Early Goals and First Steps

I have set up many necessary precursors to actual self-progress, things that I must begin in order to effectively organize and execute the various ideas I have to promote self-improvement.
1. I HAVE to get organized. This really is something I've been meaning to get done for a very, very long time. My room has papers and book scattered everywhere and my backpack is a small war zone, papers being smashed and ripped in half every time I struggle to find a lost assignment. I am going to organize all of my books on my 2 books shelves in the order of their subjects eg. philosophy, science, historical, fiction. When I get a chance, possibly tonight, I will go and buy 3 binders and 6 folders to keep my incomplete and complete work distinct and organized. This alone should create noticeable relief form the chaos of my life.

2. I'm setting up a Google Calender so I can plan how my time will be spent, no longer wasting time in inefficient ways. Thanks to the magic of smart phones, I'll be able to sync up this agenda with my cell phone so I can alter and access it from anywhere I happen to be. Gone are the days of working on last minute homework or using the excuse "I do not have enough time to exercise". If nothing else, this calender, as well as this blog, will serve as ways that I can keep myself accountable for my time, and will ease my constant worries that I have about forgetting work.

3. I plan on creating a system for recording my progress in multiple dimensions of development. I fear that I may fall into the trap of focusing too much on a single area. An Ubermensch must develop in every aspect of life, spiritual, intellectual, physical, social, emotional, etc. I'm exactly sure what this system will look like. However, I'm considering a pentagonal graph with one aspect on each side. I would assign a point value to different activities within a given aspect, such as Taekwondo practice being 3 points in physical and assigning 1 point per 20 pages of reading to the intellectual aspect (I would have to work out the values). I would then add these to the graph every night, aiming to keep the graph as close to a regular pentagon as I can. This would encourage me to develop each part of myself, as opposed to being bogged down in a single area.

4. I love reading more than anything. However, I do have a major issue with reading; I can never only read one book at a time. I usually read maybe 3-5 books at any given time, severely limiting my ability to thoroughly digest and process the information as I receive it. Additionally, this sporadic reading has allowed me to familiarize myself with a multitude of political and economic theories. However, I now need to read the theories in full, as they were written by the philosophers themselves, as opposed to 20 page articles and quick references. I feel this would not only help me during debates on ideas, but also allow me to more effectively form my own opinions. This brings me to my Ubermensch book list. I created this list with a close friend and fellow intellectual, Austin, as a means of allowing us to explore the classic books on philosophy and political theory. The fact that it is a partnership serves the dual purpose of allowing us to hear each others views on the works as well as encouraging us to focus on one book at a time. Without further adieu, here is the working list (in no particular order)!

Thus Spake Zarathustra - Nietzsche
Das Kapital - Marx
For a New Liberty - Rothbard
The Road to Serfdom - Hayek
The Bible - Multiple Authors
The Book of Mormon - Multiple Authors
The Qur'an - Muhammad
Tao Te Ching - Laozi
Vedas - Multiple Authors
Sutras - Multiple Authors
Mein Kampf - Hitler
Wealth of Nations - Adam Smith
How to Win Friends and Influence People - Dale Carnegie
Critique of Pure Reason - Kant
Dialogues and Natural History of Religion - Hume
The Leviathan - Thomas Hobbes
Utopia - Thomas Paine
The Prince - Machiavelli
Common Sense - Thomas Paine
Origin of Species - Darwin
Essay on Principle of Population - Malthus
Standing on the Shoulders of Giants - Hawkings
Ethics - Baruch Spinoza
The Zohar - Luria
The Epic of Gilgamesh - Sumeria
The Iliad - Homer


In addition, I also want to read the works of the following philosophers:

Lysander Spooner on Mutualism
Pierre-Joseph Proudhon on Mutualism
Murray Rothbard on Libertarianism
Ludwig von Mises on Classical Liberalism 
Mikhail Alexandrovich Bakunin on Anarchist Communism 
Pyotr Alexeyevich Kropotkin on Anarchist Communism
Sigmund Freud on Psychology
Carl Jung on Psychology
Robert Sternberg on Psychology and Intelligence

This list is subject to alteration and growth.

"A Journey Of A Thousand Miles Begins with a First Step" -Lao Tzu

This post is the first step on my thousand mile journey of becoming the Übermensch. The Übermensch is an idea created by the well known, German philosopher Nietzsche. The word Übermensch literally translates as "superman", which can sometimes misrepresent it's actual meaning. It has no supernatural attributes, nor is it connected with any sort of racial or national supremacy. According to Nietzsche's most famous work, Thus Spake Zarathustra, the Übermensch is the eventual outcome of three noble processes:

1. Through the will of the individual, rejection of or rebellion against old ideals and moral values.

2. Through creativity, overcoming nihilism, and restructuring of old ideals.

3. Continuous self-overcoming and improvement through willpower.

 

In essence, the Übermensch is the most perfect goal and challenge attainable; it is the victory of man over himself. It is the use of man's will to begin the three processes stated previously and to create a better self than otherwise. 

Before ever having heard the name "Nietzsche", I, being a natural born intellectual, had a drive within me. I was never fine with not improving myself; if I played a video game instead of reading a book, I'd feel guilty. Maybe not guilty, per se, but similar to guilt nonetheless. I had, and still have, the belief that any day that I did not improve myself in some way was a waste; any day that I didn't get better was a day that I would never get back. At the end of my life, I would be worse off, exactly proportional to how much time I wasted, than I could have been. Regardless, my limitless plans for self-empowerment/improvement stayed just that, plans. I continued in this way, desiring to improve myself but never gathering the will to actually do it. However, I've recently had a change in my life. Now, unfortunately this change was not accompanied by any sort of epic, soul shattering event. There was, however a semi-cathartic event. Ok, I lied a bit there. The event was very cathartic. My girlfriend of 2 years and I broke up. I didn't take it well. Well, I didn't at first at least. However, instead of letting it break me, I used it to my advantage. I decided to become better than I ever was. This, coupled with my increasing knowledge of politics and philosophy as well as my befriending of a like-minded intellectual has brought me here, to this point. My always-the-thinker-and-never-the-doer state will end today. I have many plans I will implement and organize which I will discuss in later posts.

I am not a future Übermensch, no. This phrase creates a temporal distance between my goal and I. I am an Übermensch-in-development right now. I am an Übermensch-in-development and this is my journal.

 

 "To conquer others is to have power, to conquer yourself is to know the way" -Lao Tzu