So the glorious thought of today’s day is about ambition. And forever climbing.
The virtue
I suppose the first thought is, ambition is a virtue. I think for a lot of life and time, we have always been brainwashed into thinking that somehow, ambition were bad, a vice… essentially acquainting the idea that more ambition you had, the more bad or sinful you were.
For example in America, there’s kind of a weird thought that somehow… You should just kind of be grateful for what you got, Cedre. Even a lot of the Zen Buddhism that we learn nowadays, is kind of like a mishmash of Christianity Christian values and other stuff.
For example, we are also taught stuff like cautionary tales like how Napoleon was foolish for wanting to march into Russia, and how the ambition of Napoleon was unwise and foolish.
Yeah what’s interesting about Napoleon, even though everyone criticizes and critiques him, and even though he “failed” at the end of his life… Assuming he just conquered France, and sat on the throne until he died, certainly he probably would not be satisfied, and would have no longer a desire to live or go on.
Even myself, at the ripe age of 37, 38… I feel like I’m just kind of getting started. I met my 15-year-old cousin Joy the other day, and my mind was blown, it was almost 10 years ago that Cindy and I got married, a lot has happened in 10 years, but also a lot hasn’t happened. And I suppose then, the optimistic thought is thinking about the next 10, 20 years moving forward?
Amazon
OK sorry I’d like to think the Amazon Jeff Bezos is evil whatever, but my honest appraisal is, Amazon is phenomenal. It is truly the everything store in a good way.
I’ll give you an example… I just gifted my 15-year-old cousin Joy my old LUMIX G9 and lens, and I realize she actually needed an SD card adapter for her phone or her laptop, and so I gave her my only USBC, SD card adapter. And then I just had to order myself a new one, I got the really really tiny one by ANKER, and it was so easy and seamless, instantly delivered to me, via Amazon prime, essentially overnight.
Also some random stuff, Amazon Prime Video, and I guess now Amazon autos… And I suppose the question is, whether people think it’s going to be successful or not, is less of a concern to me, but more… The grand ambition behind it all?
If anything, maybe at this point we should just rate the grandeur and the greatness of a man based on his level of ambition.
So in some ways… Seeing Amazon continue to expand, is kind of a good sign  showing that the spirit of Jeff Bezos lives on, because baked into the DNA cultural DNA of Amazon was a growth mindset.
For you
It’s kind of incredible what a single human being a single 40 MHz flesh battery can achieve.
I think a lot of people like to use Elon Musk as an example, and it is true. He is just a single man, and anyone who demonizes him is secretly in love with him. My honest take is, hate is just love on steroids.
War of my honest thought is, honestly moving forward, a bigger thing that people often do is indifferent; if you are indifferent about something or somebody, that is like 99.9% of the world. In fact, to be hated is probably the greatest compliment or the greatest sign of success because once again it is a strong signal that you’re actually interesting enough or famous enough for successful enough to be hated on in the first place.
Therefore, the goal isn’t to be afraid of being hated on, the better goal is instead… Striving to become grand enough, to even be hated on in the first place?
#humansonly
I had a very funny thought during hot yoga for a startup idea. The general idea I have is, trying to create some sort of social media platform or platform or something in which only humans are allowed on it?
The very very simple way to solve the whole butt issue, is bitcoin and Satoshi’s. The general idea is, if you want to register account you just pay a nominal fee in bitcoin or Satoshi’s, like five bucks or 10 bucks or whatever, and I suppose the upside is the friction of it is a good thing because, it just prevents bots from swarming the platform.
Like I’ll get example, all these teenyboppers, are still on Instagram and I suppose TikTok or whatever, but if I waved a magical wand and showed to you and proved to you that in fact, 100% of your followers were just bought, not real human beings, would this change your opinion of it? Of course!
And then it just makes me think, and consider… What is it that everyone wants? Certainly some sort of social approval.
And also… Even one thing that I’ve been enjoying about going to hot yoga with Cindy is the social aspect. Like all the fun teachers and the people I get to meet, the other day we did a barre class, and honestly it was just kind of like a big dance studio. Really fun!
Social humans
So once again, I think a lot of this comes down too… People just want to be happy Social, together.
And I think this is why, a lot of people are very very happy, when they are traveling in Asia southeast Asia etc. Because I think the number one issue that Americans have is that they are so lonely?
I mean think about it, when you see people on social media, or watching television, there are always human beings on that platform. So in some ways it is like augmented, crowdsourcing, or outsourcing loneliness or sociality?
Even when you watch cartoons or other stuff, it is almost always some sort of like human like thing?  even with avatar, all these furry creatures are essentially humanoid things.
So what’s the answer
I think the deep truth is all humans seek some sort of approval, dominance, hierarchy. We want to show off in front of others, to be admired.
And once again I don’t know why this is seen as such a bad thing. I think there are some virtuous forms of competition, and there are some also forms of superficial competition. I suppose the wisdom is separating the two.
Open source competition
So I suppose this is kind of the good idea,
So the reason why I think all organized sports are mostly bad is because it is a closed source form of competition. For example, the NBA basketball, I feel bad for Michael Jordan because after all of his success, he seems to just be a depressed alcoholic. And what’s the issue? He had to retire. Why? It seems that there is just a simple point in which, you can no longer perform?
And I suppose the issue is once again, you are still dependent on the NBA, this closed source advertising platform, and you do not own the franchise or the platform.
