Mills is a legend. Reminds me of a Teddy Roosevelt quote: "Nothing in the world is worth having or worth doing unless it means effort, pain, difficulty… I have never in my life envied a human being who led an easy life. I have envied a great many people who led difficult lives and led them well." Defending free speech while empowering writers is a mission that is too important to fail. Keep up the fantastic work, comrades!
I think that searching for evidence-based probabilities, or the most valid looking information patterns, that suggest the first/foundational principles around a problem, and subsequently moving up to the next theoretical layer of principles from there if deemed necessary, grounds idealism/exploration with pragmatism/explanation. When you use techniques to change your focus or awareness to broaden this search, and combine it with intuition and good faith conversation, all of that together is what good critical-thinking is. And it results in more exponential understanding of reality.
Speaking about the issue of principles and pragmatism, I am currently writing a lesson that I learned over the past week, which is "Being flexible and having no plan are two entirely different things". And while browsing for references, I encountered this beautiful write-up! Coincidence? I think not!
This is helpful. Yes, there is a difference in the types of "hard" we undergo. What I glean here is that ambiguity -- of what is meaningful, of what matters, of the value of time and effort -- can be so discouraging in the face of no, or little, affirmation from others.
It seems to me that it's vital for the individual (in my case: me) to derive intrinsic rewards from, for instance, creative expression, rather than become co-dependent on external approval (subscribers, money, attaboy remarks). The creative process (for me, typically, that's writing) is the cake....recognition and praise is the icing on top.
Mills is a legend. Reminds me of a Teddy Roosevelt quote: "Nothing in the world is worth having or worth doing unless it means effort, pain, difficulty… I have never in my life envied a human being who led an easy life. I have envied a great many people who led difficult lives and led them well." Defending free speech while empowering writers is a mission that is too important to fail. Keep up the fantastic work, comrades!
Love the last sentence "Hard Way Is the Only Way". As Ryan Holiday and Stoics put it: Obstacle Is The Path.
I think that searching for evidence-based probabilities, or the most valid looking information patterns, that suggest the first/foundational principles around a problem, and subsequently moving up to the next theoretical layer of principles from there if deemed necessary, grounds idealism/exploration with pragmatism/explanation. When you use techniques to change your focus or awareness to broaden this search, and combine it with intuition and good faith conversation, all of that together is what good critical-thinking is. And it results in more exponential understanding of reality.
Speaking about the issue of principles and pragmatism, I am currently writing a lesson that I learned over the past week, which is "Being flexible and having no plan are two entirely different things". And while browsing for references, I encountered this beautiful write-up! Coincidence? I think not!
Thanks for sharing Chris, and fantastic work.
It's feeling like a great journey, Chris!
It must be wonderful to work at a company where your boss thinks deeply & encourages you to think deeply. Chris, Your employees are very lucky.
This is helpful. Yes, there is a difference in the types of "hard" we undergo. What I glean here is that ambiguity -- of what is meaningful, of what matters, of the value of time and effort -- can be so discouraging in the face of no, or little, affirmation from others.
It seems to me that it's vital for the individual (in my case: me) to derive intrinsic rewards from, for instance, creative expression, rather than become co-dependent on external approval (subscribers, money, attaboy remarks). The creative process (for me, typically, that's writing) is the cake....recognition and praise is the icing on top.
Invictus -- by William Ernest Henley
Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.
In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.
Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds and shall find me unafraid.
It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate,
I am the captain of my soul.
Does this mean substack employees will try to endure tough mental challenge, or simply they will have to work overnight with rarely any sleep?😢
So ... is video an afterthought, a way to polish and improve what you had?
In any case, I am soooo happy that video is now part of Substack. Hopefully it will grow and improve.
Thanks!!! :)