The farm, Marcel, Bojack the Horseman, Rickiest Rick, you, and me

Last year, while I was volunteering at a health and wellness center, I met an interesting fellow. His name is Marcel. I was in a place called Barrydale, and he came from somewhere near George. These two places are roughly 160 km (96 miles) apart. He came to the farm I was on to give us some advice on how to improve our gardens and our crops, so that we can get better yields. At the time the plan was to focus on establishing a big enough crop to supply the local vegetable shops and restaurants in and around Barrydale. He was dreaded, and prefered walking around barefoot, he was vegan just like the rest of us. But something stood out about him, and this was not part of the world my colleagues lived in.

Much like our community here, he valued freedom. He achieved his freedom through permaculture, with a one hectare vegetable farm near the caravan park he manages, where he farms for subsistence. He did not have to choose that particular life, because there are many places that would take him on as a game ranger. Although despite this he chose to live a simple life, because it afforded him the freedom that he craves. In a similar vein, I have come to crave freedom, and I have chosen a front where to establish it. 

Before I go there I want to discuss a problem I have been struggling with since last week friday, which was emphasised in a youtube video about the two different kinds of nihilism, illustrated by the examples of Bojack and Rick.   Without boring you with too much philosophy, this can be summed up as follows. Many people think that to merely be optimistic rather than pessimistic is enough to avoid the abyss that nihilism forces us to stare at. It is the idea that existence precedes meaning, and that one of the sources of suffering is freedom and the dread that it brings. Whether I am optimistic or pessimistic about this idea is merely a ruse. There is only one way to respond to this, and it is to act, with decision. It does not even matter at this point of the race whether it is the right or wrong decision, whether I am good enough or completely unworthy, or whether it is the correct time. 

I hope the juxtaposition of how I am securing my freedom and the abyss grenade I have thrown at you balances out, I hope that it also excites you as much as I have been excited the past three days. I have thrown caution to the wind, and I have gotten a bit reckless with my abandon of the reason laid out to me by school, parents and friends. - Thankfully I have steem to back it up - This marks the first post I have ever made on here and also a decision. I care very little for the conventional world and I am besotted by the idea that the Steem Blockchain is representing.

My whole focus from now on will be Aimed at becoming an stronger influence on Steemit, Dtube, and Dsound - the podcast and vlog will come with time -  Marcel said that freedom is not standing around - and twiddling your thumbs - I took that to heart , and now I am putting it into practice. What you will find on my account is content focused around Accelerated Learning and Personal Development, and it will have the problems of existentialism as an undertone. So I am talking about a hardcore approach to bettering myself, you and the people around us, by focusing on the meaning we attribute to our lives and the world. 

Most philosophy gigs are focused on politics and some really pedantic arguments about the meaning of sentences. Here you will find how it can be wielded, much like a sword to cut through the crap, and much like a torch to light up the way. While learning how to learn and what skills and knowledge you can gain in a 3-6 month window that will greatly increase the quality of your life. I will show you how it has benefited my life and also share the struggles, victories and the important defeats that have nothing to do with pure stupidity and general douchebaggery.  

Reading list, and where I am going to start:

1. Book of Five Rings
2. Unfettered Mind ( no audio book  so I give you The Way of Zen as a concession )
3. The Art of War
4. Hagakure ( no audiobook so here is The Way of the Samurai for your entertainment )
5. How to read a book - seriously good book - It is also part of a playlist

This serves as the initiation of an extended reading project that I have to embark on in order to ensure that my content here is top notch. These books are good books, so If you are going to read them I suggest going through How to read a book first - Like Mortimer says in the intro, I am not insulting your intelligence. Reading in the way he suggests is quite a challenge in itself, although at the end of it the ideas in the books you read with his methods will be a part of  your soul and go with you for the rest of your days. 

I have read all of these books before, and now i need to come to terms with them, because they are going to start molding my thoughts in approaching the content you recieve from me. I am going to skim through five to get the operating facts - in my next update I will give you this distillation in pdf format so that you can use the book after you read it as well.

After that it is straight into three of the five books. Book of Five Rings, Unfettered Mind, and the Hagakure. The reason I am reading these books in this fashion is to blur their boundaries and form something more than what these books present. This may take me two months to do properly, and it will also constitute me writing essays to expand on these ideas. 

A watching List

1. Jordan Peterson's Maps of Meaning 
2. YaleCourse: Listening to Music
3. Concise introduction to logic 
4. Math foundations, Intro to advanced Math , Statistics 
5. YaleCourse: Music Theory

Right now I am watching maps of meaning, each Lecture is two hours long, so there is not much time for anything else. 

Listening to:

Yann Tiersen Amelie Sound Track

Yann is an inspiration to me, I am aiming to learn the bulk of his music on Piano in order to soak up his influence into my soul, this is one playlist I visit often as well. Otherwise I am listening to Tech house, Deep House, and Witch House to get me through the long stretches of time in front of my pc

Challenge

This week jan 31 , to February 7. I want to see how far I can get learning COMPTINE D'UN AUTRE ÉTÉ on Piano with 1 hour per day practice, you can follow along if you like

Now for you guys out there, in the comments below tell me:

1. What are you struggling with at this moment ?
2. What are you reading/going to read ?
3. What are you watching ? - It does not have to be in line with the madness I have listed, but you are watching it for a reason so what is the main thing you have learned from watching whatever you are watching?
4. What are you listening to?

Please remember,

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Make sure to get into the comment section, discourse is the basis of society; be talking yo

Peace, Damion