To Simeon, 17 Years From Now
This is the fourth time I'm writing a letter for the future. It's an odd experience because there's a chance I'm still alive, but there's a chance that I won't be. How do I compress down some useful insights and maybe even advice.
This has been done many times in history. Some of the greatest minds in history have written letters of advice for family members. I've read some of them. All of them are probably useful. I looked some up, they include: Marcus Tullius Cicero (106–43 BCE), Seneca the Younger (4 BCE–65 CE), Pliny the Younger (61–113 CE), William Penn (1644–1718), Lord Chesterfield (Philip Dormer Stanhope) (1694–1773), Benjamin Franklin (1706–1790), John Adams (1735–1826), Abigail Adams (1744–1818), Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826), George Washington (1732–1799), Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882), Leo Tolstoy (1828–1910), Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919), Winston Churchill (1874–1965), Albert Einstein (1879–1955), Ross Perot (1930–2019), Jeffrey Alexander Martin (1989-?).
That's a good start to probably the most useful advice I'm going to give in this letter, read memoirs and autobiographies and study history. It gives you such a powerful perspective on life. The world constantly bombards us with propaganda and advice, and most of it just isn't so. It's a simplified view that tries to get you to believe something or do something. Life is messy and chaotic, and reading memoirs and autobiographies lets you realize that because they're wild, and crazy, and messy, and chaotic, because life isn't lived in a straight line, it's swirly.
Here are some that I've liked:
Business: Shoe Dog by Phil Knight, Losing My Virginity by Richard Branson, The Heart of Doing Business by Masatoshi Ito, Made in America by Sam Walton, Behind the Cloud by Marc Benioff, Men and Rubber by Harvey Firestone, My Life and Work by Henry Ford, Be My Guest by Conrad Hilton, The Autobiography of Andrew Carnegie by Andrew Carnegie, Pour Your Heart into It by Howard Schultz, Hangry by Mike Evans, The Cobbler by Steve Madden, Inventing Joy by Joy Mangano, Pizza Tiger by Tom Monaghan, Dream No Little Dreams by Clayton Mathile, The Harder You Work the Luckier You Get by Joe Ricketts, The Company I Keep by Leonard Lauder, Watch and Learn by Mitch Lowe, That Will Never Work by Marc Randolph, My Father’s Business by Cal Turner Jr., Let My People Go Surfing by Yvon Chouinard, Quench Your Own Thirst by Jim Koch, Dream Big and Win by Liz Elting, Dare to Succeed by Mark Burnett, An Autobiography by David Ogilvy, Confessions of an Advertising Man by David Ogilvy, Flamin' Hot by Richard Montanez, The Birth of a Brand by Brian Smith, The Growing Season by Sarah Frey, Fire in the Hole! by Bob Parsons, Not Fade Away by Peter Barton.
Science: The Autobiography of Charles Darwin by Charles Darwin, My Inventions by Nikola Tesla, Scientific Autobiography and Other Papers by Max Planck, The Double Helix by James Watson, From Rocket Boys to October Sky by Homer Hickam.
Slavery: Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave by Frederick Douglass, The Life of Josiah Henson, Formerly a Slave, Now an Inhabitant of Canada by Josiah Henson, Up From Slavery by Booker T. Washington, Behind the Scenes: Or, Thirty Years a Slave, and Four Years in the White House by Elizabeth Keckley, A Colored Man’s Reminiscences of James Madison by Paul Jennings, The Confessions of Nat Turner by Nat Turner, The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano by Olaudah Equiano.
Economics: Memoirs by Ludwig von Mises, A Personal Odyssey by Thomas Sowell, Late Admissions by Glenn Loury.
Cooking: Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain, Humble Pie by Gordon Ramsay.
Writing: On Writing by Stephen King, A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway, What I Talk About When I Talk About Running by Haruki Murakami, Govt Cheese by Steven Pressfield.
Teaching: Teacher Man by Frank McCourt, Dangerous Minds by Louanne Johnson.
Religion: Surprised by Joy by C.S. Lewis, A Confession by Leo Tolstoy, Gentle Regrets by Roger Scruton.
Psychology: Recollections by Viktor Frankl, Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl, The Hope Circuit by Martin Seligman, Troubled by Rob Henderson.
Philosophy: Unended Quest by Karl Popper, Philosophical Memoir by Karl Jaspers.
Military: Turn the Ship Around! by L. David Marquet, Delta Force by Charlie Beckwith.
Sports: The Score Takes Care of Itself by Bill Walsh, Sacred Hoops by Phil Jackson.
Other: The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin by Benjamin Franklin, Hillbilly Elegy by J.D. Vance, Famous Gunfighters of the Western Frontier by W.B. Masterson, Measure of a Man by Martin Greenfield.
