In terms of making meaningful and authentic decisions, we are a species walking a narrow bridge with two chasms framing our way: the finite and the infinite. On the finite side lie the fixed conditions of everything we are. These are the facts of our existence that force us to live in certain ways: the needs of our body, the wiring of our brain, and the pull and push of necessity. On the infinite side lies a universe of potential — all the things we think we might someday do or become, a future full of possibilities with no set course laid out.

Two Chasms

Both sides have their sirens’ calls that beckon us with promises of comfort, and both risk rendering us unable to move forward authentically in our lives. For the Danish philosopher Soren Kierkegaard, the wise but hard task of life is to walk the path between these two abysses: to be neither finite nor infinite but find the middle way.

Two Sirens

For many of us, the finite side, the reality and necessity of life, is all there is: a world that Kierkegaard calls “aesthetic.” The problem is that if we live only for our needs and whims, then life will rattle by without anything bigger. When we live only for the aesthetic, and embrace too fully the finite alone, we risk losing ourselves. We can do this in two ways. One is to become a slave to our desires — a kind of hedonistic automaton. Another is to become a faceless, uninteresting drone among the masses — or, as Kierkegaard put it, “an imitation, a number, a cipher in the crowd.”

A Person Of No Importance

Kierkegaard believed that the finite is not all there is to being human. There is also the infinite — the recognition that we have the capacity to choose and direct our lives in essentially any way we can dream. But spending too much time gawping at the cosmos of possibilities we face is not entirely healthy. For a lot of people, it’s terrifying.

A Deer Caught In The Headlights

Most of us can remember the anxious vertigo that comes in those “infinite” moments of life, when you leave your parents’ home, end a relationship, or stare at the blank first page of a novel. To know the infinite is also to be dreadfully aware of the vastness of the future. In a phrase Kierkegaard made famous (philosophically famous, anyway), this is to experience and know the “dizziness of freedom.”

The Dizziness Of Freedom

For many people, the anxiety and panic that comes from confronting the vast potential of life is crippling. There’s a paralysis that comes in being unable to choose, because there are too many choices to make, and too many potential options to choose from. For so much of our lives we’re led by the hand by those around us, or we’re given easy and impulsive answers from our biology. However, a human is someone who can take stock of things and who can — who has to — make decisions that no one else will make.

The Paralysis Of Choice

Kierkegaard’s advice is that we must each “learn to be anxious.” We must take a stand where we will but get used to facing outward. We must take a step along that narrow bridge between the infinite and finite. After all, like a spinning top, we risk toppling and losing our very selves when we stop moving.There’s a paradox in all this (and Kierkegaard is particularly fond of paradoxes) and we must hold two seemingly contradictory beliefs in tandem, while never giving sway to either.

We Must Learn To Be Anxious

We must recognize that we are puny and insignificant — primates running on hormones and synapses. But we must also recognize that we are powerful beyond belief, that each of our decisions reaches out into the future, and that our decisions define our future. Embracing and living with this paradox is a maturing of the soul and it is a necessary step in becoming a human being. As Kierkegaard wrote, “I will say that this is an adventure that every human being must go through.” We all live in contradiction. Wisdom comes in accepting that.

We Play A Solo Tug-Of-War

...even the richest personality is nothing before he has chosen himself, and on the other hand even what one might call the poorest personality is everything when he has chosen himself; for the great thing is not to be this or that but to be oneself, and this everyone can be if he wills it.

Christ was crucified because he would have nothing to do with the crowd (even though he addressed himself to all). He did not want to form a party, an interest group, a mass movement, but wanted to be what he was, the truth, which is related to the single individual. Therefore everyone who will genuinely serve the truth is by that very fact a martyr. To win a crowd is no art; for that only untruth is needed, nonsense, and a little knowledge of human passions. But no witness to the truth dares to get involved with the crowd.

It is the duty of the human understanding to understand that there are things which it cannot understand.

The thing is to understand myself: the thing is to find a truth which is true for me.

According to Søren Kierkegaard, we are each pulled in two directions: toward the "finite" or the "infinite." When we lean too far in either direction, we risk living stagnant and inauthentic lives.

