Muscle for Life with Mike Matthews - My Top 3 Takeaways from Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

Episode Date: June 11, 2019

I realize this is a curious recommendation based on what I normally suggest, but I’m including it in the series because I think it’s an important and timely read. To understand why, consider the following from a speech the author gave in 1961: “There will be, in the next generation or so, a pharmacological method of making people love their servitude, and producing dictatorship without tears, so to speak, producing a kind of painless concentration camp for entire societies, so that people will in fact have their liberties taken away from them, but will rather enjoy it, because they will be distracted from any desire to rebel by propaganda or brainwashing, or brainwashing enhanced by pharmacological methods. And this seems to be the final revolution.” And then look at the world around you. Here in the West, people . . . -Watch an average of 38 hours of video content per week. -Spend an average of 1.5 hours on social media per day. -Play an average of 6.4 hours of video games per week. -Spend on average over 90% of their income. -Are abandoning marriage and religion. -Collectively watch billions of hours of porn per year. -Collectively eat over 84 million fast food meals per day. -Collectively spend over $230 billion on alcoholic beverages per year. -Collectively spend over $10 billion on marijuana per year. -Collectively smoke over 250 billion cigarettes per year. . . . while also spending just 17 minutes reading per day (and mostly fiction and novels), just under 2.5 hours productively working per day, and less than 30 minutes exercising per day. BUT HEY the optimists say . . . at least infant mortality and carbon monoxide emissions are down, renewable energy consumption is up (a little), the internet is getting faster, and more people are recycling! That’s neat. And completely unsatisfying, like a picture of oxygen to someone drowning. Anyhow, my point is Huxley was remarkably prescient in his predictions (or maybe it wasn’t so remarkable given the circles his brother Julian ran in), and in Brave New World, he paints the whole picture for you. And it’s unnervingly familiar. So much so that by my lights, the recipe for the world unfolding before us is something like three parts Brave New World, two parts Atlas Shrugged, and one part 1984, with a dash of, oh, I don’t know, Alice in Wonderland? In other words, technocratic totalitarianism and transparent topsy-turvydom disguised as enlightenment, enrichment, and empowerment. Don’t believe me? Read the books and see for yourself. Why bother if we’re doomed anyway? Says who? Humanity has seen much darker days than these and rebounded. We can do it again. First, however, we need enough people to see the world as it is and not as they wish it were, and that’s why I’m recommending Brave New World. It represents the logical conclusion of this late stage of our current civilization: the complete and scientific subjugation of the human spirit. Let’s get to the takeaways. Want to be notified when my next book recommendation goes live? Hop on my email list and you’ll get each new installment delivered directly to your inbox. Click here: https://www.muscleforlife.com/signup/

Hey, this is Mike from Muscle for Life, and I'm often asked about books. People ask me for book recommendations on various topics. They ask me what book I am currently reading and what books I have recently read and what my favorite books are and so forth. And as an avid reader, I am always happy to oblige and get some book recommendations in return as well. I also just like to encourage people to read as much as possible because I think that knowledge benefits you much like

compound interest benefits your bank account in that the more you learn, the more you know, and the more you know, the more you can do, and the more you can do, the more opportunities you have to succeed. And on the flip side, I also believe that there is little hope for people who aren't perpetual learners. I know that might sound a little bit pessimistic or cynical to you, but let's face it, life is overwhelmingly complex and chaotic. And if we look around, we can find plenty of evidence that it simply suffocates and devours the lazy and ignorant. So if you are a bookworm and you're on the lookout for good reads, or if you'd like to just get into the habit of

reading more, then this book club is for you. The idea is very simple. Every week I'm going to share a book that I've particularly liked, and I'm going to tell you why I liked it and give you several of my key takeaways from it. I'm also going to keep these episodes short and sweet so you can quickly decide whether or not a book is likely to be up your alley or not. This is where I would normally plug a sponsor to pay the bills, but I'm not big on promoting stuff that I don't personally use and believe in. So instead, I'm just going to quickly tell you about something of mine, specifically my 100% natural fat loss supplement Phoenix. It has sold over a hundred thousand bottles in the last several years, and it helps you lose fat faster in three ways. One, it increases

your metabolic rate. Two, it amplifies the power of fat burning chemicals produced by your body. And three, it increases the feeling of fullness from food. In short, it speeds up your metabolism. It helps your body burn fat more efficiently, and it helps you control hunger and cravings and maintain high energy levels. Phoenix also contains no artificial food dyes, fillers, or other unnecessary junk. And all that is why it has over 700 reviews on Amazon with a four star average and another 250 reviews on my website with a four and a half star average.

So if you want to burn more fat every day and have an easier time sticking to your diet without having to pump yourself full of harsh stimulants or potentially harmful chemicals, then you want to head over to www.legionathletics.com and pick up a bottle of Phoenix today. And just to show how much I appreciate my podcast peeps, use the coupon code podcast at checkout and you will save 10% on your entire order. And lastly, you should also know that I have a very simple 100% money back guarantee that

works like this. You either love my stuff or you get your money back, period. You don't have to return the products. You don't have to fill out forms. You don't have to jump through any other hoops or go through any other shenanigans. So you really can't lose here. Head over to www.lesionathletics.com now, place your order and see for yourself why my supplements have thousands of rave reviews all over the internet. And if for whatever reason, they're just not for you, contact us and we will give you a full refund on the spot.

