the scrolls

We live in world defined by rigidity and routine. Established parameters and algorithms for life plague our existence at every turn.

In the 1900s, you married your high school sweetheart, served in the military, became educated with the GI Bill, then worked at a company for 30 years until you could eventually retire.

In the 2000s, you married later, skipped the military, went to college, and then joined the workforce with more mobility and less focus on the corporate ladder.

Although these paths have their benefits, greatness and ideation rarely come from beating the drum in the exact way the sheet music you’re provided tells you. The Beatles wouldn’t have crafted their greatest works by following the patterns laid out by generations past.

Innovation and thought patterns decay in the following of approved structures of life and morality. Steve Jobs couldn’t break out of his cyclical thoughts without the assistance of LSD and his tenacious drive to ignore the arbitrary rules that people believe existed in handheld computers.

The sole differentiator between greatness and ineptness lies in between the colorful fabric woven with the memories of a lived experience. Whether it’s hiking the Tibetan mountains, diving into a psychedelic journey, skiing the alps, or simply taking a promenade through an unknown part of town - the core system that fuels the abundance, joy, and creativity of our lives are the side quests we embark on.

A side quest, by video game definition, is a mission that has no correlation to the “main” mission of a game. They’re done purely for sport and to gain the coveted 100% completion of a game. In life and in games, most players will only play for the main story and ignore the side quests completely. Secure stability, earn income, build family, and be nice to our neighbors. While noble in purpose, they lack the essence of what makes us human. The randomness of a night of binge drinking with friends, the debauchery of late night conversations, and the romance of walking through a new city with a potential lover.

Instead, we focus on the status games of the main mission while ignoring our capacity for experience. Money, financial success, and career mobility take focus and obfuscate our ability to determine if we should leap somewhere else. We work to achieve the role our boss once so ardently fought for. We travel to expensive resorts where we are insulated from a novel culture. We sacrifice our agency in exchange for cheap status symbols that don’t reflect greatness - just that we completed the core part of the game.

The players of status games in the main mission believe they have the most important aspect of humanity - agency. Their late nights cleaning the hallways, studying in a classroom, or making a decision in a boardroom are all placed upon them by a force greater than themselves.

Contrary to our beliefs, agency lies at the core of what we’re not supposed to do. The dangerous, the exciting, and the risky. Many travel to achieve status, but fewer integrate into a culture. Many will daydream about the woman at the bar, but few will live a story with them that evening. Many will work without thought, few work to create greatness.

Our lives are never-ending tales of challenges, strife, and missing the mark while playing the main mission. The side quests, which in the moment mean nothing, have no inherent risk. You can play them as often or as rarely as you choose, but the rewards of experience, friendship, and newfound connections vastly outweigh the consequences. How many companies are born out of this dare to try something outside of the core focus of life and how many were manifested in the dreams of those who choose to reside in the games of status?

Our lives will always have sadness, strife, and tumultuous moments, but the good ones are rarely born out of following the path everyone expects us to follow.

Always choose the side quest.

as the leaves around us shift in their colors

timing an oath sworn to others

the path may seem narrow and wide

falling off a cliff or hanging from a vine

for who knows which way the road will go

only your grit and determination can make it so

Upheavals are a core tenent of the human experience. Empires will rise and fall. Lovers will scorn or fall deeper. Companies will win and go bankrupt. This is the ebb and flow of what makes us human. 

Many fear change or become paralyzed by it. They seek answers in the hymnic thumping of their hearts as it races seeking to assign meaning to a sudden shift. They retrench themselves back into their deepest paths of derelict habits by choosing to make the same mistakes they made and to never shift their reaction. These are the worst of those who face change. 

Some view change as indifferent. They ride the waves of time and float in the tides of its uncertainty. Always adrift and never choosing to swim closer to shore. Their direction can be a noble aimlessness or one of ignorance. The intellectuals that react this way root themselves in nihilism. Others are too much of a fool to know they are the master of their own destiny. These are the ones who rely on luck, inheritance, or ignorance. 

The last view change as a challenge. A challenge that makes man what he is. A thinker, an innovator, a decider, a conscious being. They charge into change with an unmet tenacity. Change becomes a womb in which a new version of themselves is born. One rooted in arduous work, self-improvement, and rational analysis. There is no room for fear in the hearts of the men of action. All that resides is the burning desire to continue to morph into something more grand. His merits are not won on the days when victory is declared. They live on the scars he adorns across his body while fighting the perpetual force of change.

The willingness to die for one’s ideas is the only way in which man can truly be set free. His ideas do not need to be rooted in a just cause, one that fits the correct narrative of the times, or one that he may not truly believe in.