Everyday we risk losing ourselves. We either become the plaything of our desires or we are crippled by indecision. We must avoid both.

philosophy

Philosophy

personaldevelopment

Personal Development

motivationandinspiration

Motivation & Inspiration

How Not To Be A Phony: Kierkegaard On The 2 Main Ways We Lose Our True Selves

<ul><li class="ql-align-justify">Intelligence is often thought of in terms of logic, thinking, and information processing. </li><li class="ql-align-justify"> Intelligence is one of the most powerful tools you have at your disposal. It can help you get a career in almost any field and make it your specialty.</li><li class="ql-align-justify">Intelligence, in essence, is your ability to think logically, understand abstract concepts, and learn quickly.</li><li class="ql-align-justify">It’s also the ability to learn, unlearn and relearn when necessary. Highly intelligent people can learn quickly and retain information for a long time.</li></ul>

Defining Intelligence

<ul><li> The ability to learn and retain new information is the ultimate sign of high intelligence.</li><li>Peak intelligence occurs when a person’s mental abilities are at their highest, and they can produce the best results possible.</li><li>High intelligence is a skill, but it’s rare.</li><li>High intelligence makes you a better person because you will be able to see things from different perspectives and come up with more creative solutions to problems.</li></ul>

High Intelligence

Jeff Bezos says improve your ability to change your mind when you find better knowledge. Elon Musk says, “It is important to view knowledge as sort of a semantic tree.”According to Steve Jobs, A lot of [what it means to be smart] is the ability to zoom out, like you’re in a city and you could look at the whole thing from the 80th floor down at the city. And while other people are trying to figure out how to get from point A to point B reading these stupid little maps, you could just see it in front of you. You can see the whole thing.

Intelligence Defined By Great Business Leaders

The 80th-floor intelligence is like improving your “bird’s eye view” skills. First, you have to learn how to learn deeper and broader to accumulate experience and better knowledge.You can only make better connections if you already have the right knowledge. So to improve your intelligence, gather more insight from great sources, choose your knowledge sources wisely, learn from people more intelligent than you, and read books you are willing to reread repeatedly.

The Macro View

<ul><li>Improving your intelligence is about stacking experience and applying lessons from good sources. You can only zoom out if you know what you are looking at. It’s hard, but it’s worth it.</li><li>Openness to wide and deep experiences outside your comfort zone will change your life. It will also improve your thinking lens.</li><li>Intellectual curiosity is key to peak intelligence. It’s also one of the best predictors of success. Curiosity is at the core of scientific discoveries.</li></ul>

The Thinking Lens

To develop a complete mind: Study the science of art; Study the art of science. Learn how to see. Realize that everything connects to everything else

Your ability to spot better life and career patterns, make more brilliant connections and predict good outcomes depend on your ability to pause, zoom out and visualize the bigger picture.

Spotting The Patterns

Intelligence is often thought of in terms of logic, thinking, and information processing. It’s this logical and rational side of ourselves. However, intelligence isn’t just about having a logical…

Understand yourself and those around you.

psychology

Psychology

problemsolving

Problem Solving

The 80th-floor Genius: Steve Jobs’ Definition of High Intelligence

To find peace with the voice inside your head is to realize that this “I” will never be content. This means you can identify this voice, which Singer calls your inner roommate, as the source of negative energy. For example, if you are feeling jealous, you should avoid finding ways to protect yourself. Look inside and find out what part of your voice is having a problem with jealousy. Singer explains that solving problems based on your outside world will be ineffective and short-term. The key to solving problems is understanding and improving how situations affect you on the inside.

1. Solve Problems Based on Your Inside World

We all have a voice inside our heads. That said, we rarely take a step back and examine this voice. Singer suggests observing what it says and getting to know it better. Without getting to know this voice, it can feel like it’s part of you. But, as you have no control over it, it is obviously not you. The importance of understanding your voice is it can be the source of most of your problems. The author explains that the real cause of problems is not life itself, but the negative way your mind reacts to life events.

2. Get to Know Your Inside Voice

For example, a build-up of nerves, fear or desire will increase the voice’s activity in your head. This internal narration helps you analyze the world around you and re-create this world inside yourself. This can lead you to live in your own mind. The key to avoiding living in your mind is overcoming the part of you that needs protection. You can do this by constantly reminding yourself that you aren’t your voice. You are just an individual noticing this internal voice.

Many of us live our lives as if we were in a dream. In dreams, we simply accept what is happening and don't question whether we are actually in a dream. We fly over our house without even questioning the legitimacy of our experiences. Singer describes this as a lost state and explains that we often move into this state while awake, for e.g: when we are fully absorbed in our thoughts, feelings, and senses. Focusing on these features prevents us from understanding the context of our experiences. This is the difference between being aware that you are aware and not being aware that you are aware.

3. Tackle Autopilot to Stop Being Absorbed By Your Inside Voice

It’s easier to get lost when several senses overload you. Your experience absorbs you. A perfect example of this is when you watch a fascinating movie. For two hours, you are immersed in your sensory experience. You must learn to pull yourself back from autopilot when engaging in these activities so that you can experience everything. This practice will help you pull away from your inner roommate.

