Answering Your Questions.

Why do you love Ayn Rand and which book of hers should I start with?

1. Her writing is incredible, plot/character development fascinating, and they are classic books. Great reads.
2. Most people believe what is necessary for the collapse of complex society are ‘black swans’ like superintelligent AI, climate devastation, nuclear war. Rand puts forward a chilling argument that all that is needed for collapse is the spirit of jealousy, envy, incompetence, and the red stroke of communism. It challenged my thinking, nested within phenomenal writing.
3. If you are only ever going to read one book, make it her magnum opus Atlas Shrugged. If you’re willing to read two, I’d start with The Fountainhead. Shorter, still punchy, and you get to see the evolution of her thinking/writing going in this order.

What are the most controversial ideas you’re currently entertaining or finding alluring in some way?

Tough to answer, because a lot of these I don’t personally consider controversial. I think they’re basic and in many ways self-evident. Grant me some benefit of the doubt here, each of these deserve a full essay/conversation, but I don’t have that space. If I consider what most people would find heretical, some are:

1. We have a profound and dangerous lack of masculinity, and indeed patriarchy, in society, not too much/its not ‘toxic’.
2. Democracy is the God That Failed, the State is a parasitic entity, taxation is armed robbery.
3. Bitcoin (& I guess gold/monetary metals) are the only ethical forms of money that exist. Though the ethics of metal mining is debatable.
4. Children cannot consent to gender therapy. Children cannot consent. Period. Child mutilation will be seen as one of the greatest atrocities of our age that we cheered for. This includes circumcision.
5. Tolerance is the virtue of a man without conviction.
6. I’m not confident that the experiment (which it is, historically speaking) of multiculturalism has 'worked' for society.
7. There are two things evidence demonstrates well: (1) increasing testosterone levels in men changes their political stance, (2) most modern men are close to, or already are, clinically deficient. It’s reasonable to say that the political opinions of most men are wildly distorted and should be taken with a heavy grain of salt.
8. I feel more and more that abortion is not good. I'm not yet convinced to say that it shouldn't be a right for women. But for a moment, try to imagine the raw biological material—the mountain of human biomass—that millions of aborted babies looks like (WHO estimates 73 million/year, ~200k/day). I can't get myself to see that as something to celebrate...
9. Writ large, societies without religion at their center are not better than societies with religion at their center.
10. Some people want to be led/governed because it absolves them of responsibility for their lives. Far more blunt—there is a degree of slavery that people crave because the burden of total responsibility is too great.

I was wondering if there any people who are interested in continuing some form of the Warrior 100 program. I really liked the small group form, the accountability, the learning of each other among other things. I have continued the accountability part (on daily physical activity), daily since the end of Warrior 100, with one friend, which is good but it's not the same. Less intense, less serious.

• Incredible work keeping it going! Well done and I’m so glad to hear that. The W100 solidified some core practices for me too.
• This is interesting. If anyone else wants to join a decentralized 100-Days/WARRIOR100, reply to this email and I’ll see what we can do.
• I always wanted Phoenix Culture to be ‘uncopyrighted’. I am more than happy to provide 100% of the material we created for the 100 days if someone/some group wants to pick up the torch and keep it going. I can’t at the moment commit to doing this myself. Let me know.

What is the optimal balance between chaos and order? Specifically, is it just a matter of being present now, when balancing between different extremes or nuances of life from negative and positive experience?

What a question! 😅🥳 Holy moly. Here are a few frames, try them on:

• The optimal balance is whatever you can handle right now. Whatever this ‘chapter’ calls for. Sometimes, that’s far more order in your life: deeply regimented, hardcore practice and structure. Sometimes, it’s far more chaos: radical changes, spontaneous evolution, highly intuitive. Meditate and ask your highest self what’s called for.
• Realize you have only ever lived in 100% chaos. Nature == emergence == chaos. Reframe, as deeply as you can, chaos as ‘spontaneity’, ‘emergence’, ‘randomness’, even ‘playfulness’. It doesn’t need to have a negative connotation. Most people think of chaos as total anarchy and destruction. Chaos is beautiful, and you can handle it. Ch’an (Zen & Taoism) has an incredible term for this: ‘Li’. It means something like ‘Natural Law’ or ‘Natural Order’. Specifically, it meant the markings in marble, grain patterns in wood, shape of a river. Ask yourself what the markings in marble are. Are they sheer random meaningless chaos? Or are they a profound organic natural intelligence? Your entire life is Li. The flow of time is Li. This opens the door to a profound level of Trust. You are not in charge. You do not need to be in charge. Jump in, enjoy the ride. Follow natural emergence, and learn to surf chaos.
• Another flip: if nature is bringing you 100% chaos, why don’t you bring the 100% order? All the way down to the level of perception itself, you are an ‘ordering machine’. Carve order from the chaos. Create your own ‘paradise’ (walled garden). It’s a conversation. A dance. Join in, be an equal partner. Respond immediately, without hesitation, trust what happens.
• And of course, to be cheeky and borrow from both Jordan Peterson and Taoism: the optimal balance is 50/50. As JBP says “one foot in order, one foot in chaos”. Of course, this is what the yin yang symbolizes. Spontaneity within structure. It is an ever-present balancing act. It’s not a test you can fail. It’s a dance. It’s play. Breathe, slow down, join in.

