Risking Being Misunderstood
Hey friends,
I hope everyone is doing well.
I just had an amazing chat with Yancey Strickler today. Yancey is the co-founder of Kickstarter and author of This Could Be Our Future. Our conversation will be posted on the podcast tomorrow. I recommend checking out his session at The Stoa which is happening next Thursday (RSVP here). Tomorrow I will be interviewing the brilliant Stephan Jenkins (Orphan Wisdom) for the podcast.
Also happening tomorrow is a really cool event on amor fati, or “love of one’s fate”, which will be facilitated by A.J. Bond from the Discomfortable podcast. I am really looking forward to what A.J. has in store for us.
Here is the info for next three events:
Amor Fati w/ A.J. Bond. April 1st @ 7:00 PM ET. Learn more. RSVP here.
COVID-19: A War Broke out in Heaven w/ Zachary Stein. April 2nd @ 1:00 PM ET. Learn more. RSVP here.
Philosophy: The Practice for Death and Dying w/ Adam Robbert. April 2nd @ 6 PM ET. Learn more. RSVP here.
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March 31, 2020
The Stoa launched ten days ago, and we’ve had 18 events so far. There are 11 up on the website, with much more ready to be posted (and many in the ideation phase). As I’ve been telling people, I feel like a man possessed. The creativity is flowing, but it's getting hard to keep up with the ever-growing administrative tasks associated with event management.
I dropped the ball this morning by missing an appointment that had been scheduled on Zoom. I hate hate hate doing that. Stop. This is an opportunity to practice my Stoicism. Yes, this person was probably annoyed for his time being wasted. And there might be some shadow material triggered on his end. But this is out of my control. After the mix-up, I did what was in my control: I apologized forthrightly. In addition, I would like to add more diligence to my scheduling system (I have a few ideas on that front).
I emailed Jordan Hall this morning, who I have viewed as my informal mentor ever since I released the culture war white paper that went viral on the sensemaking web. He was the first one to read the advance copy. I was seeking his discernment on how to scale the gift economy associated with The Stoa (which I am sure I’ll discuss more in further letters). I also sought his viewpoint on how to be in right relationship with my daemon and the collective intelligence (or the SOCI, to use Hall's term) that is emerging in The Stoa.
There is already a this is my baby feel to the project. My daemon gave birth to it and I feel protective of that. There is a certain vibe, aesthetic, temperament, and uniqueness I want to maintain. I do not want to invite just anybody to host a session. There has to be a certain essence, which I cannot propositionally put my finger on. But it seems as though my daemon knows exactly what it is.
As Raven wrote to me yesterday, there is a high signal / low noise essence to the offerings thus far. But if the project grows, and I think it will, more noise will be coming its way, along with more ego. How do I get into right relationship with my daemon, to ensure that this project maintains its spirit? At the same time, how do I get into right relationship with the collective intelligence that is emerging? What is the right balance between listening to my daemon and listening to the collective intelligence?
Another question seems salient: how do I keep my ego in check? I am wary of the possible wave of noise coming The Stoa’s way. How do I keep from becoming egoically captured, assuming The Stoa receives increasing attention in the attention economy?
When writing with this level of honesty, I feel vulnerable and worried that I might be misunderstood. But I do sense that it is prudent to think about these things now and to think about them out loud. After all, what's Stoicism without the risk of being misunderstood?
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Gift Economy / The Stoa currently operates through a gift economy. We are offering the Stoa as a gift, for people to freely use during these troubled times. If you are inspired to provide a gift to The Stoa, email thestoa at protonmail dot com. Your gift can take the form of money, support, services or ideas. If you wish to gift money, you can do so here or here for ongoing gifts.