I'm not sure what kind of world you're living in. Most likely artificial intelligence, genetic modification, and robotics have changed quite a lot of how things work. But, if you're reading this, that means humans are still humans, and history is a window to help get a clearer view of our past, present, and future. Just this week I designed a course for a college going over ancient, medieval, and modern thought. It's amazing to see some of the insight of geniuses of the past. In a fairly short order this could give you a good general overview of history by looking at specifics. Then you can more correctly judge for yourself when someone tries to sell you something about what has happened, is happening, and will happen.
Ancient China and India: Rig Veda, Hymn 10.129, Creation Hymn, 2 pages (c. 1500–1200 BCE?); Upanishad, Katha Upanishad, Part Two, Chapter 1, 2 pages (c. 800–500 BCE?); Dao De Jing by Laozi, 1 and 2, 2 pages (c. 600–400 BCE?); The Analects by Confucius, Book 13, 6 pages (c. 475–221 BCE?); Guanzi, Neiye, Section 18 The Dao of Moderation, 1 page (c. 400–300 BCE?); Dhammapada, Chapter 1 Pairs, 4 pages (c. 300 BCE?); Majjhima Nikaya, Chapter 4 Bhayabherava Sutta Fear and Dread, 6 pages (c. 300 BCE?); Ramayana by Valmiki, Book 1 Bala Kanda, Chapter 1 Rama’s Initiation, 7 pages (c. 400 BCE–200 CE?); Mahabharata by Vyasa, Book 2 Sabha Parva The Dice Game, Section LV and LVI, 2 pages (c. 400 BCE–400 CE?); Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 1 Arjuna’s Despair, 10 pages (c. 200 BCE–200 CE?).
Ancient Greece: The Histories by Herodotus, Book 1.29 through 1.33, 4 pages (c. 440 BCE?); History of the Peloponnesian War by Thucydides, Book 2, Chapter 6, Pericles’ Funeral Oration, 6 pages (c. 431 BCE?); The Apology by Xenophon, 5 pages (c. 390–360 BCE?); The Republic by Plato, Book 10, The Myth of Er, 6 pages (c. 380 BCE?); Nicomachean Ethics by Aristotle, Book 2, Chapter 1, 2 pages (c. 350 BCE?); Politics by Aristotle, Book 1, Part 1, 1 page (c. 350 BCE?); Letter to Menoeceus by Epicurus, 2 pages (c. 300 BCE?); The Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers by Diogenes Laertius, Book 9, Life of Protagoras, 2 pages (c. 200–250 CE?); Outlines of Pyrrhonism by Sextus Empiricus, Book 1, Chapter 1 through 13, 3 pages (c. 200 CE?).
Ancient Rome: The Twelve Tables, 4 pages (c. 450 BCE?); On Agriculture by Cato the Elder, Preface through Section 5, 3 pages (c. 160 BCE?); On Moral Duties by Cicero, Book 1, Section 11, 2 pages (c. 44 BCE?); On the Commonwealth by Cicero, Book 1, Section 1 through 2, 1 page (c. 44 BCE?); On Architecture by Vitruvius, Book 2, Chapter 1, 4 pages (c. 15 BCE?); Moral Letters to Lucilius by Seneca, Letter 93 On the Quality, as Contrasted with the Length, of Life, 2 pages (c. 65 CE?); Moralia by Plutarch, Chapter 6 That Virtue May Be Taught through Chapter 7 On Virtue and Vice, 3 pages (c. 100 CE?); The Lives of the Twelve Caesars by Suetonius, Book 2, Chapter 34 through 37, 2 pages (c. 121 CE?); Discourses by Epictetus, Book 1, Chapter 1, 2 pages (c. 108 CE?); The Meditations by Marcus Aurelius, Book 2, 3 pages (c. 170 CE?); The Institutes by Gaius, First Commentary, Chapter 1 through 3 Section 1 through 12, 3 pages (c. 160 CE?); The Digest or Pandects of Justinian, Book 1, Chapter 1 Concerning Justice and Law, 2 pages (c. 533 CE?).