And this is why sooner or later all entrepreneurs on any sort of social media platform will fail. Even someone as great as Casey Neistat,,, as long as they are dependent on YouTube, you’re kind of screwed.
I’ll give you an example, let us say you have 100 trillion followers on YouTube or TikTok or Instagram or whatever, and then one day you accidentally post something that triggers the algorithm to say that your platform is violating some sort of rule. And let us say that randomly your account gets suspended, deleted, banned. And now that there are no more human operators who approve or reapprove the whole process, it might take months or years for your account to be reactivated if ever.
So once again it’s almost like you have your balls in a vice. Which trains you to simply appeal to the masses, like maximizing your popularity while trying to minimize the downside of controversy?
So then what
The open source Internet, your website, wordpress.org, is still the way.
OK and a big thing… No more Bluehost.com –> I once advertise them for a long time, but after creating a series of websites and getting them banned for some arbitrary reason, no more. Ionos.com is superior.
the sky is the limit
I often see planes and Boeing 747’s flying over me and it is always such a happy side cuts, assuming that you’re some sort of airplane, there is no thing holding you back, no LA traffic no 405, no local traffic.
I suppose that’s also the grand Joy of walking hiking riding a bike, you’re not stuck in some sort of lane and traffic, which gives you more autonomy to move around as you will.
Open source capital
I think I’m starting to pick up heat.
In terms of a hierarchy, what is more important than money?. Generally the idea is, everyone wants money but the truth is, money is actually not that important or as important as you may think it is. What is actually far more important is capital.
What’s the difference? Money is like having a bunch of ones and zeros and commas in your checking account, capital is like owning 10 square blocks of downtown Manhattan fifth Avenue. Or owning commercial property in Gangnam South Korea.
I have a family friend whose family was very intelligent, and owned some commercial real estate in Gangnam South Korea, and essentially you got a Starbucks built on it, and now they’re super rich. Certainly not happy they’re just like a lot more stressed if anything, but still, they’re not eating foot to mouth. 
Takeoff!
Thrust, takeoff, rocket ships.
I suppose, the reason why kid like rocket ships, spaceships or whatever, is like this mind blowing joy of breaking free from the crutches of gravity, and being able to ascend a new level?
And actually, I think this is the joy of climbing. For example if you do rock climbing hiking or whatever, or even bicycling… To climb the hill to climb the mountain is actually more enjoyable than going down.
And there needs not to be some sort of fake virtue behind it. We simply do it because it is enjoyable!
Even myself, on my quest to lift 1000 kg, maybe 2000 kg and beyond, honestly there’s no rationality behind it. If anything it’s just trying to be clever creative, coming out with new innovative ways to go beyond?
I’ll give you an example… My number one critical innovation with weightlifting is conquering leverage. 
So the foolish white people try to lift weights is from the floor. The wise way is doing a rack pull, which is putting the barbell on top of the squat rack or the power rack putting the pins very very high, as close to your hips as possible. And then the very very simple idea is insanely simple, make the range of motion as tiny as humanly possible,… and then, using some dead lift straps, trying to lift the heaviest weight you possibly can. And you gotta think 2X leverage, no more simple 400 pound that lift, go at least for 800 pounds and beyond. Beyond 1000 pounds think 2000 pounds.
And then the third level of leverage I discovered is, taking some sort of dip belt or weightlifting belt, and attaching it to the center of the barbell, and therefore, while you are doing a rack pull,,, you are also simultaneously using the power of your hips to lift the whole thing?
A new third layer I am considering now which is also interesting is, using some sort of mono lift system, in order to simply unwrap the weight, and rather having myself lift the weight, to simply hold it suspended for half a second before releasing it?
This is an interesting idea because then, the whole concept isn’t necessarily to lift the weight, but simply to sustain the weight for half a second, before releasing? 
So then this also becomes very innovative because it is no longer weightlifting but weight sustaining? 
weight sustaining
So I suppose this is the genius of using a weight vest or something, or, look at those strong men or powerlifting competitions, in which they use a mono lift platform to simply release the weight on the shoulders of the weightlifter, and the truth is as long as they could even hold it for half a second, it is virtuous in so far much as, they hold the weight.
I’ll give you an example, my infamous atlas lift. The first big innovation I did at just a local commercial gym was having this curiosity of like how much I could simply lift off the squat rack with my shoulders. I kept climbing until I did 1000 pounds.
To illustrate a mono lift system,  imagine a squat rack with hooks on top, which suspend the weight on top, and then the weightlifter enters it, and then two individuals on each side unhooked the thing, to give the weightlifter space.
And the number doesn’t really matter, and to those who think this is kind of a gimmick… Thought experiment, if you had a human being hold 100,000 pounds on their shoulders even for half a second and not collapse, certainly, consider how strong this human needs to be. Very strong.
Strength for the sake of what
The truth is the reason why strength is your destiny and your moral imperative is because more strength more audacity more ambition, more life more joy, more overcoming, more becoming. 
And also assuming you’re a man, this all equates to more testosterone. Testosterone, naturally produced by eating beef liver, sleeping 8 to 12 hours a night, extreme weightlifting, climbing, is your destiny.
ERIC
Now what
The most sublime essays of all time?
So for myself, one of my supreme joys, my sublime joys is to harness my energy my power in order to craft and forge insanely epic essays?
more to come!
ERIC
ERIC KIM BLOG >
