The Savage Philosopher

Connecting. The human species is a very fragile and weak creature when are compared to all the other animals on the planet. We do not have thick skin, claws, the ability to run fast, climb, or thrive in environments beyond a very small range of temperatures. Our situation is even more dire when we are first born. The species family unit must maintain hundred percent vigilance for the first couple years of life just to be able to survive. By all rights, the human species should’ve been destroyed by everything else on this planet. So why are we still here?? From my personal experience, I believe it is because of our ability to collaborate with one another and work towards a common goal through task specialization and delegation. It is impossible to be all things to all people. Our natural talents and disadvantages automatically make us better at some things and worse at others. Through task specialization we can become more useful to those around us and becomes a key reason why others

Risk. I have come to believe that the only denominator of ultra successful people is their ability to accept and manage risk. This factor above all others is the one thing that determines when you are ready to take your destiny in your own hands. This factor determines the type of job, school, significant other, and an infinite number of other things that you choose. So what is risk? In my humble opinion, what we deem as risky is a logical interpretation of our emotional fear of the unknown. That means when we say something is too risky, we are justifying our fears. If that is true, then what separates the risk takers from the security takers is their ability to act in spite of their fear. They don’t conquer, overcome, or squash their fears. They feel the fear and act. THEY FEEL THE FEAR AND ACT. In an attempt to take my own advice, I finally pulled the trigger and started my own business. It is registered with the state, has a business account, business structure, and by the end of

I am beginning to wonder if there is a difference between malignant and benign influences. Without getting into a full debate today about the relevance of good and evil; I want to highlight an observation: An unseen power flows through repeated messages. Only recently I have begun to watch TV again. After five years overseas there was no point to watch the local cable stations. And now that I’m back in the states, over the last two weeks I have been taking advantage. I have concluded that those who have chosen the programming do not know what they do. As the word suggests, programming is a deliberate intent to create actions by convincing the cognitive space. I understand the economics of advertisement and the systems that employ them. I do not think that those who schedule the programs really understand how they affect the cognitive space outside of purchasing a consumer product. Being reborn into this environment I was not prepared for the psychological battle I would h

Showing up This week I learned the value of simply showing up. Simply by getting out of bed and putting on pants, I gained six hours of one on one coaching and business development with a specific focus on a business I am trying to do. My initial expectation was to make a couple of networking contacts and possibly learn about some local resources. But by the end of the day, my expectation was blown away. A couple of weeks ago I called my uncle about learning how to run a small business. He took over the family business a number of years ago and figured that he had some good insights on situation. Well, he directed me to go to the library and see if they were sponsoring any business classes. I have been to the library before and I did not see anything on that subject, but I also wasn’t looking for it. So the next time I took my daughter to get another 10 books to read over the week; I took the time to see if my uncle is right. And of course he was. In about two weeks from th

For those who are following along my little journey, here are my results: Feat 1: Education. The goal was to have everything done so that I can start school.  I’ve completed 75% of what I need to do. All my transcripts have been sent except for the last school I was going to. I still need to send them back the books from my last classes, which of course are in one of the many boxes in my garage from the move. A perfect intersection of this feat with Feat 3. Feat 2: PMP Certification. I have ordered the hardcopy book to study from and have it with me now. This week I will put my hours in the PMI website, and next week I can schedule the test. So I’m at 30% here. Feat 3: Home Ready for Guests. We have squared away about 25% of the boxes. Unfortunately the items in the boxes have not been completely put away yet. Once that is done, then we can work on the boxes that are in the garage. Feat 4: Write a Book. I am at 0% complete. Feat 5: Conquer Life Admin. OK, me and the wife hav

One the best pieces of advice my father gave me when I was a young man was the value of taking action. At the time, I didn’t really understand where he was coming from. I didn’t understand the struggle that he had in his life. And I did not understand how desperate he was trying to provide me with some of his lessons learned. But now I am at the age in which he provided me that advice and I understand. Through my own struggles of deflated dreams and hollow words, I understand that words are cheap and the only thing that has value in this world are actions. In fact I believe that actions create the value and is the cornerstone of our success. To experiment with this concept I am going to execute a massive action plan for the next two weeks attempting to accomplish more than I ever thought possible. This experiment starts with accountability of this blog and will end with the completion of five feats. (things I have been putting off because I fear their failure) Feat 1: Education.

Rule one, don’t suck! Sounds easy, but actions speak louder than words. There are just times when we are not feeling it.Times when we want to lay in bed rather then come up with the reasons to care. But then again, this is the struggle that us humans are blessed with. For the last couple weeks I have personally been struggling with finding my path and with finding reasons to be awesome. Being mediocre is so easy. It barely takes any effort at all. I have been trying to dig deeper into myself and I realized that I need more reasons to put in the effort. I need hope, I need the dreams, and I need to be inspired. When I don’t have these things my thoughts range from apathy to chewing on bullets. Deep down I know that I am not alone with these thoughts. I know that others are suffering in silence seeking some sort of glimmer of light in the darkness. So what to do about it? I have chosen to enact my divine right of choice. I am going to choose a higher purpose to believe in and ex

