Visakan Veerasamy ebook. HIGH VOLTAGE LIVING is somewhere at the intersection of Introspect and Optics. It's about "narrative throughput". It involves understanding talismans (any meaningful object) and aesthetics. It's about learning to charge & discharge narrative batteries. Spark Joy turned to 11.

Introductory quotes:

Ted Hughes: “And that's how we measure out our real respect for people—by the degree of feeling they can register, the voltage of life they can carry and tolerate—and enjoy

Blockages

some sort of blockage in their life that, if they cleared it up, it would facilitate an "energy surge"

you can probably do it, and it's fkn great

in a way, a lot of my work sort of converges around facilitating this idea. friendly ambitious nerd, introspect, high voltage living, unlearning coercion, productive ADHD, all of these books/ideas are about trying to unblock and then direct/manage this energy surge.

Here’s an “insight” I just had while writing/editing Introspect: – the energy surge comes straight from the heart

I think it helps to see the meta humor too. (Hey, this maps perfectly onto Ayy Lmao)

Aesthetic Resonance – when you carry the aesthetic all the way through

I can tell whether somebody can play or not by what they wear and how they move in it.’” – Miles Davis

nobody can move as quickly, confidently and resolutely as the people who are grounded in a deep understanding of + pursuit of their own aesthetic

artists look like magicians (magick) to people who aren't in tune with themselves

Talismans are simply objects that you imbue with meaning

The wedding ring is the most common talisman that everybody understands

trophies, medals

construct their own meaning(s), pick and choose their own talismans

until one takes responsibility and ownership for their own sense of meaning in life, they will always be susceptible to influence and control by other forces of meaning – advertising, religion, politics, a guru, whatever

You are already the monarch of your life

You have to periodically recharge your talismans with fresh thoughts and energy or they’ll “decay”, ie become less meaningful over time.

It’s about how you choose to assign value. If you do it artfully, other people will subscribe to it, which gives it more power, more currency. I suppose this is religion/cult-starting 101.

when you want an audience with a king, don’t send him a request. He’s already constantly overwhelmed with requests and has learned to tune them out. Send him a gift. A kingly gift, one that delights him.

This applies to the relationship you have with yourself, too. You are already the monarch of your life.

A kind of animism

I am always enjoying myself all the time everywhere I go, because I see everything as the product of people's thoughts and intention

EMOTIONS

Been telling a few friends lately about my sense that feelings are under-appreciated, under-considered, under-articulated, misunderstood, misrepresented - & all of that is a massive bottleneck

Quackposting

There is something like mana or chi or energy, The Force, whatever, I don’t care what we call it. Emotional energy

You can directly use it to change the way people perceive you, & artfully redirect them

Practically everything that exists in the human world is a manifestation of meaning(s). Finite gamers play with inherited meanings, infinite gamers play with meaning itself

Alan Watts: “The meaning of life is just to be alive. It is so plain and obvious and simple... it only seems stupid if you're operating from a foundation of narrow utilitarianism to begin with

The tao is to be embodied, not explained