The phrase you’re referencing comes from the Bible, specifically from the book of Matthew 24:42 (King James Version). The full verse reads:
“Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come.”
This passage is a part of Jesus’ discourse about the end times, where He emphasizes the importance of being vigilant and prepared, as the exact time of His return is unknown. It’s a reminder to live with awareness and readiness for spiritual matters.
The scene depicted in the image is a powerful moment from The Iliad, Homer’s epic poem that chronicles the final weeks of the Trojan War. It portrays one of the most dramatic and tragic episodes of the story—the aftermath of Hector’s death at the hands of Achilles.
The Story of Achilles and Hector
Achilles, the greatest of the Greek warriors, had been withdrawn from battle for much of the Trojan War due to a dispute with Agamemnon, the leader of the Greek forces. However, the death of his close friend Patroclus at the hands of Hector, the prince of Troy and its mightiest defender, spurred Achilles back into action.
Consumed by grief and rage, Achilles sought vengeance. He re-entered the battle with a ferocity unmatched by any other warrior. Achilles was a force of nature, cutting through the Trojan army with ease until he finally confronted Hector outside the walls of Troy. The two warriors faced each other in a duel that would decide their fates. Though Hector fought bravely, he was no match for Achilles in his wrath. Achilles slew Hector, striking him down with a fatal blow.
But Achilles’ anger was not sated by Hector’s death alone. In an act of ultimate desecration and as a warning to his enemies, Achilles tied Hector’s lifeless body to the back of his chariot and dragged it through the dust around the walls of Troy. This act of dragging Hector’s body was not just a personal vendetta but a message to all who would defy him. It was meant to strip Hector of his honor in death, denying him the proper burial rites that were so sacred in ancient Greek culture.
The scene captured in the image is that moment—Achilles, standing tall in his chariot, his face etched with the cold determination of a man who has lost everything to his rage. The body of Hector, once a proud warrior and prince, now reduced to a battered form, trails behind, leaving a path in the sand.
The Aftermath
The desecration of Hector’s body horrified the Trojans and even shocked the gods. Zeus, the king of the gods, ordered that Achilles allow Hector’s body to be returned to Troy for proper funeral rites. It was Priam, Hector’s father and the king of Troy, who bravely entered the Greek camp to plead with Achilles for the return of his son’s body.
In a rare moment of compassion, Achilles was moved by Priam’s grief and agreed to return Hector’s body. This act marked a turning point in Achilles’ character, showing that even in his anger and grief, he could recognize the humanity in others.
The Symbolism
The image of Achilles dragging Hector’s body is a stark representation of the destructive power of rage and revenge. It highlights the themes of honor, mortality, and the consequences of unchecked emotions that run throughout The Iliad. Achilles, once the epitome of heroism, becomes a tragic figure, his humanity overshadowed by his wrath. Hector, though defeated, remains noble in death, a symbol of the inevitable tragedy of war.
This story, like much of Greek mythology, serves as a reflection on the complexities of human nature and the duality of strength and vulnerability. It is a reminder of the price of vengeance and the fleeting nature of glory, as well as the importance of compassion and understanding, even in the midst of conflict.
Yesterday, while walking down Chestnut Street, I ran into OJ, who is always working out with his shirt off. One day, he decided to challenge me, because I too, had my shirt off, it was like real recognized real, and we began doing pull-ups on the construction site nearby. He’s always out there, using the urban landscape as a concrete gym. As I saw him doing push-ups yesterday, I was walking down the street, enjoying the sun as I actively tanned and walked. As soon as I got to the corner where he was, I simply dropped to the ground and challenged him to some push-ups. He actually ended up showing me this really cool move, where you do an explosive push-up from a normal grip to a wide stance on the decline. When you’re filled with vitality and vigor, you have excess energy that you must release. When I’m on the streets, I often feel like OJ, looking at the world as a playground, a place for me to conquer the concrete. We must become our most vital selves, improvising and treating the world as our canvas, where we both become the artist and the artwork. When you walk the street, you are now a sculpture. Get like me and OJ, and become a blueprint for others to admire.
We have become slaves to time. We wake up to alarms, make sure we’re on time for work, constantly being pinged with notifications to remind us when we must arrive, and have subscribed to this artificial idea of time itself.
Have you ever heard the phrase, “spending time?”
