Tim Ferriss - 5-Bullet Friday — February 4, 2022

5-Bullet Friday

Hi All!

Here is your weekly dose of “5-Bullet Friday,” a list of what I’m pondering and exploring.

Treats I’m enjoying and gifting for V Day —
Hu Chocolate Variety Pack. This includes eight of Hu’s bestselling dark chocolate bars or “a full library of chocolate,” as one friend puts it. The nut butter bars (four of the eight) are easily my favorite chocolate bars on the planet. I could watch Talladega Nights and eat an entire box by myself… and perhaps I already have. On top of that, Hu has agreed to give 25% of the proceeds of any sales from the links in this bullet to my mental-health-focused nonprofit foundation, so it’s win-win-win-win for me, my girlfriend, Ricky Bobby, and the millions who suffer from conditions like PTSD, treatment-resistant depression, OCD, and more.

Track I’m playing on repeat —
“Aguanta” (YouTube, Spotify) by Desta French (@destafrench). Huge thank you to SH for introducing me and my lithe, dance-prone gf to this one! Listen to just the audio before you watch any video. Some percentage of you will end up playing this on repeat over and over and over again…

Article I’m contemplating once again —
“Reality has a surprising amount of detail” by John Salvatier (@johnsalvatier). This 2017 beauty was sent to me by my dear friend, Pineapple-Eating Cat (long story). It made me recall my conversation with Tim O’Reilly and his daily habit of pausing to take a photograph of a flower. If you read this article, and it only takes 5–10 minutes, be sure to read to the end. Here are two teaser sections:

This means it’s really easy to get stuck. Stuck in your current way of seeing and thinking about things. Frames are made out of the details that seem important to you. The important details you haven’t noticed are invisible to you, and the details you have noticed seem completely obvious and you see right through them. This all makes it difficult to imagine how you could be missing something important.
…
If you wish to not get stuck, seek to perceive what you have not yet perceived.

Podcast episode I’m listening to —
“Dune: The Deeper Dimension” on Soul of Islam Radio with Ihsan Alexander (@spiritualexcellence) (Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Transcript). Description: “Dune, first written by Frank Herbert in 1965, has been heralded as the most significant work of science-fiction ever written and has captured the imagination of millions since its original publication. … In this episode of Soul of Islam Radio, we take a brief dive into the deeper dimension of Dune, which takes extensive inspiration from classical Islamic spirituality and eschatology. In ‘Dune: The Deeper Dimension,’ we explore the representative meanings and values of the Fremen culture, the role of Paul Muad’Dib, spiritual asceticism, the mastery of the self, the awakening of human potential, and much more.”

Passage and verse I’m pondering: Mary Oliver meets Kanye West —

“It is six A.M., and I am working. I am absentminded, reckless, heedless of social obligations, etc. It is as it must be. The tire goes flat, the tooth falls out, there will be a hundred meals without mustard. The poem gets written. I have wrestled with the angel and I am stained with light and I have no shame. Neither do I have guilt. My responsibility is not to the ordinary, or the timely. It does not include mustard, or teeth. It does not extend to the lost button, or the beans in the pot.

My loyalty is to the inner vision, whenever and howsoever it may arrive. If I have a meeting with you at three o’clock, rejoice if I am late. Rejoice even more if I do not arrive at all.

There is no other way work of artistic worth can be done. And the occasional success, to the striver, is worth everything.

The most regretful people on earth are those who felt the call to creative work, who felt their own creative power restive and uprising, and gave to it neither power nor time.”

— Mary Oliver
Source: “Of Power and Time,” which is included in Upstream: Selected Essays.

First off, how many alternatives did Mary consider to “mustard”? Ham sandwiches? Croutons? And if you lose your teeth, would you not want extra mustard? I’ll let you all grapple with this.

In the meantime, here comes the stretch, which might pull your lyrical hamstring.

Though I don’t think you’ll find this comparison in any Poetry 101 classes at your local college, the above brought to mind several snippets from Kanye West (@kanyewest). The vernacular is different, but the gist is the same:

“And you don’t give a fuck what they all say, right?
Awesome, the Christian in Christian Dior
Damn, they don’t make ’em like this anymore
I ask, ’cause I’m not sure
Do anybody make real shit anymore?

Bow in the presence of greatness
’Cause right now, thou hast forsaken us
You should be honored by my lateness
That I would even show up to this fake shit
So go ahead, go nuts, go apeshit.”

— Kanye West, “Stronger”

And there you have it.

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As always, please give me feedback on Twitter, especially if you have any more parallel verses from Mary Oliver and Kanye West.

Which bullet above is your favorite? What do you want more or less of? Other suggestions? Please let me know. Just send a tweet to @tferriss and put #5BulletFriday at the end so I can find it.

Have a wonderful weekend, all.

Much love to you and yours,

Tim

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