Sloww Sunday Newsletter 235: Slow Living Truths, Switched at Birth, Free Will Guide

Sloww Sunday Newsletter 235 (Apr 12, 2026) — Slow Living Truths, Switched at Birth, Free Will Guide, & More

The Sloww Sunday newsletter sends to 10,000+ readers slowing down to the wisdom within. If you enjoy this issue, please help grow Sloww by forwarding this newsletter to others.

New to Sloww? Here’s what it’s about in a nutshell (which mirrors the newsletter sections below):

🐢 What slow living is and is not

A short guide to slow living…

What slow living is not: it’s not doing everything as slowly as possible, it’s not about being less, it’s not a trendy aesthetic on social media, it’s not anti-technology, and it’s not the same as simple living (while both are aspects of ‘intentional living’, slow living is more about pace/time/energy, simple living is more about space/things/environment).

What slow living is: intentional, conscious, purposeful, meaningful, mindful, paced, unbusy, unhurried, balanced, holistic, integrated, natural, sustainable, deep, wise, aware, deliberate, methodical, reflective, connected, fulfilling, present.

“Slow Living means structuring your life around meaning and fulfillment. Similar to ‘voluntary simplicity’ and ‘downshifting,’ it emphasizes a less-is-more approach, focusing on the quality of your life … Slow Living addresses the desire to lead a more balanced life and to pursue a more holistic sense of well-being in the fullest sense of the word.” — Beth Meredith and Eric Storm

1️⃣ Explore More: 100+ posts on Intentional Living (Sloww Stage 1)

😃 Featured Product: The Hierarchy of Happiness: 100+ Powerful Perspectives on How to be Happy (Free eBook)

👶 Can you imagine being switched at birth?

So, this is wild. I’ve written extensively about the lottery of birth, including this thought experiment about getting swapped at birth. Turns out it’s actually happened in real life (read more on Reddit):

2️⃣ Explore More: 50+ posts on Life Purpose (Sloww Stage 2)

🧭 Featured Product: Ikigai 2.0: A Step-by-Step Guidebook to Finding Life Purpose & Making Money Meaningfully (+ Bonus Workbook)

🧠 The Ultimate Guide to Free Will

Over the last few years, I’ve quietly compiled one of the most comprehensive guides to free will you’ll find anywhere online. Here’s everything included so far:

Start here: 25 Ways to Melt Away the Feeling of Free Will, 50+ Free Will Questions

Quote Posts: Alan Watts, Alan Watts Synthesis (🔒), Robert Sapolsky, Robert Sapolsky Synthesis (🔒), Sam Harris, Sam Harris Synthesis (🔒), Bernardo Kastrup, Bernardo Kastrup Synthesis (🔒), Arthur Schopenhauer Summary (🔒), Nietzsche, Spinoza, Einstein, Galen Strawson, Ramana Maharshi, Swami Sarvapriyananda, Swami Vivekananda, Ramakrishna, Nisargadatta Maharaj, The Bible, Yuval Noah Harari

Book Summaries: “Determined” (Robert Sapolsky), “Free Will” by Sam Harris (Book Summary), “On the Freedom of the Will” (Arthur Schopenhauer), “Things That Bother Me” (Galen Strawson), “Moral Luck” (Thomas Nagel), “Hard Luck” (Neil Levy), “Creating Freedom” (Raoul Martinez)

Thought Experiments: The Ovarian Lottery (Warren Buffett), “Original Position” / “Veil of Ignorance” (John Rawls), Swapped at Birth (Raoul Martinez), The College Graduate & The Garbage Collector (Robert Sapolsky), The Homunculus Fallacy (Robert Sapolsky), The Basic Argument (Galen Strawson), Cake vs Oxfam (Galen Strawson), Desires & Decisions (Sam Harris), Tea or Coffee (Rupert Spira), The Clown that takes the Bow (Jean Klein), The Pride of Achievement (Nisargadatta Maharaj), The Life of Luckia (My Own Extreme Thought Experiment)

Birth Lottery: Overview, Quotes, Videos, Implications, Lottery of Birth Synthesis (🔒), Dissecting My Birth Lottery Ticket (🔒), How I Live with the Lottery of Birth & Lack of Free Will (🔒), How I Live with the Lottery of Birth & Lack of Free Will (1 Year Later) (🔒)

Deep Questions: Are there Stages of Seeing Free Will? (🔒), Is Ultimate Moral Responsibility a Myth? (🔒), What’s our Problem with (Mis)Attribution of Agency? (🔒), Do You Control Your Life Path? (🔒), Do You Live Life, or Does Life Live You? (🔒), Is this the Holy Shit Moment? (🔒), Is this the Strangest Thing in Life? (🔒), Is Free Thinking Even Possible? (🔒), What is Going On? (🔒)

3️⃣ Explore More: 100+ posts on Mental Mastery (Sloww Stage 3)

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☯️ More from the spiritual classic I Am That

A recent newsletter covered highlights from the first 25% of I Am That by Nisargadatta Maharaj. I’m now 40% through it, so here are some new favorites:

“Biologically we need very little, our problems are of a different order … Humanity’s problem lies in this misuse of the mind only … Forgetting your Self is the greatest injury; all the calamities flow from it.” (Pair with: Is the Meta-Crisis a Me-Crisis?)

“You cannot change the world before changing yourself … It is neither necessary, nor possible to change others. But if you can change yourself you will find that no other change is needed.”

“All I can say truly is: ‘I am’, all else is inference … By no effort of logic or imagination can you change the ‘I am’ into ‘I am not’. In the very denial of your being you assert it.”

“I am as I am, for no merit of mine and they are as they are, for no fault of theirs.”

“I do not issue orders to consciousness. I know that it is in the nature of awareness to set things right. Let consciousness look after its creations!”

Explore more:

4️⃣ Explore More: 100+ posts on Spiritual Seeing (Sloww Stage 4)

👣 Featured Product: Wise Walk: 365 Days of Enlightening Exercise

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All the best,

Kyle Kowalski
Founder, Sloww