The Chris Cuomo Project - Chris Cuomo Reveals Life's Biggest Secret

Episode Date: January 30, 2024

In this deep dive episode of Cuomo on the Couch, Chris Cuomo tackles life's biggest question - what is the meaning of life? Through an introspective Socratic dialogue, he examines how to live virtuously, pursue the good, and find meaning through reason and self-control. Join Chris Ad-Free On Substack: http://thechriscuomoproject.substack.com Follow and subscribe to The Chris Cuomo Project on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube for new episodes every Tuesday and Thursday: https://linktr.ee/cuomoproject Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What is the meaning of life? Oh, it's much simpler than you might assume. Doesn't mean that it's easy, but it's much simpler than you might assume. How do you know? Because I've studied it and I was told that by the Dalai Lama. I'm Chris Cuomo. Welcome to the Chris Cuomo podcast, a special of Cuomo on the Couch,

where we get into our fields, we get deep, we talk philosophy. Why? Because philosophy is not just the love of and study of and pursuit of knowledge, but it should be your guiding way of dealing with life. So thank you for subscribing and following here, signing up for the sub stack. That's going to be a long COVID community. You also get the podcast ad free and you'll get some things first psyched about that. Happy with what's happening at News Nation. Thank you for being part of that 8 8 and 11p every weekday night. So, Socratic dialogue, you know what that is? So, Socrates, Aristotle, Plato, Socrates, right? Socrates, known as the malcontent, but also the teacher, and one who was more about ideas than people, but that's not really fair in one regard because he gave us a great invention, the Socratic dialogue. What is that?

It's where a group discusses something and it moves from the personal and bouncing off each other towards a universal truth, such as what is the meaning of life? That kind of existential thing. So we can have one here with just me and you bouncing off the ideas as we go from one to the next. What is the meaning of life? What is the meaning of life? The meaning of life is a question. What is the meaning of life that only you can answer? And the answer will be different for each individual in terms of what matters to you, what your life is about. Now, that's a little confusing because we thought that there was supposed to be a secret.

That's why you climb the mountain and go see the Oracle and all that stuff. No, that's romanticism. And it's a fabulous notion of reality. It's trying to sell you a story. cynicism, and it's a fabulous notion of reality. It's trying to sell you a story. The hard truth is that it is about you and what you want. Now, what do we do with that idea? And I really do believe that this is something you should chew on and wrestle with. You know, we tell ourselves in life that we don't need to deal with these things. I got to just pay the fucking rent. I just got to worry about my kids. I just got to do my job. I just got to do this.

Those are the things that don't matter. Of course they do. They do to our quotidian realities of what we have to take care of, our responsibilities, our needs, and our wants. But here's how the dialogue would work. Okay. At the end of the day, what's gonna happen with your life? Here's the immutable truth, okay? I'm talking long COVID, we all have a deadly diagnosis. We're all gonna die. We're all in the process of dying right now, especially if we're middle-aged and beyond.

Oh, that's so fatalistic. No, it's realistic. It's definitely happening. Now, you can look at it two ways. Well, therefore, nothing matters. I should do nothing. But then why were you ever created in the first place? So let's dismiss that. The nihilism, nothing matters, nothing has worth. And go to another idea, which is, well, I should be using this time I have then. That's what the Stoics mean by memento mori. Remember, you could die.

It's not that every day you should be traumatized by the fact that your life is going to end. It's that you should be energized by it. Okay, so life is finite. It's limited. And we have to do the most that we can. Okay, so now what? Well, what do you do with that time?

At the end, what is your legacy? The money, the houses, the things? What do you got to figure? 70, 80 years from now, who the fuck knows who Chris Cuomo was? Who's going to care? How much do I talk about my great-grandfather? Almost never. Okay, but he was a simple farmer who nobody ever heard of in the middle of

Italy, and I'm a TV guy. Yeah, okay, so what? How much do we talk about Walter Cronkite, who was the most towering figure of broadcast news ever? People know who he is, but rarely, right? No disrespect. Walter was very good to me, so was his wife, Betty, and I miss him. But you get my point. You're going to disappear and people are going to forget you and all your things. Someone else is going to live in your house. All your money is going to go away. All the things that you built, all the things that you have are going to be destroyed or they're going to be someone else's. So then what are you doing here? And I'm not saying don't work, don't make money, don't provide. Of course you do. Because I think it plays into something that you have to struggle with, that I am struggling with,

which is where the Socratic dialogue begins. So what is the value of this life? So what is the value of this life? Experience. Experience of what? As much as you can. Okay. To what end? You have different theories on this.

