#03 Two books that blew my mind in 2022

I´ve always loved reading. As a child, I cherished the adventures of Enid Blyton´s Famous Five. As a teenager, I thought reading Hauptmann, Hesse, and Zweig would make me look smart (even though I hardly understood what they were talking about). Today I read because it allows me to have conversations with myself. And without actually meeting people.

A writer spends hundreds, if not thousands, of hours thinking, exploring, and researching even before starting to write. And in the process of writing, every sentence is an expression of a lifetime´s experiences. Surely a book has to be smarter than any person having a random conversation.

To me, a book is a brilliant one when it has the power to put me in a trance. It can be one paragraph, one sentence, and sometimes just one single word in the perfect spot that hypnotises me. When my eyes stare at one page, but my mind keeps writing the story. This is what I am looking for in a book.

And this is what I´ve found in 2022 (so far):

Book One - "12 Rules for Life":

“Standing up means voluntarily accepting the burden of Being.”

This sentence has its origin in Jordan B. Peterson´s book 12 Rules for Life and created a deep sense of relief and satisfaction in me. It´s the word “accepting” that got me. Because what it basically says is, stop whining, straighten up and move on.

The author elaborates on the importance of “standing up straight with your shoulders back” in the most sophisticated way and substantiated by decades of experience as a clinical psychiatrist.

What Jordan B. Peterson lectures with intriguing language in front of thousands of people, classically trained Pilates teachers are doing in every single class. One body at a time. Our language is much simpler. And it has to be because our students have to actually translate it into their bodies on the spot.

Stand tall. Lengthen your spine. Grow taller. Shoulders back. Things we say over and over again in a class. The physical workout is necessary to create enough muscle strength to maintain the correct position. But it is the mental work in your Pilates class that will improve your life.

Poor posture is not only bad for the body but also for the mind. If your body looks weak and tired, others will treat you like a weak and tired person. And as the author describes: “If you start to straighten up, then people will look and treat you differently.”.

Therefore every time your Pilates teacher tells you to stand up straight, it´s an invitation to voluntarily accept the burden of Being, stop whining, and keep moving.

Book Two - "On Bullshit":

“Our natures are, indeed, elusively insubstantial—notoriously less stable and less inherent than the natures of other things. And insofar as this is the case, sincerity itself is bullshit.”

These are the final two sentences of Frankfurt´s essay “On Bullshit”. They really took me by surprise and threw me into a mini-crisis. Let me explain why.

Initially, Frankfurt discusses the difference between a liar and his lies and a bullshitter and his bullshit. To put it in a very simplified way, the central difference is that a liar knows the truth and tries to hide it by lying. The bullshitter doesn´t care about the truth or reality, he doesn't care about the facts. The bullshitter creates his own reality to suit his purpose. Reality becomes one big bluff.

According to the author's proposition, every commercial, therefore, is bullshit. And I agree. Every woman knows that eating an overpriced yogurt will not make her shit. Furthermore, she deliberately ignores the fact that the yogurt is full of sugar and artificial flavors. She eats it. She intentionally distorts reality because she desires to be the woman from the commercial.

So far, so good. That means…

In the real world, you can be either an honest person or a liar. It´s your choice. Know the facts, tell the truth or lie about it. In a fake world, you always remain a bullshitter.

Another thing my readers should know is that authenticity is one of my five core values. And until recently, I thought that it was my most important one. Frankfurt and his “Bullshit” ruined it. Worse, he made me wonder if I was bullshitting myself all this time. Capsized my beliefs. Shattered my sense of self.

Being authentic is being real. Being real stipulates knowing yourself.

Do I know myself? Do I know my nature?

Every time I think I know the answer, life awaits me with a surprise. Seeing your true self is incredibly hard, and accepting it seems impossible. We want to be so much. And because of that, we are one big bullshit.

If you take off all your masks and lay off all your roles, what is left?

The answer is nothing.

The answer is your real self.