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Sloww Sunday Newsletter 104 (May 1, 2022) — Wealth + Wisdom, Slow + Simple, Psychology + Technology, & More
Happy Sunday!
Here’s the latest from Sloww along with the most interesting things I discovered last week.
To respect your time and attention, every newsletter can be read in under 5 minutes. If you enjoy it, please take 5 seconds to forward the email version to some friends and family. 🙏
🌀 Sloww Stuff
🆕 25 Mental Models to Master the Art of Thinking (+ Infographic Cheatsheet)
What are “mental models”? This new post defines the concept and gives you a list of the top 25 for better thinking—curated from all the major mental model books. As a bonus, it features all of them in a single infographic that you can keep in your (mental) pocket for quick reference.
🧠 For a full list of 90+ mental models (across core thinking, science, physics, chemistry, biology, math, probability/statistics, engineering, and economics) begin your year-long learning journey with Mini Mind (50+ lifelong learners already started!):
There are countless human development models: Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, Kegan’s theory of adult development, Wilber’s Integral Theory, and many more. But, one continues to stand out to me: Susanne Cook-Greuter’s Ego Development Theory (EDT). What makes EDT special? Find out and see how my own journey happens to align with EDT’s stages.
PS: I created a new space in the Sloww Society community to chat about all things 🌱 Human Development
🧠 Modern Knowledge
The Intersection of Wealth + Wisdom
90 mins | Naval (YouTube)
It’s been a bit since I revisited Naval Ravikant, so I checked out one of his latest uploads. Lots of classic “Navalisms” along with some new stuff.
Pair with:
- “The Almanack of Naval Ravikant” (Book Summary)
- “How to Get Rich (without getting lucky)” by Naval Ravikant (Summary & Infographic)
- 🔒 Naval Ravikant Synthesis: How to Build Wealth by Being Yourself (+ Infographics)
“Reading (learning) is the ultimate meta-skill and can be traded for anything else.” — Naval Ravikant
☯️ Timeless Wisdom
Shouldn’t We Live As Simply As Possible?
13 mins | Eckhart Tolle (YouTube)
In this video, Eckhart Tolle covers busyness, slow living, and simple living without actually using those words.
Pair with:
- “The Power of Now” by Eckhart Tolle (Book Summary)
- “A New Earth” by Eckhart Tolle (Book Summary)
- 🔒 Eckhart Tolle Synthesis: “The Power of Now” + “A New Earth”
- 🔒 Eckhart Tolle & Rick Warren Synthesis: “A New Earth” + “Purpose Driven Life”
“Many people in our civilization are hyperactive. They are continuously active and stressed almost continuously … They are in a hurry with everything; that’s the stress disease of our civilization. That’s a form of madness. That has to be relinquished because it’s an insane way to live … Reducing the hyperactive mind—slowing that down—is of the essence and the most important part.” — Eckhart Tolle
🤯 Mind Expanding
The Illusion That Makes You Question Reality
20 mins | Be Smart (YouTube)
This is one of the best optical illusion explainer videos I’ve ever seen. It features several illusions (Ames window, Ames room, and Ames chair) and the underlying concepts (anamorphosis, connectivity, and cognitive impenetrability).
If you want more optical illusions, check out 🔒Sloww Sunday #098.
“The really cool thing about these illusions is that even when you know how they work—when you know that you’re getting tricked, when you know that what you see defies the very laws of nature—well, that’s still what you see. Having more knowledge doesn’t really affect the illusion much.” — Be Smart
💭 Deep Thought
Our psychology must catch up to our technology.
A common theme I’ve seen is that technological development has outpaced psychological development. The fear is that if we don’t reverse that, or at least have psychological development catch up, we’ll destroy ourselves:
“The real problem of humanity is the following: we have paleolithic emotions; medieval institutions; and god-like technology.” — E. O. Wilson
“As technology is empowering our choices and we are getting something like the power of gods, you have to have something like the love and the wisdom of gods to wield that or you self-destruct.” — Daniel Schmachtenberger
“Humanity is once again faced with its most primordial nightmare: an explosive growth in technologies has not been met with an equivalent growth in interior consciousness and wisdom … In other words, exterior development has run ahead of interior development … Unless we put as much attention on the development of consciousness as on the development of material technology—we will simply extend the reach of our collective insanity.” — Ken Wilber
“The human mind is such an extraordinary thing. It has invented the computer. It has split the atom. It sends ships into space. It has not solved the problem of human suffering … How come we haven’t found the answer to that? We’ve made all kinds of technological advances. Has that raised the quality of our living by one inch? My opinion is no, not one inch. Oh, we have more comfort, more speed, pleasures, entertainment—greater technological advances. Any improvement on that loneliness and emptiness and heartache? Any improvement on that greed and hatred and conflict? Less fighting? Less cruelty? If you want my opinion, I think it’s worse. And, the tragedy is, the secret has been found.” — Anthony de Mello
Pair with:
- 50+ Deep Perspectives on Humanity’s Underlying & Ultimate Challenge (Hint: Ourselves)
- 🔒 Anthony de Mello Spirituality Study (Sloww Society)
💬 Wise Words
Life is what happens to us while we are (busy) making other plans.
— Allen Saunders
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Have an alive week!
Kyle Kowalski
Founder, Sloww
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