Clinton Dean

Be bold and at peace. Seek no longer.

[Clinton Dean @_ClintonDean]

In patience and slowness…

…there is hope.

[Clinton Dean @_ClintonDean]

Will you spend your life hanging on?

Or letting go?

[Clinton Dean @_ClintonDean]

You haven’t articulated something meaningful unless you can say or write it and have someone display understanding of it, and have it still sound meaningful coming back at you

[Clinton Dean @_ClintonDean]

Sometimes inspiration hits with the same urgency as

“I’m gonna puke.”

And the nearest notepad is never near enough.

[Clinton Dean @_ClintonDean]

Most interesting people are a little irrational about something in their lives, and that’s a good thing.

- David Coggins (@Davidrcoggins )

[Clinton Dean @_ClintonDean]

Storytelling:

Human attempts to account for our experience in coherent ways.

Philosophy:

Having a self-determined, critical and coherent conception of the world.

I borrowed these definitions from some very brilliant minds (namely Neil Postman and Antonio Gramsci)

But I am fascinated by the parallel here between philosophy and storytelling.

Sometimes we equate “stories” with lies.

And sometimes they are.

But stories can be very organized versions of the truth.

You will never stop telling stories.

Story is the result of synthesizing information and emotion.

So don’t aim to stop telling yourself stories.

You never will.

Aim to tell better stories.

Your life may depend on it.

[Clinton Dean @_ClintonDean]

Here’s another quote from Atlas Shrugged that seems to back this one up:

“Theres nothing of any importance in life, except how well you do your work. Nothing. Only that. Whatever else you are, will come from that. It’s the only measure of human value. All the codes of ethics they’ll try to ram down your throat are just so much paper money put out by swindlers to fleece people of their virtues. The code of competence is the only system of morality that’s on a gold standard.”

There is a fallacy in the current narrative that if you work, you lack the intelligence to not work. I think the flaw in this notion is apparent.

As others in the replies have said: a definition of “work” is paramount.

If you define work as drudgery: then no outlook which includes it could ever be positive.

But if by work, you mean, fulfilling purpose, being useful to yourself and a chosen community of people, developing skills that aid in the sustenance or development of humanity…

…if by work, you mean the sum of action performed throughout your life that leads to a comprehensive expression of yourself and your life force…

…if by work you mean: fulfilling wholesome desires by exchange of self-created value…

…if by work you mean being a healthy part of the larger, universal organism…

And so on…

Then I think this mindset is powerful.

“The Work,” of your life is rarely one thing. And it is not a vague calling either.

The work is, you, expressed on this plane of reality over and over again through your actions, whether in family, marketplace, church, community or anywhere else.

When you define work this way, it’s easy to see how the authors of these quotes jumped to equate work with existence.

Work in this context is expression of self-determined values through relevant action.

Do I wholly endorse this point of view?

I think it lacks a bit of subtlety…but when you define “work” as the external expression of inner values and desires…it’s hard to argue that work doesn’t deserve a seat at the table of any working philosophy.

[Clinton Dean @_ClintonDean]

I found an old note of mine.

I thought I would share it with you, unedited, raw.

Not sure exactly what I meant, it seems I wrote it some time ago.

But I thought it would be interesting to share something straight from an old notebook to you dear reader.

Perhaps you’ll know what it means?

Wake up, child

You were born to be a wild dreamer, to test the fiber of your existence against the reality of a world that brought you here.

You are born with potential which God co-signs on.

The world is allies and obstacles.

Show relentless loyalty to your allies and no concern for your obstacles.

It is not the world’s responsibility to give you meaning. It is your duty to make meaning.

[Clinton Dean @_ClintonDean]

“As individuals express their life, so they are.”

-Karl Marx

Say what you will about Marx, but I’ve never heard the essence of the thing put so succinctly, so profoundly.

[Clinton Dean @_ClintonDean]

@EgoDriv Don’t listen to what anyone tells you my brother. It only gets better.

[Clinton Dean @_ClintonDean]

You are the only one capable of figuring it out.

It has to be you.

Accept divine guidance and get after it.

Most philosophy is sitting philosophy.

We need walking philosophy.

The more you learn about the people behind the philosophy…

The more, you realize…

Their shit didn’t work.

