Spirituality Archives

The Universe in Your Hand

October 20, 2020July 31, 2024 Nik

If I shuffle a deck of 52 cards and hold it out for you to pick one, I can do so with an astonishing guarantee: No other deck in history has ever existed in this exact configuration — and no other deck ever will.

That doesn’t seem right, does it? Playing cards have been around since the 9th century, the standard deck since 1516. A lot of shuffling has happened since then. Cowboys played cards. World War II soldiers played cards. Today, millions of people play poker, black jack, and bridge. How do configurations not repeat?

Well, as I learned from Tim Urban, the number of unique arrangements can be calculated with a simple formula: 52 factorial, or 52! in math terms.

A factorial is simply a multiplication of decreasing factors. 3! is 6. You take 3 * 2 * 1. 5! is 120. You take 5 * 4 * 3 * 2 * 1. Therefore, 52! is just 52 * 51 * 50…and so on. Here is the number this results in:

80658175170943878571660636856403766975289505440883277824000000000000

Yeah. There’s no decimal point in there. Let’s see if we can wrap our brains around this number.

The 10 Paradoxical Commandments

April 27, 2020June 27, 2024 Nik

“Even when the world is difficult, even when things seem really crazy, we can still find personal meaning and deep happiness — and we do that by facing the worst in the world with the best in ourselves. That’s the idea.”

Today, Kent Keith talks about his “Paradoxical Commandments” with the ease of a Michelin chef whipping up some eggs Benedict, but when he wrote them down in 1968, he wasn’t sure if the words would form the right message.

The world was different back then, but neither less crazy nor less difficult. “It was the 60s. That was a provocative time. A lot of conflict and confrontation but also idealism and hope.” Keith was only 19, a sophomore at Harvard, but he had already witnessed his fair share of said provocative time.

He’d seen Kennedy get elected, celebrated for the moon program, and then shot. He’d observed the Civil Rights Act, the Free Speech Movement at Berkeley, and the bloody protests at Columbia. In essence, he saw a young generation unable to cause change without violence, unable to find meaning in anything that wasn’t a big symbolic act, “like seizing a building or something,” and it troubled him.

Keith decided to write something that would address these issues and, in the process, he discovered that the answer to better leadership was also the answer to lasting, personal happiness. “If you go out and do what you think is right and good and true, then you’re going to get a lot of meaning and satisfaction. You’ve got that no matter what.”

Today, more than 50 years after Keith published his little set of rules as part of a book on student leadership, he calls them “guidelines for finding personal meaning in the face of adversity.” Millions around the world have read, shared, and put Keith’s commandments on their refrigerator doors. Some say they’re a “no excuses policy.” Others, “a personal declaration of independence from all that stuff we can’t control.” Keith explains:

As individuals, we can’t control the world economy, world population growth, natural disasters, fires and floods, when a terrorist might attack, when a war might break out, which companies are going to succeed, which jobs will be created, which jobs will be eliminated.

What we can control is our inner lives, our spiritual lives. You and I get to decide who we’re gonna be and how we’re gonna live. The good news is that’s where people have been finding a lot of meaning for thousands of years. Even better news: Finding personal meaning is actually a key to being deeply happy.

Here are Dr. Kent Keith’s Paradoxical Commandments.

The Question

April 18, 2020June 27, 2024 Nik

What’s the most meaningful thing I can write today? You know how many times I’ve asked myself that question? So much that, sometimes, I ask myself why I even ask myself. It’s a slippery slope, this game of “What’s the point?” Too easy to arrive at “There probably isn’t one” in three iterations.

I took a walk through the village. Werner drove past me, right up the hill. Same old jeep, same old Werner. Werner looked 70 when he drove his grandson around 15 years ago, and for all I know, he’s still 70 today. He’ll probably drive him around long after I’m gone. Werner. Every time I catch up with him as he parks in front of his house, he greets me, and I greet back. Without fail, he asks: “Where are you going?” “Home,” I say, “up the hill.” And every time, Werner gives the same reply: “Ahh, now I remember.” Werner.

I wonder if anyone will say that about me. “Ahh, now I remember.” I don’t really care anymore, but, sometimes, the thought still lingers. I used to care so much. Now, all I want is to be useful. To share something that helps today, not 50 years later. Most of the time, I fail in doing that also. How could I succeed if the pressure was even higher?

Maybe, I just don’t bleed enough. Isn’t that what writers are supposed to do? “Sit at a typewriter and bleed,” Hemingway said. He sure bled a lot. James Altucher spilled his guts onto his blog, apparently. Is that what I’m missing? Guts? And why does spilling them cause bleeding? I thought it took guts to tell good stories.

The 3 Keys to Being Mentally Strong

April 3, 2020June 27, 2024 Nik

On May 22nd, 2002, David Blaine stepped off a crane and onto a tiny, 22-inch wide platform. 100 feet above the cold, hard concrete of New York City, he now stood on a pillar with no protection in case he’d fall.

For 35 hours, he remained there. No food, no water, and — for the sake of his life — no sleep. By the time the stunt ended, 50,000 spectators had gathered to watch him jump into a big pile of cardboard boxes. Vertigo, as Blaine dubbed the spectacle, may be my favorite stunt of his, but it’s only one in a long list of death-defying feats on his track record.

In 1999, he spent seven days buried alive in a plastic box. The next year, he was encased in ice for two and half days. He also caught a bullet with his mouth, held his breath for 17 minutes, and hung over the Thames for 44 days, consuming nothing but water.

David Blaine has been on one simple mission all his life: Bring magic to the people. In his quest to do so, he has ventured to many an edge and beyond, defying, even cheating death more than once. Luckily, most of us will never have to take such risks to achieve our dreams. But his sheer will is inspiring.

David Blaine’s best magic trick can’t be seen on video. It’s not his swimming with sharks or withstanding lightning but his superhuman mental strength. That’s the kind of trick worth copying — because it’s not an illusion at all.

Life is a never-ending journey towards fulfilling your true potential. Mental strength will help you close the gap. I studied countless articles, videos, and interviews with David Blaine to understand how he developed this trait. When I pulled all the patterns together, I was left with three components.

Here are the three keys to becoming mentally strong.

40 Things I Love About Myself

February 7, 2019June 20, 2024 Nik

You know that annoying dude who takes part in every challenge but always bends the rules to the point where you’re not even sure if he’s playing the same game? That’s me. So when I see everyone sharing 40 things they love, I can’t help but think: “How can I make that more interesting?”

Gratitude is wonderful and there’s nothing wrong with listing stuff you’re lucky to have in your life. But I think coming up with 40 things you genuinely love about yourself is an even more valuable exercise. Because when do we ever take stock of all the great things that flow from the inside out?

It feels more empowering. Kinder. I’m reminding myself of what I have that no one can ever take away from me. They might not all be things I’m responsible for, but they’re mine forever and that’s worth a lot.

I highly recommend you try and come up with a list of your own. It’s hard. But worth every second. That said, here’s mine. I hope it’ll inspire you and make you see things in yourself you didn’t know were there.

Waiting for Miracles Is No Good Way To Live

June 7, 2017May 22, 2024 Nik

One stormy evening, as the rain pours from the sky, a man notices a river of water flowing down the street from his kitchen window.

He rushes into his basement, only to realize it’s already filled with two feet of water.

“Oh no god, why me?” he mumbles to himself. “Ah, it’ll be alright. I’ve always been a faithful believer. He’ll save me.”

Category: Spirituality