Sometimes external problems are so insignificant that you can choose to avoid the thorn. That said, there will be occasions where external problems negatively affect your inner voice. On these occasions, you must decide to remove this inner thorn. The question is not how to get rid of the problem, but how to protect yourself from reacting negatively to this problem. Singer repeats here that the best approach is understanding how you want to respond to these problems, and that your inner voice’s negative perceptions aren’t coming from you.

4. Your Inside Voice Is Your Inner Thorn

Although energy is physical, your mental approach also influences it. The author uses the example of when you fall in love with someone. This experience inspires you about other things in your life and fills you with energy. On the flip side, you may feel demotivated and drained of energy after a breakup. The Chinese call this Chi, but Singer calls this infinite energy. This storyshot merely highlights that external forces influence energy. Still, you can regain control by not letting the voice inside take over during difficult times.

5. A Healthy Heart Allows Energy to Flow

Singer believes that a healthy heart’s natural state will allow energy to flow, encouraging inspiration, love, and openness. Your heart helps you research your highest state, which is simply the result of being completely open. So, don’t sell yourself short by neglecting your heart and closing up. Your heart is the antidote to your mind. At some point in your journey, you will be guided by your heart rather than worrying about your mind. Your mind will merely follow your heart. That said, as with your mind, you are also not your heart. You are the experiencer of your heart.

Staying open is the key to happiness and love. Remaining open will lead to waves of uplifting energy filling your heart. Energy is so essential that you should never leave it to chance. You will receive more energy if you stay open, so Singer suggests practicing opening by not closing. Once you have practiced enough, you can stay open no matter what. At this point, your energy will affect other people. They can pick up on your energy, and they will start to open up too.

6. Openness Is Essential for Energy Production

Freedom and liberation are the keys to avoiding a closed mind. Singer describes liberation as committing to your inner work and subsequently finding yourself. You can then untether yourself so that you can steal freedom for your soul. You achieve this liberation by not protecting your psyche. Everything will be okay as soon as you are okay with everything.

7. Let Go of Things to Become Liberated

We are all constantly suffering because we focus our mental and emotional energy on being liked by others. But, as these emotions are so prevalent, we don’t even notice them. Singer explains that your mind is a highly effective computer tool. We should use it to ponder noble thoughts, solve problems, and serve humanity rather than worry about what others think. Moving away from the lost state mentioned earlier will help you stop focusing on external problems and start focusing on internal problems.

8. Free Your Soul By Not Worrying About Others

True spiritual growth and transformation won't be pain-free. You have to learn to come to peace with pain. Most people try to avoid pain, but this means pain is running their lives. Years of attempting to avoid pain will have created layers of deep sensitivity to external events. This is because the pain is still being processed, just deeper down. These deep processes will build a whole structure around this pain and create closed energy that influences your decisions. Dealing with pain is the core of spiritual work. Once you accept pain, you will start to have more beautiful experiences.

9. Freedom and Liberation Will Not Be Pain-Free

As you take down the walls and go deeper into yourself, you will realize a never-changing part of yourself. This is your sense of awareness. This is your consciousness. This part of you is aware of your thoughts, experiences, and emotions. So, your consciousness is the root of your “Self.”

10. Take Down Your Walls to Free Your Consciousness

Letting go is always a positive action. It’s a deep inner release that is a spiritual path in and of itself. Once you learn to let go of false solidity, you will experience permanent peace, joy, and happiness. Even after letting go, you will still have thoughts, emotions, and a self-concept. But, they will be merely one small part of what you experience rather than the entirety of your experience. After letting go, you will not identify with anything outside your sense of Self.

11. Destroying False Solidity Will Bring You Peace

Singer explains that our usual responses to “Who are you?” are incorrect. Most people respond to this question by describing where they grew up and what their parents were like. This is not who you are. This is what has happened since you were born, rather than your character.

12. Choose Happiness and Character

Deciding you’re going to be happy will also help you become enlightened. Enlightenment is not about learning Sanskrit or renouncing the world. The key to true enlightenment is to be happy. People can quickly become burdened by the many choices in their lives. Singer reminds us that there is only one question that truly matters: whether you want to be happy or not. Committing yourself to unconditional happiness will teach you everything you need to learn about yourself, others, and the nature of life.

The path to unconditional happiness depends on your ability to understand your inner energies. If you think deeply, you will notice that happiness is associated with an open heart and a rush of energy.

As humans, we try to stay within our comfort zone. This zone confines us to specific experiences and takes away our freedom. To go beyond this comfort zone, you have to start letting go of the effort to keep things within your defined limits. Once you have awoken spiritually, you will realize you’re caged. You will better understand your comfort zone’s limits and that your fear of discomfort creates the cage.Singer suggests you go far beyond your comfort zone. There should be no cage, and your soul should be infinite.