The Epicureans, the Aesthetics, the Hedonists, people who believe that it's all about what you want. I'm talking about these people. None of them even exist anymore. Why? Because we don't give a shit about philosophy anymore. Nobody lives by a code or a set set of rules other than what they shift every two or three months with a diet or the latest book that they read about self-help. We don't have philosophy. We don't talk about these things anymore. And not just the inane, well, not inane, but somewhat academic forms of philosophy where you're

arguing about truths and maxims and proofs of different realities and syllogies of logic. It's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about the area of philosophy that deals with metaphysical truth and existential truth and what our lives are about. And I think a reasonable place that this dialogue will take you is we have to be here in pursuit of good. Now, that doesn't mean that you don't do bad and that there isn't bad. Of course there is. And of course you do.

And of course I do. But the pursuit of good in your life has to be the lodestar, has to be the guiding principle. Why do you take care of your family? Why do you take care of yourself? Why do you care about reputation and about employment and about how you provide and how you're seen and how you see yourself because of this idea of virtue, of good. Why do so many of us depend on faith in a higher intelligence of power? And we could talk all day about what that is, but I don't know that it matters at the end of the day

to this analysis of good. Whatever's motivating it is enough. Oh, no, no, no, no. There has to be a God and it's a sentient being who sees all and knows all and is beyond all interpretation and understanding of thought of what humans can even conceive, but it's very, very real and it's up there and it's watching.

Okay, if that works for you, great. I saw a great definition of what is God. Well well you know joseph campbell talks about this a lot and the ineffable nature of god one of the reasons especially in christian theology that god has made this impossible to know thing is to deal with suspension of disbelief right the ineffable idea of you can't understand god, it's too big. If that works for you, again, fine, but there was a reason that construct was created. It was to make it beyond scrutiny. And it doesn't matter for the point of this dialogue. Is there something bigger than ourselves? There has to be. Why? Because even if that ideal is found within yourself, which is a

big ideal of stoicism, they weren't dismissive of deism, of there being gods, but it's not necessary for you to motivate your best self. Why? Because we have to be here to be bettering ourselves and what's around us. Otherwise, what's the purpose of it? Mere survival? Then why would we have ever been evolved off of other primates? So if we're going from the slime to the sublime, if that's the process, if that's the evolution,

there has to be something about the good of it, which is why people get so upset about what we're doing to our planet and our world because we're reducing the ability to make things better by making them worse, right? So if we're here for good, then how am I supposed to live? What am I supposed to do here? Well, most of us reduce it to doing what we have to. And otherwise, we have a pretty yo-yo existence, right? You're happy, you're not happy. Based on what to doing what we have to. And otherwise, we have a pretty yo-yo existence, right? You're happy, you're not happy.

Based on what? Usually what you have and what you want and very obvious, cursory, surfacial, ephemeral, simple measures of self. Are you good looking or not? Are you rich or not? Are you fit or not? Are you attractive to whatever you're attracted to or not?

How are you regarded? Petty things. But does any of that matter? Well, no, not if they don't contribute to the greater good. Well, why? Why do I care about the greater good? Well, how else do you better yourself? Well, by having abs and being jacked

and having five Lamborghinis. Oh, and that will make you happy? Maybe, then fine. But I think for most of us, it's not enough. And what do you see with rich people? What do you hear when people make it most often, right? What do they want to do next? I want to give back.

Now, even if that is a BS move to curry favor with the public, it's still out there as an ideal. Why? Because it's a recognizable virtue. And when you look at the religions, this was something that was very important to inculcate. inculcate. It is a part of Islam. It's a part of Judaism. In Islam, it's about what that righteous war is in and of yourself. And in fact, even one of the earlier reckonings of jihad is that it's a war within the self of virtue and betterment, not just killing infidels. Within Judaism, within Judaism. Tikkun Olam, Tzedakah. Tzedakah, the idea of universal charity.

Tikkun Olam, in terms of being someone to repair this universe. Christianity, Teilhard de Chardin, Christian scientist, paleontologist, philosopher, priest. Collaborate in creation to be about all that matters in life is devotion to something bigger than yourself why because we are not enough why because the appetites create an eternal quest for more that can never be sated appetites will never be enough well then how am i supposed to see what

is good and how am i supposed to pursue it? And that is the trick of it. It's simple to say you're supposed to pursue good in all things. The how is what makes it anything but easy. Support for the Chris Cuomo Project comes from PrizePix. I got to tell you, there's a reason prize picks is America's number one fantasy sports app. Three million members. Why? Easy, plenty of action if you're into DFS, and it's just you against the numbers. You pick more than or less than on two to six player stat projections, and if you're any good, the winnings will roll in.