All righty, that is enough shameless plugging for now at least. Let's get to the show. Okay, so let's get to the featured book here, which is Brave New World by Aldous Huxley. Now, I realize that this is a kind of curious recommendation based on the books that I normally suggest, but I am including it in the book club series because I do think it is an important and a timely read. And to understand why, consider the following from a speech the author gave in 1961. Huxley said, quote, taken away from them, but will rather enjoy it because they will be distracted from any desire

to rebel by propaganda or brainwashing or brainwashing enhanced by pharmacological methods. And this seems to be the final revolution. And that's the end of the quote. So now let's take a look at the world around us. Here in the West, for example, according to a number of studies and surveys, people watch an average of 38 hours of video content per week, spend an average of 1.5 hours on social media per day, play an average of 6.4 hours of video games per week, spend on average over 90% of their income, are abandoning marriage and religion, collectively watch billions of hours of porn per year, collectively eat over 84 million fast food meals per day, collectively spend over $230 billion on alcoholic beverages per year, collectively spend over $10 billion on marijuana

per year, and collectively smoke over 250 billion cigarettes per year, while also spending just 17 minutes reading per day, and mostly fiction and novels, just under two and a half hours productively working per day and less than 30 minutes exercising per day. But hey, the optimists say at least infant mortality and carbon monoxide emissions are down and renewable energy consumption is up a little bit and the internet's getting faster and more people are recycling. Yeah, that's neat. And it's also completely unsatisfying, like a picture of oxygen to someone who is drowning. And anyway, my point with all that is that Huxley was remarkably prescient in his predictions.

was remarkably prescient in his predictions, or maybe it wasn't so remarkable given the circles his brother Julian ran in. Go check him out. He was a diehard eugenicist with very elite friends. And in Huxley's book, Brave New World, he paints the whole picture for you. And it is unnervingly familiar. So much so that by my lights, the recipe for the world unfolding around us is something like three parts Brave New World, two parts Atlas Shrugged, and one part 1984 with a dash of, I don't know, Alice in Wonderland. In other words, technocratic totalitarianism and transparent topsy-turviedom disguised as enlightenment, enrichment, and empowerment. Don't believe me? Well, read the books that I just mentioned and see for yourself. Now, why bother reading those books if we're doomed anyway? Says who? Humanity has seen much darker days than these,

and we have rebounded. For example, take the Black Plague of the Middle Ages that killed at least a third of the people in Europe, if not more. And if we can make it through that, we can certainly make it through our current predicament. First, however, we need enough people to see the world as it is and not as they wish it were, and that is why I'm recommending Brave New World. It represents the logical conclusion of this late stage of our current civilization, and that is the complete and scientific subjugation of the human spirit. Hey, quickly, before we carry on, if you are liking my podcast, would you please help spread the word about it? Because no amount of marketing or advertising gimmicks can match the power of word of mouth.

So if you are enjoying this episode and you think of someone else who might enjoy it as well, please do tell them about it. It really helps me. And if you are going to post about it on social media, definitely tag me so I can say thank you. You can find me on Instagram at MuscleForLifeFitness, Twitter at MuscleForLife, and Facebook at Muscle for Life Fitness. Okay, so let's get to the takeaways. And I usually have five, but this time I only have three because everything I had to say was really encapsulated in the three and there were no others that really tickled my fancy.

So let's do three. Here's number one. Quote, People are happy. They get what they want, and they never want what they can't get. They're well off. They're safe. They're never ill. They're not afraid of death. They're blissfully ignorant of passion and old age. They're plagued with no mothers or fathers. They've got no wives or children or lovers to feel strongly about. They're so conditioned that they practically can't help behaving as they ought to behave. And if anything should go wrong, there's Soma. So my note here is this is why people are willing slaves in Brave New World. In exchange for their individuality, they're given a life of unchallenging work, euphoric drugs, recreational

sport, meaningless sex, and stimulating entertainment. And in case you're wondering, in the book, Soma was a drug that distracts you from unpleasantness of any kind with delightful hallucinations and a sense of timelessness. Now, what's scary about that quote from the book is there is a voice in all of us that says, you know, that sounds pretty good because the alternative, the voice fears, is the freedom to be confused, alone, and miserable, which is the moral justification for the dictatorship in the book. Freedom, it is argued by the social controllers, the freedom to intensify and refine our consciousness, to expand our knowledge and strain our abilities, is a liability that just lures us to our dooms like a mythical siren. In short, the social controllers explain,