13. Push Beyond Your Comfort Zone

Every day will feel like a vacation once you learn to never worry about what will happen in your day. You will wake up excited about the day and let go of everything when you go to bed at night. If you can do this, you’ll start living life rather than fearing or fighting it. If you want to be content and enjoy your work, you have to let go of yourself and let events flow through you. Your real work is what is left to do after all else passes through.

14. Learn to Never Worry

Most people try to avoid thoughts of their own death. But Singer believes contemplating death teaches us several lessons that will improve our lives. Here are five lessons you should learn about contemplating death:<ol><li>Don’t wait until the last moment for death to be your teacher.</li><li>A wise person realizes that when you breathe out, you may not breathe in again.</li><li>Any time you are struggling with something, think of death.</li><li>Whatever you are doing right now, someone was doing that when they died.</li><li>No matter what you’re doing, you can be sure someone died that way.</li></ol>

15. Death Teaches Us Unique Lessons

What would it be like to free yourself from limitations and soar beyond your boundaries? What can you do each day to discover inner peace and serenity? The Untethered Soul offers simple yet profound answers to these questions.

Presents advice on ways to free oneself from habitual thoughts, emotions, and energy patterns that limit one's consciousness.

education

Learning & Education

books

Books

The chapters of this book are nothing but mirrors for seeing your "self" from different angles. And though the journey we are about to embark on is an inner one, it will draw upon every aspect of your life. The only requirement asked of you is the willingness to honestly look at yourself in the most natural, intuitive manner. Remember, if we are seeking the root of "self," what we are actually seeking is you. As you read through these pages, you will find that you know much more than you thought you did about some very deep subjects. The fact is, you already know how to find yourself; you have just gotten distracted and disoriented. Once refocused, you will realize that you not only have the ability to find yourself, you have the ability to free yourself. Whether you choose to do so or not is entirely up to you. But upon completion of your journey through these chapters, there will be no more confusion, no more lack of empowerment, and no more blaming others. You will know exactly what must be done. And should you choose to devote yourself to the ongoing journey of self-realization, you will develop a tremendous sense of respect for who you really are. It is only then that you will come to appreciate the full depth of meaning in the advice: "This above all: to thine own self be true." ---- Introduction

Michael A. Singer is an accomplished writer whose work has resonated with readers around the world. Michael A. Singer has published several books that explore a range of topics, from fiction to nonfiction, and has received critical acclaim for the ability to weave compelling narratives. Michael A. Singer's writing style is known for its depth and authenticity, and has earned quite a loyal following of readers.

Michael A. Singer

The Untethered Soul

Raising windhorse is the abrupt and spontaneous magical process of letting go of fixed mind.This instantaneous process, combined with the gradual, developmental process of letting go of ego fixation, brings the experience of authentic presence.(To manifest authentic presence fully, these two abrupt and gradual processes work hand-in-hand within the further practice of the four dignities: meek, perky, outrageous, and inscrutable.)

Raising Windhorse - Authentic Presence

To raise windhorse is basically to rouse the energy of basic goodness into a wind of delight and power.Windhorse invokes and actualizes the living aspect of fearlessness and bravery as it casts out depression and doubt on the spot. Not in a sense of exorcising depression and doubt, however - because raising windhorse transcends hesitation and doubt, allowing tremendous wakefulness to take place and cheering us up in the process.

Windhorse: Basic Goodness & Wakefulness

Windhorse provides an unending source of power because it is grounded in the experience of egolessness.Practitioners are connected to the energy of windhorse once they have developed an unshakable trust in basic goodness and the cosmic mirror.(The cosmic mirror is the unconditioned state of being that is without beginning or end. It allows reality to be perceived as it is, and for its sacredness and wisdom.)

Windhorse: Power & Wisdom

When we draw down the power and depth of vastness into a single perception, then we are discovering and invoking magic. By magic we do not mean unnatural power over the phenomenal world, but rather the discovery of innate or primordial wisdom in the world as it is. The wisdom we are discovering is wisdom without beginning, something naturally wise, the wisdom of the cosmic mirror.﻿

Drala: the magical quality of existence, the natural wisdom, that recognizes both you and your reality as reflections of the cosmic mirror - your human wisdom is one with the power of things as they are.<ul><li>External drala: harmony in one’s environment that encourages awareness and attention to detail</li><li>Internal drala: harmony in one’s body and connection to phenomenal world</li><li>Secret drala: (aka. windhorse) result of external and internal dralas; tremendous wakefulness and nowness in one's state of mind</li></ul>

Windhorse: External, Internal, & Secret Dralas

The warrior who experiences windhorse feels the joy and sorrow of love in everything he does. He feels hot and cold, sweet and sour, simultaneously. Whether things go well or things go badly, whether there is success or failure, he feels sad and delighted at once. In that way, the warrior begins to understand the meaning of unconditional confidence.

