Mountains of Truth

I'm gonna try writing the title at the end of my post today. Maybe then it will actually have some relevance to what I'm talking about. So far I've just been writing down the first thing that comes to my mind before even knowing what I'm going to be talking about. Not this time.

Although I have a lot written down that I can pull from to talk about, I wanted to talk about focus as it is the last thing that came to mind. As someone who struggles with guiding my attention I realize the importance of structure/routine on staying productive. This takes discipline which is another attribute I struggle with. I wonder how much/if I would benefit from something like a float tank to focus my intention.

I am writing this entry in a pitch black room, the only light coming from the glow of my laptop. I am wearing headphones and listening to Radiohead, my regular/new ritual for writing. I have found intuitively that this setup is most beneficial for keeping focus.

Focus, in the way it came to mind, is in particular about subject matter. It's about time I choose a path instead of jumping back and forth, never sticking the landing. Everything is a dream until to take the next step in turning it into reality. By writing them down I can turn them from a thought into a tangible reality. So let's get concrete.

I was listening to Joe Rogan today and I thought, "I really enjoy how they talk and how thousands of people like me listen to these podcasts and are touched and thinking the same things. I want to be exactly like him!" But then I came to realize that this was in fact untrue. Like so many things that I come to encounter, I like the idea more than the reality. This train of thought has been a part of me ever since my first girlfriend implanted the concept within. Near the end of the relationship she told me that I liked the concept of her more than the reality of being with her, and she was right. We broke up of course and I learned a few things (hopefully). I keep this lesson about myself with me in order to guide my ship to safer waters.

Sure I may not want to talk about the exact subjects that Joe talks about (UFC, hunting, comedy, SJW's, politics, etc.) but there's something magical there that resonates. It probably has to do with his ability to navigate through conversations eloquently, diplomatically, interestingly, funnily, intelligently and most importantly entertaingly (thats a lot of lys and the last one isn't even a word). These are skills that a man reaching 50 has spent almost twice as long as my life honing like a samurai, with a career augmenting a perfect trajectory Malcolm Gladwell would be proud of. Like most outliers, he was in the right place at the right time with the right skills and we're lucky to have his perspective and influence in the world. So where does that leave me?

Conversation and communication is important to me. This past year has been difficult insofar as we've been isolated from friends and family, creating a barrier for staying productive, yearning for community. Now this is of course an excuse which I try to acknowledge but is also a reality. Distraction of Twitter/Facebook/Youtube/Reddit is a real struggle due to the want of said community. Instead of writing after work (don't even get me started on work) I often rather than not will head straight for the endorphin kick. As someone susceptible to this type of addiction (dopamine hits) this has been a recurring struggle in my life.

My dream is to curb this habit and push forward with my goals. Goals like actually having goals. It's almost a cry for help. A laziness to figure it out for myself. Of course if I thought or even felt hard enough I could come up with a tangible goal (is this making any sense? Lets take a breath) but herein lies the problem of never committing. So if we continue in this vicious circle, how do we break the spell? Baby steps.

Lets write down some things that we know are important to me:

• The environment

• The truth

Wait that's it. The truth. That is all encompassing. So the truth about our reality whether based on scientific evidence or personal experience/emotion is what determines how we cut through the bullshit. This seems like a daunting task to take on alone. I think we're all looking for our own personal truth and trying to piece it together as we go along. Luckily we can use the resources of those before us and beside us to move forward. Some have larger obstacles to overcome than others that are sometimes beyond their control and thus sometimes need the help of others. Knowing when to ask is part of the learning experience.

As someone who is not always truthful (I mean who is) it may seem hypocritical to put so much weight of this subject but it has always been this way for me. Knowing how to reconcile these mistakes is part of overcoming the dishonesty of our calculated realities.

In a world battling for survival, truth has found a new adversary in the birth of the information age, starting with the catalyst of the internet. I'm sure this battle has been waged for all of humanity but within my lifetime I have seen the acceleration of change. In 2010, Eric Schmidt of Google said we were creating more information in 2 days than all of history up until 2003. Jump forward six years and just think how much more that must be.

I remember being able to grasp the rate at which information was being produced and distributed before the internet and near its beginning. My tiny monkey brain (albeit above average) was never meant to consume or even able to fathom the consumption of all facets of our universe completely. This is the roadblock of our current situation. Add onto this the struggle between rationality and emotions and we never stood a chance. This is the biology we must overcome if we are to transcend the Kingdom of Animalia.

Now I don't mean to sound completely pessimistic about our chances but the struggle is real. It's an uphill battle against an ocean of indoctrination, biology, ignorance, learned negative patterns, and even survival.

I would like to expand this website to these endeavours, where the real work begins. Cataloguing this reality with as much information as possible to come to a final destination is our goal. With the new technologies our species has created and continues to create we now have more potential than ever. Let's start our journey, we've got a lot of climbing to do.

Aaron