ERIC KIM

The way we exaggerate things is more fun and interesting: https://erickimphotography.com/blog/2022/06/30/exaggeration-is-better/

If you’re a man, it seems wise to strive to become more manly. But what does this mean?

To past philosophers, they called it becoming more “virtuous” (virtus meaning “man”.) But funny enough, nowadays it seems that the trend is to strive towards manliness is not really a desired goal. We are trying to teach men that masculinity is “toxic“, and that instead of striving to become more manly, or masculine, we should strive to become more “compassionate“, empathetic, “inclusive“, etc.

Ultimately it comes to a philosophical code of ethics. What is philosophy? The closest answer that Nietzsche came up with is the philosopher as a legislator, or a law maker of the future. In more practical terms, I see a philosopher as somebody who tells others what they “should“ do. Also what they “should not“ to do.

The tricky thing is that nobody wants to be told what to do, at least upfront. It does seem to take more energy to think for yourself.

What is the teacher anyways? Partly an educator of basic concepts, but teachers are also philosophers, who shape the minds of children. It seems that in today’s modern society, because a lot of the parents are always working, the teachers end up having the moral responsibility of teaching kids ethics, and a code of conduct.

For example, I was born in 1988. As a kid growing up, I was taught notions of diversity, equality, open mindedness, critical thinking, the value of being unique, and different. For the most part, I actually really liked this. I’m quite happy the way I turned out. But certainly as one becomes an adult, one should start to question the codes of ethics one was raised with, and to decide to start thinking for oneself. And to start living for oneself.

Cindy is probably the first woman I have ever met in my life, who was actually interested in philosophy and the meaning of life. However the big word philosophy is not thrown around. It is more about adventuring, questioning the status quo, and dreaming big.

In actuality, in today’s world, nobody really talks about philosophy. It is not something that one questions.

So two things: first of all, maybe it is a sociological thing: society does not care for women to question the status quo and society, they would prefer women to be the child readers, give birth to children, do domestic chores, etc.

But also on the other hand, society doesn’t really want men to be philosophers either. Philosophers are pretty much disobedient, unproductive folks, who refuse to be told what to do. If you think about past philosophers like Diogenes, they were kind of annoying nomadic homeless people, who would say pithy things, and just be a little bit annoying to everybody.

Also, it does seem that in order to become philosophical, or truly philosophical, there are a lot of things that one cannot have in life: a standard 9-to-5 job, dependence on money, etc. For myself, I was only able to start really thinking philosophically once I left America, and started to live abroad in Vietnam, where I realized: I will never run out of money.

If anything, a philosopher is actually the highest rank in society. A philosopher doesn’t actually need to base their opinion on first principles, they could simply state what they believe in, without having to call anybody else. It seems that the bias in today’s society is that he who is richest has the highest rank. Modern society in America valorizes really really rich people, really really rich business people, and really really rich entr

Attempt higher >

Pride is good.

AUDIO DL

Don't crowd source your self esteem: https://erickimphotography.com/blog/2022/06/25/how-to-become-a-more-self-confident-photographer-2/

AUDIO FILE

Dear friends,

What is the greatest source of inspiration and motivation in life? Ambition.

Make music that bangs, and also listen to music that bangs and gets your body moving.

In order to become more ambitious, and to attempt more, we must become anti-self preservation. For example, the mistake that a lot of people make in the gym is that they only work out in order to “maintain” their health. This is very boring. Far more interesting to strive to figure out the limits of your body, and supersede them.

For example, my personal curiosity is how physically strong I can become. I don’t take any supplements, no protein powder, no creatine, only coffee and meat.

Therefore, it seems that the source of ambition is fulfilling a personal curiosity about yourself, your limits, and what you’re capable of.

In order to maximize your impact on the world, you must be very selective. For example, I think it is good to pursue all of your interests, but at the end of the day, you cannot do 1 million things. You cannot care about 1 million things, nor care about 1 million issues.

This is the big problem with politics and news: my personal reservoir of physiological energy I could spend on caring about the external world or people is limited.

For example, let us assume that your limited time on earth is 120 years, and you must sleep at least eight hours a night. And given the day, any sort of thing you do or attempt will deplete you of some of your physiological energy resources. Then the question:

Given your limited energy, how do you want to best leverage your energy, in order to maximize your impact on the world?

For me, during my waking hours, I first care about taking care of Seneca, and training him. Then, my attention and energy towards Cindy. But after that, it is energy for myself. There is nothing much else I could care for.

Even a personal realization: as much as I love going to the gym, there is a lot of wasted time. There is the time I must walk or drive to the gym, be stuck in traffic, and then once I actually do get to the gym, having to warm up, and often the equipment I want to use like the deadlift platform for the squat rack is taken, which means a lot of wasted time. At least one of the biggest advantages of just doing heavy kettlebell swings at home, with my 105 pound kettle bell, is that I could literally finish the whole workout in less than 30 seconds. Maybe if you strive to maximize your time, just buy a bunch of (very heavy) kettle bells. Maybe this is even a better investment than spending money on a car, a home, etc. 

This is the funny irony: everyone wants to become a billionaire in order to buy a bunch of stuff. They want to buy the really really nice house, in a very great location, do you want to buy the very very expensive car, and they want infinite money to travel the world indefinitely, and stay at all the nicest hotels.

But, stuff and time is a commodity. Any physical thing you purchase, or even a home you purchase, or real estate you buy has a hidden cost. For example, even

How I make beats

First, start with strengthening your legs. Then your sleep, then your meat consumption, then deleting social media, then blogging it, then just having fun with it! https://erickimphotography.com/blog/2022/06/24/how-to-become-a-more-motivated-photographer/

What is it that only *YOU* can do, perhaps 1000x better than anyone else on planet earth?

https://erickimphotography.com/blog/2022/06/24/how-to-discover-your-life-passion/

BEATS BY KIM

Maybe I'll do more of these: https://erickimphotography.com/blog/2022/06/19/lessons-after-my-first-epic-food-challenge/