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And it's all online. HIMS is changing men's health care. Why? Because it's giving you access to affordable and discreet sexual health treatments, and you do it right from your couch. HIMS provides access to clinically proven generic alternatives to Viagra or Cialis or whatever. And it's up to like 95% cheaper. And their options are as low as two bucks a dose. HIMS has hundreds of thousands of trusted subscribers. So if ED is getting you down, it's time to pick it up. Start your free online visit today at HIMS.com slash CCP. H-I-M-S dot com slash CCP. And you will get

personalized ED treatment options. HIMS.com slash CCP. Prescriptions, you need an online consultation with a healthcare provider, and they will determine if appropriate. Restrictions apply. You see the website, you'll get details and important safety information. You're going to need a subscription. It's required. Plus, the price is going to vary based on product and subscription plan. So here are the guidelines within Socratic dialogue. All right. So how am I supposed to focus my attention? The Stoics suggest a binary proposition, right? And that should be comfortable for us because we're stuck in this stupid binary party system that's making us all hate each other because

all it's about is advantage and which side is worse is the easiest way to win. I digress. Yes. What do you control and what don't you control? What you control are your actions, thoughts, inactions, and speech. You control those things. Thoughts, feelings, actions, inactions, and what you say. What you say, what you do, what you feel, and how you think. What you say, what you do, what you feel, and how you think. You have control over those. If you are healthy, right? If you're diseased of mind or body, then you may not have that control.

But at best, that's what you control. So what do you do with that which you control? Well, you apply it to what is good for you and for others through the best capability that the human being has and the most vexing one for me. What Christians and others often refer to as the power of free will, which is actually, to the extent that philosophy still exists, it's actually a very robust debate going on as to whether or not there is such a thing as free will at all. Maybe everything is conditioned response

and you think you have free will, but it's an illusion. Now, I don't choose to believe that, even as a piece of what I would dismiss as sophistry, even as just something that's theoretical. But let it be debated. Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe I'll change my mind. But for now, reasoned choice is the determiner of your free will. And as long as

everything that you say and do and think and feel is passing through your own reason choice, which is why you got to be worried about changing your ability to think and feel, drugs, booze, hyper emotion. This is why people are instructed to cool down, to take a walk, to count to 10, all of these modulating mechanisms. Why? So you can get back to being reasonable with your choice structure instead of a fit of anger, peak, being reactive to situations as opposed to being responsive

through reasoned choice. Reasoned choice, meaning that you think before. Now, I suck at this. Now, you'll say, what are you talking about? All you're ever talking about is this philosophy and political analysis. Yes, yes. In my personal life, I have a stunning ability to repeat mistakes. Now, part of this is because of what I set out as the premise. Some of you ask, why do you say why all the time? It's the Socratic dialogue. It's how I was raised. It's how I was educated. It's secondary school and law school. So very often I question my

own judgments and assertions. This is what I'm doing. Well, why am I going to do that? Here's why. And I'm trying to make it easier for you to pick up on these rationales and these streams of thought so that you can have your own reason choice about what I'm saying. If you are not completely healthy, then you don't have complete control over how you think and feel. I am a self-loather. I believe that this is a function of a psychological inadequacy, not an illness or an ism or a diagnosis, but a trait that has become a habit of self-loathing, of being down on myself. Why? I think there's something safe about it. loathing, of being down on myself. Why? I think there's something safe about it.

It keeps expectations low. And I've made so many mistakes that are so haunting that it's almost impossible for me to see myself as getting to any better place, that it's all just pain management for me. That's sad. Yes, it is. But it's also not permanent and not an all the time thing. It's just where I can slip into what some of us might refer to as a mood. But it's like happens a lot for it to be a mood. But nonetheless,

I would at least define it as a disposition. So if you're not really in control of how you feel and you're not valuing yourself and valuing what you're supposed to be about, you can fuck up and make bad choices almost to punish yourself, almost to prove that you are as bad as you think you are.