Unconditional confidence is not having confidence in something, but is remaining in the state of confidence, free from competition or one-upmanship. This unconditional state happens when you simply have an unwavering state of mind that needs no reference point. Unconditional confidence contains<ul><li>gentleness, because the notion of fear does not arise</li><li>sturdiness, because there is ever-present resourcefulness</li><li>joy, because trusting in the heart brings a greater sense of humor</li></ul>

Windhorse: Unconditional Confidence

Basic goodness is our basic, original nature that is undiluted and unconfused - an innate wakefulness experienced through the point of view of the cosmic mirror.You do not possess basic goodness - you are basic goodness itself.Basic goodness isn't an arbitrary idea; the world is good because we can experience its goodness. We can experience synchrony, harmony, and oneness with our world.

Basic Goodness

We are not talking here about an intellectual revelation; we are speaking of actual experience. We are talking about how we actually perceive reality.

“The expression of basic goodness is always connected with gentleness—not feeble, lukewarm, milk-and-honey gentleness, but wholehearted, perky gentleness with good head and shoulders."Gentleness comes naturally from experiencing the absence of doubt. Doubtlessness comes from trusting in the heart, from having experienced your body and mind synchronized together.

Basic Goodness: Gentleness & Trust

“Synchronizing mind and body is looking and seeing directly beyond language.” Not because you disrespect language, but because internal dialogue hinders your experience of the cosmic mirror.By means of sense perceptions and mind, you are accurate and absolutely direct in relating with the world. This ability is synonymous with fearlessness. Your fearless vision allows you to see your perfect right to be, and to see how the universe provides you its basic hospitality.Visual perception helps you develop mind-body synchronization. You see properly and you genuinely appreciate the world.

Mind-Body Synchronization

The warrior of meek is modest, unconditionally confident, with a vast mind. Modest in the sense that you feel true and genuine. Confident like a tiger who is walking in the jungle, not searching for prey, but is self-satisfied and modest, who appreciates his own body and rhythm. Vast mind that is uplifted and beyond the limits, appreciative of the “now.”“Like the tiger in the jungle, you are both relaxed and energized.”

Meek Warrior

…because you respect yourself, you do not have to depend on gain and victory. And because you trust yourself, it is unnecessary to be fearful of others. […]So meekness provides vast vision and confidence. The four dignities begin from this humble and dutiful but vast vision, which at the same time sees the details with a sense of meticulousness.

The warrior of perky resembles a youthful snow lion, is unconditionally cheerful, constantly disciplined and enjoying discipline. The two stages of perky are the experience of an uplifted, joyful mind and the resting in the trust that comes from meekness.Uplifted, joyful mind helps the warrior develop artfulness. Trust and doubtlessness help the warrior stay aware, clear, precise, never confused as to what to accept or reject. Perky results in a wholesome, synchronized body and mind. The warrior is humble, uplifted, fundamentally youthful, who has attained a wholesome life.

Perky Warrior

The warrior of outrageous isn’t unreasonable. You are outrageous in the sense of possessing the strength and power of warriorship, having gone completely beyond fear and hope.The garuda symbolizes outrageousness. She hatches full-grown from her egg, spreading her wings beyond the limits, soaring into outer space. Nothing obstructs her vast mind. Vast mind has gone beyond the beyond.There is no intention to measure progress, no fear, no imperfection. The warrior is outrageous because she is trained in meek and perky. She has immense capabilities to work with others.

Outrageous Warrior

The warrior of inscrutable is represented by the dragon, an energetic, powerful, and unwavering being. The dragon stands with the meek tiger, the perky lion, and the outrageous garuda.The state of inscrutable is gentleness developed from fearlessness, which allows you to be noncommittal with a sense of humor, resembling a dragon who enjoys resting in the sky. You are settled, solid, relaxed, open, and fearless. You are self-contained. Noncommittal as in uninterested in confirmation. Inscrutable expresses through fearlessness, warmth, genuineness. You proceed playfully, unhurriedly.

Inscrutable Warrior

When you are at ease, you find a state of true healthy mind. The cultivation of inscrutability is to learn to be. It has been said that everyone possesses the potentiality to be confident. When we speak of confidence here we refer to enlightened confidence—not to confidence in something, but just to being confident. This confidence is unconditional. Inscrutability is a spark that is free from any analytical scheme.

