Mindcoolness

A Cool Mind for a Full Life

Don’t Be Yourself

Don't be yourself. Who are you anyway? A fabric of personality biases? Your body's twitching sensations? Your opinion of someone else's opinion of you? Your confidence that breath is the key to the universe? You are nothing. So don't be yourself. And don't fool yourself. You are a shell at best. Or a vessel. "Shape clay into a vessel; it is the space within that makes it useful," said Lao Tzu. "Let the True Will exert its force through your eternal vacantness," say … [Read more...]

On Faith and Risk-Taking (Rational Vs. Deep True Will)

On Faith and Risk-Taking What do a theoretical physicist, an entrepreneur, a revolutionary leader, and an artist have in common? They all have a profound conviction about what they truly want to do, what they need to do. Solve a scientific problem, start a new company, change the world, or make it as a professional creative. That is their deep true will. Albert Einstein: "Certain it is that a conviction, akin to religious feeling, of the rationality and intelligibility of the world lies behind … [Read more...]

How to Forge an Indomitable Will

You don't need to be an extraordinary man to have an indomitable will. You only need an extraordinary mindset. And the good thing about mindsets is that you can adopt whichever you want—if you just set your mind to it. By catching yourself thinking weak thoughts and then changing how you think about things, you develop the mental hammer that helps you to forge an indomitable will. In general, you want a bold will whenever you are in a bad bodymind state: when you feel hungry and weak, … [Read more...]

How an Unhealthy Diet Destroys Your Willpower

The causal relationship between willpower and diet is reciprocal: We need self-control to eat healthy, and we need to eat healthy to have good self-control. The first relationship is obvious, but what's the biological mechanism by which an unhealthy diet destroys willpower? Inflammation We typically think of inflammation as our immune system's response to physical injury or infection that causes redness, heat, pain, and swelling. But inflammation has cognitive and motivational effects as well. … [Read more...]

Is It a Weakness to Turn the Other Cheek?

In the New Testament, Matthew writes, "Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth: But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also." In the Satanic Bible, LaVey writes, "Hate your enemies with a whole heart, and if a man smite you on one cheek, smash him on the other!; smite him hip and thigh, for self-preservation is the highest law! He who turns the other cheek is a cowardly … [Read more...]