Hence why some of us binge eat, why some of us make bad choices for ourselves, literally wanna hurt yourself. So if you have reasoned choice and you're looking at life through that lens of what you control and what you don't and what you control is about how you do and say things and refrain from things and refrain from saying things and thoughts and feelings that are not helpful to the progress towards something better for yourself,

for your family, for your community. That's what you control. Okay. Then what about all the things you don't control? Ah, this is the good part. We spend so much of our time on what we don't control. Like what? How people feel about you, outside dynamics, other people's lives that you do not control or even influence. You may not even know them. We are obsessed with this. We are more interested in ourselves through the lens of what other people think of us than we are what we think of ourselves and our own values and our own standards. You will believe you are good looking if enough people tell you you are,

even if you know that you don't like how you look. Now, sometimes that's not true, right? Sometimes people can have very poor self-image and it doesn't matter what other people tell them. But I'm talking about healthy in general. We define ourselves too often by what other people think. Now, even though I'm the guy on TV, I'm the one talking into the camera. I'm the one who's got to like let people know what's going on instead of just having my own private life. I have actually conditioned myself to be much less reactive to comments. Very often, my friends, colleagues,

associates say, I don't know how you deal with this social media. I don't know how you let this person come up and say this. I don't know how you deal with what was written. I don't know how you deal with this bullshit that's such a lie. Because this is the choice that I've made is to be part of this dynamic.

And I have made a decision and it's not always easy and it doesn't always work, but to limit what I take as that kind of feedback. I don't want to hear any compliments, and I am very careful about scrutinizing the source of any criticisms. Because you got to respect the source of the criticism, otherwise it's never going to be helpful. And if it's not something helpful, then it's not something that reasonably is calculated to help me get better. So then fuck it. But think about how much time you spend worrying about what you don't control. What is she going to say? What is she going to do to me? Is she going to try to hurt me? Is he going to try to hurt me? Is he going to not give me the job? Is he really going to go fishing with somebody else? Is he really? We worry. Is my

kid going to get into college? Is he going to be good? Am I going to be? You don't control any of these things. You have no idea that it's going to happen. Oh, I'm so worried. I'm so worried this episode's not going to do well. Who knows whether it's going to do well? And I have no control over it after I create it. Why would I worry about it? Why would I worry about it? Insecurity or a misplaced sense of self-protection, social conditioning, because everybody else is telling you to. But you don't control any of that there's no value to it there is you connect with others you can get information and perspective now a lot of that is we're going

through transition right now we're going through flux we're going through change where it's hard to know what's worthwhile and what's bullshit. And a lot of people are profiting off that. Playing to advantage your insecurities about who to believe and who not. Believe me, everybody else is lying. And yet, the more that you stick to what you control and what is good for you and for those around you that you care about, the better. But boy, is that hard. Why?

Because the temptations of what we don't control scare us and consume so many others around us because very few live this way. The Chris Cuomo Project is supported by Cozy Earth. Why? Because I like their sheets. That's why. A lot of people don't get a good night's sleep for a lot of reasons. One of the ones that you can control is bedding. One out of three of us report being sleep deprived. Okay, well, what is it? Well, it stresses all kinds of things, but the wrong sheets can make you hot, can make you cold. I'm telling you, I don't even believe it either, but cozy earth sheets breathe. And here's what I love about them. Cozy Earth's

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and it's changing the vibe by providing affordable access to ED treatment, and it's all online. HIMS is changing men's health care. Why? Because it's giving you access to affordable and discreet

sexual health treatments, and you do it right from your couch. HIMS provides access to clinically and discreet sexual health treatments. And you do it right from your couch. HIMS provides access to clinically proven generic alternatives to Viagra or Cialis or whatever. And it's up to like 95% cheaper. And there are options as low as two bucks a dose.

HIMS has hundreds of thousands of trusted subscribers. So, if ED is getting you down, it's time to pick it up. Start your free online visit today at HIMS.com slash CCP. H-I-M-S dot com slash CCP. And you will get personalized ED treatment options. HIMS.com slash CCP. Prescriptions, you need an online consultation with a healthcare provider, and they will determine if appropriate. Restrictions apply.

You see the website, you'll get details and important safety information. You're going to need a subscription. It's required. Plus, price is going to vary based on product and subscription plan. Remember the old expression, keeping up with the Joneses? Remember that? They have a new Buick.