There is a basic human wisdom that can help solve the world’s problems. It doesn’t belong to any one culture or region or religious tradition—though it can be found in many of them throughout history. It’s what Chögyam Trungpa called the sacred path of the warrior. The sacred warrior conquers the world not through violence or aggression, but through gentleness, courage, and self-knowledge. The warrior discovers the basic goodness of human life and radiates that goodness out into the world for the peace and sanity of others. That’s what the Shambhala teachings are all about, and this is the book that has been presenting them to a wide and appreciative audience for more than twenty years.

religionandspirituality

Religion & Spirituality

artsandculture

Society, Arts & Culture

The classic guide to enlightened living that first presented the Buddhist path of the warrior to a Western audience There is a basic human wisdom that can help solve the world’s problems. It doesn’t belong to any one culture or region or religious tradition—though it can be found in many of them throughout history. It’s what Chögyam Trungpa called the sacred path of the warrior. The sacred warrior conquers the world not through violence or aggression, but through gentleness, courage, and self-knowledge. The warrior discovers the basic goodness of human life and radiates that goodness out into the world for the peace and sanity of others.   Interpreting the warrior's journey in contemporary terms, Trungpa shows that, in discovering the basic goodness of human life, the warrior learns to radiate that goodness out into the world for the peace and sanity of others. That’s what the Shambhala teachings are all about—and this is the book that has been presenting them to a wide and appreciative audience for more than twenty years.

Chögyam Trungpa

Shambhala: The Sacred Path of the Warrior

When you are pressed for time, how can you quickly tell the difference between strong and weak arguments? Some weak arguments are more obvious, but others can be disguised behind seemingly sound statements. The progression from one point to another seems logical, but it breaks down at some point before giving sufficient support for the conclusion.

Spotting weak arguments

A weak argument needs two ingredients. <ul><li>Inductive reasoning: The argument should move from specific observations to broad generalizations.</li><li>Uncertain premise: The specific observations used to build the argument should either have a low probability or be based on personal opinions.</li></ul>Even if the argument sounds logical, the conclusion is not certain nor with high probability. For example, Charlie is a woman. Some women like poetry. Therefore, Charlie likes poetry.

The nature of a weak argument

Three critical thinking tools can help you quickly spot a weak argument.<ol><li>Look for words such as surely, obviously, evidently, etc. These words mark the edge of what the author is sure about.</li><li>Compare the conclusion of the argument to a coin toss. The argument is weak if a coin toss is better at predicting the conclusion. For example, “About 50% of humans I met are female. Charlie is human. Therefore, Charlie is female.” </li><li>Map the argument onto the seven-point pyramid of disagreement. The weakest type of argument is name-calling, followed by Ad Hominem.</li></ol>

How to quickly spot weak arguments

When you are pressed for time, how can you quickly tell the difference between a strong argument and a weak argument, and why does it matter?

communication

Communication

Weak arguments and how to spot them

When i started reading this book i had no idea that i was going to encounter something so stunning. Although the book is not very long (like 100 pages) its content contain very deep meanings and makes you think about life, time, mercy, hope, freedom and evilness on every single page.

About the Book

Viktor Emil Frankl was an Austrian <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neurologist">neurologist</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychiatrist">psychiatrist</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosopher">philosopher</a>, writer, and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holocaust_survivors">Holocaust survivor</a>. He was the founder of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Logotherapy">logotherapy</a>, a school of psychotherapy that describes a search for a life's meaning as the central human motivational force.

About the Author

In 1942, just nine months after his marriage, Frankl and his family were sent to the Theresienstadt concentration camp. His father died there of starvation and pneumonia. In 1944, Frankl and the surviving members of his family were transported to Auschwitz, where his mother and brother were murdered in the gas chambers. His wife died later of typhus in Bergen-Belsen. Frankl spent three years in four concentration camps.

The author tells about his own experiences in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nazi_concentration_camp">Nazi concentration camps</a> over the years in from a psychotherapist's and a human being's point of view in this book. The author explains what this book contains with these words;

Content

"This book does not claim to be an account of facts and events but of personal experiences, experiences which millions of prisoners have suffered time and again. It is the inside story of a concentration camp, told by one of its survivors. This tale is not concerned with the great horrors, which have already been described often enough (though less often believed), but with the multitude of small torments. In other words, it will try to answer this question: How was everyday life in a concentration camp reflected in the mind of the average prisoner?"

The author loses everything that he has when they bring him to the camp. Soldiers separate him from his wife, brother, sister and parents. For a long time, he didn't even know if they were alive or not. Soldiers confiscated the scientific works he had been working on all his life and destroyed them.After losing everything including his purpose of life, how can a man continue to live without losing hope?

Meaning & Purpose

"While we were waiting for the shower, our nakedness was brought home to us: we really had nothing now except our bare bodies—even minus hair; all we possessed, literally, was our naked existence"

Walking for hours on icy roads with torn shoes, being flogging while working all day long on extreme conditions, eating a bowl of soup and a piece of bread and witnessing people die one by one every day. In these conditions can a man still have mercy for another prisoner and help him or does he do everything to survive?

Mercy

There were men in camp called 'Capos'. They were privileged people chosen inside of the prisoners. They were people that never hungry, never worked. Although they were chosen from prisoners often they were harder on the prisoners than were the guards, and beat them more cruelly than the SS men did.Someone who has been oppressed for a long time was becoming more ruthless than those who had oppressed themselves when power had taken over.

Evilness

After suffering for a very long time, most people begin a state of indifference towards everything. For these people, life loses its meaning and purpose. There are two things that people who fall into this situation do in the camps; either waiting for death by doing nothing or committing suicide by running to electrical wires.

Indifference

"The prisoner who had lost faith in the future his future was doomed. With his loss of belief in the future, he also lost his spiritual hold; he let himself decline and became subject to mental and physical decay. Usually it began with the prisoner refusing one morning to get dressed and wash or to go out on the parade grounds. No entreaties, no blows, no threats had any effect. He just lay there, hardly moving. He simply gave up. There he remained, lying in his own excreta, and nothing bothered him anymore."

After Viktor Frankl lived for a long time in different camps, he is not giving up but he kinda accepts his destiny. He accepts his fate by saying that he refuses to do so to an officer who offers to stay here by deleting his name from a list where he will probably be taken to be killed on the pretext of being transferred to a better place. But they do take him to a better place, and it turns out that after he left the camp, the whole camp burned down and all of his friends died.

Destiny

"And there were always choices to make. Every day, every hour, offered the opportunity to make a decision, a decision which determined whether you would or would not submit to those powers which threatened to rob you of your very self, your inner freedom; which determined whether or not you would become the plaything of circumstance, renouncing freedom and dignity to become molded into the form of the typical inmate."

"The way in which a man accepts his fate and all the suffering it entails, the way in which he takes up his cross, gives him ample opportunity—even under the most difficult circumstances—to add a deeper meaning to his life."

"...we could say that most men in a concentration camp believed that the real opportunities of life had passed. Yet, in reality, there was an opportunity and a challenge. One could make a victory of those experiences, turning life into an inner triumph, or one could ignore the challenge and simply vegetate, as did a majority of the prisoners"

"When a man finds that it is his destiny to suffer, he will have to accept his suffering as his task; his single and unique task. He will have to acknowledge the fact that even in suffering he is unique and alone in the universe. No one can relieve him of his suffering or suffer in his place. His unique opportunity lies in the way in which he bears his burden. "

This book shows that even if in extreme situations there is always hope and something to fight for.

A prominent Viennese psychiatrist before the war, Viktor Frankl was uniquely able to observe the way that he and other inmates coped with the experience of being in Auschwitz. He noticed that it was the men who comforted others and who gave away their last piece of bread who survived the longest - and who offered proof that everything can be taken away from us except the ability to choose our attitude in any given set of circumstances. The sort of person the prisoner became was the result of an inner decision and not of camp influences alone. Only those who allowed their inner hold on their moral and spiritual selves to subside eventually fell victim to the camp's degenerating influence - while those who made a victory of those experiences turned them into an inner triumph. Frankl came to believe that man's deepest desire is to search for meaning and purpose. This outstanding work offers us all a way to transcend suffering and find significance in the art of living.

A prominent Viennese psychiatrist before the war, Viktor Frankl was uniquely able to observe the way that he and other inmates coped with the experience of being in Auschwitz. He noticed that it was the men who comforted others and who gave away their last piece of bread who survived the longest - and who offered proof that everything can be taken away from us except the ability to choose our attitude in any given set of circumstances. The sort of person the prisoner became was the result of an inner decision and not of camp influences alone. Only those who allowed their inner hold on their moral and spiritual selves to subside eventually fell victim to the camp's degenerating influence - while those who made a victory of those experiences turned them into an inner triumph. Frankl came to believe that man's deepest desire is to search for meaning and purpose. This outstanding work offers us all a way to transcend suffering and find significance in the art of living.

Viktor Emil Frankl M.D., Ph.D., was an Austrian neurologist and psychiatrist as well as a Holocaust survivor. Frankl was the founder of logotherapy, which is a form of Existential Analysis, the "Third Viennese School" of psychotherapy.His book Man's Search for Meaning (first published under a different title in 1959: From Death-Camp to Existentialism. Originally published in 1946 as Ein Psycholog erlebt das Konzentrationslager) chronicles his experiences as a concentration camp inmate and describes his psychotherapeutic method of finding meaning in all forms of existence, even the most sordid ones, and thus a reason to continue living. He was one of the key figures in existential therapy.

