The Right (+/- Request) To Intervene Have you ever had the impulse to intervene on anything ever in your life? How about the urge to intervene in the life of another… have your interventions ever been welcome? What’s your percentage there, of how often people have thanked you for taking the time and effort to pay attention to them and their affairs? Versus how often have they told you some version of “mind your own business,” “oh so you have everything figured out now?” or “practice what you preach! (hypocrite!)” In the western tradition, we are both materialistic (physicalist) and individualistic (meritocratic, DIY) in our baseline filters for how we see how things are and how they should be. So the idea of us intervening on others or others intervening on us is often high-friction. We have a problem with authority. We don’t like being told what to do. But I’d like to make a radical proposition. Being all up in each others’ business is actually exactly what we are here to do, with an important caveat. Imagine what a person would have to be like for you to welcome their intrusion into your life. Indeed, for their entrance and introduction into your life to not even be experienced by you as an intrusion at all. I suggest there are at least 3 main pillars. First you want them to know what they’re talking about. Second you want them to have your best interest in mind. Third, you want them to say it in a way that is understandable and digestible to you. I mean you would like to understand what they’re doing, what they’re saying, why they’re saying it, how it’s going to help you, etc, ahead of time, rather than just trusting them on blind faith because their life is going well and they care for you. Those two things are important, but without that third element of transparency and rationale, we often lose to plot. So now ask yourself, how do you measure up along those 3 axes, in the ways you’re interested in intervening in the lives of others? My main two jobs in life are as a parent and as an anesthesiologist. The anesthesia is easier. It’s both easier because I know what I’m doing and have lots of practice, and also because the people I’m treating are already pre-grateful for my intervention. The same can’t always be said about how my children feel.

The relationship between quality and purity is context dependent. For instance, precious metals’ quality is measured in large part by how pure and uncontaminated by other precious metals it is. However, a person who is isolated and unintegrated with influences and qualities other than their own is by definition solipsistic, low quality and fragile. Similarly, a biological species that doesn’t encounter mutations that vary its genetic code, is vulnerable to ecological changes that a more highly varied population has a higher chance of surviving. The conclusion is that quality itself is a virtue that transcends the sub-virtues of purity and diversity. Those sub-virtues are only virtues to the degree that they contribute to the goal of the system. Purity’s value proposition is that you know exactly what you’re getting, and the value proposition of diversity, variety and divergence is innovation and originality. ASFLT (a system for living tough) acknowledges and honors the need to both cleanse and purify oneself, and to explore new and unfamiliar ways of operating in life and the world. Let us go forth in awe and wonder, with our heads held high, our eyes bright as stars and our hearts wide open.😍

Right now I'm speaking to the first two members of ASFLT after myself, inspired by the conversations we have had, and continue to have. All 3 of us are interested in how to serve others, be recognized and rewarded by others for the value we bring to them, and do so in a way that brings us most fully alive. No one makes a living feeding and housing themselves, but we can all make a living feeding and housing each other. Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs reveals to us that the ways we can feed and house each other go way beyond the physical. Food and shelter are the bare minimum of what people need, and since people's needs and wants are practically infinite, so is the market for what problems people will pay to have solved. What the "attention economy" has made clear is that just like there is much more than food and shelter that people need to and can buy or rent ... there is much more that people can pay with, than just money. In fact, people are quite literally paying with their life, if you can accept that life is non-binary, meaning that you can give it up in bits and pieces, rather than only all at once. When someone gives you their time, they're giving you some of their life. If they give you some of their blood (think Red Cross), they're giving you some of their life. If they give you some of their money or their attention, or introduce you to some of their friends, they're supporting and promoting and defending and empowering you, by giving you some of their life. Thinking about it this way, life is synonymous with power, along with one of my many favorite acronyms, TEAM = time, energy, attention, money. Let's think together, in this forum, about the kinds of problems we are comfortable either currently promising to be able to solve for others, or else the kinds of problems we can imagine ourselves one day being able to solve for others. We can start with Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs if we need inspiration to start with. He says we have physiological needs - are you interested or capable of solving those for people? We have safety needs - are you able, willing and interested in providing protection to others against some form of insecurity? Perhaps even self-harm? Maybe you have an ability to get people to go from self-harming, to self-arming, to self-charming, as I like to to put it, and which we'll expand on in the future. Then Dr Maslow presents us with social needs, self-esteem needs, and self-actualization needs.

ASFLT is responsible spirituality for real life. I’m a physician who realized medicine would benefit from a science of the inner life. We can't expect a robust and energized life while pretending that feelings, morality, and relationships don’t affect health. This community is about having sober conversations about intoxicating subjects, including wealth, power, shame, anger, failure, and meaning, without losing your mind or your integrity. I'd like to introduce a framework I've synthesized from the most influential and evidence-backed lessons I've learned, get your takes on them, and compare our notes on success and failure. The aim is to learn how to master our energy, stay grounded under pressure, and turn life’s worst moments into fuel instead of trauma. We'll take the best essence of science, success and spirituality, blended into a practical and transparent, concise and thorough system for staying strong, sane, and human when life doesn’t go our way. We're going to go from drowning in the waves to learning how to surf them. Let's get it!