I need a new Buick. They have a TV. I need a TV. Think about that. Think about how ridiculous that is. There's absolutely no internal value or inculcated virtue in naked comparison that's true even in competition

I won the race that's all that matters is winning did you run as fast as you could no I actually had a shit day but the other guy stumbled so I won so how do you feel about it But the other guy stumbled, so I won. So how do you feel about it? Probably unsatisfied. Why? Because you're guided by something else. And that's why so many winners, so many champions,

so many people we look up to are never satisfied because they have their own standard. Now, some of them are just never satisfied because there's that eternal quest for more. And that's going to be very unsatisfying for them forever. But if they're driven by betterment of themselves, then the outcomes don't really matter. That's why it's win or learn, right? And sometimes even when you win, I mean, if you think about your life and the truth of this will just slap you in the face all of a sudden. Once you see this in one place, you'll see it everywhere.

That what has helped you change and get better most in life? Your successes? Can you name, do your top three successes jump to mind as quickly as your top three failures do? Has my life been shaped by anything as much as it has by my getting shit-canned by CNN and having the media just absolutely celebrate and traffic and me getting taken down from my perch, my pedestal? No. But that was like unmitigated disaster. No, it wasn't. No, it wasn't. No, it wasn't.

It was just something that happened. And it's up to me to decide what it means, what its value or worth is, and how to use it or dismiss it. Bullshit. There were 5 million articles written in TV for fucking weeks about it what are you talking about you had six cars outside your house waiting for you to come and chasing you around

like you were elvis anti-elvis a bad elvis it mattered to whom none of you even remember what it was about the way i do. I hear it all the time. Well, what happened? When it was like you were helping your brother or something, that was really screwed up. Nobody remembers. They worry about themselves. That is a great example of how you're shaped by the external

and how you have to struggle to figure out what your own guiding set of principles and wants are and goals are and what you control and what you don't and what you focus on and what you don't. And it's as simple as that. And it's as easy to say as that. And it's just really hard to do because we're consumed by the external and by others. Why? Lots of reasons. Doesn't make them any good or any bad. Lots of reasons. Doesn't make them any good or any bad.

And then what does that take you to? It takes you to how you value things in your own life, your needs and your wants. When's the last time you did an inventory of going through the shit that you have? Let's just start easy, your clothes. When's the last time you went through your clothes to see what you've worn in the last two months within that given season? Because it's not fair for you to be throwing out your bathing suits right now because it's winter. But when's the last time you

did it? And why don't you do it? We like our shit. We like our stuff. We like to look at it. Look at how many pairs of Nikes I have. Unless you trade Nikes, how often do you wear all these sneakers? What is it about for you? How is that good? Now, if it is, if you have an answer to that, then fine. I'm trading them.

I'm selling them. I like it. Okay, but why do you like it? Think about it. Test yourself. Push yourself. Every day, in any way that seems to make sense at that time. That has to be what life is about, is how to seek good in yourself and for those around you. That should guide who you keep close and who you keep distance from, what you pursue and what you abstain, what you value and what you don't value, what makes sense and what doesn't make sense. If it's in pursuit of good as you filter it through your own reason choice as a function of what you control and what you don't, that's the best that you can ask for. And if

there's a higher, better way and ideal than that, what is it? I'm doing it because God tells me? Well, even that, even if you do it because the Bible says so, that was supposed to be a book of virtues, which is about the greater good and that you do it for respect of or fear of a higher power. But it's not necessary. This could be completely self-eminating, just as a function of what is often called ethical humanism. You don't believe in a higher power, or maybe you do something energetic, or just an ethos, or an idea, or an ethic, or a philosophy or an ethic or a philosophy of positivity or an energy of goodness, of virtue, of love, that can be enough. Maybe it should be enough. Maybe it's all you need. Maybe it's the only thing you should need. And then it's taking you towards what you've

developed as a meaning for your own life. Why you're here. What are you doing? We avoid this. It's hard. It's sticky. It's not satisfying. We'd rather go with things. House, bigger house. Car, new car. Abs, more abs. Muscles, more muscles. Jacked, more jacked sexy more sexy pretty more pretty fix your face imperfections why more more more more more more and then every once in a while we see a grotesque example we're like oh my god wow did they go over the oh wow they went way too far look how pumped up that guy is how much roids is he on?

How much different are they than you? Are they just exaggerated forms of you and what you decided to value? And all of that will be gone. Your muscles will fade. You will get old. You will wither and you will die. So either you make this shift and here's the last piece once you make this shift that your life is about the pursuit of good and not the judgment of what you don't control but only the reason choices that you can make for yourself and that what you don't control you either set aside or you devalue or minimize especially when it comes to worry because you're going to make no impact anyway. And then the last part of it is that you will learn to see that everything that happens, that everything that comes

is part of the natural order of things. Me getting shit canned by CNN, I don't believe in destiny, I don't believe in fate, and I don't believe in luck. I don't believe that there's a reason for everything that happens. I think that's a convenience. If you want to believe that, that's fine. I don't. But I do believe that there's a reason for everything that happens. I think that's a convenience. If you want to believe that, that's fine.

