Today there is more to read than ever. Traditional and social news sites are filled with the latest buzz stories repeated ad nauseam. One is pressed to keep up. Amid the endless competition to make headlines and build traffic there is no enduring value.

When I read exclusively new material for an extended period I lose confidence. Each story seems to blend together into meaningless jargon. I feel empty and depressed. Nothing matters because whatever I learn today will be old news tomorrow. If you are someone searching for meaning in life, I am sure you have felt this way as well.

Whenever this happens, I have learned to turn back to the classics, the old enduring books that have stood the test of time and retain their luster. The common perception of old books is that they are antiquated and useless. Nothing could be farther from the truth. We believe, with our technology, that we have reinvented life. But this is not the case. The gadgets that surround us are minor details, the essence of life remains unchanged. It feels the same to be alive today as it did a thousand years ago. Look into yourself and you will know this is true. We are still lone souls confined to our thoughts, facing the same challenges.

Everything has its particular place. Old books cannot give you the weather forecast or teach you to write a javascript. But what they will teach you is how to live. They will teach you what it means to be human. They will give you a firm place to stand against the assault of constant change. The wisdom of the greatest human minds passed down through centuries is our most reliable asset.

I am not alone in this opinion. I leave you with this passage from the immortal Albert Einstein.

Somebody who reads only newspapers and at best the books of contemporary authors looks to me like an extremely nearsighted person who scorns eyeglasses. He is completely dependent on the prejudices and fashions of his times, since he never gets to see or hear anything else. And what a person thinks on his own without being stimulated by the thoughts and experiences of other people is even in the best case rather paltry and monotonous.

There are only a few enlightened people with a lucid mind and style and with good taste with a century. What has been preserved of their work belongs among the most precious possessions of mankind.

Nothing is more needed than to overcome the modernist’s snobbishness.

To go past the mark is as wrong as to fall short.

-Confucius

Could you believe that the ideal person is never the best at anything? Our heads are so full of delusions about wealth and power that we run ourselves ragged trying to out do each other. We spin our wheels until we burn ourselves out and are left hopeless and exhausted.

There is great pressure to attain the highest level of achievement. We want to be the richest, most beautiful, and most well-liked because these virtues are glorified. But by indulging our vanity we do ourselves more harm than good. The only way to achieve sustainable happiness is to practice the Golden Mean. Click here to continue »

And its Only Getting Better

1. Collaboration - Because of the internet collaboration is possible between individuals in opposite corners of the globe. The increased sharing of ideas and information speeds up the creative process and results in better, faster, more innovative ideas. The collective human intelligence is overclocked like never before.

2. Low Barriers to Entry - Anyone can get a free blog or web page to express their ideas and opinions. If you want to run your own site the costs are still relatively small. Compare this with publishing a book or recording a CD. To reach the same audience the costs of production and distribution would be astronomical. Because of the internet voices are heard that never had a venue before.

3. No Censorship - Excuse me, I meant no fucking censorship. The internet gives the individual the ability to publish without the restraints of mainstream media. It ensures unhindered freedom of speech and the sharing of controversial opinions. No longer does having an unpopular idea stop you from being heard.

4. No Corporate Control - If you want to reach a wide audience using conventional media, chances are you will have to go through a large corporation. Once the corporation is involved the focus is no longer the creative work, but making money off it. Your work will be rejected if it doesn’t fit into a clear marketable category. The internet cuts the middle man out of the system and creates a direct link between author and audience.

5. Multimedia - No matter what type of media you use, the internet is a way to showcase your creativity. Be you a writer, artist, musician, filmmaker, or engineer, you can reach your audience. Or even better, combine all your talents into a diverse multimedia experience. Creators are no longer constrained by the limits of a page or recording. The internet has created a new type of artist whose specialty is the synthesis of various media.

We live in a special time in history. The internet has destroyed barriers to thought and creativity that were previously insurmountable. And this is only the beginning. We have emerged from the stone ages of internet infancy and can see the light of day. If the great minds of the past were alive today, they would be publishing online. It is our duty to get the most out of our intelligence using this awesome tool.

“Everything that the human race has done and thought is concerned with the satisfaction of deeply felt needs and the assuagement of pain.”
-Einstein

A great mind is not constrained by specialization. Albert Einstein’s genius illuminated religion, politics, and education as well as science. When I came across Einstein’s theory of religion several months ago it immediately changed the way I think. Einstein begins with a discussion of the nature and origin of religion.

With primitive man it is above all fear that evokes religious notions- fear of hunger, wild beasts, sickness, death. Since at this stage of existence understanding of causal connections is usually poorly developed, the human mind creates illusory beings more or less analogous to itself on whose wills and actions these fearful happenings depend.

Einstein also explains why early fear based religions evolved into the moral religions of modern times. Click here to continue »