You’ve been evidencing a notable shift in worldview toward being more ‘pilled’ or ‘based’ or hostile toward leftism. What is the story of this arc and what are the potential shadows or failure modes you need to watch out for as you dive deeper into these types of rabbit-holes?

Labels are challenging. What do you mean by ‘based’ or ‘pilled’? To me, it means grounded in reality, in what works, outside of idealistic fantasy—but I sense that is not what you mean.

I have an openness. And with openness, I accept good arguments when they’re made. Traditional right-wing stances have some very good arguments. My worldview is expanding to include both. I visciously attack my ideas and beliefs. 

Most people I meet say they’re ‘open-minded’, but when I ask what conservative/right-wing material they engage with, the answer is always closer to zero. Most of the time they can’t name anyone beyond Jordan Peterson. I spent nearly 3 decades heavily left, so I sought to balance that out. Turns out, when you stop avoiding/strawmanning the Right, there are important things to consider.

1. The Left we grew up with no longer exists. The World that we knew no longer exists. The Left today is dangerous. There is something pure to the spirit of charity, support, inclusivity, freedom of expression, etc. But suprisingly, it is now the left who advocates for gross censorship, continued war, destruction of property, increasing government control, etc.
2. When I looked around for people who inspire me, who I deeply respect even if I don’t agree with, the Left brought very few people forward. This was shocking and disorienting. To use a silly example, who does the Left have to rival Jordan Peterson? The man at least takes himself seriously, is intelligent, works hard, holds a job, raised a family, has taste. Who matches this? Destiny? Blue-haired streamers? Obama—who dropped more bombs on people than anyone in the history of the planet? Legitimately I would love people to highlight the beacons of the Left for me because I’m missing them.
3. Due to the extremely unique century we’ve grown up in, we’ve forgotten how fragile civilization is. It’s not a Law of Nature. It doesn’t just ‘exist’. It was fought for and created over centuries. To oversimplify, the Left seems hell-bent on excavating the foundations that make society function, and this is not good to me.
4. I don’t agree with many of the things the Left has begun to emphasize: all forms of communism/socialism are evil, it has never survived the test of reality; ‘forced charity’ is evil; you cannot normalize the fringes, by definition; wealth is not evil; free-market capitalism is the greatest force of prosperity in the history of humanity; you cannot compel language, censorship is evil; being angry is not an argument; equality of outcome (and less obviously, equality of opportunity) are slippery slopes to totalitarianism.
5. To get very abstract, the Left has begun to glorify—indeed even Deify—ugliness, incompetence, weakness, deconstruction as Virtues. Putting morbidly obese people on the cover of health magazines is not a virtue. Spineless, schizophrenic modern art like taping bananas to walls is not beauty, nor deep. ‘Deconstructing’ the systems that give life and liberty is not honourable.

What are your likely largest shadows or blindspots? And the likely largest weaknesses or blindspots of your worldview?

1. I’m not sure what my worldview is right now. It’s extremely fluid. This question seems to have an assertion behind it.
2. Believing that everyone (1) can, and (2) should, take total responsibility for their lives, absent any ‘external governing force’.
3. Seeking narratives that support my beliefs of personal power, truth, beauty, goodness, peace, & freedom—which are becoming increasingly right-wing coded. (Although when you read that again it’s kind of wild to say).
4. Currently, I heavily emphasize effort & outcome over idea & intent. This can be problematic.
5. I feel like too much of a chameleon. Too able to go into a worldview and live inside of it. Like I said earlier 'tolerance is the virtue of a man without conviction'. There is something around commitment here that I have not yet wrestled with fully.