When I consider this notion, it reminds me that time is ultimately the most valuable currency that exists in life. What are you spending your time on? What are you giving your attention to?
Think of hunters and gatherers, and how they spent just 13 hours a week gathering necessities, allowing them the time to spend the rest of the week devoted to community, storytelling, and human connection. In this modern world, however, we spend at least 40 hours per week, some even 50, 60, or 80 hours per week, focusing all of their attention, spending all of their time, working and toiling, typically for a corporation, a company, a bank, or a boss. This leads to parents working long hours, spending less time with family, impacting the growth of their children, as they now must spend their time with superficial peers. The time children spend throughout childhood this way can lead them to an identity crisis, causing depression and anxiety among the masses of young people. The impact of the way in which we spend our time can have catastrophic effects, breeding mediocrity.
When we went to war in Iraq, we may have never found the weapons of mass destruction, however, the weapon of mass distraction sits in your front right pocket and is the iPhone. Consider the iPhone as the SOMA drug in this Brave New World.
This past weekend, I went to a restaurant with some family. Across from our table, I noticed this phenomenon, where parents give their kids iPads at restaurants, letting them watch extremely strange videos on loop. It’s truly a shame that this is occurring at scale, and is something I’ve noticed throughout the past few years, pretty much everywhere. Even babies in strollers are now given iPads when they’re being pushed around the city. They don’t even have their heads up anymore, looking around the world, but are glued into an alternate reality on the screen itself. This is concerning because we’re essentially breeding a generation of zombie-like robots that will grow up already taking the SOMA against their will. If we disconnect from our reality and our instincts as we are being born into this world, what are the effects this will have on future generations and society in general?
Alexander the Great was taught by a private tutor, Aristotle. The impact that this teacher had on one man led him to become one of the most influential figures in all of human history, spreading Greek culture throughout his vast empire. Now, we have parents who will hardly interact with their children, let alone give them attention, mentorship, or moral guidance. Will there ever be another Aristotle, another Alexander the Great, if we are sedated by the weapons of mass distraction from here on out?
If you realize that you’re being domesticated like a dog, would you continue to obey?
Like language, money becomes a medium of exchange through which we express ourselves and our values. Some people will decide to buy grass-fed beef and organic vegetables, while others will purchase cigarettes and candy. What people purchase, how people spend their money, or even how people spend their time, reveals what different people value in life. I like this idea:
Tell me what you purchase, and I will tell you who you are.
Think of the government’s ability to print money ad infinitum. This paper money funds wars in foreign nations. It’s quite obvious that modern society values war, as we keep printing our dollars, funding endless violence. Just reflect on the last century; for nearly 100 years, millions of deaths have occurred due to the central banking system’s money printer.
Do you wake up in the morning excited for life?
I believe we should cultivate curiosity every day, and as artists, this is our ultimate aim in life. If your curiosity is increasing by one percent each day, consider yourself successful. We must redefine this notion of “success.” I find it interesting how people hope for your success, wish that you are successful with your job, etc. But these notions have nothing to do with what truly matters, such as vitality, contentment, or curiosity. Success has turned into a strange material goal to achieve that is quite meaningless.
Consider Aladdin and the Cave of Wonders. This was the famous scene where he found the genie in the bottle. However, if Aladdin decided to choose the buried treasures, he would be trapped in the cave forever. Aladdin decided to choose the omnipotent power and wisdom, choosing the genie in the bottle. Let’s be like Aladdin, and choose wisdom over gold.
Curiosity is important for me to cultivate every day, as it fuels me with excitement. However, I find meaning in the mundane and embrace boredom as a way to find myself in a blissful flow state of creativity. By walking the street aimlessly, without much direction or purpose, I’m able to reflect in words while simultaneously fueling my senses from the external world around me. I enter a Zen zone when walking slowly, as this act of movement becomes my meditation. There’s something about the chaos of urban life that fuels me and has me laughing in the face of it. I’m always out there smiling when I’m photographing because it’s just so much pure fun, observing life on the front lines. When you’re full of vitality, 99% of things in this modern world seem like a distraction, and you want to remain focused in this flow state of production. I find joy in the unpredictable nature of urban life, for spontaneity is my muse, and the street is my canvas.
I recently read Heraclitus’ Fragments and one quote that stood out to me was in regard to mediocrity and being exceptional:
“One man is worth ten thousand if he is first-rate.”
