Look around you and notice that one of the key features of Modernity is the sheer abundance and glut of Stuff. Mental, digital and physical. There’s no escaping the never-ending deluge of Stuff.
We have been collectively indoctrinated for the better part of a century to associate surplus with wealth, prestige, and power. All of which are a cope for reproductive success. It is difficult to argue otherwise. Surplus is grand, but it also weighs you down. And what is heavy, obeying the laws of physics, tends to move slower. Your lifestyle is bloated. You are trying to race up the mountain of Life and your lifestyle is a 50-lb sack of sand on your back. No wonder you feel tired.
One of the first steps on the path to living a happier and healthier life – reclaiming your human personhood – is therefore identifying what can be jettisoned in order to make you travel lighter across the land. Here’s a handy little Latin phrase for you to learn today: via negativa. Roughly translated it means what not to do. In Medieval theology the phrase was coined initially as a way of describing the infinite qualities of God, as it soon proved impossible to ascribe positive qualities to God. Scholars found it easier to define God not in terms of what God is, but what God is not. But this is not a newsletter about theology so with that definition in hand, let’s finesse this phrase into a couple of relatable examples:
If a man is morbidly obese, a doctor applying via positiva would aim to treat his condition by prescribing him statins and a gastric bypass. Cost: US$20,000-25,000 for surgery.
A doctor applying via negativa would treat the man by way of removal – removing junk food and junk calories so the patient is in a caloric deficit. Angus Barbieri lost 125kgs this way just by drinking water and eating vitamins for over a year. Cost: Marginal. How much do vitamins cost?
If a woman is in debt, via positiva and unscrupulous self-help gurus would tell her the solution is to make more money, or buy some financial product/service that will help her climb out of debt. Cost: Time and health X ?
A financial advisor applying via negativa would just tell her to cut up all her credit cards (the source of her debt), and cut back her spending to less than 50% of her income so she can focus on rapidly paying down her debt. Cost: Nothing.
By now you have an inkling of what this philosophy entails.
Via Negativa is the Path of Subtraction.
As it turns out, subtraction is a powerful tool.
It is powerful because it doesn’t require you to buy or do anything. You just… stop doing something, and let the magic happen. “But wait,” you protest, “I’m not obese nor am I in debt. Why should I remove anything from my life?”
When’s the last time you looked at your phone? Or noticed yourself reflexively reaching for a cigarette/drink when you’re feeling stressed out or anxious. Friend sent me an article about how in the modern environment we are saturated with stimulation that messes with our dopamine levels. Dopamine being one of the vital hormones that regulates your mood, energy levels, and emotions. I was curious. I wanted to know more. A cursory Google search yielded gems like this.
It was compelling. Had not considered that in addition to dialling in diet and training, brain hormones were something I could tweak. So I decided to give it a go. At best I would make a lasting positive change for myself. At worse, I’d have challenged myself, building character. There is literally no downside.
It’s up to you to create a timeline that’s inspiring and powerful.
But your mind needs to BREATHE.
Continuous, uninterrupted consumption will destroy your ability to think creatively.
You only have one mind — which you use for EVERYTHING.
Here are the rules I applied. From February 15 to March 15:
No Netflix or video games. Basically, extraneous entertainment of any sort. I allowed myself to use YouTube as part of my job requires video examples, so I gave myself a small concession here. If I had to redo it and seek greater challenge, I wouldn’t even allow this.
No alcohol or tobacco for stress relief.
Switch off laptop and screens by 10pm. No screens for an hour after waking.
You can remove all kinds of things from your life for a dopamine detox. You want me to tell you what you should remove? Shit, I don’t know your life. Everyone’s fragging their dopamine systems with different things. Common things I have seen people do as part of a dopamine detox include NoFap1, taking showers, cutting out refined sugar/carbs, not taking coffee/tea, cutting any form of drug or intoxicant, are you beginning to have a clear idea?
How it went
Ended up doing all three until March 24th, a week longer than my initial end-date.
No Netflix/video games/video entertainment. How did this go? Excellent. So much more time to catch up on reading. When not watching Netflix I found I had time to read what I planned on reading, more time to write. Entertainment does not have to be a passive activity, as I am learning. Am finding over the last 5 weeks that I got just as much entertainment and enjoyment out of creating as compared to passively consuming. Reading is a form of consumption but is not passive because you have to engage your mind. I will continue this.
No alcohol or tobacco for stress relief. How do I feel now? Fantastic. About two weeks into the fast I went out in the sun (I was still working from home so I went out to get about 30 minutes of direct sun exposure daily). I noticed myself sweating heavily even though the day was no hotter than usual. I suspect that was the last remnant of toxins leaving my body. Around this time people around me remarked that my skin had cleared up and my skin had taken on a more vibrant tone, and my eyes looked sharper. A couple even commented that my voice sounded more energetic.
Not sure how much of this was physiological and how much was pure placebo but if it works and makes you feel good, does it matter? I had been meaning to cut down on drinking anyway. It’s expensive and damages organs. I am happy to say that I plan on continuing to abstain from alcohol unless it is a special occasion. Aside from saving money for 5 weeks, I also noticed more stamina and faster recovery between training sessions. Alcohol is just bad for you, anyway.