Islamic Golden Age: On First Philosophy by Al Kindi, Chapter 1, 6 pages (c. 870 CE?); The Spiritual Physick of Rhazes by Al Razi, Chapter 1 Of the Excellence and Praise of Reason, 2 pages (c. 900 CE?); Political Regime by Al Farabi, Book 2 The Political World, Part B The Virtuous City, Section 3 Attaining Happiness, 5 pages (c. 900–950 CE?); Canon of Medicine by Avicenna (Ibn Sina), Book 1, Part 1, Thesis 1 Definition and Scope of Medicine, 6 pages (c. 1025 CE?); The Ordinances of Government by Al Mawardi, Chapter 6 The Administration of the Judiciary, Seven Conditions, 4 pages (c. 1058 CE?); Incoherence of the Philosophers by Al Ghazali, Problem 10, 3 pages (c. 1095 CE?); The Incoherence of the Incoherence by Averroes (Ibn Rushd), About the Natural Sciences, The Third Discussion Refutation of the philosophers’ proof for the immortality of the soul, 2 pages (c. 1179 CE?); Discourse of Rumi, Discourse 68 through 71, 6 pages (c. 1258 CE?); The Muqaddimah: An Introduction to History by Ibn Khaldun, Chapter 1 Human Civilization in General, First Prefatory Discussion, 5 pages (c. 1377 CE?).
Medieval Europe: On Christian Doctrine by St. Augustine, Book 1, Chapter 1 through 10, 7 pages (c. 397–426 CE?); Historia Calamitatum by Peter Abelard, Chapter 11 Of his Teaching in the Wilderness, 3 pages (c. 1132 CE?); Letter to Bernard Clairvaux by Hildegard of Bingen, 2 pages (c. 1146–1153 CE?); Policraticus; Or, The Statesman’s Book by John of Salisbury, Book 4, Chapter 1 and 2, 6 pages (c. 1159 CE?); Magna Carta of 1215, 9 pages (1215 CE); The Opus Majus by Roger Bacon, Volume 1, Part 1, Chapter 1 and 2, 5 pages (c. 1267 CE?); Summa Theologica by St. Thomas Aquinas, Part 1, Question 2, Article 3 Whether God Exists?, 3 pages (c. 1265–1274 CE?).
16th Century: Fourth Voyage letter by Amerigo Vespucci, 2 pages (1504 CE); The Prince by Nicolo Machiavelli, Chapter 24 Why the Princes of Italy Have Lost Their States, 1 page (1513 CE); Utopia by Thomas More, Of Their Magistrates, 1 page (1516 CE); The 95 Theses by Martin Luther, 5 pages (1517 CE); De Indis De Jure Belli by Franciscus de Vitoria, Part 3 The Second Reflection, Preface and Chapter 1 Christians may serve in war and make war, 3 pages (1532 CE); Institutes of the Christian Doctrine by John Calvin, One Hundred Aphorisms, Book 1, 1 page (1536 CE); Sublimis Deus by Pope Paul III, 1 page (1537 CE); The Discourse on Voluntary Servitude by Estienne de la Boetie, Part 1, 4 pages (1549 CE); The Magdeburg Confession, Part 1, Chapter 7 Of Politics and Economy and the Power of Each, 3 pages (1550 CE); General Council of Trent, Thirteenth Session, Safe Conduct Granted to Protestants, 1 page (1551 CE); A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies by Bartolome de las Casas, Conclusion, 4 pages (1552 CE); On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres by Nicolaus Copernicus, Preface To his Holiness Pope Paul III, 4 pages (1543 CE); Essays of Michel De Montaigne, Chapter 50 Of Democritus and Heraclitus, 3 pages (1580 CE); Cause, Principle, and Unity by Giordano Bruno, Fifth Dialogue, Teo’s first statement, 5 pages (1584 CE).
17th Century: Galileo-Kepler Correspondence of 1597, 1 page (1597 CE); Letter from Galileo to Kepler of 19 August 1610, 1 page (1610 CE); Novum Organum by Francis Bacon, Aphorisms Book 1, Section 1 through 14, 1 page (1620 CE); The Generall Historie of Virginia, New-England, and the Summer Isles by Captain John Smith, Chapter 10 How the Salvages became subject to the English, 3 pages (1624 CE); Galileo’s Defense 10 May 1633, 3 pages (1633 CE); Recantation of Galileo 22 June 1633, 2 pages (1633 CE); Meditations on First Philosophy by Rene Descartes, Preface to the Reader, 3 pages (1641 CE); Leviathan by Thomas Hobbes, Chapter 13, 3 pages (1651 CE); Pensees by Blaise Pascal, Section 223, 3 pages (1670 CE); The Ethics by Benedict de Spinoza, Part 1, Definitions and Axioms, 2 pages (1677 CE); The Pilgrim’s Progress by John Bunyan, The Jail, 2 pages (1678 CE); The Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy by Isaac Newton, Book 3, Rules of Reasoning in Philosophy, 2 pages (1687 CE); An Essay Concerning Human Understanding by John Locke, Book 2, Chapter 1, Section 1 through 9, 3 pages (1689 CE).
