Aspirational realisma guide for an ethical & happy life without getting blindsided by an often arbitrary & bruTal world.

There are two texts that have contributed to my philosophy more than all the rest. Interestingly, both were never intended to be published.
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The first is The Prince by Niccolo Machiavelli. The second is Meditations by Marcus Aurelius.

disclaimer:

As a disclaimer, I absolutely understand that the term “Machiavellian” is a pejorative term. It means deceitful and manipulative. And forms one of the three legs of “the dark triad,” which, while not clinical, is a pop-psychology concept referring to a type of person who is fairly regarded as manipulative, self-centered, and lacking empathy. If you think that this definition is what I find contributes to my philosophy of ethical living and aspirational realism, then I’m not sure where to go from here. That is a judgement lacking reason. And therefore, no reason can refute an argument that doesn’t value reason.

Machiavelli’s text forms part of the canon of the philosophy of realism. Like Thucydides, Aristotle, Seneca, Sun Tzu… I could go on.

The Prince - Realism

The Prince is not a book. It is the longest cover letter ever written. Like Meditations by Aurelius, it was not meant to be published.

Most political philosophies were fictional stories written about good people who did good things and who were never tempted to do the wrong thing and never lied about their beliefs or faith to gain advantage and who always knew who the bad guys were and those bad guys were always kept at bay and the people were always happy and justice prevailed at every turn.

The Prince is not such a story. It is a real history, all the ugliness of our past included. In other words - Realism.

Realism is indispensable as an analytical tool for anyone. Especially an advisor like myself. If you are only able to recognize and interact with the world as you wish it to be (e.g. good people who only do good things), then you will be blindsided by a world that routinely does otherwise.

In a single sentence:

Realism recognizes the brutal, ugly, and unfair - but it doesn’t advocate for it.

What then does it advocate for? This is where Realism stops, and my Aspirational philosophy begins. Realism is a descriptive tool; not a prescriptive one.

Meditations - Aspiration & Ethics

Aurelius was a student of Realism and draws from its philosophy in his writings. But he didn’t wish to merely understand the world. He wanted to live well in it.

"Wheresoever thou mayest live, there it is in thy power to live well and happy. But thou mayest live at the Court, there then also mayest thou live well and happy."

- Book 5, Paragraph 15.

This is often shortened to you can live well, even in a palace. Because it is very difficult to live well in a palace.

This might sound absurd to anyone who hasn’t run a nine figure business. But my clients often sit on a knife's edge of misery and fear. The glamor of wealth shown on Instagram is on the rare occasion, marketing; more commonly, ego; and almost always, a wannabes concept of how wealthy people act.

Wealthy people, who are actually happy, just have no incentive to take themselves out of the beauty of their present moment, and aren’t seduced by dopamine hits from likes and comments.

Unfortunately, these genuinely happy wealthy people are rare, because it’s very difficult to live a good life when you are in the top fraction of 1%.

Mainly, because everyone, everyone, everyone, will do whatever you want, because they want something from you. Always. You will be manipulated, coerced, and used. Milked dry until there is no more money. It is a miserable way to live. And fear and suspicion become your master.

I believe the antidote to this is found in Aurelius’ text. No matter how powerful you are, you aren’t as powerdul as Aurelius. He owned everything from London to the Great Pyramid. He had no laws, customs, or resources constraining his desires. He could have whatever he wanted. He could do whatever he wanted.

And he consistently did good things.

The philosophy accessible to him is accessible to you. If he, with more power than you, was able to do this. What excuse do you have?

I find these truths to be self-evident: that engaging in tyranny, corruption, and manipulation will inevitably lead to your ruin and will cause misery to those around you; and that whatever high times did exist they will be far fewer in comparison to the decades of stress and fear.

There is simply no logical reason to acquire wealth through business success, while being a virtue-less lemming who spends the majority of their life hated by the honest and surrounded by people who will lie, cheat, and steal just to stay in your good graces. There is no happiness or fulfillment here.

In a single sentence:

The only way you can actually enjoy success is by being virtuous.

People would trade all the money in the world for physical health. What about mental health? If you can’t look at yourself in the mirror and see a good, honest person, then you have no mental health. And your life will be miserable.