TrueLife - Dr. Simon Critchley is AWESOME

Episode Date: February 17, 2022

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Darkness struck, a gut-punched theft, Sun ripped away, her health bereft. I roar at the void. This ain't just fate, a cosmic scam I spit my hate. The games rigged tight, shadows deal, blood on their hands, I'll never kneel. Yet in the rage, a crack ignites, occulted sparks cut through the nights. The scars my key, hermetic and stark. To see, to rise, I hunt in the dark. fumbling, furious through ruins

maze, lights my war cry Born from the blaze The poem is Angels with Rifles The track, I Am Sorrow, I Am Lust by Kodak Serafini Check out the entire song at the end of the cast. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the True Life podcast.

I hope your day's going beautiful. Thank you for taking a moment to spend a little bit of time with me. I hope the sun is shining on you. I hope there's three little birds at your doorsteps, singing sweet songs. If it's your first time here, welcome to the True Life family. Bring it in. Bring it in.

Let's get a hug in here. All right. What I got to tell you today is something beautiful. You know I love books, and I know that you love books, especially good books. Who doesn't love a good book? Who doesn't love to think about the things that we need to be thinking about? Today I'm going to bring to you a beautiful book review, one of the leading philosophers of our time, a gentleman that will make you think about the things in life that should be important to you. It's called Bald, and it's by Simon Critchley.

Many of you may be aware of this gentleman. He's got a CV that reads like a heavyweight champion. He's just a deep thinker and a beautiful person. Now, the book is called bald. And I know what you're thinking. You're like, yeah, it's called bald because the guy that wrote it is bald, George. I'm not a dummy. I can look at them and I can see the connection there.

You may think that. You may think the book is about being bald and what it's like to live in the world when you're bald. And it's kind of about that. But that's not exactly what it's about. I don't really want to tell you too much because I want you to buy the book. It's a beautiful book. Bald, beautiful. Bald is beautiful, some people say.

I think Simon might say the bald is beautiful, but the book is not particularly about being bald. You want to know what it's about? Do you want me to tell you what this book is about? It's not so much about being bald as it is being frank, but his name's not Frank, so it's better to say the book is bald. You understand? Let's move forward. If you're like me, you get a new book and you break out your highlighter and you sit down and you grab a cup of coffee and you put a little smile on your face and you dig in. You pull out the book and you look at it.

And I'm looking at this beautiful hardcover here. And it's all blue. Now, blue for me is a great color because it reminds me of the ocean. Now, you pull out the dust jacket and guess what? The whole book is blue. But not only is the whole book blue, there's nothing on it. It's bald. It's kind of beautiful.

Whoever did the work on this, I got to commend them. So right from the cover, I'm going to give it a, I'm going to give it a 9.4. for the overall look. I really like it. I know what you're thinking, George. That's a high score for you. Well, I'll tell you what. It's well deserved.

It's one of these books, too, where you know when you grab a book and you start reading through the first couple pages? I'll tell you what, halfway through my highlighter here. It's pretty deep. And one thing that I have found to be appealing in books that I read is the way in which it makes me think about different issues.

So the book is kind of a time capsule. It's a series of essays that he's written over like the last decade. And there's so much in there. What I find amazing about people and life and experiences, as well as this book, is that sometimes you can be shown a short movie, a short clip or read a short essay. However, it's so dense. There's so many little nuggets in there that you can go back and pick them out and play with them and really, understand. Let me give you an example of what I'm talking about here from one of the first essays that he writes in the books. The first one is called Happy Like God. And you may be familiar with this

from his article, The Stone in the New York Times. You may be familiar with some interviews he's done online. Simon Critchley is amazing. Sometimes it's a little intimidating to read his writing because there's so much in there. However, he really makes it fun. He makes it so that everybody can, you know what it is? it's kind of like he built this stadium. And no matter where you sit, it's a good seat. Have you ever done that? I've ever gone to a stadium and been like, oh, man, this is great. I could sit up here.

It's a good view. I can sit in the front. It's a good view. That's kind of how I look at his writing. There's so much in there and there's enough in there for everybody to catch a glimpse of what he's talking about. And while it may not be the perfect view or the same view, it's a good view. That's a pretty impressive stat.

