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Sloww Sunday Newsletter 159 (Oct 29, 2023) — Areté, Determined, Enlightenment, & More
Sloww Sunday shares my latest and greatest creations and curations to 10,000+ students of life. If you enjoy this issue, please help grow Sloww by forwarding the email version of this newsletter to other lifelong learners.
📘🌀 Lifelong Learning & Deeper Development
The Art of Synthesis
When people think of passions, they often think of actions/activities. For some reason, most people don’t think of thinking itself as a passion. What an epiphany on this journey to realize that thinking is my primary passion—and that there’s something called ‘synthesizers’/’synthesists’! If you’re an aspiring synthesizer, you may enjoy my intro to synthesizers and combinatorial creativity along with my top synthesis quotes.
- “We are drowning in information, while starving for wisdom. The world henceforth will be run by synthesizers, people able to put together the right information at the right time, think critically about it, and make important choices wisely.” — E. O. Wilson
- “In the twenty-first century, the most important kind of mind will be the synthesizing mind.” — Murray Gell-Mann
- “May synthesizing minds thrive.” — Howard Gardner
For Premium members, there’s nothing in existence equivalent to these syntheses:
- 🔒 Maria Popova Synthesis (50+ articles, interviews, podcasts, and videos)
- 🔒 Naval Ravikant Synthesis (1 book, 10+ videos/podcasts, and hundreds of social posts)
- 🔒 Nora Bateson Synthesis (hundreds of social posts and multiple videos)
- 🔒 Rupert Spira Synthesis (3 books and 50+ videos/podcasts)
- 🔒 Robert Sapolsky Synthesis (2 books and 20+ videos/podcasts)
Explore more: 50+ posts on Lifelong Learning & Deeper Development (Sloww Stage Support)
🌎 Lighter Living
Areté by Brian Johnson
I just realized Brian Johnson of Heroic (formerly Optimize) is selling pre-orders of his new book Areté: Activate Your Heroic Potential which will be published on Nov 14th. You can learn more and download a 100-page preview, but I pre-ordered a copy which unlocked a bonus to download the entire eBook early.
If you’re wondering what areté means in the first place: “a concept in ancient Greek thought that refers to excellence of any kind—especially a person or thing’s full realization of potential or inherent function” (Wikipedia).
Brian is also starting to make podcast appearances. I’ve previously summarized another video that Brian called his “life’s work in an hour”: Optimize with Brian Johnson: An Intro to his Life’s Work on Virtues, Habits, & Optimal Living
“Start here. This is the best of what I know of ancient wisdom, modern science, practical tools. This is how we move from theory, to practice, to mastery. This is how we close the gap between who we’re capable of being and who we’re actually being.” — Brian Johnson
Explore more: 100+ posts on Intentional Living (Sloww Stage 1)
🧭 Higher Purpose
The College Graduate & The Garbage Collector
This short thought experiment comes from Robert Sapolsky’s new book (see newsletter section below for more):
“Imagine a university graduation ceremony. Almost always moving, despite the platitudes, the boilerplate, the kitsch. The happiness, the pride. The families whose sacrifices now all seem worth it. The graduates who were the first in their family to finish high school. The ones whose immigrant parents sit there glowing, their saris, dashikis, barongs broadcasting that their pride in the present isn’t at the cost of pride in their past. And then you notice someone. Amid the family clusters post-ceremony, the new graduates posing for pictures with Grandma in her wheelchair, the bursts of hugs and laughter, you see the person way in the back, the person who is part of the grounds crew, collecting the garbage from the cans on the perimeter of the event. Randomly pick any of the graduates. Do some magic so that this garbage collector started life with the graduate’s genes. Likewise for getting the womb in which nine months were spent and the lifelong epigenetic consequences of that. Get the graduate’s childhood as well—one filled with, say, piano lessons and family game nights, instead of, say, threats of going to bed hungry, becoming homeless, or being deported for lack of papers. Let’s go all the way so that, in addition to the garbage collector having gotten all that of the graduate’s past, the graduate would have gotten the garbage collector’s past. Trade every factor over which they had no control, and you will switch who would be in the graduation robe and who would be hauling garbage cans. This is what I mean by determinism. And why does this matter? Because we all know that the graduate and the garbage collector would switch places. And because, nevertheless, we rarely reflect on that sort of fact; we congratulate the graduate on all she’s accomplished and move out of the way of the garbage guy without glancing at him … It is the events of one second before to a million years before that determine whether your life and loves unfold next to bubbling streams or machines choking you with sooty smoke. Whether at graduation ceremonies you wear the cap and gown or bag the garbage. Whether the thing you are viewed as deserving is a long life of fulfillment or a long prison sentence.” — Robert Sapolsky
Explore more: 50+ posts on Life Purpose (Sloww Stage 2)
🧠 Mental Mastery
Determined by Robert Sapolsky
Robert Sapolsky is a professor of biology and neurology at Stanford University and bestselling author. His new book Determined: A Science of Life without Free Will (Book Summary) is incredibly wide-ranging: biology, to determinism, to chaoticism, to emergent complexity, to quantum indeterminacy, and more (as a bonus, one of the chapters is a summary of his previous book Behave: The Biology of Humans at Our Best and Worst, so it’s a little like knocking out both books at once). Regardless of your views on free will, you will learn a ton.
