Welcome to Inquired
A rolling flow of ideas and observations. Shared with you. One letter at a time.
Note from the author:
In this welcome post, you’ll come across the previous name of the newsletter, “Nuclear Wisdom”.
I kept it for the reason of preserving the initial idea, as I like to think it makes a good story.
Or maybe I was just too lazy to edit the whole text…
Anyway, happy reading!
Just as our lifespan itself, most modern-day pursuits are finite.
The great paradox is that life itself is infinite - because we are human beings, not “human doings” or “human havings.”
There is a depth to the human experience, which is essentially bottomless - and thus infinite.
In our day and age, we have evolved into unconscious robots of blood and flesh, following a daily agenda of mindless action we do not control.
The endless pursuit of meaningless things, whether it be in the form of
the next job title (prestige)
material possessions (status)
social media followers (external validation)
or any else is holding us back rather than helping us propel forward.
The common denominator of these pursuits is their finite or simply meaningless nature.
Most finite games will do nothing but help us miss out on the good things, with life slowly deteriorating in front of us.
Entropy, crazy enough, is a real force that slowly but surely drives everything into chaos.
Luckily, we possess our minds to counteract that.
I want to share a recent idea of a symbolic “character” that came to me while I was sipping my freshly brewed medium-roast filter coffee on a Saturday afternoon:
The nuclear philosopher.
Why nuclear? And why call this Newsletter Nuclear Wisdom?
To give some background: I’m 26 at this point.
Neither you nor I think of a 26-year-old when we hear the word wisdom.
Instead, you might think of him:
But that is not the point.
Because this is less about me than I hope it will be about the library of ideas that will emerge with this newsletter over time.
Initially, I was trying to come up with a sick name I hoped would resonate.
But then my curiosity lit up and catapulted me into the semantics of the word nuclear.
“What does nuclear even mean, like literally?”
Nuclear is derived from the term nucleus, the central and most important part (of an object; or atom), shaping the basis for its activity and growth.
Collins Dictionary describes it as “relating to the nuclei of atoms, or to the energy released when these nuclei are split or combined.”
With this characteristic, nuclei in the context of the self then symbolize:
The elemental ideas that shape our beliefs.
By dissecting (splitting) ideas into their components or combining them into new ones then, we release energy.
Beliefs influence our behavior, influencing the outcome of any situation in our life.
Given the cyclical nature of life, these outcomes then feed back into our ideas and perception of the world.
If we don’t observe them carefully and with a healthy sense of self-critique, we’ll likely turn into unconscious robots, blending into the rest of modern society.
Paired with the intuitive idea of the symbolic “identity” of a nuclear philosopher, I found the definition to make a lot of sense.
In a mindless world, the nuclear philosopher is a contrarian creature.
Aware of his lack of awareness, he strives to evolve by radically questioning everything and applying frequent iterations in everyday life.
His hypotheses on cultivating holistic well-being are constantly tested in the physical world.
His mental and spiritual development is translated into the physical realm through the pursuit of infinite games.
That is because he knows life is most fruitful when he lives intensely and surrenders to its current motion.
Essentially there is no limit to the depth of such experience.
And just like our life itself, every truly noble pursuit as a part of it is an infinite one:
Crafting our life’s work
Expanding our consciousness
Nurturing important relationships
Building a strong and resilient body
The more we invest our efforts into these infinite games, the more purpose we find through them.
Playing infinite games is not just one path to a nuclear philosopher’s self-actualization.
It is the only path.
But I’ll spare you from further creative terminology for now.
At this point, you probably wonder why I should be in any legit position to talk about this.
I am not.
At the same time, all of us are. Yes, you are too.
Because I believe that every person has something valuable to add to their community.
I created this Substack to improve my writing by cultivating more clarity of speech and sharing ideas that spark my curiosity along the way.
At this point, I have no idea what I’m doing.
What content to create, how often to publish, or the topics I’ll write about are all mysteries written in the stars.
This letter in front of you and the idea of anything being “nuclear,” for example, was just me having one of my little nerd moments…
But I love juggling different ideas in my head.
Ideas that usually ripen when I put them on a test in the real world or savor over a cup of coffee together with a friend.
Like with the one guy who nudged me into finally publishing my writing, although there have been a few people by now. Much love, you folks know who you are!
But before I get lost in why I’m doing this and how it coulda woulda shoulda look like in the future, let me briefly get back to the heart of the matter.
We live in a world that often values the wrong things.
We get locked up in pursuits and mental models that make us believe in false narratives of happiness and fulfillment.
They don’t serve us in any way, and on top of our lack of awareness, they keep the never-ending loop of dissatisfaction going.
Many of us don’t even know we’re dissatisfied until we zoom out.
For those of us who know, these mindless pursuits distract us from living.
But with a few principles, we can turn life into rewarding play.
I love the analogy of any meaningful journey being like a night drive from one place to another.
You won’t make the distance from San Francisco to New York without functioning headlights on your car.
No matter how powerful the engine.
And while lighting up the entire road is unnecessary and not feasible from your standpoint, all you need to see is the next road section ahead.
With this in mind, I welcome you to join me in the quest to reshape our ideas and perspective - to illuminate the road section ahead of us.
I don’t promise ground-shaking insight or a quick fix to any problems.
But I’m at your service as your literary Uber driver riding you across the digital metropolis of ideas.
To stick with the previous example, the destination is the Big Apple - and it’s up to you how you define that Big Apple in your own life.
A road trip with time and space to dissect and discuss ideas,
grow curiosity, compassion, and creativity,
question virtues and values,
and devote our attention to any topic that defines life’s most critical characteristic:
Being infinite.
Maybe, and just maybe... We’ll acquire nuclear wisdom along the way.
Thanks a bunch,
Mete