This reminds me of Diogenes and his lantern, walking through Athens, searching for free souls. Diogenes rejected societal norms and essentially viewed most people as slaves to their possessions, social status, pleasure, and the fear of death. He viewed freedom as self-sufficiency, by becoming aligned with nature, rejecting artificial needs and constraints.
Most people in this modern world are controlled by external forces, the most obvious example being social media and the iPhone. If you’re consuming news, it’s going to ultimately impact the way that you view the world. If you’re consuming media or advertisements, it will sway you this way or that way, like a feather in the wind. However, when you turn within, and free your mind, body, and soul, you become connected with your essence. In a world of distractions and noise, we must turn off the radio static and listen to the sound of our heart beating. True freedom is found from within.
Feelings of lust, greed, and attachment are natural, but we must tame them in order to improve. I believe we should fuel ourselves with pride, but be mindful of hubris, or excessive pride and arrogance. Think of Achilles and his fatal flaw of rage. This led to his ultimate demise during the battle of Troy. Achilles became blinded by his power, allowing his emotions to dictate his actions.
One of the most vivid examples of this is when Achilles, after slaying Hector, attached his body to his chariot with a rope and dragged it through the sand. This act of desecration was meant to instill fear in his enemies, but it also highlighted the dangerous extent to which his pride and rage had consumed him. Achilles, once the epitome of heroism, allowed his hubris to cloud his judgment, leading him down a path of destruction. In the end, Hector’s brother Paris shot Achilles in the heel with an arrow, killing him in battle.
So let’s rise above our passions and realize the fine line between confidence and hubris. Let’s embrace pride openly and reclaim our human instinct to become great. In this modern world, we are becoming docile, weak, meek, and tamed. We should embrace our natural instincts, as this will lead to a more vigorous life. Remember your nature, and your roots as a human and hunter-gatherer. We are bipedal, stand upright, have a tall spine, and require open spaces to thrive. Don’t put yourself in a box, in a closed system, and conform to societal pressures.
Disobey and be untamable. Don’t be a domesticated dog.
re- (“back”) and calcitrare (“to kick”), which comes from calx, meaning “heel.”
Be like a stubborn horse on Achilles’ chariot, and kick back with resistance. It’s okay to be great and strive to be the best, like that of Achilles!
Plutarch was a prominent Greek philosopher, biographer, and essayist who lived during the first and second centuries AD. He was born around AD 46 in the small town of Chaeronea in the region of Boeotia, Greece, and died around AD 120. Plutarch is best known for his parallel biographies of famous Greek and Roman figures, collectively known as the Parallel Lives, and his moral essays compiled under the title Moralia.
Early Life and Education
Plutarch came from a well-to-do family that provided him with a comprehensive education in philosophy, rhetoric, and mathematics. He studied in Athens, where he became a student of the philosopher Ammonius. His education was deeply rooted in Greek tradition, but he was also heavily influenced by Roman culture and philosophy, which is reflected in his works.
Career and Influence
After completing his education, Plutarch traveled extensively throughout the Roman Empire, visiting places like Alexandria and Rome. In Rome, he became a well-known intellectual figure, giving lectures on philosophy and ethics. Although he spent much time in Rome and had a deep appreciation for Roman culture, he never lost his Greek identity, and he remained proud of his Greek heritage.
Plutarch’s philosophical outlook was heavily influenced by Platonism, and he was an advocate of practical ethics. His works reflect his belief in the importance of moral character and virtue in public and private life.
Parallel Lives
Plutarch’s most famous work is Parallel Lives, a series of biographies that compare the lives of famous Greeks and Romans, such as Alexander the Great with Julius Caesar, and Demosthenes with Cicero. These biographies are not just historical accounts but are also moral studies, emphasizing the virtues and vices of these figures. Parallel Lives became a major influence on later Western literature and philosophy, particularly during the Renaissance. Writers like Shakespeare, Montaigne, and Emerson drew heavily from Plutarch’s work.
Moralia
Another significant contribution by Plutarch is his collection of essays and speeches known as Moralia. This work encompasses a wide range of topics, including religion, ethics, politics, and literature. The Moralia provides insight into Plutarch’s thoughts on various aspects of life, offering moral guidance and philosophical reflection.