Is there a general good pattern or framework to continually stay disciplined on a good path? There are many systems I have employed (e.g., Bullet Journaling, Notion) but without the fundamental drive or juice, these systems don't work; so, what are the best ways to keep the drive going, and do disciplined action, even when not feeling 100% (which can be half or more of days)?

• You answered your question: reclaim that fundamental juice. There is no software or system that can stoke the flames of engagement, surrender, passion. Once you access that, the tools rarely matter. Jack Dorsey built Twitter & Square simultaneously never using a computer, just using the Notes app on his iPhone with his team. Tools don’t matter that much, but they’re good ‘bumpers’ to control and channel the energy.
• What is holding you back from fundamental juicyness? Fear? Trauma? Boredom? Nihilism? Self-criticism? Overwhelm? Physical health? All of it? That’s where the work is! Sometimes it requires deep space/time (sabbatical-esque) to discover and correct this.
• The real tools you want to use are whatever helps you stoke the fire of fundamental engagement. If I’m really bummed out, I put on some of my favourite heavy metal/dubstep tracks. A huuuge surge in energy after that. Breathwork, dance, music, affirmations, nature – all good tools to help with reconnecting to the vital spark, the elan vital.
• For smaller moments, simple mantras help. “I do not negotiate with myself.” “Tired? Do it tired.” “Surrender to the process.”
• Recognize that 80%+ of resistance is resistance to starting. Force the first 5 minutes, and you’ll be on your way.
• Radical simplification. Aim for just ONE thing a day. “If I only accomplished 1 thing today, what would I be happy about?” Do that. Do it messy. Do it stupidly. 1 thing a day is far better than an unsustainable 15 minor things (this was an impossibly hard lesson for me to learn).

What are your thoughts on Jordan Peterson's ideas and particularly his attempt at bringing Theological perspectives to a modern group of people that is suffering a meaning crisis.

• Writ large I think JBP has been a great benefit to modern culture. I think he deserves every moment of greatness he earns. Huge, unapologetic fanboy. I have profound respect for the man.
• I think he ‘religion-pilled’ an enormous amount of people. Myself and many others I know. He was one of the first people of intellect and character who could illustrate the depth and profundity contained in these traditions, specifically Western Culture & Christianity.
• For a long time, I felt ‘disappointed’ to watch his transition from “depth psychology nerdy professor” > “heavily religious discussion” > “deeply entrenched in political discussions”. I don’t feel the same anymore (see my answer here on engaging in politics). I think he’s deeply courageous and stands behind his convictions.
• I think the thing that triggers people the most is that he’s highly abstract/conceptual. Did you see his talk with Dawkins? That’s how I think most people relate to him. “Why can’t you just talk about facts and reality.” I personally agree with JBP a lot more than the scientific-atheist group. I believe the abstract/mythological represents a kind of hyper/meta/archetypal reality that in some real ways is ‘more real’ than the changing world of forms in the present moment.

What are your thoughts on staying up to date on world / US politics? Is it useful to track the news or is it more beneficial to focus on the "generator functions of world politics" solely without tracking issues? Is there a way to track politics without getting overwhelmed and terrified?

• I am SO torn on this right now. I don’t have a clear answer.
• For the longest time I would say “its all a distraction, reclaim your attention”. I don’t feel that anymore. The Great Timeless Mystery is manifesting itself RIGHT HERE, in front of you now! Engage with it, that includes everything.
• These quotes ring in my head consistently: “Resistance to tyrants is obedience to God.” “One of the penalties of refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors.”—Plato. That Plato quote really fucked me up.
• It's like an if-then problem. Do you think politics/the State is going away any time soon? No. Do you want to be governed by your inferiors? No. Then that means you need to do something. It's an opportunity for personal responsibility.
• There’s also a hypocritical element to this. Millions of people, all of my friends and family, live within and benefit from the democratic process, yet almost none of them participate in it. How much do you really believe in something if you don’t participate in it? And participating in democracy is fairly clear: educate yourself, engage in healthy and passionate discussion, serve your family, community, country, and vote for either: representation of your ideas in parliament, or directly on issues.
• If you’re not American (I’m Canadian), watching US Politics is another layer. The US sets the overton window in a lot of ways, and whether you like to admit it or not, other countries follow suit quickly.
• When it comes down to it: I think healthy engagement is important, but DO NOT get black-pilled! If politics is leading you to overwhelm/shutdown/nihilism, pull back. Regroup. Reassess. Re-engage. Avoid the black pill at all costs.
• And because actions speaks louder than words: I don't vote, I pay 0 taxes to any country, I do not plan to run for Canadian political office, I am not a resident of any country. My politics is the abolition of the State as such. My political action is my work and my writing, helping people out of that, as much as is possible. Another way to relate to politics might be a quote from Napoleon: "Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake."