This is true in revolutions, for the leader who is the first to stand against the guards will face certain death. Yet, against all instincts, he no longer fears death and only wishes to advance his ideology, philosophy, and self-interests. He wishes not only to share his thoughts but to impose them on the masses of people as he believes his thoughts are better than the current regime. 

This is true for a business leader. In the creation of their enterprise, they may face ruin, bankruptcy, starvation, or even humiliation. They risk their livelihoods and lifestyles for the pursuit of a grand idea that they believe is better than the one that currently exists. They march even with the knowledge that it may fail, and they may be left with nothing.

The nature of the fear of death has the same applications as the fear of starvation or recognition. The fear of death is intrinsic to our drive for radical new ideas. The fear of death pushes us to accept the status quo of society and forces us to exist within its frameworks. Never asking a daring question and never attempting to risk one's thymos, or self-recognition, in the pursuit of radical change. 

Once you remove this fear of uncertainty or an unjust outcome from your noble actions you become a free man. Freedom solely lies in man’s ability to not only rationalize his existentialism but overcome any hindrances provided by this understanding of his mortality.  

On the contrary, if you do fear death, a harrowing loss, the perception of your thymos in society – then you are condemned to be amongst the masses. Condemned to live in a world that is created and dominated by those who are unafraid of death. 

Once confronted with our mortality, most people seek to spend every waking moment with their family, friends, and lovers. On the contrary, one who does not fear death only seeks to spend time controlling the world around them and shaping the masses toward their perception of the world. Their lack of fear bends the will of those who are indebted to their deaths. Since they’ve seized control of the world, those who fear death have no option but to live within its rules and boundaries. To cry out at the unfairness of it all. To blame others for the disposition that life has cast upon you and accept that your condition is all that is and ever will be. That is until the day you arise to their status simply by circumventing your fear of death. Only then, can you challenge the status quo in business, politics, and war. 

Once you shed the chains of mortality, you can become a defined person who fears nothing. When you fear nothing, anything becomes possible. Entire nations can become conquered by one man. Millions of soldiers come together at the plight of a single voice. Political movements that change the fabric of society often have humble beginnings from a single man. A man who does not fear death or persecution.

Every unjust or just change in the world is rooted in the man who does not fear his demise, his loss of wealth, his loss of family, or his loss of status. They can feel attachments to them, but they cannot have a fear of losing them. When you have this connectivity to the natural realm, your mind becomes inclined to run from a conflict instead of staring down death into submission. 

In the past, this was equated to a duel. A fight between humans to establish who was truly unafraid of death. In our modern times, few men could march ten paces and turn around to shoot their adversary. Our historical figures did this routinely to establish their hierarchy in the world. Our titans of history stared death in the face, pulled the trigger, and did not bat an eye at the possibility of his demise. Those on the other side of the gun are as powerful as those who won. For them, a life without risk would never be one to live at all. They died triumphant over their natural master mortality. Their lack of fear proved their ability to overcome this human condition. He did not compromise on his ideals. He walked into the duel to prove that he was a master of his destiny and that he would not submit to another master. 

If the worst we must fear is death, then why not try life? Living life under the veil of a constant dodging of death, which is inevitable, will only lead you to a life of destitution, lack of resources, and lack of authority. Overcoming this is the opposite of human nature. Our instincts are to run, to flee a predator, and to hide at the sight of a force stronger than ourselves. Yet, the idea of overcoming these instincts is the path to building yourself into the true vision of humanity. A humanity that is always free with unlimited individuality and creation. 

This is what humanity is supposed to be. It is what defines us as different from the insects and the apes. An animal that can rationalize away death in a way no other beast can. A group of creatures who can take incredible risks without any fear or afterthought of what happens. Our ability to logically overcome our instincts in the pursuit of evolving ourselves to heights unknown to previous generations.  

Our society places a hindrance on this advancement. The frameworks place limiting beliefs on those who wish to break free and become masters themselves. You may be ridiculed for your ideas, race, religion, or creed. These frameworks exist only in the perception of that society. There are no human rules that exist. The only rule that applies to every human or living thing is that of mortality, which we are unlikely to ever solve. Once you have overcome this fear of mortality, then can you become free and only then does our society continue to innovate, grow, and prosper with the creations of technologists, artists, and innovators. 

The only ones who push us further, are those who detach themselves from their mortality. 

Time and effort are not direct correlations of each other. 

Many argue about the number of hours they work in all circles of careers and life. Those that argue about that and not the output that the work provided have a terrible outlook on the rewards of effort. What would you prefer as an end user? A product that took thousands of hours to build and works marginally or one that took 5 hours and works incredibly well? 

On one side, the culmination of all our efforts must be directly driven by time. Although it may have only taken our second example 5 hours to complete this specific project, can we discount the amount of time it took to acquire the skillset to complete it? Does that not contribute towards the overall time that it took to complete a goal? 

