I was reading The
@Bushido of Bitcoin earlier this morning, and this part stood out to me and hit ๐ฉ๐ข๐ณ๐ฅ. ๐ I needed it, though. And every Bitcoiner needs to read this (as well as the rest of the book).
Oh, & GM.
~
"๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ด๐ต ๐ค๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐จ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ด ๐ต๐ฐ๐ธ๐ข๐ณ๐ฅ ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ, ๐ข ๐ฏ๐ข๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฃ๐บ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐จ๐ฐ๐ฅ๐ด, ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ช๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด ๐ฆ๐ข๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ช๐ณ ๐ธ๐ข๐บ ๐ต๐ฐ๐ธ๐ข๐ณ๐ฅ ๐ด๐ญ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฑ ๐ญ๐ช๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ฏ๐ข๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ด๐ด ๐ฐ๐น๐ฆ๐ฏ."
- Heraclitus
In our pursuit of excellence, we must reclaim the word elite. Traditionally speaking, the elite were those who worked to improve their society. They were the leaders of men, leaders of industry and patrons of the art and beauty that fills the old towns strewn throughout Europe. Todayโs elites are not elite โ but parasites who seek to undermine society. They spend their time leaching from the producers, bloating the government with a bureaucratic managerial class, revising history and filling the minds of the young with toxic ideology. Their goal is to weaken our culture with degeneracy and ugliness. To sully our history, and leave the world ugly, unsafe and uninhabitable while they retire to their opulent mansions behind private security.
As a result, the word elite is today erroneously conflated with parasite. This has to change. We must rediscover its root, and take it back. It comes from Latin ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ช๐ต๐ถ๐ด, which means โchoiceโ or โselected,โ itself from ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ช๐จ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ, โto chooseโ or โto select.โ The PIE root of the word โeliteโ is ๐ญ๐ฆ๐จ, which means โto collectโ or โto gather.โ
To be elite is to be the โselectedโ. The choicest or the selected means โthe bestโ and thus to be elite is to be the best in your field, to be the cream of the crop, to be distinguished and outstanding. ๐๐ฏ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ต, ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐๐ญ๐๐๐ก๐ก๐๐ฃ๐ฉ.
Most people suffer from anti-elite syndrome. And while I can sympathize, their misunderstanding of the true meaning of the word causes them to point their vitriol in the wrong direction. In fact, many are so brainwashed by narratives of the average man, that theyโve come to hate anybody who excels. This disease of average is prevalent even in the Bitcoin space. You hear it when people say stupid things like โwe are all Satoshiโ, or celebrate being a โplebโ. This also has to change.
We are ๐ฃ๐ค๐ฉ all Satoshi. Satoshi did something far greater than any of us probably ever will, and to lay claim to that is both arrogant and ignorant. Yes โ I understand the reference to the whole Guy Fawkes thing โ which is cute โ but itโs extremely inaccurate and disingenuous.
Aspire to be โlikeโ Satoshi in grandeur and virtue, but do not claim you are him.
Furthermore, the pleb thing is not just cringe, itโs hands down false, or will be soon enough. Just being in Bitcoin makes you part of tomorrowโs economic โeliteโ. Barring any mistake, you will wield significantly more financial and social power than someone who comes into Bitcoin a decade from now.
What will you do with that power? Of course, that is the focus of this book. It stands to reason that you must at some point come to terms with the fact that you are no longer a โplebโ but part of a small group of people who are ๐ข๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ๐บ ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ข๐ด๐ต, economically โelite.โ You should recognise this and begin to develop the attributes of a more holistic individual, working toward excellence in other areas of your life. You cannot hide forever behind the pleb moniker as an excuse for sloth or poor behavior.
Humility is important of course: โstay humbleโ, but strive also to upgrade your behavior, enhance your vocabulary, deepen your knowledge, and become more cultured. With great power comes great responsibility. You donโt want to be some rich turd in a Lambo, or the eternal Twitter troll. Thereโs much more to life than that.
To operate on a higher energetic plane, we need a grander perspective. We must climb the mountain. Weโve been tricked into believing that โaverageโ is ok, because it represents the little guy. But the truth is that there is nothing aspirational about being average. Average doesnโt require courage, passion, drive, responsibility or self control. Average is a low energy state, and a small story designed to make you give up on your dreams โ to trade all you could possibly be for what youโre told you should be.
Pursuing excellence is one of the highest callings in life, as is the practice and cultivation of the virtues presented in this book. The world needs strong leaders โ not trolls, plebs or parasites โ thereโs plenty of that around. As a Bitcoiner, this duty rests with you.
"๐๐ฒ๐ถ๐ข๐ญ๐ช๐ต๐บ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐จ๐ด ๐ฆ๐ด๐ด๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ช๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐บ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ค๐ญ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฆ: ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ฉ๐ข๐ด๐ฎ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ต๐ธ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฏ & ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฏ, ๐ค๐ญ๐ข๐ด๐ด & ๐ค๐ญ๐ข๐ด๐ด, ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ถ๐ญ๐ต๐ช๐ฑ๐ญ๐ช๐ค๐ช๐ต๐บ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐บ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ด, ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ด๐ฆ๐ญ๐ง, ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ด๐ต๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต โ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ช๐ค๐ฉ ๐ ๐ค๐ข๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฑ๐ข๐ต๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ด ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฅ๐ช๐ด๐ต๐ข๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ โ ๐ค๐ฉ๐ข๐ณ๐ข๐ค๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ๐ช๐ป๐ฆ๐ด ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ๐บ ๐ด๐ต๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐จ ๐ข๐จ๐ฆ."
- Friedrich Nietzsche, ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ข๐ญ๐ฐ๐จ๐บ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐๐ฐ๐ณ๐ข๐ญ๐ด
GM
"Then I saw that these little feathers planned to set themselves up and hold the rule. As I kept looking, one was set up but suddenly disappeared [Trump?]; a second also, and this disappeared more quickly than the first [Biden?]. While I continued to look, the two that remained ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐ฝ๐น๐ฎ๐ป๐ป๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐ฏ๐ฒ๐๐๐ฒ๐ฒ๐ป ๐๐ต๐ฒ๐บ๐๐ฒ๐น๐๐ฒ๐ ๐๐ผ ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ถ๐ด๐ป ๐๐ผ๐ด๐ฒ๐๐ต๐ฒ๐ฟ [Trump and Vance?]; and ๐๐ต๐ถ๐น๐ฒ ๐๐ต๐ฒ๐ ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐ฝ๐น๐ฎ๐ป๐ป๐ถ๐ป๐ด, one of the heads at rest (the one that was in the middle) suddenly awoke; it was greater than the other two heads. And I saw how it allied the two heads with itself and how the head turned with those that were with it and devoured the two little feathers that were planning to reign. Moreover, this head gained control of the whole earth and with much oppression dominated its inhabitants; it had greater power over the world than all the wings that had gone before."
- 2 Esdras 11:26-32