I don't. But I do believe that you have a choice, an opportunity to ascribe reason to everything that happens in your life. And in that way, you are respecting that this is just what life does. This is what life brings your way based on millions of different pieces of probability and chance Volition as well as the automatic as well as the involuntary It all came I got shit can now what? As norman lear said two questions matter in life

When things happen to you, so what and now what? I got shit canned. All right, what am I going to make of that? And what am I going to do with it? Everything in life so that there is no bad thing that happens. What are you talking about? A kid gets cancer. What's happening in Palestine? What happened to Israel? These are bad things. What do you mean nothing's bad or good? It's not what I'm saying. It's not as simple as that. It's what do you do with it? The fighting needs to stop in Palestine, in Gaza. Yes. How? That's the important question. Nobody wants to deal with that. Israel needs to stop so a terror organization can keep attacking it. Yeah, but look at all the innocents they're killing.

Then get rid of the terror organization, and then you can look squarely in the eye at Israel and say, now it's on you. Nobody wants to deal with that. We just want to deal with the passions, even though you don't control anything that's happening in Gaza. No matter how much you scream, no matter how much you appropriate the oppression of those people and cry as if you were one of them, even though you don't want to go there to help because you got a nice comfortable life here. As much as you want to say, I'm for Israel, nobody wants to struggle with the how.

Why? Because it's too hard. And we don't have the answers. Reason, choice. What do you control? What do you not control? And everything that happens is an opportunity. As disgusting as this is, what's happening there, What do you control? What do you not control? And everything that happens is an opportunity. As disgusting as this is, what's happening there, there is an opportunity in it to finally have it end and turn into something better.

We say that with every tragedy that I cover. What are we going to do to create some value out of this shooting, out of this death, out of this tragedy? It can be as simple as a lawnmower throws a stone, breaks a window. Now you have an opportunity to make that window better and make the fit and seal of that sill and that frame better than it was the last time. When you hurt yourself, when you're doing PT, what do they tell you? You're going to come out of this stronger and better than you were before. There's an opportunity in everything that comes into your life if you decide to see it that way.

Why? Because there's what you control and what you don't. I don't control what happened to me, but I control how to feel about it and what to do about it. And I do that through the lens of my reasoned choice. And I do it with an eye toward what has to matter, which is how do I make some good out of this? Why? Because why the fuck else are we here? Why does any of it matter? What is the point of procreation just to exist? Why would you have evolved from the slime? Why would we need more than chimpanzees? If you're going to be a rational, sentient building with the ability to imagine and create

and think, it has to be about elevating and about the good and the specific and non-specific, the individual and the collective. It has to be. That's why generation after generation and culture after culture, they all do what? They all do what? They all aspire. They all aspire to something greater and better. Call it heaven. Call it Valhalla. Call them gods. Call it whatever you want. Why has this construct been so fundamental to humanity? Because we are driven to this virtue of good. And I'm not selling you on religion, certainly, nor spirituality or any kind of faith, except in yourself and in your ability to control and to see what you don't control and to filter your decisions through reasoned choice and accept that everything in your life that happens, you can do something with it.

decisions through reasoned choice and accept that everything in your life that happens, you can do something with it. As sucky as it's going to be, even this long COVID, I'm rebuilding my whole set of fucking habits right now. Why? Because I have to, because I have the opportunity to. And I don't know what else to do. It's driving me crazy. So that's a Socratic dialogue. It's literally a conversation with myself, but for your benefit so that you can weigh in on how these things take you step to step. And I want to hear if you agree with this analysis or no, and if so, or if not, why?

I've been struggling with this for so many years, and I know that it's right. I know the analysis is right. Just my application of it is flawed because I'm human and I'm weak and I'm damaged. And I know that it's right. I know the analysis is right. Just my application of it is flawed because I'm human and I'm weak and I'm damaged. And that's okay because there is no perfection. That would be boring anyway. So that is how you can architect the meaning of life, the answer to the big question for yourself. I hope you already are.

I hope all of this was past tense for you. And I hope if you disagree, you can help me understand why. Because coming together is good. Working together is the goal. So what do you say? Let's get after it. So