18th Century: A Treatise of Human Nature by David Hume, Book 1, Part 3, Section 15 Rules by which to judge of causes and effects, 2 pages (1739–1740 CE); Anti-Machiavel by Frederick the Great, Foreword, 2 pages (1740 CE); The Spirit of the Laws by Charles Louis de Secondat Baron de Montesquieu, from Book 1 through Book 2 Chapter 1, 6 pages (1748 CE); Encyclopedie by Denis Diderot, Hero by Chevalier Louis de Jaucourt, 1 page (1751–1772 CE?); The Social Contract by Jean Jacques Rousseau, Book 1, Chapter 1 through Chapter 6, 8 pages (1762 CE); An Essay on Crimes and Punishments by Cesare Beccaria, Introduction, 1 page (1764 CE); An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith, Book 1, Chapter 2, 3 pages (1776 CE); Common Sense by Thomas Paine, Introduction, 1 page (1776 CE); The Critique of Pure Reason by Immanuel Kant, Introduction, Section 1 Of the difference between Pure and Empirical Knowledge, 1 page (1781 CE); Newburgh Address by George Washington, 3 pages (1783 CE); The Federalist Papers by James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, and John Jay, Federalist 51, 2 pages (1788 CE); The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, 2 pages (1789 CE); A Vindication of the Rights of Woman by Mary Wollstonecraft, Chapter 1, 5 pages (1792 CE); Property by James Madison, 2 pages (1792 CE); An Essay on the Principle of Population by Thomas Malthus, Chapter 1, 4 pages (1798 CE).
19th Century: Phenomenology of Spirit by Georg Hegel, Part A, Chapter 1, Section 90 through 97, 3 pages (1807 CE); A Treatise on Political Economy by The Count Destutt Tracy, First Part, Chapter 3 of the Measure of Utility or of Values, 5 pages (c. 1817–1818 CE); Democracy in America by Alexis de Tocqueville, Conclusion, 5 pages (1835–1840 CE); Fear and Trembling by Soren Kierkegaard, Preface, 2 pages (1843 CE); A General View of Positivism by Auguste Comte, Introductory Remarks, 3 pages (1844 CE); Letter of Proudhon to Marx 17 May 1846, 2 pages (1846 CE); The Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, Chapter 2, 7 pages (1848 CE); On the Origin of Species by Charles Darwin, Chapter 4, Summary of the Chapter, 3 pages (1859 CE); Utilitarianism by John Stuart Mill, Chapter 1, 3 pages (1863 CE); The Gay Science by Friedrich Nietzsche, Book 3, Section 125, 1 page (1882 CE).
20th Century: What is to be Done? by Vladimir Lenin, Conclusion, 2 pages (1902 CE); Indian Home Rule by M. K. Gandhi, Chapter 13 What is True Civilization?, 2 pages (1909 CE); Relativity: The Special and the General Theory by Albert Einstein, Book 2, Chapter 18 Special and General Principle of Relativity, 2 pages (1916 CE); Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus by Ludwig Wittgenstein, Preface, 1 page (1921 CE); The Logic of Scientific Discovery by Karl Popper, Part 1, Chapter 1, Section 6 Falsifiability as a Criterion of Demarcation, 3 pages (1934 CE, English translation 1959 CE); The General Theory of Employment, Interest, and Money by John Maynard Keynes, Chapter 24, Section 1, 2 pages (1936 CE); "What We Mean by Civilization", Chancellor's Address, Bristol University, 2 July 1938 by Winston Churchill, 1 page (1938 CE); The Myth of Sisyphus by Albert Camus, The Myth of Sisyphus, 4 pages (1942 CE); Being and Nothingness by Jean-Paul Sartre, Introduction The Pursuit of Being, Section 1 The Phenomenon, 4 pages (1943 CE); The Second Sex by Simone de Beauvoir, Volume 1, Part 2, Chapter 1, 5 pages (1949 CE); The Origins of Totalitarianism by Hannah Arendt, Preface to the First Edition, 3 pages (1951 CE); Silent Spring by Rachel Carson, Chapter 1 A Fable for Tomorrow, 1 page (1962 CE); The Order of Things by Michel Foucault, Part 2, Chapter 10, Section 6 In Conclusion, 2 pages (1966 CE); A Theory of Justice by John Rawls, Part 1, Chapter 2, Section 11 Two Principles of Justice, 4 pages (1971 CE).
I know that's a lot of material, but what else do I have to give? Hopefully others have included some fun memories of you in this first year. You get around a lot. Even before you were one you could run. I saw you run pretty fast across the living room to grab ahold of your mother's leg. It's important to remember our natural dispositions, and we can't remember ourselves as little babies so someone else has to tell us. You're active and happy. When you veer from that in your life remember that deep down somewhere you're natural tendency is to be active and happy and you can find that once again.
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