Comments on: Life

By: Marc Pare

Marc Pare — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 03:06:57 +0000

So, what “speaks to me” from this entry, Ryan, is the notion of a choice: we can look for a prescription for how to live, or we can equip ourselves with tools to deal with whatever comes at us.

It takes constant effort to develop the latter, and I think your critique might be a little harsh since, as Ralph Waldo Emerson puts it,

“What is the hardest thing in the world? To think.”

Your system of Delicious bookmarks sounds easy on the surface, but it’s obvious that the real value is the mental effort you put into “tweaking” other peoples’ writing for your own life.

Also, “distracting, vicarious bullshit” is the best turn of phrase I’ve heard all week.

By: Pizzamancer

Pizzamancer — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 18:25:10 +0000

You could just call me Chris if you liked. BRC=Burning Man.

I agree there is a huge difference, but my point was that finding those actual wise people is hard. It is pretty much easier to discount them all and throw away the baby and the bath water rather than look for them. I found the biggest (deepest, wisest?) masters of wisdom when I wasn’t looking for them. Conversely, you can find Masters of Information by looking for them.

Henry Ford was a bad example. In fact he was probably one of the rare masters of both, with his vision based on wisdom and his ability and success based on information.

By: Ben

Ben — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 08:10:51 +0000

Great post, Ryan. I don’t have anything profound to say. Just wanted to show my appreciation for being a consistently quality writer. Thanks man, and keep up the good work!

By: hegemonicon

hegemonicon — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 19:35:26 +0000

I never really understood your penchant for biographies, but this sheds some more light on it. Seeing how other people (especially successful people) lived their lives is a great way to figure out your own.

Or am I way off?

By: Ryan Holiday

Ryan Holiday — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 18:54:11 +0000

Ha, Ben, Fortune asked if Dov wanted to give any advice for that article you linked to. It was one of the first things I handled for AA.

@other guy (since I’m not calling you pizzamancer)

What are you talking about? Not only is your Ford analogy like the definition of someone who wasn’t a master of information but was wise and practical and knew how to make important, ethical decisions but it’s the same type of person I talked about last week when I wroter about tinkerers.

There is a large difference between an actual wise person and the strawman you made up based on some weirdos you met.

By: Pizzamancer

Pizzamancer — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 17:35:45 +0000

I have far more respect for a master of information. That encompasses people like Henry Ford, not so intelligent himself, but he build a framework of smart people and could get any question answered. I see people today who can’t even get a correct answer from google and just shake my head. Aside from being the best thing invented since the alphabet, the internet also has the distinction of dumbing down the population, and even more so than news print, people are easily led astray. DIGG has a scary sort of power over the weak minded.

I have only met 2 masters of wisdom in my life. Most people try to pass themselves off that way, but really only know a few ‘Asian clichés’. Keep in balance, flow like the water type stuff. Heck, anyone can sound wise of they only speak half as slow as they do normally and don’t finish every other sentence.

ps ever been to BRC?

By: Ben Casnocha

Ben Casnocha — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 17:26:03 +0000

Advice: http://ben.casnocha.com/2008/06/if-i-were-youth.html