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My Thoughts

On Love and The Symposium

From reading notes

Love is not what we think it is. Plato reveals through Socrates that love is "of" something - a yearning or wanting. It's distinct from mere lust. True love is wanting the good of something, which bears fruit and growth.

There's a ladder of love: from body to mind to one mind forever to all minds forever. The highest form is wanting good for all minds forever.

philosophy love plato

What We Can Control

From Stoic reflections

Some things are in our control, others are not. Our thoughts, opinions, movements, desires, and aversions are in our control. Everything else is not.

This simple distinction, written 2000 years ago, remains the foundation for modern cognitive behavioral therapy.

stoicism control epictetus

The Scapegoat Mechanism

From Girard studies

The banding together of all against a single victim is the norm in culture. Scapegoating serves an important societal function to restore calm.

From witches in Salem to modern assassins, the community satisfies its rage against an arbitrary victim in the unshakable conviction that it has found the one and only cause of its trouble.

scapegoating violence girard society

Finding Meaning in Suffering

From Holocaust reflections

We discover the meaning of life by taking responsibility for what life asks of us. When we can no longer change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves.

The uniquely human potential is to transform a personal tragedy into a triumph, to turn one's predicament into an achievement.

meaning suffering frankl responsibility

The Burden of Leadership

From Republic dialogues

In a just society, good people will choose to rule. Because the penalty for declining to rule is being ruled by someone inferior than yourself.

Ruling is a sacrifice and an obligation, not a privilege to be sought.

justice ruling plato republic

Building Latch

Current focus

Building latch. Interested in startups, philosophy, science, and language. The intersection of technology and human understanding.

startups building latch technology
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