Viktor E. Frankl

Man's Search for Meaning

Man's Search For Meaning

LeBron worked for his strength, agility, impeccable history of injury avoidance, and an outstanding 54% field goal percentage during his 14th NBA season. Athletes train. Musicians train. Performers train. But knowledge workers don’t.

Knowledge Workers Should Imitate Athletes

Similar to how LeBron structures his training to win NBA championships, knowledge workers should train to build skills, complete projects, and increase their productive power. Armed with an effective system, we’ll learn faster and have more fun doing it.Even among the most ambitious individuals, learning plans are rare. Most people are reactive. They don’t plan. Like surfers in a violent ocean, they surrender to their environment.

WHAT DOES A LEARNING PLAN LOOK LIKE?

Start by writing down a positive vision for your future. Learn in three-month sprints and commit to a new learning project every quarter.Even the longest projects are simply a collection of short-term tasks. Knowing that you should break down the project into daily increments, and create a series of daily and weekly goals to learn the skills required to complete the project.

WHAT SHOULD YOU DO? 

Build a video game for yourself. Like a game, productive projects have multiple levels.Follow the Goldilocks Principle: not too easy, not too hard. The learning project needs to be challenging enough to demand focus, but easy enough to make consistent progress. You can then enter the optimal state of learning.If you get stuck, “video game” is too hard. When this happens, you should stop. Work on a smaller step or retreat to a manageable challengeShare your learnings, it's the best way to speed up your feedback loops,which will help you learn faster and improve based on the feedback you receive

Daniel Gross’ framework for learning

The more you learn, the easier it is to learn. Pick the right projects, and you’ll develop a personal network effect, where each new skill increases the value of skills you already have. 

David shares why athletes should be your inspiration for learning. Read here.

Learn Like an Athlete

Make your masters appear more brilliant than they are and you will attain the heights of power When it comes to power, outshining the master is perhaps the worst mistake of all.

1: Never outshine the master

The key to power is the ability to judge who is best able to further your interests in all situations. Keep friends for friendship, but work with the skilled and competent.

2: Never put too much trust in friends, learn how to use enemies

Hide your intentions not by closing up but by talking endlessly about your desires and goals— just not your real ones.

3: Conceal Your Intentions

Power cannot accrue to those who squander their treasure of words. Once the words are out, you cannot take them back. Keep them under control.

4: Always say less than necessary

Learn to destroy your enemies by opening holes in their own reputations. Then stand aside and let public opinion hang them.

5: So much depends on reputation, guard it with your life

Surround your name with the sensational and the scandalous.Better to be slandered and attacked than ignored.

6: Court attention at all costs

For negotiations or meetings, it is always wise to lure others into your territory, or the territory of your choice. You have your bearings, While they see nothing familiar and are subtly placed on the defensive.

7: Make other people come to you, use bait if necessary

When you suspect you are in the presence of an infector, don’t argue, don’t try to help, don’t pass the person on to your friends, or you will become enmeshed. Flee the infector’s presence or suffer the consequences.

8: Infection: Avoid the unhappy or the unlucky

The more you are seen and heard from, the more common you appear.You must learn when to leave. Create value through scarcity.

9: Use absence to increase strength and honor

10 Powerful Lessons From the Book “The 48 Laws of Power”

Amoral, cunning, ruthless, and instructive, this multi-million-copy New York Times bestseller is the definitive manual for anyone interested in gaining, observing, or defending against ultimate control – from the author of The Laws of Human Nature. In the book that People magazine proclaimed “beguiling” and “fascinating,” Robert Greene and Joost Elffers have distilled three thousand years of the history of power into 48 essential laws by drawing from the philosophies of Machiavelli, Sun Tzu, and Carl Von Clausewitz and also from the lives of figures ranging from Henry Kissinger to P.T. Barnum. Some laws teach the need for prudence (“Law 1: Never Outshine the Master”), others teach the value of confidence (“Law 28: Enter Action with Boldness”), and many recommend absolute self-preservation (“Law 15: Crush Your Enemy Totally”). Every law, though, has one thing in common: an interest in total domination. In a bold and arresting two-color package, The 48 Laws of Power is ideal whether your aim is conquest, self-defense, or simply to understand the rules of the game.

The 48 Laws of Power

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Shambhala: The Sacred Path of the Warrior

Weak arguments and how to spot them

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Read like a Pro.