Wisdom

Because if you want the benefits of something in life, you have to also want the costs.

5. The safest way to try to get what you want is to try and deserve what you want. You want to deliver to the world what you would buy if you were on the other end.

Christianity once scaled because it promised salvation to anyone. Buddhism spread on the claim that anyone could reach enlightenment.

A modern analog would have to do the same in offering dignity, purpose, and an alternative path forward for all people so they don’t destroy themselves chasing jackpots.

Is sex inherently traumatic and dangerous? Of course not. But also... of course it is. So is any other foundational part of the human experience. Love, friendship and family all come with the potential, maybe even the guarantee, of some sense of loss and devastation. Nobody gets through life unscathed. Nobody should want to.

And while it’s possible to brainstorm some ideas to help one get started, finding meaning and purpose is not a five-day spa retreat. It’s a fucking hike through mud and shit with golf-ball-sized hail pelting you in the face. And you have to love it. You really have to love it.

My answer is always the same. build more edge rather than risk more size . Don’t kill yourself chasing the jackpot. Log wealth is what matters. Maximize the 50th percentile outcome. Make your own luck. Avoid drawdowns. Eventually you will get there.

Anxiety is not an answer to a problem we are worrying about but the measure of our distance from the place where the answer lies .

I am not anxious because I worry so much as I am anxious because I do not want to feel the full vulnerability of being visible and touchable in a difficult world.

We’re becoming a culture that worships the jackpot and increasingly prices survival at zero.