Later Life
In his later years, Plutarch returned to Chaeronea, where he served as a priest of Apollo at the Temple of Delphi. Despite his active participation in Roman public life, he remained deeply connected to his hometown and its local traditions. He also served as a magistrate in Chaeronea and played a role in its civic life.
Plutarch was married and had at least five children, some of whom he outlived. He wrote a touching essay titled “Consolation to His Wife” after the death of one of their children, which provides insight into his personal life and his stoic approach to grief.
Legacy
Plutarch’s works have had a profound and lasting impact on both classical and modern thought. His biographies in Parallel Lives are considered among the most important sources of information about the lives of notable figures from antiquity. His moral essays in Moralia continue to be studied for their ethical insights.
Plutarch’s influence extended far beyond his lifetime, shaping the intellectual landscape of the Renaissance and the Enlightenment. His works were translated into many languages and have been continuously read and respected for their wisdom and insight into human nature.
Plutarch’s legacy endures as one of the most important moral philosophers and biographers of antiquity, and his works remain a significant part of Western literary and philosophical tradition.
Here’s a summary of each essay in the collection of Plutarch’s Essays that you provided:
Each essay reflects Plutarch’s deep engagement with moral and philosophical issues, offering insights that are both practical and profound.
We are domesticated like dogs
Expand your muscles
Stretch your legs
The psychology of money
Time preference
Thinking about the future and security
How to build a prosperous future?
Immediate needs versus future needs
Broken money, incentivizes people to spend for immediate pleasure
The decay of Society is a byproduct of not considering the future?
Bitcoin incentivizes the individual to think longterm and about the future
Cost-of-living is increasing which leads to meaninglessness because people don’t know how they’re going to get by
Don’t give up!
Compassion and altruism
Maslow‘s hierarchy of needs
Food and shelter
Family and relationships
Spirituality
Self actualization

Becoming the best person you can possibly be
We’re stuck at the basic need of food and shelter, which leads us to stray away from compassion, family, relationship building, or spirituality
Money shapes how we show up as individuals

Bitcoin has the potential to change out people show up
When you’re just surviving, you don’t even have the ability to think
Thrive, don’t survive 
Bitcoin is hope
When you’re treading water, you become nihilistic
“ they’re just neurons or synapses firing in your brain”

Excited for the future?
Act differently. Act hopefully.
Internal versus external locust of control 
External control leads to depression, health problems, and shorter life expectancy 
People who have control over their trajectory have much better health outcomes And life expectancy 
Does the external world control you, or are you controlled from inside?
Are you going to allow the government and the environment to determine your fate? 
The number one cause of stress globally is money
Stress impacts you mentally and physically
Disease is to be uneasy, to be unwell, to be anxious. Dis-ease
Think bigger than yourself
Because people are just getting by, it is inevitable that you will see spirituality decline
Bitcoin makes you stop thinking about money 
Who am I? How do I want to show up in life? What are my values, what are my morals? What is life? How do I want to raise my kids? What is the meaning of life?
Time is currency – “spending time”
Expand consciousness
 Hunters and gathering spent 13 hours per week to gather what they need. The rest of their time was spent focused on community, time around the fire telling stories, and having connection to other people.
The 40 hour work week. 365 days per year. 14 days of freedom?
Feudal system
Live off the land
God, tribe, and land
the American revolution was over 3% tax rate 
Now the tax rate is around 39%
The state takes around half of your work, half of your salary
The tax of inflation 
We have the key
War and the money printer 
Bitcoiners are the new Knights of the Templar
Money that promotes everybody to show up more authentically
When parents are separated, and one parent has to provide, it impacts children, emotionally, which leads to ADHD, depression, and anxiety, influencing your personal relationships
The breakdown of the family, relationship, and politics
Decentralized system
There’s only one option
Why so much focus on prestige, power and possessions?
What makes you happy in life?
Contributions, challenges, and connections
The current system promoted incentivized consumerism

 Happiness comes from reflection and internal dialogue
Consuming something is a temporary thing. A fleeting moment
Love yourself and have goals
The hidden cost of money
The meaninglessness of fiat
The parent and child bond
When our money is losing value over time, it makes it harder for parents to show up
If parents have to work longer hours, that’s less time that the parents spend with their kids
This causes children to spend more time with their peers instead. The problem with peer relationships are they are superficial sub 12 or 13 years old. They are all the same, look the same, want the same things, sound the same, and have the same mannerisms. This causes children to have an identity crisis,  with high depression and anxiety because they don’t really know who they are. They don’t have a moral compass, that north star, which is their parents or their elders because they’re always out working.
if you’re pregnant, and stressing about money, the hormonal imbalances of cortisol that are developing because of the stress will ultimately impact the kid 
If a kids nervous system are flooded with these stress hormones, then when that kid is born, they will have a hypersensitive nervous system
Kids with hypersensitive nervous systems have shorter life expectancies, higher rates of autism, higher rates of depression and anxiety, and drug use.
