A theory of our own

The thirty-second newsletter is about bringing down pedestals

Working on a grand theory of life isn’t only meant for genius-level polymaths like Da Vinci or Newton. Everyone should have a theory going. It’s an essential part of personal growth and leading your life.

I don’t mean you suddenly have to get into universal gravitation or try to paint the next Mona Lisa, although you can. It’s not about comparing yourself to your heroes. It’s about taking your own perspective (at least) as seriously as you take theirs.

Admire yourself as well as your heroes.

With ‘a theory’ I mean having a working model of how the world works. A big picture perspective that is uniquely how you view the world. How you think it all works.

Of course, this picture will continuously change (and that’s good) whenever you encounter new information. But having your own theory means you can filter, compare, and cross-check new information against your own ideas. Instead of blindly following supposed experts.

Lose the pedestal

I’ve always had this romantic image of polymaths like Da Vinci. Pacing around in their studio, contemplating. Bent over a table full of sketches, scribbles, and weird, sciency-looking objects. Staring out of the window murmuring to themselves, working on some grand, all-encompassing theory of how life and the universe works.

I’m pretty sure it’s not an accurate picture and it’s probably not how things actually went down for these guys. It’s romantic, unrealistic, and it feeds the wrong fire.

Curiosity is a superpower. But it comes with a possible pitfall.

It’s easy for curious people to admire other people whose ideas we resonate with. To the point where they become our intellectual heroes. Putting these people on pedestals and looking up to them, implies that we are placing ourselves in a lower position.

Our inclination to gravitate towards the (theories of the) people we admire, will diminish when we have our own theories. Lessening the weight and gravitas of their theories in favor of our own.

We might think that they're geniuses and that we could never attain their level, and we might be right. But that’s the wrong thing to worry about. Let’s compare our past selves to our current selves instead of looking to become ‘geniuses’ like them.

It does make sense to steal from them though. Adopting their attitude, persistence, and work-ethic (and having a theory), helps us become better versions of ourselves. Genius or not.

Become a scientist like Bruce Lee

Probably the most famous Bruce Lee quote goes like this: ‘Absorb what is useful, discard what is useless and add what is essentially your own’. And this is what I’ve been talking about. Admire your heroes. By all means, be inspired by their inventions, opinions, and theories. Steal from them. But check everything against your own theory, thoughts, and ideas. How does this information fit into what you already believe to be true?

But don’t you need to be like a serious scientist to do all this? You might ask.

Exactly.

A lesser known fact is that there’s a small sentence that goes before this famous Bruce Lee quote. The quote actually starts with: ‘Research your own experience’.

Bruce Lee didn’t stay within one paradigm. He had a traditional Wing Chun upbringing but sought out and researched other fighting techniques like boxing and fencing. He went above and beyond to find out what was the best way to fight, eat, and take care of his body.

Like Bruce, we should all become our own personal scientist. Articulate our own hypotheses. Do our own research. Formulate and conduct our own experiments. Be skeptical (including towards our own biases). Use the scientific method. Pay attention to our inside world. Take notes and journal. Being informed and advised by others but always making it our own, and drawing our own conclusions.

Working on a theory puts everything we encounter into an original framework. It makes us become leaders vs followers. Questioning everything is an effortless attitude when our starting point is 'how would this fit into my current theory?'

You’re a health expert

Last week I talked about how lucky I was to have hit rock bottom. I was talking about my health.

Basically, I went from following conventional medicine and deteriorating to leading my own investigation and improving.

I followed others for a long time, thinking (trusting) that the experts would know better than me. 

But I’ve been able to profoundly improve my health because of my skepticism and ‘theories’ of my own. And they’re pretty much different than every expert out there. Heck, I might even write a book at some point: ‘Rik’s grand theory of health’. And I trust you’ll remember Bruce Lee and take it with a grain of salt.

I was lucky because I had to put myself front and center. No one else was going to improve my health for me. Not stepping up wasn’t an option anymore.

After 30 years of doubting myself and thinking that ‘surely, they must know better’. It turns out ‘they’ don’t know better.

I know best.

You know best.