Lay Siege to the Gods

The Battle Awaits

Hi friends. Today’s issue is an important one. It is meant to inspire you to take action and lead the siege that will change your life.

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Onto the good stuff.

THE SIEGE CONTINUES

“We are on guard against contagious diseases of the body, but we are…careless when it comes to the even more dangerous collective diseases of the mind.”-Carl Jung

The world of 2023 is a world of noise, drama, and distraction. We are in the middle of a cacophony provided by social media and an endless news cycle. We are bombarded on all sides with it. We cannot flee from these noises, dramas, and distractions that plague us.

Why is this the case?

For over a decade, the noise, drama, and distractions have been growing more powerful. At first, they were thought of as nothing more than cool additions. New features added to a social platform to keep us all connected or more content to keep us entertained. Reels and snaps and shares, oh my. But slowly, they have infiltrated our lives, infecting us. We are now bound to habits, outside thoughts, and influence that we don’t even consider negative or harmful. We are constantly comparing ourselves to others. We become swept up in mass movements that we may not even agree with. We have become addicted to the mind rot that is so harmful but that we cannot get enough of.

The rise of AI will only make this worse.

Our skill sets are under siege.

Our degrees are under siege.

Our careers are under siege.

Our intelligence is under siege.

The idea of our very existence is under siege.

If this were the ancient world, we would be quick to think that the gods were conspiring against us. But this is not the ancient world. This is the modern world and have no illusion, we are being conspired against.

By algorithms.

By large corporations.

By conformity.

By mediocrity.

It is difficult, so very difficult, not only to find your place, but to surpass it.

To break free from circumstances and those who would pull your strings.

To break free from those who would position you on the board, moving you like a stagnant piece.

This cannot last.

“It’s time you realized that you have something in you more powerful and miraculous than the things that affect you and make you dance like a puppet. What’s in my thoughts at this moment? Fear? Jealousy? Desire? Feelings like that?”-Marcus Aurelius,Meditations

The siege must be broken.

You must break it.

Not by withstanding the siege and enduring the process.

Not by praying for a miracle.

Not by hoping for reinforcements to arrive and save the day.

No my friends, this requires something more.

Something dangerous.

Something bold.

Something difficult.

You must lift the siege.

You must sally forth and face the enemy head on.

You must go against the grain, break taboo, and fight your way to freedom.

You must lay siege to your besiegers, to the very gods themselves.

This won’t be easy.

But it will be worth it.

“In a society in which the dream of success has been drained of any meaning beyond itself, men have nothing against which to measure their achievements except the achievements of others. Self-approval depends on public recognition and acclaim, and the quality of this approval has undergone important changes in its own right. The good opinion of friends and neighbors, which formerly informed a man that he had lived a useful life, rested on appreciation of his accomplishments. Today men seek the kind of approval that applauds not their actions but their personal attributes. They wish to be not so much esteemed as admired. They crave not fame but the glamour and excitement of celebrity. They want to be envied rather than respected. Pride and acquisitiveness, the sins of an ascendant capitalism, have given way to vanity.”- Christopher Lasch, The Culture of Narcissism: American Life in An Age of Diminishing Expectations

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LAY SIEGE TO THE GODS

“I don't complain about the lack of time… what little I have will go far enough. Today — this day — will achieve what no tomorrow will fail to speak about. I will lay siege to the gods and shake up the world.” -Seneca

Lay siege to the gods.

Shake the pillars of heaven.

Shake up the world.

If it reads like crazy talk, it is because it is.

Very few people have the power in them to go against the circumstances that fate and fortune have delivered upon them.

So they don’t.

They stick with the safe path, hoping for relief.

They remain in a job they hate.

The relationship that is toxic.

The career that leads nowhere.

The city, the state, the country that offers them no opportunities.

But the true YouTopians, the pilgrims of purpose and seekers of significance, they are a rare breed.

The philosopher transferring their thoughts to parchment which influences people thousands of years later.

The painter without a patron, experimenting with new styles that will one day line the museums of the world.

The musician writing the great symphony that only they can hear.

The writer facing rejection after rejection only to find success and acclaim.

The scientist failing time after time to test a hypothesis that will save us all.

The entrepreneur tinkering away on a product or service that society never knew that they needed.

All that separates them from you is the ability to take action. To lay siege.

To believe in themselves.

“All men are the same except for their belief in their own selves, regardless of what others may think of them.”-Miyamoto Musashi

Understand that there will be obstacles. There will be unseen dangers. There will be hazards. There will be the inner need for validation, to hope that the masses reward your grand plan with likes, hearts, shares, and comments. And you must face all of this each and every day.

Can you?

Will you?

Because we need you to do so.

We need you to attack, again and again, until your own siege is successful.

What you are now doesn’t matter.

What you will become from this action is what counts.

And you will become something more than you could ever imagine.

Make your preparations.

Marshall your strength.

Assemble your troops.

And begin the siege to change your life.

“We need not take refuge in supernatural gods to explain our saints and sages and heroes and statesmen, as if to explain our disbelief that mere unaided human beings could be that good or wise.”-Abraham Maslow

Shaun

P.S.-Please share this issue. I promise you that someone in your network needs to read it. You could change their life.