Relationships- Monetary stress on a mother is impacting kids before they are even born
Environment- When our money breaks down, we are incentivized to consume. When we consume, purchasing goods and services, those goods and services are made up of resources. We are decimating our waterways, our forests, and minerals, so that we can feed a consumer driven society.
Bitcoin flips this on its head. Our purchasing power incentivizes us to save. We become more conscious about what we consume and consume less.
This will cause mediocre products to disappear, forcing a competitive market for better products to be made.
Money shapes how we interact with our environment, relationships, and politics.
The government has a money printer. They don’t need to be fiscally responsible
When the government does not balance its books and runs massive deficits, it’s able to fund operations through debasements of the currency at the expense of the currency holders
Government, environment, and relationships
The government printing money is evil
Bureaucracy is our new God 
The consequences of fiat currency has been catastrophic and attributed to millions of deaths
Fix the money, fix the world, and fix the endless war 
Money is a medium of expression, like language, we express to the world what we value 
Some people will buy grass fed beef and fresh vegetables. Other people will buy cigarettes and candy. You can see what people value based on what they spend their money on. 
Society as a holistic entity –  you can see what people value based on where their money flows. Do they value grass fed, and organic farming or do they value war?

Inflation, capital controls, and regulation
Anti-war
I don’t want to direct my capital to something that promotes war
Print dollars, fund war, at your expense
Society supports war? 
What does society value?
How does a free market survive if we don’t know what businesses should survive or what society values 
Our food is fake and artificial
Peer to peer communication is diminishing the government’s ability to control the narrative 
Bitcoin is money for the people
You cannot take my capital by force
Hope
The cost of living crisis
When you can’t think for yourself, totalitarianism is the outcome
The feeling of loneliness and meaningless leads to mobs forming
The guy in the suit is now naked
Kamala Harris is focused on equity of outcomes. Everybody has the same outcomes? This is communism.
Species are capitalistic inherently
Capitalism is competition with those who are able to offer value surviving
In natural evolution, species are able to offer value and are able to use their environment in a productive way better than their opponent, naturally surviving.
We need competition and value to rise up
Equity of outcome is breaking down society, redistributing wealth, and disincentives people to add value to society
A mass misallocation of capital
Free markets
Support humanity
Just sharing some workflow ideas. I like to take notes throughout the day, throw them into iA Writer. Then, I realized by copying and pasting these notes, and sending it to ChatGPT, and prompting it to organize them for my next essay, it really did assist me with writing this morning. I like to write with the stream of consciousness, not taking too seriously, and using the little microphone on the keyboard, or voice to text, to just write by speaking on my morning walk. It was helpful to have these bullet points, from ChatGPT, diving into my notes, and organizing them for me.
When I read online content, I just use the text to speech option. First, go to your settings on the iPhone, then click accessibility.
Next, click spoken content.
Then, increase the speaking rate speed so you can read it out loud faster
Finally, highlight the text that you want to read, and just click speak!
The Knights Templar, officially known as the Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon, were a Christian military order founded in 1119 during the time of the Crusades. The order was established to protect Christian pilgrims traveling to the Holy Land, particularly to Jerusalem, after the First Crusade had created a series of Christian states in the region. Over time, the Templars grew into a powerful military and financial organization.
Key Characteristics of the Knights Templar:
- Founding:
- The order was founded by Hugues de Payens, a French knight, along with eight companions. They approached King Baldwin II of Jerusalem and were given a headquarters on the Temple Mount, where the Temple of Solomon was believed to have stood, hence their name.
- Their initial mission was to protect pilgrims traveling through the Holy Land, which was often dangerous due to bandits and enemy forces.
- Military Role:
- The Knights Templar became known for their military prowess and discipline. They were heavily involved in the Crusades, fighting in key battles to defend Christian territories in the Holy Land against Muslim forces.
