The Savage Philosopher

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

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.

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

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

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

The world is a dangerous and hostile place. It is filled with people who are different; they act different, talk different, and believe different. This difference has divided the world into two tribes The tribe of ‘us’ and the tribe of ‘them’. In one moment two people are in the same tribe as co-workers and in another, they are in different tribes as sport fans. This is all the work of our animal instincts to survive our hostile world. Our animal instincts are designed to do one thing, ensure our survival. Using the Reticular Activating System (RAS) it determines if something is a threat or an opportunity. The RAS basically filters out all the noise in the world to help us focus on what is important. Things that are new are immediately highlighted as a threat first, and then a possible opportunity. This is why we subconsciously choose to dress like our friends or end up wearing the same colors with our significant other. By matching, our animal feels safe and secure. If the n

My journey so far has been one of self discovery. Over the last couple of days, I realized that I will need something more than self discovery to succeed evolving into something greater. I need to completely change everything I do and the way I do it. Every moment of every day needs to be aligned with the desired life that I want to live. To include the actions I take and the habits I form to support my long term goals. The truth is that life is only what we make it; to quote the Great movie series ”there is no fate but the one we make.” I also have a confession to make. I have been holding back on all the things that I am doing to prepare myself for my next step. In this post I'm going to rectify that error. Bottom line: I have chosen to embrace suffering and pain so that I can know myself on a deeper level. This is done through newly formed rituals and habits: I only take ice cold showers. I don’t mean that at the end of a hot shower I rinse off in cold water. I mean

Ok, here it is. Day 1 of 17. A small sabbatical to get myself re-centered and upgraded. A time to rebuild who I am, so when I go back to the real world of work and the daily grind, I will be stronger and more capable to take on the world. Or so is the goal. The Plan. I am going to document my next 17 days here as part of a blog series called “Resetting Life”. It will be a way for me to look back on this time in the future and see what parts of this reset took hold in the long term. And of course, this is the best way I know how to share my experiences with you. Here is the list of the bigger accomplishments I want to have by the end of this reset. Some of these may be a little audacious, but that is the point. Consistently execute the One Meal a Day (OMAD) meal plan with a focus on fruit, vegetables , nuts, and seeds with a little bit of chicken or fish chopped in. Workout for an hour every day. Blog at least once a day and increase my subscription to 200

I am inspired to take control of my life from the clutches other people’s obligations and the entrapment of other people’s desires. These are the reasons why I have not found the time nor priority to do this blog, which I love. At first, I thought it was I just out of things to say. A barren dustbowl of topics that I cared about had dried up like the desert. I had said all the things that I could say. In reality, I couldn’t find the time to even think. As I am on the cusp of a two week staycation, I can hear the faint voice of expression. It is as if my mind had been burdened with so much ‘stuff’ that it was being suffocated. In taking my first gasp of air in a long time, I see that it was the weight of the chains put on me that was bringing me down. Like an anchor, I was sinking to the bottom of the sea. I promised in the title that this will be a how-to guide. So here it is; How-to Take Control of Your Life: Step 1: Realize that your depression may not be of your making and

Before we get started, we should first define fear. According to our good friend Webster, fear is “an unpleasant often strong emotion caused by anticipation or awareness of danger”. If we were to dissect this definition a little, we realize that there are two parts. The first is the “anticipation or awareness of danger”, and the second is the reaction to that perception with a “strong emotion”. This is important because I believe that the reaction is dependent upon the perception. This also gives us a possible lever of control. If we control our perception, than we can control our fear. Basically, we are only afraid of dangers that we know about. If this is true, then we could purposefully redefine what we consider as dangerous. In today’s world we are not normally chased by lions and tigers, but our fears of failure and loss trigger the same emotion. So, if we want to control our lives and make choices (the key to being Human) then we need a way to control our mind to minimiz

I struggle every day to find a space where my expectations and mindset meets the reality of the rest of the world. The frustration born from this discordance can be overwhelming and seem impassable. When I look around I see the untapped potential of the faces and events around me and I wonder if I have the right to expect that potential to be fulfilled. As some point we must reach a civilized agreement of what we will tolerate from each other. What we will allow to coexist within our space and what we will shun. And with this thought and question lingering I slip into the topic of today’s blog. “Why am I not Batman!” That is right, you heard me. The single indomitable focus to live a life unafraid in the pursuit of a mission and idea greater than oneself. The skill and determination to press hard against life knowing that this maybe the only chance we get to satisfy our higher divine needs. The limitless mindset to go further than anyone has ever before just to say at the end of the

Never quit! I don't care if you woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning and it seems like the world is conspiring against you. Get up! Get out! Get Done! The world is not meant to be easy. It is meant to be brutal. It is meant to shape us into better Humans and show us the difference between surviving and thriving. How many times do we just not feel like doing the things that we had decided to do? And then, after we pressed on anyways, wondered why it was such a struggle to get started?  We have the advantage and disadvantage of being able to assign meaning to the events that occur in our life. You know you have done this when the words, "it was meant to be" escapes your lips. Animals, do not have the cognitive ability for this type of imaginative creative storytelling. So why do we? Is this the first hint that maybe we are something more than just flesh on bone driven by animal instinct. (Notice the period and not the question mark at the end of the last

The Savage Philosopher Purpose: I am here as a Savage; one who lives in the brutality of life, and as a Philosopher; one who examines the meaning of it. I believe that the Human race will one day come together and connect in ways that make our world a better place for generations to come. Since the beginning of time humans have come together for survival and for prosperity. We started out small families that grew into larger tribes until we were Nations. Many things separate us; from languages to ideals, we separate our world into comfortable spaces. Our challenge then is to become uncomfortable. We must seek experiences to connect with one another, and we must learn to live with each other’s differences. I have hope for the human race. I have hope that we will one day reconcile our differences with tolerance and acceptance. I have hope that we will no longer seek to control others, but seek to find Harmony. While I have hope, I am a realist. The human race is first and foremost an