Without fail, every time I try to push or force my personal reality into existence I face an immobile Force that pushes back. I then get frustrated when my desire is not manifested. For instance; even as I wish to create this blog post I am being interrupted through my Facebook Messenger. In this case, I am attached to the idea of completing this blog post and the interruptions frustrate my desired end state. And then, through the conversations I'm having on the Facebook messenger, I am further tasked with things that will interrupt my day. These interactions are not inherently bad. They simply do not fit my worldview on what I imagined the day would be. My attachment to the situation is the direct cause of my negative emotions and frustrations. The obvious solution would be not to have any attachment. Without attachment I would not have these negative emotions, but I also would not have any positive emotions either. Or is this assumption wrong? This brings into context the word

I am blown away of how we are attracted to stories and images of sex, tragedy, and beliefs. Another celebrity sex tape and I am left wondering why such a story so important to the human population? Is it simply our procreative instincts kicking in? Or something deep down in us that reflects our species worldview? Or maybe it is a welcome distraction… Maybe it is too much to ask to be curious why the president of the United States is in India, the impacts of a giant volcanic eruption in Indonesia, or debating melting over 3 million weapons currently held by Americans. When I compare and contrast events that may have a direct impact on my life, a celebrity sex tape doesn’t even register. I am impacted by trade agreements other countries. I am impacted by volcanoes spewing tons of ash into the atmosphere further the cooling of the planet. I am impacted by the fear in political discourse that may shape my kid’s future. Neuroscience teaches us that the brain deliberately attempts to co

Are we doing it wrong? The current economy of the western world is based on the consumption of goods and services. Any product or service that is not in need on a repeatable basis is worth less than those that are. For instance; here are some products I use everyday that are based on only consumption. Disposable razors Single serving coffee Ball point pens Pencils Paper journals Drink bottles and cans The gasoline in my car that I used to get to work Sticky notes Notecards Paper Containers to hold my food from the grocery store Tinfoil Ziploc bags This is a simple list of common items I use almost everyday in my home and professional life. I am sure there are more, and this does not include some longer-term consumables like cell phone upgrades, computer upgrades, and car upgrades. Today I simply want to reflect that in our society we award consumption versus conservation. At this point, I am not saying that either one is better or worse only that we need to be aw

Be warned, this post may offend. I wish that the visions of Ghandi and Dr. King were the mainstream belief systems of all the people in the world. Unfortunately, they are our inspired outliers. They lift us up in their vision because the truth of the matter is that we are savages. Humans, like all animals on this planet, fight for survival and resources. We are violent opportunist, and our ability to apply our skills has allowed us to remain on the top of the food chain. We will become prey the moment we do use our ability to apply violence. While this may not be the ideal version of the human race, it applies to the mass majority. The tools of our violence have evolved from fists to nuclear weapons. The purpose of the tools is to ensure our survivability. When you look at the human species from a global perspective we create all the violence because we are struggling to survive on a global scale. This struggle is played out on the micro and macro levels. The recent school sho

Why do we dream? Our scientist say that dreams are combination of biological and psychological processes. That when we sleep or brain files away all the dynamic information from the day. The scientist also confesses that they know only a small portion of the information about the brain and how it works. And if dreaming or simply a mechanical process why do we feel that there is a certain mystery involved? They feel like a message. This is exactly how I felt this morning after waking up from a very complex dream. The dream seemed to be split between two parts. Part one I felt as if I was with a group of people who were moving, and much of the dream dealt with solidifying relationships before people left. The second dream dealt with getting lost by committing to do things I did not have a map for. But it ended with me finding a place as a reference point. In part one, it started with meeting four or five people in the parking lot getting ready to go drive into town. I remember hav

The Frog. Moving back to America. I am currently moving back to America after spending five years overseas. Moving is hard anyway. Moving over an ocean with a family has an undescribable difficulty level. It has been done by many people before me, and will be done by many more after. None of that takes away from the personal stress of having to do it. And then to add complexity to the issue, I decided to buy a house. A thousand things to do. As with any move there are many things that need to be done. While still overseas, I need to worry about everything from closing out with the current landlord, shipping cars, insuring all the utilities are going to be paid, ensuring my current organisation has everything they need for me, and have a temporary place to stay before I fly out. And of course I am simultaneously doing all the paperwork required to buy a house back in the States. To accomplish everything, I need to rely on many people and things I don't have control over. Doing

Perception of time. The first thing that I noticed was that my perception of time had changed. It had been stretched. The day seemed to drag on forever with the worst parts being around are traditional meal times. It was as if my awareness of every moment had become focused on what was happening around me. The slight feeling of Hunger in my gut is what kept me anchored to all the moments. It wasn't painful physically. But I was not prepared but he emotional impact of having such awareness. Deafening silence. Some people have a hard time sitting in a room quietly without distractions. As if it served a greater purpose than simple entertainment. I have come to the conclusion that the distraction protects us from our own thoughts. Through my own meditation practices of sitting quietly in a room, it has never been difficult for me to be alone with my own thoughts. But somewhere around hour 75 I started to have an emotional breakdown. The hyper awareness gained by the anchored hu