The Prince by Machiavelli is an introduction to realpolitik. It’s important to understand that Machiavelli’s audience is a prince. Few can consider themselves princes in the modern world, and many of insights in this book involve warfare, how to successfully build and maintain an empire, and how to treat your subjects – none of these are … Read more
The Role of Myths Myths are a mechanism we can use to find out who we are, and what we value implicitly. It teaches us about the stages of life, and how to pass through them successfully – while avoiding the psychological dangers along the way. In this post, I discuss the role of myths … Read more
Here are the summaries of the rules in 12 Rules For Life, a book by Jordan Peterson that calls on everyone to carry the burden of personal responsibility, and to face chaos forthrightly in a world that is becoming increasingly nihilistic and careless. Peterson’s remedy to this emergent leviathan of chaos that especially preys upon … Read more
My Notes For Maps Of Meaning 1 (2017) – Jordan Peterson Maps of Meaning 1 (Order vs Chaos) In my Maps of Meaning 1 notes, I summarize the introduction to Peterson’s lectures by following his arguments that start with a historical journey that includes the political war between Capitalism and Communism and the archetypal war … Read more
It is easier to live in a comfortable illusion and believe that people are basically good, and that you are too. Taken to an extreme, this can become pathological. The person that does not want to see reality for what it is does not solve their problems, but only compounds them. Where bad eyesight can … Read more
“I care not so much what I am to others as what I am to myself.” – Michel De Montaigne Self-Determination Theory When something is intrinsically motivating, you don’t care about the external reward. If you intrinsically enjoy playing music, you will do so even if you are not paid to and there is no … Read more
The most painful death is the ego death. It requires you to take stock of who you are and what you believe in and make a conscious effort to destroy the fundamental constructs of your mental models about the world. But what is the ego? Unlike the Freudian definition – which situated the ego as … Read more
“Time is more valuable than money. You can get more money, but you cannot get more time” – Jim Rohn As one stage in life ends and another begins, you will think about how fleeting time is. It will occur to you that there are things you could have done, that will have made the present … Read more
Coke’s Marketing Success Is Manipulation Wrong? Decades ago, Pepsi launched an advertising campaign that had people drink Pepsi and Coke from two different cups that were label-less and asked them to decide which drink they preferred. The results showed that Pepsi was preferred to Coke. This prompted Coke to launch a campaign that slightly altered … Read more
There’s a universal urge to be involved in some kind of race against time. People race to get an education, to make money, to get into relationships, to get a job, and to find happiness. Oftentimes, they end up with an education they never even wanted, money that made them more miserable, doomed relationships, and … Read more