Sapolsky has a bunch of new podcast episodes with: Scott Barry Kaufman, Lawrence Krauss, Jordan Peterson, Michael Shermer, Chris Williamson, Michael Gervais, Jim Rutt, and Nate Hagens. Choose your favorite podcast host and enjoy. Two podcast segments in particular stand out as must-listens: here and here.
For Premium members, I’ve synthesized everything you could ever want to know about Robert Sapolsky’s views on free will: 🔒 Robert Sapolsky Synthesis: The Science of No Free Will (+ Infographic)
“This book has a goal—to get people to think differently about moral responsibility, blame and praise, and the notion of our being free agents. And to feel differently about those issues as well. And most of all, to change fundamental aspects of how we behave … My goal isn’t to convince you that there’s no free will; it will suffice if you merely conclude that there’s so much less free will than you thought that you have to change your thinking about some truly important things.” — Robert Sapolsky
Explore more: 75+ posts on Mental Mastery (Sloww Stage 3)
☯️ Spiritual Seeing
The Enlightenment Metaphor of John Smith & King Lear
This metaphor is one of Rupert Spira’s favorites. I’ve heard him describe it a number of times, but the explanation below from this video is one of his best:
“John Smith is an actor who lives a peaceful and fulfilled life at home. He goes to his theater one night to play the part of King Lear—essentially a set of clothes that he puts on and a series of thoughts and feelings. So, John Smith puts on the character of King Lear and seems to become King Lear. He thinks like King Lear, he feels like King Lear, and he acts and relates like King Lear—for all intents and purposes, he is King Lear. On this particular evening, John Smith becomes so involved in playing the part of King Lear that he actually forgets he is John Smith. He really feels that he is King Lear, and he suffers accordingly. At the end of the play, he goes backstage. His friend comes to congratulate him but finds him miserable. King Lear explains the troubles he has with his daughters and the French. His friend says to him, ‘No, you’re not miserable because of your daughters and the French. You’re miserable because you’ve forgotten who you truly are. Who are you?’ King Lear begins to tell him, ‘I’m a father, I’m the king, I’m a husband.’ His his friend says, ‘No, you’re none of those things. Go back. Explore who you are really.’ King Lear starts telling his friend his thoughts and his feelings. His friend says, ‘No, your thoughts and feelings are not essential to you.’ King Lear is tracing his way back. At some point, there is this recognition: ‘I am John Smith.’ The moment John Smith has the recognition ‘I am John Smith,’ his suffering leaves him because his suffering arose on account of his belief and feeling ‘I am King Lear.’ That’s what’s called enlightenment. It’s very important to understand that it is not King Lear who becomes enlightened, nor is enlightenment an experience that takes place in King Lear’s life. It has nothing whatsoever to do with King Lear. It is simply the recognition ‘I am John Smith,’ and that recognition is accompanied by peace and happiness because that is the nature of John Smith.” — Rupert Spira
Pair with:
- The Dream Metaphor of Mary & Jane (Rupert Spira Summary)
- 🔒 How to See with the Screen Analogy from Rupert Spira (+ Infographics)
- 🔒 Rupert Spira Synthesis: Everything about Nonduality (+ Infographics)
Explore more: 50+ posts on Spiritual Seeing (Sloww Stage 4)
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All the best,
Kyle Kowalski
Founder, Sloww
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