The first chapter I have in my book Is called is “Stand Up Straight with your Shoulders Back”
And it's an injunction to be combative
Not least to further your career let's say
But also, to adopt a stance of ready engagement with the world
And to reflect that in your posture I kind of have an affinity for lobsters
When a lobster loses a fight, it kind of crunches down so it looks smaller
When he wins the fight, he stretches out, looks bigger
And so, he's signaling other lobstersThe tally of his victory
So, you think well so what
The lobster runs on serotoninNeurochemical
And if the lobster loses the serotonin levels go down and if he wins the serotonin levels go up And when the serotonin levels go up
He stretches outAnd he's a confident lobster
And one of the consequences of that is if a lobster loses a battle
And you give them the equivalent of antidepressant then he stretches out and go fight again
And it's an injunction to be combative
Not least to further your career let's say
But also, to adopt a stance of ready engagement with the world
And to reflect that in your posture I kind of have an affinity for lobsters
When a lobster loses a fight, it kind of crunches down so it looks smaller
When he wins the fight, he stretches out, looks bigger
And so, he's signaling other lobstersThe tally of his victory
So, you think well so what
The lobster runs on serotoninNeurochemical
And if the lobster loses the serotonin levels go down and if he wins the serotonin levels go up And when the serotonin levels go up
He stretches outAnd he's a confident lobster
And one of the consequences of that is if a lobster loses a battle
And you give them the equivalent of antidepressant then he stretches out and go fight again
I think that you can get glimpses of Heaven and glimpses of Hell
I think that you can see people who live in Hell
You walk down the street and see them
For them it’s eternal
Because their pain is so overwhelming
That it feels like it will last forever
It’s also something that can engulf everyone
And has
Is there a metaphysical reality to it beyond that?
I suspect so but I don’t know
I think that the Heaven-like experience points to the way that things could be
And we don’t know how things could be if we really got our acts together
We don’t know
We spend a lot of time in our fallen condition
Wasting time
Being resentful
Working counterproductively
Hurting other people
And cursing fate itself
I think that you can see people who live in Hell
You walk down the street and see them
For them it’s eternal
Because their pain is so overwhelming
That it feels like it will last forever
It’s also something that can engulf everyone
And has
Is there a metaphysical reality to it beyond that?
I suspect so but I don’t know
I think that the Heaven-like experience points to the way that things could be
And we don’t know how things could be if we really got our acts together
We don’t know
We spend a lot of time in our fallen condition
Wasting time
Being resentful
Working counterproductively
Hurting other people
And cursing fate itself
We need to know who the competent people are
And we need to reward them
And even more importantly
We need to tell young people
Hey, there’s some hierarchies of competence out there!
Like, a thousand of them!
Go be a plumber man!
But be a good one, you know
Be an honest one
Because otherwise all you do is go out there and cause trouble
We don't need people to cause more trouble
We need people to solve problems!
Solve problems!
We need people to solve problems!
Solve problems!
We don't need people to cause more trouble
We need people to solve problems!
Solve problems!
Go be a plumber man!
Go be a plumber man!
And we need to reward them
And even more importantly
We need to tell young people
Hey, there’s some hierarchies of competence out there!
Like, a thousand of them!
Go be a plumber man!
But be a good one, you know
Be an honest one
Because otherwise all you do is go out there and cause trouble
We don't need people to cause more trouble
We need people to solve problems!
Solve problems!
We need people to solve problems!
Solve problems!
We don't need people to cause more trouble
We need people to solve problems!
Solve problems!
Go be a plumber man!
Go be a plumber man!