It's something that takes a lot of time to do. In fact, if I talk to him, when I talk to this guy one day, I'm going to ask him, hey, how long does it take you to write this kind of stuff? Do you think about writing the way you think about playing soccer? Do you see the words you're going to write like you see the ball being passed to a defender? Or maybe you're trying to score? I don't know. But that's a good question.

We should ask him that. Another thing to think about is why is it people born in England have this ability to be better philosophers? When I'm looking at this book, it kind of makes me think a lot of Hitchens in that Hitchens had so many different essays and he was so deep on so many levels. You know, on a related story, maybe it's because they're closer to the source, right? Our good friend Tupac Shakur says, the darker, the berry, the sweeter the juice, the darker the flesh, the deeper the roots. So maybe it's because these gentlemen are a little bit closer to the very foundation of

our friends, Plato and Aristop. and all these incredible philosophers. Maybe that's what it is. They've got a closer, you know, it's, what's that thing called the contillion effect where people that are closer to the money get it faster so it's worth more? Maybe there's some sort of philosophical cantillion effect

where these two gentlemen are closer to the source so they have more ideas. I know what you're thinking, Melville. I'm with you. I'm with you. And you speak in Melville, this guy gets into Melville. And you know what he likes about Melville? I think that I think one thing we all share, probably everybody listening to this, has this deep affection for the ocean, this deep affection for water.

And without a doubt, I could tell you that Simon Critchley has that same, that same sort of affection, that same sort of love affair with being on the water, be it on it or in it, the water, the ocean will change you. And by the way, Simon, what do you mean when you say that a lake is a decaffeinated ocean? It blows my mind. It's super funny, but why wouldn't it be a decarbonated ocean? Right? Because isn't it, is it the caffeine that gives it the energy in the bubbles? Or is it the carbonation that gives it the old, you know, the old swift and sway and move back and forth? So we got to have to figure that out, my friend.

It's a beautiful, it makes me laugh. It's beautiful. So let's move a little bit forward into here. into this first essay. So in this first essay called Happy Like God, he quotes a little bit from Rousseau's final book. And I just want to read this little piece right here because I think it's beautiful and it really sets the tone for how the book is going to be. If there is a state where the soul can find a resting place secure enough to establish itself and concentrate its entire being there with no need to remember the past or reach into the future where time is nothing to it,

where the present runs on indefinitely, but this duration goes unnoticed, with no sign of the passing of time and no other feeling of deprivation or enjoyment, pleasure or pain, desire or fear than the simple feeling of existence. A feeling that fills our soul entirely. As long as this state lasts, we can call ourselves happy. Not with a poor, incomplete, and relative happiness such as we find. in the pleasures of life, but with a sufficient, complete, and perfect happiness, which leaves no emptiness to be filled in the soul. Think about that. That is a pretty good definition there.

That is a beautiful definition. And in a way, it seems to me to be almost a psychedelic state. It seems to be, you know what, you know what it sounds like to me? It reminds me of what, uh, Thomas Aquinas called the Nookstan's, right? Like the abiding now. It's just this abiding now where there is you and the planet and your realization that you do not come into this world, you come out of it and you're part of it and you're one. That's the feeling I get when I'm,

when I think I'm in the flow state or when I'm in the zone or what I would call happy is just this realization of responsibility, that I am responsible as much as everyone else is. This unity. Does that make any sense to anybody but me? I hope so. I hope so. It's a beautiful statement.

And I'm really impressed with how a book can start off and set a tone or set of pace the same way that a fast runner can be running a race. And you ever see that? Or you know what, better yet? You ever go to a horse race and you see like the four horse just, wow, shoot out of the gate. There's no way this thing's keeping it up. He's going to get burned on turn four.

And you just see him, he's charging, charging, coming around turn four, and you see the jockey to show him the whip. He don't hit him. He just shows him the whip. And the horse just wins the whole thing. You ever seen that happen? The track is great, by the way. It's the only place you'll see millionaires hugging homeless people.