Should I buy bitcoin given that it's skyrocketing? Isn't buying now just buying the hype?

• The only question that matters is: “Have the fundamentals changed?” Is the supply capped at 21M? Is the network decentralized? Is the network secure? Is the ledger immutable? These questions have nothing to do with price. You might need to learn more to understand how to answer these questions. But if your answer is “the fundamentals haven’t changed” you are now in a very interesting position: you have the only fixed-supply asset in existence, and a near-unlimited amount of capital that can compete for it—what do you think happens when an unlimited amount of money competes for a truly limited supply asset?
• You must form your own hypothesis and conviction. If you don’t have conviction, with price volatility you won’t survive the downturns (meaning you’ll panic and sell) and will probably lose money. A 5-10 year time horizon is necessary for sanity. Even better: the rest of your life, or the rest of your bloodline. The longer the timeline, the more obvious it becomes. Zoom out.
• I’d encourage you to read The Bitcoin Standard (long) and Gigi’s 21 Lessons (short) if you want to build depth of understanding and conviction in the fundamentals of Bitcoin.
• With those caveats, my personal opinions:
  • Anything under $1M/BTC is an absolute STEAL. Bitcoin is always on sale. Buying at 92k/coin when it’s destined to be 1m+/coin is just a rounding error. I buy at any and every price. I bought at 500, 3.5, 65, 17, 42, 88, 108. I’m still buying.
  • No one who has bought and held for more than 4+ years has lost money. But riding the wave of those 4+ years is hard. The 200 WMA chart is helpful and clarifying (it shows average price over the last 200 weeks). If BTC feels volatile, zoom out.

• Where would you rather put your money and hard-earned savings? Cash is inflated (devalued) at 7-10%+/year, plus taxes on top of it. If you do invest (eg: educated or degenerate gambling) Bitcoin is now the standard to beat. No major investment firm, hedge fund, or brilliant genius has outperformed simply buying and holding Bitcoin. Your question is: do you expect that to continue?
• Look into Dollar Cost Averaging (DCA). Many platforms offer this. If you’re going to invest 10k, it’s a lot safer to do $10/day purchases over 1000 days. Or $100/week for 100 weeks. It smooths out volatility.
• If there are any specifics about BTC you want to dig into, drop me some more questions. I am fiercely passionate about this and would love to write more.

Saw you were reading "We Who Wrestle with God" and would love to hear more about your relationship to Christianity. Personally, having been in new age / Buddhism / Mysticism for a while I'm beginning to notice that Christianity / the conception of a God with a Teleological direction feels quite a bit different from "Emptiness." The directionality and direct relationship with something larger feels more empowering. Have you experienced anything similar to this?

• I hear you. I’m actively wrestling with this (pun intended). I don’t have a great answer right now.
• At a base layer there is tension between Buddhist & Christian conceptions of reality (& all the other religions too). You have to do some fairly intense mental gymnastics to say “Buddhism and Christianity are saying the same thing in different ways.” Yes you can point to the Perennial Philosophy and get somewhere there, but it doesn’t resolve everything.
• I’ve had a reckoning with Christianity the past few years. Mostly because I had to (& wanted to) steelman Western civilization for myself. Christianity and the West cannot be meaningfully separated (as much as some people say they can). Christianity built the West. Almost every modern value we hold has root in Christian Ethics.
• Now to be fair, if you dig deep into the Christian Mystical traditions/teachers, they do emphasize direct experience of God, and their stories sound remarkably similar to many new age/Buddhist/Hindu conceptualizations.
• I think a lot of practicing Christians like it because it does give them a feeling of a direct relationship with God (ie: Jesus Christ).
• Where I’m at now is something like the ‘sovereignty of taste’. I don’t think an 'absolute Truth' of any religion can be proven. At the end of the day, whatever helps you deepen your connection to everything-that-is, be and become a good person, and live a life of meaning, purpose, honour, integrity–is good with me. Whatever fits your flavour. Currently, Zen & Taoism (Ch’an) do that for me. For many of my friends Christianity or Hinduism does that.

Thank you, this was fun. Questions remain open.

With love,
EB. 🐉