On Slavery & Independence

How you become invincible.

The Magpie by Claude Monet. The painting’s innovative use of blue shadows was rejected by the Paris Salon, which held the convention that shadows should be painted black. His realistic portrayal was seen as “coarse” by the Salon, but it’s now considered a masterful Impressionist innovation and a popular work at the Musée d’Orsay. Never abandon yourself; embrace your weirdness.

“So you were born to feel ‘nice’? Instead of doing things and experiencing them? Don’t you see the plants, the birds, the ants and spiders and bees going about their individual tasks, putting the world in order, as best they can? And you’re not willing to do your job as a human being?… You don’t love yourself enough. Or you’d love your nature too, and what it demands of you.” - Marcus Aurelius

“Show me someone who isn’t a slave! One is a slave to lust, another to greed, another to power, and all are slaves to fear. I could name a former Consul who is a slave to a little old woman, a millionaire who is the slave of…