Okay, let's get back to the book, George. Okay? It's not about the track, buddy. It's not about boozing it up and going to the track and winning money, okay? It could be. Nothing wrong with that. If you think about it, life is kind of like a track race. Life is kind of like a horse race in a lot of ways.

I don't know if you're the horse or the jockey or you're the homeless guy or you're the rich guy. You know what? You probably play all those. You're probably all those at one point in time in your life. It might be something there. I'm going to have to ask the good doctor what he thinks about that.

Okay, back to the book here. Think about this quote. Happiness is not in another place but in this place. Not for another hour, but this hour. Let me tell you like this. So the first essay is five pages, and I have 23 lines highlighted. I've got six questions and four stars that I need to research.

That's in the first, that is just in the first six pages, gentlemen. Ladies and gentlemen, it's fun. It's a really fun book to read so far. read so far. I'm having an absolute blast. I'll give you one more tidbit. Just, just because I, it blows my mind. It's so refreshing to not know. In some ways, I guess it's ignorant of me and it is. It's ignorant of me. However, it's so refreshing to get to read people that know so much more than you, that make you feel kind of silly because you realize you know so little. But that's how it should, be right, you should feel good about meeting people. You should feel good about learning. You should

feel great about being introduced to things that you didn't know that you didn't know you liked. It's like sitting down at the table and your mom's serving you on this, you know, when you're a kid and you're like, hey, eat that green stuff. And you're like, I don't even like this green stuff. And your dad's like, eat it. So then you eat it and it tastes good. You're like, oh, this is kind of awesome. Does that make any sense? Am I just rambling here? Maybe. Maybe. Let me give you just another the tidbit here. Thinking is thinking. Just mow that one over for a minute. There's so much in there. That's how he leads off a little bit. Thinking is thinking. Like if I gave you a pen and a piece of paper and I just said thinking is thinking, go. What would you write? What would you write? Well, you'd have to be

thinking about thanking. And then you would write down all the things you're thankful for. And then you would probably start wondering, why am I thankful for these things? And then it would cause you to write down even more of your memories and your ideas and the things you love and the things you care about. You see, that's all out of like three words. It's so dense. It's packed in there like a beautiful music box that is full of joy. Here's another quote for you. it is difficult for a man to speak long of himself without vanity,

which makes me want to tell you guys about how awesome I am. You know, did I ever tell you the story about, I'm just kidding, I am kind of awesome, but I guess we all are a little bit vain, right? We all are. And that's okay, I guess it's part of the human condition. We should strive not to be vain. We should strive to see the beauty and other people. and if you can do that, let me know how.

I try to do it. I really do. I've recently come to the conclusion that the things that you see in other people that you don't like are a direct reflection of yourself. That's a good one to mow down. But this is not about me. This is about Simon Critchley, my new favorite philosopher.

I really, you know, when you read people, you can understand why they're celebrated. And I just want to take my hat off and tell Simon Critchley, this is an amazing book. I highly recommend it to everybody out there. There's so much in here. And it goes without saying that the gentleman has put in his fair share of reading. And he's found a way to communicate to people all across the board about some of the great mysteries of life and the beauty of life. and I think maybe provided some sort of a roadmap here for us to follow.

It's beautiful. Well done, Simon Critchley, doctor. Well done. Thank you for writing this. And if you're out there, anybody who's listening to this review, it's called Simon Critchley Bald. You could pick it up on Amazon. I'll put a link below. Highly recommended.

It's one of these books, too, where you don't have to read it from front to back. You could sit down, sift through it, and just pull out. a little three minute, four minute, or maybe a seven, ten minute article in there. And if you have a few minutes to sit in your own little rowboat out in the ocean and contemplate, maybe your own little robot is in your head. Maybe you get to lay in your bed and pretend you're in a rowboat. Or maybe you get to lay next to your lover and feel the warm embrace of each other and just be happy. I hope that happens for every one of you.

I hope your life is filled with joy and love. love and when it's filled with turmoil you're able to take a moment of quiet contemplation and figure out what life is trying to teach you simon critchley ladies and gentlemen the book is bald go down to the stores buy it today it'll make you a better person i love you thank you for spending time with the true life family at the true life podcast aloha let's get up and get out Thank you.