Savage / Zen Newsletter No. 95
"The price of anything is the amount of life you exchange for it."
~ Henry David Thoreau
You may have noticed a lot of changes around here. ‘Tis the season I suppose. I found myself in a bit of a crossroads earlier this month. I was reflecting on the work I’ve created on this website and where I wanted it to go in the future.
What do I want to build?
What do I want to get out of writing?
What do I want people to get out of reading my writing?
Let me start with my thanks for reliable readers, especially paid subscribers. In the desperate attention economy of social media I’ve fallen into and later had to confront my own desire for attention and sense of worth. Like, share, subscribe; all for the promise of a few ad clicks and pennies for dozens of hours of content creation and editing.
Heaven forbid someone actually create something of real value.
I’m grateful that the readers of these pages are here because they want to be, not because an algorithm ramrodded my content down their throat because the ad-payers said to.
As of this draft, this site holds 170 articles on psychology, nutrition, and fitness, 95 newsletter reflections, 12 full program reviews with downloadable content, and 100 training sessions (probably closer to triple that as many posts documented one week of training at a time).
In some ways, I don’t know what more I could say that would be different than what I’ve already said. I could regurgitate the same ideas, perhaps it would be a reminder, or be refreshing to revisit old ideas; but that feels stagnant to me.
I don’t want to simply re-create what someone else is doing either. I’ve been very transparent about who and where I draw ideas and inspiration from. If you want a more polished experience, I’d highly recommend any of the programs or organizations I’ve talked about here.
They’re well worth your $20 or $30 / month to learn and experience for yourself for a few months rather than just taking my word for it.
This year, in my own training, I’ve set out on a quest of “better” rather than more or harder. I might as well do the same for my creative and writing projects as well.
That, of course, brings me back to the point of “what is it that I want to create, provide, or offer here?”
I’ve updated this website’s “about” page to simply read:
“This website is dedicated to helping people think, train, and become different; perhaps better.”
The site’s tagline has been shortened as well and ironically came to me while I was on the commode:
“A mind and body under development.”
If we establish that “art” = (time * effort) / truth, then terms like “more” and “harder” become easier to define (as time and effort respectively). Whether it’s mat time or words written, I’ve accumulated a lot of volume, and certainly not for a lack of trying or a willingness to grind through difficulty.
This leaves ‘truth’ as the most critical variable in the equation. I suppose that is as adequate description of “better” as anything else. Is it right? Is it true? Does it work? For how long?
All three components (time, effort, and truth) are therefore dependent on each other to create “art.”
Perhaps, then, what I want to get out of my writing is “art” and a feeling that I’ve truthfully conveyed the effort and time required by the concepts and events being documented.
As for readers, I hope more idea are provoked over time and more effort is inspired. I hope what I have to say brings some “truth” and “art” to a noisy and divided world.
What I’m Reading & Listening To:
There are a ton of great tidbits and one-liners in her and everything from ayahuasca to ozempic is discussed. Michael and Bill are both phenomenal resources and have both been a great inspiration to myself and highly influential in my work.
Training Update:
News & Updates: