consider the ridiculous mis-mash of all these American notions:

    1. Individuality
    2. Consumerism
    3. Capitalism
    4. Utilitarianism
    5. Christian-morality
    6. Duty to one's family, country, nation, and community.

      7. I feel the reason why consumerism and capitalism has worked well is this:

      We all want to differentiate ourselves and gain ascendancy over other humans, but we are taught that we cannot do so without hurting the feelings of others (assuming we change our character and personality). Instead, the only 'safe' way to feel superior is to purchase certain things which augment our feeling of superiority.
      Be proud of yourself

      Our new virtues:

      1. Shameless self-promotion
      2. Self-aggrandizement
      3. Boastful pride
      4. Self-obsession
      5. Vanity
      6. In praise of (good conscience) bragging

        7. Perhaps these new virtues will elevate us to the next level!

        ERIC KIM

        7 min
      7. Unlock Your Hidden Superpower
        What are Your Hidden Powers?

        What lies latent within you? What hidden powers do you have, that you haven't discovered yet, or let out yet?

        What is your hidden mutant power?

        When reading AKIRA, or thinking about X-MEN, the thought is this:

        How can we unlock or uncover hidden human super-powers -- and augment and grow it, to be used for 'the greater good'?
        What distracts us?

        The problem -- entertainment is being used as a sedative, rather than something to AUGMENT your powers and uncover your hidden powers.

        Perhaps if we are constantly being distracted or entertained to death, we lose our inner-signal (our hidden powers), because we are being drowned in noise.

        Thus the first Zen-Taoist notion is this:

        In order to uncover our hidden powers, we must let ourselves become empty, vacant, in order to let our inner-power and inner-signal to come out.
        What is effortless to you?

        A hidden power is this:

        What can you do insanely well, which doesn't feel like 'work'?

        For example, what seems easy to you which seems difficult for others?

        Don't fake humble.
        "I don't gotta fake humble just because your ass is insecure." - KENDRICK LAMAR

        If you know you're good at something, no need to fake humble. Humility is a vice. Humility denigrates us, humility lowers us.

        Don't "humble brag". Better to "vain-brag". If you think you're great; don't censor yourself.

        The reason we must become vain is this:

        To augment your hidden superpowers, you cannot talk down on yourself.

        We must not be ashamed of our gift. Instead, it is perhaps a good thing to boast about what we are good at-- in order to augment our self-confidence, in order to maximize our gift!

        9 min
      8. Why Black and White

        Black and white simplifies and uncovers the hidden beauty.

        I love black and white because:

        1. Black and white SIMPLIFIES your compositions
        2. Black and white is challenging: A 'creative constraint' of monochrome is interesting because it begs the question, "How can you make an interesting image without adding the interest of color?"
        3. Black and white is simpler, more minimal -- which follows my personal aesthetics.
        4. Black and white is more open-ended for the viewer. It forces the viewer to use more of their own imagination to interpret the image, making the image more memorable!

          5. Learn more: https://erickimphotography.com/blog/2020/02/22/why-black-and-white/

          8 min
        7. How to 10X Yourself

          Augment your strengths.

          In order to MAXIMIZE your productivity, you must SIMPLIFY your life to the maximum as well!

          https://erickimphotography.com/blog/2020/02/24/how-to-10x-yourself/

          Mp3: https://erickimphotography.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/3-10x.mp3

          8 min
        8. Personal Power

          The best power? Not power over others– but power over yourself. To control yourself, and to exploit yourself and your inner-powers to the maximum.

          14 min
        9. Productivity for Personal Freedom

          Why this cult of productivity? My theory-- we want to become more productive (in order to make more money), in order to gain our personal freedom in life.

          Blog: https://erickimphotography.com/blog/2020/02/22/productivity-for-personal-freedom/

          6 min
        10. In Praise of Small File Sizes

          Problems with big file sizes:

          1. Wasted time: More time to import, export photos, videos, and files.
          2. Internet speeds are still quite slow.
          3. Often more megapixels is WORSE image quality.
          4. More money — more money used on storage (offline) or online (cloud).

            5. Learn more >

            ---

            More megapixels, more problems: https://erickimphotography.com/blog/2015/10/14/more-megapixels-more-problems/

            Youtube

            Mp3 file: https://erickimphotography.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/In-Praise-of-Small-File-Sizes.mp3

            9 min

          About ERIC KIM

          From the publisher's feed

          Podcast on photography, philosophy, and entrepreneurship.