- Templar knights wore distinctive white mantles adorned with a red cross, symbolizing their purity and willingness to shed blood for their faith.
- Monastic Vows:
- Like monks, the Templars took vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience. Despite their wealth and military might, individual Templars were expected to live austere lives.
- They followed a strict code of conduct and were expected to be models of Christian piety and virtue.
- Financial and Economic Power:
- The Templars quickly became one of the wealthiest organizations in medieval Europe. They received donations of land, money, and other valuables from European nobility and monarchs who supported their cause.
- The order also developed an early form of banking, allowing people to deposit money in one location and withdraw it in another, which was particularly useful for pilgrims traveling to the Holy Land. This financial network made the Templars a powerful economic force.
- Dissolution:
- The Knights Templar’s power and wealth eventually led to their downfall. In 1307, King Philip IV of France, deeply indebted to the Templars, ordered the arrest of the order’s members across France. He accused them of heresy, blasphemy, and various other charges, many of which were likely fabricated to justify the seizure of their assets.
- Under pressure from King Philip, Pope Clement V disbanded the order in 1312. Many Templars were tortured, forced to confess to false charges, and executed. The last Grand Master, Jacques de Molay, was burned at the stake in 1314.
- Legacy:
- Despite their abrupt end, the Knights Templar left a lasting legacy. They have been the subject of countless myths, legends, and conspiracy theories, including tales of hidden treasures and secret knowledge.
- The Templars are often associated with various esoteric and secret societies, though much of this is speculative and not supported by historical evidence.
- They remain a symbol of medieval chivalry, religious devotion, and military discipline.
The Knights Templar are remembered as one of the most famous and enigmatic military orders in history, with a legacy that continues to captivate the imagination even centuries after their dissolution.
Purchase a full cow, deep freeze it, and hoard bitcoin?
Buying a full cow, cutting it, and deep freezing the meat, along with hoarding Bitcoin, reflects a self-sufficient and forward-thinking approach to both food security and financial investment.
This approach embodies a self-reliant lifestyle, combining practical resource management with a keen eye on future financial trends.
The Force of Fate
Light and Dark
Cultivating Vitality
Political Division
Creating a New Tradition
Beauty and Architecture
Destiny is Calling
Every morning, I start my day at the precipice, on top of the cliff, looking out towards the Schuylkill River. Every human’s fate is predetermined, and that is our inevitable death. I feel a call to action each day, gazing out towards the horizon, reminding myself how open and endless this world is for us to explore and conquer. I remind myself that I must become the most vital, alive version of myself in order to embrace the chaos, and find myself reaching towards my goal to evolve. I stand on the cliff like a lighthouse in the dark, shining bright into the unknown from now to eternity.
The first video game I remember falling in love with as a young boy was Kingdom Hearts on the PlayStation. The main character, Sora, starts off on Destiny Island, standing at the precipice, gazing out to the horizon of the ocean. As he and his friends gather wood to craft a raft to leave the island, they contemplate if there are other worlds out there and have a call to adventure. Eventually, a portal to darkness appears, taking one of the boys. Sora, however, follows the light, wields the light as his weapon, through the use of his keyblade, to fight against the darkness, and to unlock the door to Kingdom Hearts.
I believe we all have a struggle within between light and dark. It’s very easy to allow darkness to consume us, and to go down the path of evil, hedonism, and destruction. When we are in the dark, there is often a goal of acquiring immense power through nefarious means. Despite this darkness, I believe within every single soul there is light waiting to shine for all the world to see. Perhaps we must all look inward, becoming our authentic self, through removing the external distractions of the modern world from our lives, in order to find that inner light, and let it shine bright.
“Change is the result of strife and necessity,” – Heraclitus
Without struggle, there is no opportunity for change or growth. The most obvious example I have is a physical one, in relation to physical fitness, and hypertrophy. The more you use your muscles, the more they will increase in strength and size. Also, consider photography, and our photographic muscles. The more you use your camera, the more successful your photographs will become. If change is our ultimate goal, to evolve, then we must embrace strife openly, as a necessary part of our journey. Through the fire and flames, we become tempered by it, becoming harder, faster, and stronger. No pain, no gain.