Switching off devices after 10pm, no devices for an hour after waking. Ties back in to the media fast. That extra hour, hour and a half before bedtime was spent reading and journalling. And stretching. Felt a lot more relaxed and falling asleep became noticeably easier. There is much evidence to suggest that we should be avoiding any form of blue light in the evening as it tricks your brain into thinking it is still daytime, hence your inability to fall asleep. To learn more, read this article.
As a corollary to this, you should be getting ready for bed at around 8-9pm on a regular basis. Folks, there is nothing unusual or abnormal about feeling sleepy at 8 or 9pm. Humans have been waking and sleeping with the sunrise and sunset for the overwhelming majority of the 5 million years we have been mucking about on Earth. If anything, what is abnormal is how we have used electric light to artificially lengthen our waking hours for the last 100 years. Along with turning off electronics before sleep, I also keep the lights as low as possible to replicate the body’s natural rhythms. We need to normalise this behaviour.
All in all, it was a most illuminating trial. You don’t have to do all three at once (I chose to because I like a challenge) but the synergy between them amplified the overall effect. You could start with choosing one thing to remove from your life and after 30 days if you feel like the habit sticks you can remove another thing. 2
For example, over the next 30 days you could…
Remove 20% of your wardrobe with no discernible impact to your outfit choices
Remove all refined sugar/carbs from your diet
Eat one less meal a day (intermittent fasting)
Designate one a day a week as a digital detox day - no phones or TV or devices of any sort.
Take nothing but cold showers.
Now. Some of you will point out that what I propose is nothing more than creating needless hardship for oneself. That is precisely the point. Modernity serves up an infinite array of comfort and instant gratification. We think this is a boon but what it does is it makes us feeble. It makes us spoiled and weak wimps who cannot survive outside a narrow sliver of Reality – our minds accept the ridiculous 21st century level of comfort as the DEFAULT. This predictably has created entire generations of people who cannot live without having their needs and wants satisfied instantaneously in the virtual and physical world.
Comfort is a gilded cage. You have to wander around outside in order to appreciate it.
Is this it?
Did your ancestors struggle and fight bears and perform incredible feats of endurance just so you could watch Netflix all day while eating Pop Tarts and slonking shitty beer? I don’t know about you but when I would be mortified if I died right now and had to explain to the ghosts of 5,000 dead ancestors that I failed to achieve my highest potential because it sucked too hard.
Much of modern living is expressly designed to minimise the suck. I have a crank theory that this state is highly unusual and deeply unnerving to the human animal. Much of the time we spent here was tough. Don’t think for a minute that I romanticise the past. Life sucked but people were happy. Our ancestors by and large lived far harder lives with greater privations than we have and they had phenomenally minimal instances of depression, anxiety and related mental disorders. If you are stuck in life and you feel like you cannot make progress, your first instinct is to look for ways to make it feel less challenging or make it easier.
COME ON! You don’t want life to be easy.
Getting better shouldn’t FEEL good.
You WANT this to suck.
You WANT this to feel hard.
You don’t WANT this to be easier.
And if you’re not up to challenge yourself then why the hell are you reading this newsletter?
Why do a dopamine detox?
Continuing on the theme started last week. You can no longer assume that our gilded Industrial Age will last indefinitely. As the blackouts in Texas illustrated, no country is immune to the ravages of entropy. Systems fail frequently. The greater the complexity, the likelier the failure. And my friend, you are living in the most complex system mankind has ever conceived.
Enjoy it while it lasts, but temper yourself and be acquainted with the taste of hardship. It’ll make the descent much easier. Again, if I’m right, you will be insulated from the shock and whining 99% of people will issue. If I’m wrong, you’ll save money and maybe even have freed up some time to pursue hobbies that actually serve a purpose. You will be happier, less anxious, less distracted, because your dopamine levels will be more in tune with baseline human physiology, what our ancestors experienced for millennia.
Set limits in your life.
Limits create freedom.
Freedom to do something better, freedom to do something different.
Give yourself permission to try out something new now.
You’ve been delaying that passion project or skipping the gym because you don’t have time?
Remove those 2 hours a day you spend on Netflix.
Now you do.
You’re welcome.
The challenge in April will be to cap my daily phone usage at around 30 minutes on average for 30 days straight. Let me know if you’re interested in joining me. Having an accountability partner makes any challenge feel 50% easier.
Until next week,
Stay Solar.
WHILE YOU’RE HERE
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Many health benefits for men. Google it. Some hardcore types also advocate for semen retention even when having sex. Try different things and see what works better for you.
Note: Am assiduously avoiding referring to this project with phrases like ‘adding restrictions’ because you aren’t “adding” anything, you are subtracting. And restriction implies that you are punishing yourself; placing unreasonable limits on your life. This is not so! We are on a mission to enhance your enjoyment of life, after all. So, avoid using the word ‘restriction.’ Language is powerful and shapes how you approach something. Words have power.
There's a good reason various religious traditions have designated periods of self-deprivation.
Hahaha. I have removed quite a number of things too. Easter break is here. Hope to meet soon.