Book Recommendation: How I Found Freedom In An Unfree World
It’s one of my favorite books ever that has done a *lot* to influence my outlook on life.
Here is a really good summary of it:
https://www.nateliason.com/notes/freedom…
This summary highlights the traps people fall into that decreases freedom and happiness. Then he provides recommendations that enable freedom and happiness.
And yes, there is a huge libertarian bias with this book. But I think the main point that we create our own happiness—not government and society is a damn good one.
And just for fun. I will take SJG and IceyLoco off ignore for this. Mwahahaha
Here is a really good summary of it:
https://www.nateliason.com/notes/freedom…
This summary highlights the traps people fall into that decreases freedom and happiness. Then he provides recommendations that enable freedom and happiness.
And yes, there is a huge libertarian bias with this book. But I think the main point that we create our own happiness—not government and society is a damn good one.
And just for fun. I will take SJG and IceyLoco off ignore for this. Mwahahaha
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47 comments
Myself for fun and fulfillment. Never the GOVERNMENT and certainly NOT SOCIETY because they tend to chase the material bullshit.
Thanks for the book recommendation.
Does the self-help industry actually help people change?
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/…
I have read a lot of personal development books and they did not make the change, they gave me tools to use in making the changes myself.
Jordan Peterson claims that a sense of responsibility is more likely to lead to a fulfilling life rather than the pursuit of personal pleasure. He’s not wrong.
If someone is looking for a book with life lessons, I’d recommend Walden by Thoreau, with its focus on simplicity. Or, for a time tested classic, try Meditations by Marcus Aurelius with a focus on duty.
I lived through the era of “ if it feels good, do it”. Oddly, things that make you feel good can have some nasty side effects.
How people are most likely to end up is a function of our society. I know things and can do things that most people never had the opportunity to learn. But this does not mean that I am better than them, or that I am more deserving of a decent material life than they are.
And people who live lower on the hog than what is advertised in the media are always being subjected to social attacks. So stress is continually being placed on them and on their interpersonal relationships.
Sure, they can be happy. I am happy. But this does not mean that I don't fight for social justice 7 days a week. I was not just happy, I was ecstatic, when I was able to help put a Pentecostal Daughter Molester into San Quentin. And I've got more things on the horizon now.
Just reading commentary about happiness and the Beatitudes, it is not freedom from concern or distress, it is more a paradoxical happiness.
If you want freedom from concern or distress, the opium derivatives seem to be the best. And your book looks to be trying to do something similar.
You book is written by Harry Browne, a Libertarian Party politician. All that amounts to is telling people that there is no collective responsibility for the state of our society. This is preposterous. Libertarianism is just a repackaging of the old Social Darwinism. Telling people that it is their own fault if things are not going well for them, and if they are not rich. This is just denial.
Denial comes in many forms, religious, motivational, recovery, therapy. But it is never any good. People who practice denial are dangerous to themselves and others, because their need to protect their own denial systems dictates how they relate to all situations. I see the things you post, and this seem to me to be how your are.
We all need all of our faculties, and this means that we have to understand the ways in which we have been harmed along the way, and how opportunities were closed off for us. People who understand this and actually face the repressed pain will have compassion for others, and they will be better able to educate and invest in themselves, because they know that they are worth it. And they will enter into the ongoing struggle for social justice.
Imagine this, a woman walks into a police station to report that she was raped. What she hears is, "Oh well we have therapists on call to help you deal with your problem, and so that you don't have to be carrying this around with you, and so that you might look at some of the ways in which you likely caused this. And we have motivational programs and spiritual healing programs too. You certainly have come to the right place."
This is the way it had been, and anti-rape activists correctly declared this to be Second Rape.
Well, psychotherapy, recovery, healing, that's all they are. And motivationalism, it's just straight up denial, about the worst way anyone could live.
Your book NiceSpice, if only it were printed on softer paper, then it would have some practical use.
SJG
In both the East and the West, Enlightenment was a concept invented by male celibates. Its just another name for dissociation.
SJG
Very strange that one would try to use that type of an argument and get people to fight for Social Darwinism and for the marginalization of our most vulnerable.
SJG
As it is today, very difficult to keep topical threads open. So if you use just throw away threads, then it is very hard to find anything, just a big mishmash.
Lots of people have a broader range of stuff to talk about, outside of the basic PL envelope.
As it is now, this forum loses people who would be outstanding contributors.
SJG
Just remember that you can’t control your shit truck—and there are other shit trucks out there. XD
@mark94 ah yeah, I agree about the YOLO mentality
@mark+@sirlap I’ll have to look into the other book recommendations
@SJG smash that like button
Anti-social...hmm, maybe. But I like to view it as more interacting with others in a way where harm (whether doled out or received) is kept to a minimum.
As for anti-government...yeah you nailed that one there lol.
Does that mean I am putting an add on craigslist? Oooooh shit truck... pleaaaaSe behave
"Those who fart, do not speak. Those who speak, do not fart." - MackTruck
I shit therefore I am
I was referring to @nicespice, she is a stripper afterall.
but yeah, @crazyjoe works too.
I've been reading R. N. Bolles for a long time. Though basically founded on Christian thinking, this is not overt. His books are not "self-improvement". Rather he is always wanting you to look into yourself and re-evaluate your past dealings, so that you can see what you want to do next. I find it very good. He is not motivating you, he is showing you how to trust yourself.
You can click on Look Inside:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/158008…
SJG
ROLLING STONES HEARTBREAKER
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1FDlcwU-…
https://www.amazon.com/Path-Everyday-Lor…
Go ahead and click on LOOK INSIDE.
It is not a motivational book or a self-improvement book. I don't read stuff like that.
No, they are trying to get you to see yourself in various mythological stories, and they want you to look into your own experience.
It starts with Parceval. And he does end up redressing slights, even those from maidens.
But the biggest challenge is the first, the Red Knight.
So Parceval, unarmed, unarmored, and untrained, approaches and demands that the Red Knight surrender. He just laughs.
So the next time Parceval approaches, he puts a javelin into his forehead.
Of course the authors acknowledge a huge debt to Joseph Campbell.
SJG
https://kpfa.org/episode/against-the-gra…
Pound Foolish: Exposing the Dark Side of the Personal Finance Industry by Helaine Olen
https://www.amazon.com/Pound-Foolish-Exp…
SJG
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SJG
Azteca
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_0s2EgC7…