We must increase our vitality, and create the strongest body, mind, and soul imaginable. Nothing can break your spirit, nothing can break your lust for life, with increased vitality and vigor. Say no to drugs, alcohol, bars, clubs, festivals, gossip, news, media, etc. Peel the leeches from your skin/life or any toxic people that bring you misery. Avoid miserable people like the plague, and reject darkness.
What is the number one thing in this modern world that decreases our vitality?
Consider the iPhone like the soma drug from Brave New World by Aldous Huxley. This drug, in the novel, causes mass sedation amongst the people, keeping everybody perfectly in line and domesticated like dogs. Everybody is perfectly content, given just the right amount of food, and entertainment, to distract the masses from becoming their most vital and alive selves. We may have never found the weapons of mass destruction in the Middle East, but the weapon of mass distraction sits in your front right pocket.
I believe the connection between our mind and our body is most critical to consider when discussing vitality. For the past two years, I’ve adopted a 100% carnivore diet, fasting throughout the day, and eating one massive meal at night. This past weekend, I visited Ocean City with some family, and was invited to join them at a restaurant. The problem I have with Italian culture is that you oftentimes feel guilty for not eating. At any gathering, not this one specifically, but in the context of Easter, Christmas, etc., you’re always encouraged to “eat eat eat!” Italians just love to eat, and you feel shame and guilt if you don’t eat that homemade pasta, cookies, etc. At the restaurant, I ordered a steak; however, it came with a salad and some sides. I told the waitress to hold the onion rings, but inevitably wound up eating a salad and some beets. I realized that I should’ve avoided eating these beets, as they are extremely high in fiber. I was unaware of this, and thought to myself that it wouldn’t be such a big deal to eat other food groups for once as a change of pace. However, this had me rushing straight to the bathroom, and leaving my gut feeling upset for at least a half an hour. I felt really bad, and it was obvious that the beets caused this feeling. This experience reminded me of why I cut these foods out of my life, and I think of cows and how they shit so much. Think of a cow, grazing in the grass, constantly eating the grass, and shitting all throughout the day. The reason why these cows poop so much is because the grass is very high in fiber. I also realized, actually, in grocery stores and advertisements how foods high in fiber are often promoted as this great thing for your health. I’m extremely skeptical of this, as what this high fiber intake does is deplete nutrients, removing all of the good stuff from the foods you eat, immediately upon release in the bathroom. I understand that I’m getting a bit graphic here, but also, your shit stinks when you eat this fiber or vegetable food. Your poop does not smell, and is a normal size when you eat meat. You have regular bowel movements each morning, consistently. Also, you never fart when you eat meat. Let’s just eat more cows, and let them eat the grass for us. Don’t be a cow.
So, let’s be critical about our gut health, and how we can achieve a supreme state of being. By fasting, I have a clear connection between my mind and my body, removing all brain fog caused by digesting various food groups. However, when you remove all the food groups and solely consume meat, you never feel bloated; you simply feel satiated, full of strength and vitality. If you’re in Philadelphia, Nabrasa is the best restaurant for carnivores, and is way better than Fogo de Chão.
Let’s follow the light as a source of life, goodness, truth, and knowledge. Not only does light represent all of these things, but the sun itself increases our vigor and vitality. Think of our cellular structures and the role that cholesterol plays in synthesizing vitamin D within our body. Through increasing our exposure to sunlight and meat intake, or simply eating more cholesterol, we are consuming a natural steroid, synthesizing our vitamin D, and increasing our testosterone. Let’s think on the metabolic level, down to the cells of our body, and how we can nourish them with the goodness of the sunlight by basking in it more.
It seems like we’re more divided than ever in the United States, where we separate our parties, left and right, red and blue, Democrat and Republican. I see a middle ground, in the color purple, where we can unite together as one United States. Think of the idea of the United States, coming together as a solid nation, in defiance of tyranny from Great Britain. It seems like people are filled with hatred towards the opposing parties these days, and spew nothing but hatred towards one another. Let’s try to find balance, unity, and strength as one people, under one nation. How can we achieve this? I suppose by only speaking positive things into the world, and never spewing negative energy towards another person. For me, it seems so silly when I hear people talk so much shit about Donald Trump, or Kamala Harris, when they’ve never met the person, heard them speak in person, and only have an idea of who they are through a few articles they read, or they saw on the TV. Stop letting the shadows on the screen determine your perception of reality.
You can’t fit me into your matrix life.
