Some Role Models
A list of people I admire and in some sense would like to emulate
I've tried to keep this list small by only including people I've found measurably influential on my actual way of living and thinking in a practical way.
Reading back on this list of figures and the reasons I admire them I might summarise that my values are:
Living rightly, with intentionality. Having a broad & curious perspective on life and the world. Being unapologetically myself & voicing what I think and feel.
Jesus Christ
Jesus Christ among other things is literally god which I think is a really great thing to aspire to be like. Jesus' teachings about how to live and what to live for are obviously good but also I'm often left a little confused on what they mean in each circumstance. Through prayer and reading scripture its made more clear but there apears to be a need for meditation and the development of wisdom before one can really emulate Jesus.
I'm working on it but I'd say I'm the furthest from living like Jesus out of all the people on this list, practically speaking.
Aristotle
Aristotle was not the first philosopher who's works I read when I began reading as an adult. However, when I read the Nicomachean Ethics it opened my eyes to how much of the world can and should be considered. It was a real slap in the face after a decade and a half of modern western schooling, which had left me with a deep sense that the world was already completely known and understood, and I must just accept things as they are.
Aristotle reignited my curiosity not only for the physics of the world but also ethics and the metaphysics. I want to be curious and analytical like Aristotle.
Jim Keller
Jim Keller is really chill and jacked, he's quite smart and super well spoken. Great at marketing.
Jim is very well read, broadly, but is also at the top of his niche. These characteristics seems to be extremely powerful for thinking about the world broadly - knowing (understanding?) a specific field deeply & also having some familiarity with other fields.
I imagine that makes for a recipe for innovation. I would love to be like Jim in these regards.
Zyzz
Zyzz is sick, he was a video game addict and a nerd like me. Then be became jacked which allowed him to be annoying for fun and get away with it, that characteristic in particular is what I so want to emulate.
Zyzz was also able to use his appearance to give himself the reputation to be a role model to younger men. I'd like to be recognised as a dependable and respectable youth mentor.
I've gotten somewhat far down this path as I've been working on it since around 2015 (I still have never used steroids)
Connor Murphy
Connor Murphy is somewhat similar to Zyzz in the sense that he was a nerd who sought out bodybuilding to overcome social anxiety. Unlike Zyzz he didn't die young (as of the time of writing). He seems to have made the natural progression from seeking external validation from others to an ayahuasca induced psychosis with profound delusions. Thankfully he got through the experience alive.
He has been able to articulate a lot of what he has learned about anxiety on his YouTube channel, I think he's done a great job of it.
I want to liberate peoples minds like Connor Murphy.
Frank Yang
Frank Yang is an insane freak, he is an artist and philosopher. I don't agree with him largely but I really admire his ability to share his mind, particularly in all the different mediums.
I think he will be remembered.
Now that I'm writing all this I think I'm realising maybe I have anxiety? Why else would I so admire these guys who've broken down the barriers of social anxiety in order to share their minds?
I will hopefully never be like Frank Yang.
Luke Smith
Luke is extremely based.
