Orwell feared surveillance and the control of information, Huxley feared those who would give us so much that we would be reduced to passivity. A society controlled by pleasure, distraction, and consumerism, where people willingly surrender freedom for comfort. (sidenote: see my post on bars from books, for a SOMA holiday.) “But I don’t want comfort. I want God, I want poetry, I want real danger, I want freedom, I want goodness. I want sin.” ...
The Corpus Hermeticum is a collection of philosophical and spiritual texts attributed to Hermes Trismegistus, a syncretic figure that combines elements of the Greek god Hermes and the Egyptian god Thoth. Written between the 2nd and 3rd centuries CE, these writings form the core of Hermeticism, a religious, philosophical, and esoteric tradition that seeks the knowledge of divine truths through mysticism, alchemy, and theurgy. The texts discuss topics like the nature of the divine, the universe, the mind, and the relationship between humanity and the divine. They emphasise the process of spiritual ascent, where the soul rises through different layers of existence to reunite with the divine source. ...
“Man o To” Berlin-based artist “Nu” real name Fabian Lamar sings in Persian. The lyrics from Rumi’s poem, dedicated to his soul mate Shams-i Tabrizi. Despite appearing as two separate people (two forms), the couple shares a single, shared soul. The final line (“bi man o to” - without you and I) refers to transcending the ego to achieve a pure, spiritual union. Feeling something in it long before I understood what it meant. The poem dissolves identity itself. Nation, religion, selfhood, even the distinction between body and soul collapse. ...
I came to this book in my first year of university, hearing it referenced many times in Jim O’Shaughnessy’s Infinite Loops podcast, cited as foundational to his worldview, treating it not only as an interesting historical artefact but as working infrastructure for how he thinks about probability, and navigating complex systems. Coming to a 2,500-year-old Taoist classic through a quantitative investor is a rather strange entry point, It’s perfect. “Simplicity, patience, compassion. ...