Their personal lives were despicable and lacking.

In fact, in most cases, they spent their pages describing exactly what they are not.

The estimation of another man’s life should only ever mean so much to you.

We need something that gets us going, immediately living the life we imagine. Out-picturing our imagination into reality around us.

We want the rebels, the fanatics, the dreamers.

We don’t want “ought” we want “is.”

Give me the ones in love with living. Juicing passion out of every last fading ray of sunlight.

Give me the ones that are okay with humans being imperfect rascals.

Give me the ones that know that desire is the means, not the end.

You can keep the losers who are afraid to be what they are.

Why are they losers?

Because they’ve lost something. They’ve lost their grip on the most precious thing any of us have:

A chance at living the life we imagine…to be, unapologetic and authentic, living honest and beautiful lives.

Artful in their pursuit.

Give me those that grab hold of the good and never let it go.

Tamers of the good.

Who make every breath, every action a loyal servant to their ultimate vision.

[Clinton Dean @_ClintonDean]

@acornlong To paraphrase the Tao te Ching:

The greatest leaders are those the group barely knows is there, guiding with an invisible hand.

When the work is done.

The people say

We did it.

[Clinton Dean @_ClintonDean]

@DentesLeo Grand Rising!

[Clinton Dean @_ClintonDean]

Have you ever heard of Jean-Baptiste Lamarck?

He offers a unique theory of evolution.

Basically this:

Birds don’t fly because they have wings.

They have wings because they wanted to fly.

Lesson here.

[Clinton Dean @_ClintonDean]

@_sun_yi I’ve heard it said:

You can’t outwork a man who is playing.

So don’t work hard or smart.

Play.

Playing hard and playing smart…they are a perspective shift.

And they make work…and any descriptor you add to it…irrelevant.

[Clinton Dean @_ClintonDean]

Commitment. Faith. Courage. Focus. Attention. Consistency. Grit. Determination. Obsession. No distraction. Monk mode.

etc.

There is a lot of this kinda talk out there. It’s everywhere.

Why?

Because there is a lack of it…and a need for it.

Funny thing is, you’re wasting a lot of time being distracted, reading about not being distracted.

Reading your sixth article on “going away for 6 months and coming back a changed person” gives you the thrill of a big win…

But that dog won’t hunt.

Commit. Or don’t.

But let’s not make a big metaphysical ordeal out of it.

Decide. Commit. Execute.

Then stick in there and see the damn thing through.

[Clinton Dean @_ClintonDean]

@EgoDriv You are not what you know.

Show me a guy with an intense imagination, a set of balls and an action bias.

I’ll show you a mover,

ready to shape reality not study it.

[Clinton Dean @_ClintonDean]

@DentesLeo Atlas to-do list for the day:

1. Drink a sexy cup of coffee
2. Humbly recognize an American holiday.
3. Post a long form with more value than the whole internet
4. Post 2 sentences with brain fracturing truth.

✔️✔️✔️✔️

[Clinton Dean @_ClintonDean]

When someone tells you life is suffering, or struggle, or anything else…

That only tells you who they are.

Not what life is.

[Clinton Dean @_ClintonDean]

@lessaraebiger This is not a flex…

But I get asked a lot what “program” I use to maintain my physique.

My answer is always the same:

Consistency.

[Clinton Dean @_ClintonDean]

“MAKE THE ACT OF FOLLOWING YOU A STATUS SYMBOL.”

This is power.

The most influential people in history have made their brand or ideas become a thread in the fabric of their followers personality.

Once you become a part of what someone considers their self…they will defend and protect that…and you.

When you integrate into a persons perception of themselves, and their lives, who they are, what they stand for, what they believe in, how they look, how they feel, how they formulate opinions, how they view the world…

You will have a vacation home in their mind you can occupy whenever you choose.

In fact your brand is no longer something external to them. It becomes internal. They accept it as an actual part of their personal make up.

This makes persuasion a mere matter of speaking the word.

This power can either destroy or enrich the world.

The legends will use this power to genuinely benefit the new host of the brand, and themselves, mutually.

Dear friends, Atlas truly, truly knows the secrets. If he gives them to you…I hope you are ready for them.