If our argument on effort was solely a correlation with the amount of time it takes to complete a goal, what is the point of completing it all? Why not reward the mediocrity with medals of effort as they're so close to completion? Why not continuously have sex and never finish? The effort is clearly in the importance of never-ending labor and not the goal itself. 

As humans, we have a distinctly linear train of thought due to our ability to conceive mortality. We consciously breakdown ideas into different steps of completion. We predict time in a linear fashion and analyze our relationships in the same manner. It's inherently difficult for us to disconnect the idea that effort can be compounding and is not only linear. 

Imagine two scenarios, both in which we must cross a river that is 10,000 miles wide. On one side of the equation are humans who think linearly and others who think in a compounding fashion. 

The humans who think linearly do not have the best patience for a particular outcome. Instead of planning, many of them will headfirst dive into a decision and let the future dictate their fate. These humans begin marching in a line through the river beginning their 10,000 mile trek. 

The second group of people sit on the side of the beach and begin planning a best strategy of attack. They know in the current instant that some technologies may be limited that can advance their quest to cross the river. They begin researching new ideas, creating mathematics, and expanding upon the fringes of what their primitive people know. They create maps with the stars, floatation devices, and structure their expedition to cross the river. They manufacture boats and optimize the ratio of ship capacity to bouncy of their vessels. These people then set off on their journey.

The first group by walking would take 130 days to cross a river that is 10,000 miles. They would applaud themselves for their 130 days of effort, tribulations, and accomplishments. 

The second group, after spending months preparing for the journey, increasing their technological prowess, would sail across the river in 500 hours (assuming a 20 mph sailing speed). 

Both groups put in a significant amount of effort to reach the same goal of crossing the river. One group, by the advantages of their hard work crossed the river in 130 days via linear focus. The second group crossed the river with 500 hours of travel time but with a significant focus on compounding efforts. By creating innovations in their math, strategy, and other components they could optimize their efforts to accomplish the same goal that took 130 days in just 500 hours. 

Which group can be argued to have placed more effort into their goals? With how we compare our working hours as a symbol of ability, hustle, and drive, we should constantly check in on ourselves and how we work. 

We should all strive to be those that cascade over the water and focus on compounding effort activities. Those that don't will always slowly trek through the river hoping to not be swept away by the current of time. 

Our brains are hindered by the bombardment of advertisements, dopamine inducing short form content, constant keeping up with the joneses, and pervasive sexual content across social media. I often ask myself what is the best way to preserve my mental fortitude and create a lasting impact on others who share my ideas. 

My journey towards self publication began as a seedling of a thought while watching the television show Criminal Minds. The current episode was about a New Orleans area serial killer who was reenacting the crimes of Jack the Ripper to exact revenge on men she perceived as assailants. Out of morbid curiosity, I dived into researching the original Jack the Ripper case and the suspects involved. Eventually, I ended up on Wikipedia’s analysis of the murder suspects and came upon an interesting fellow. 

I stumbled upon Francis Tumblety. He’s a relatively obscure man in the course of history who’s really only known for being a potential suspect in the Jack the Ripper case. In fact, he was arrested in a separate matter for being an associate of David Harold. His true profession seemed to be exaggerating claims of medical treatments and that of his own life. He would often create tales of incredible achievements and meetings with royalty from different parts of the world. Francis Tumblety was of little historical significance and a man of relative obscurity except for the times of his suspected wrongdoing in high profile cases. While diving down this Wikipedia rabbit hole I stumbled across his autobiography and manuscript for Dr. Francis Tumblety – Sketch of the Life of the Gifted, Eccentric and World Famed Physician.

He self published his exaggerated life and achievements in 1866 and here am I reading them in 2024 and sharing his peculiar story with you here. His autobiography has transcended generations and has even been viewed at the University of Michigan virtual library 264 times. 

Dr. Francis Tumblety is an example of the eternal nature of reading and writing. In a world plagued by short form content, easily forgettable videos, and an ever decreasing attention span, I believe that writing will become an even more important part of society. We learn from the writings of generations past and trust in its wisdom to help guide us. Without reading and more importantly the skill to write eloquently, we are without our ability to disseminate and learn important information. Irregardless of how obscure or unimportant an idea is (such as the autobiography of Francis Tumblety), there is no greater form of immortality than the permanence of writing and sharing it with others. 

As humans, we are constantly yearning for meaning and seeking out a way to create a legacy that impacts others than just ourselves. For those who wish to create a lasting legacy, I implore you to begin writing. Share your ideas with the world even if no one will ever read it. Immortalize your contribution to the hive mind of humanity. You never know who will be reading it 200 years from now.