the more freedom people have to think and act independently, the more likely they are to simply destroy themselves and society at large. So only by abandoning our obsession with liberty and autonomy can we finally achieve inner and outer harmony and stability. And in Brave New World, that has been accomplished and to great effect. War, disease, social strife, and even aging have been eliminated and there's a place for everyone and everyone is in their place. and everyone is in their place. Now, this is the type of world that the elite class has been dreaming of since the times of Plato, at least, who considered most of his fellow Athenians hopelessly corrupt, irrational, and self-indulgent. And Brave New World portrays this fantasy in a positive utopian light. Now, where do you stand on the matter? Read the book and reflect. All right, my second takeaway is, quote,

adults intellectually and during working hours, he went on, I'm quoting some dialogue here, infants where feeling and desire are concerned. And my note here is in the book, men and women are carefully engineered to be perpetual children who have no need for religion, reading, thinking, or evolving because they've got youth and entertainment and sensuality, and prosperity right up to the end. And in clown world, I mean reality, well, basically the same thing is happening. IQ is dropping, anxiety, depression, and mental illness are rising, fertility rates are plummeting, and more and more young people are postponing marriage and moving back in with mom and dad and relying on them for financial support. And nowhere is this cultural infantilization more apparent than in the realms of culture and politics, which have degenerated into an ideological food fight fueled by feelings and not facts.

You know, did someone say or do something that made you feel bad? Slam a pie in their fascist face. Honk, honk. Okay, the third and final takeaway quote. Consider the matter dispassionately, Mr. Foster. Again, this is dialogue. And you will see that no offense is so heinous as unorthodoxy of behavior. Murder kills only the individual. And after all,

what is an individual? With a sweeping gesture, he indicated the rows of microscopes, the test tubes, the incubators. We can make a new one with the greatest ease, as many as we like. Unorthodoxy threatens more than the life of a mere individual. It strikes at society with a capital S itself. And my note here is this is yet another striking similarity between Brave New World and our world. Thoughts and opinions that do not conform with those approved by the hive mind are becoming more and more unacceptable. And the message is very clear. You can either toe the line or walk the plank. And I suppose this is what happens when you turn over society's most important and influential institutions like academia, media, art, government, finance to cadres of its most morally confused and depraved actors and let them run amok for a century or so. Okay, so that's it for the takeaways and my commentary,

except for this final note, and that is, I really do hope that I'm wrong about basically everything I just said. I really do. I hope our kingmakers, lawmakers, and tastemakers are not hurting us to our collective dooms. But the evidence, which extends far beyond everything I've mentioned in this podcast, is overwhelming. Now, these people believe they are working to save humanity from destroying itself, of course. And while I'm not convinced their plan will work out, I guess time will tell. Now, if I have piqued your interest and you want to learn more about such things, start by reading a book called The Anglo- American Establishment by Carol Quigley. And then, if you have the fortitude, read his magnum opus, Tragedy and Hope. By the end of those two books, you are going to view history and the world around you very

differently. Hey there, it is Mike again. I hope you enjoyed this episode and found it interesting and helpful. And if you did and don't mind doing me a favor and want to help me make this the most popular health and fitness podcast on the internet, then please leave a quick review of it on iTunes or wherever you're listening from. This not only convinces people that they should check the show out, it also increases its search visibility and thus helps more people find their way to me and learn how to build their best bodies ever too. And of

course, if you want to be notified when the next episode goes live, then just subscribe to the podcast and you won't miss out on any of the new goodies. Lastly, if you didn't like something about the show, then definitely shoot me an email at mike at muscleforlife.com and share your thoughts on how you think it could be better. I read everything myself and I'm always looking for constructive feedback. So please do reach out. All right, that's it. Thanks again for listening to this episode and I hope to hear from you soon. And lastly, this episode is brought to you by me. Seriously though, I'm not big on promoting stuff that I don't personally use and believe in. So instead I'm going to just quickly tell you about something of mine, specifically my 100% natural

fat loss supplement Phoenix. It has sold over a hundred thousand bottles in the last several years and it helps you lose fat faster in three ways. One, it increases your metabolic rate. Two, it amplifies the power of fat burning chemicals produced by your body. And three, it increases your metabolic rate. Two, it amplifies the power of fat burning chemicals produced by your body. And three, it increases the feeling of fullness from food. In short, it speeds up your metabolism. It helps your body burn fat more efficiently. And it helps you control hunger and cravings and maintain high energy levels. Phoenix also contains no artificial food dyes, fillers, or other unnecessary junk

And all that is why it has over 700 reviews on Amazon with a 4-star average And another 250 reviews on my website with a 4.5-star average So if you want to burn more fat every day and have an easier time sticking to your diet Without having to pump yourself full of harsh stimulants or potentially harmful chemicals, then you want to head over to www.legionathletics.com and pick up a bottle of Phoenix today. And just to show how much I appreciate my podcast peeps, use the coupon code podcast at checkout and you will save 10% on your entire order. And lastly, you should also know that I have a very simple 100% money back guarantee that works like this. You either love my stuff or

you get your money back, period. You don't have to return the products. You don't have to fill out forms. You don't have to jump through any other hoops or go through any other shenanigans. So you really can't lose here. Head over to www.legionathletics.com now, place your order and see for yourself why my supplements have thousands of rave reviews all over the internet. And if for whatever reason, they're just not for you, contact us and we will give you a full refund on the spot.