Let’s create a new tradition, one that aligns us with nature and the highest versions of ourselves. Have you noticed that our modern world is domesticating us like zoo animals? You sit down, shut up, take orders, surround yourself in a comfortable environment with artificial lighting and air conditioning for eight hours per day, to serve a corporation, a bank, or some company. We’re modern slaves, denying our physiology in pursuit of material wealth. This is the matrix, and something we should avoid at all costs. How can we achieve this freedom, how can we glitch out of the map, or the matrix? Think more critically about your health, your physical well-being, and what you truly need versus what you don’t need from this world. What I truly need is sunlight, fresh air, water, and meat. Unfortunately, these things cannot be found in these modern workspaces. These places promote the decline of the physical body, the decline of our highest good, our highest vital nature as a human being. To me, this is inhumane, and something to become more skeptical about. Don’t take the soma, and wake up.
When I walk through the streets, I am an active participant in the drama that unfolds. I am the conductor of the orchestra or the play, and all of the actors are upon my stage. I direct them where they need to be. Spontaneity and serendipity are my guides, my muse in life. However, I am not simply an actor on the stage, but an active participant, engaged in the eternal now. When I’m moving my physical body through the streets, I exist outside the passage of time, in a blissful state, through recognizing the patterns in both nature and human behavior, putting order to the chaos on a street corner. I’m not just a passive observer in life; it’s important for me to become an active participant in the world.
I think the reason why people treat the streets poorly in this modern world is because nobody owns anything. Most people in the city rent or live within small apartments and condos. Because of this, there’s a lack of connection to the city, the street, or any sense of pride and ownership in things. Have you heard that saying, “drive it like a rental?”
The other day, while walking through Rittenhouse Square Park, I saw a homeless man pull his pants fully down, urinating, with his genitals out, facing directly towards the public. I’ve used public restrooms where homeless people are shaving, washing themselves, etc., and then go off ranting about how they want to grab a gun and shoot people. These homeless people are a threat to our society and our city, and we should probably start doing something about it. The more we let this problem bubble up in our cities, and the more we are merely renters within this modern world, the more chaos that will inevitably be on display in our streets. Men need a sense of ownership and pride in their city, something higher than themselves to strive towards, but the modern world rejects this, domesticates us, and is the reason why you see so many homeless men wandering about, causing chaos.
Beauty is important. Beauty inspires. Beauty moves the individual to strive for something greater. When I look at the clock tower of City Hall, or gaze at the Free Library of Philadelphia’s columns, I’m inspired by the beauty of architecture. When I gaze at a sculpture of an eagle, thousands of feathers carved by hand, built of bronze, standing underneath a tall ceiling, while listening to the world’s largest playing pipe organ, here in Philadelphia at the Wanamaker Building, I feel as though my soul transcends this world into the realm of the divine. Great art, and beauty in general, has a very significant impact on the well-being of a flourishing society. Think of the building across from City Hall, the Municipal Services Building, where our taxes are collected. This brutalist piece of architecture dampens the human spirit, and reminds me of the prison holding cells near Old City in Philadelphia. It just looks like a big beehive, where the bees go into their little pods, to toil. The outward-facing architecture quite literally dampens the human spirit, and is simply ugly. When you enter this building, they have a display of a historic moment in Philadelphia. However, this historic moment is not George Washington crossing the Delaware River, but it’s the complete opposite. They have an entire display dedicated to the “MOVE bombing” that occurred on May 13, 1985, where the Philadelphia police burned down an entire block in West Philadelphia during clashes between the police and a radical, anti-establishment collective with a militant stance against systemic racism and police brutality that turned violent. Can you imagine going into the office each day, reminding yourself of this tragic history, this terrible event that occurred in your city, and then joyfully marching into your office? The only way I can describe this is strange. I’m highly suspicious of why this is on display, and why these buildings are built this way. Also, City Hall is beautiful on the outside, but if you have to work inside, it’s a tragedy. It’s dusty, dingy, and the lighting is poor.
Let the chips fall as they may. Embrace the force of fate, align with nature, and embrace change. Let’s bring more beautiful things into this world, through the creation of photographs, or works of art.
Our fate is change. This is inevitable. Evolve, transform, align with nature and leave this modern world behind. It is time to give birth to a greater version of ourselves. Send your mind and your body through the fire.
If you’re not moving, you’re dying.
