Is eternal bliss desirable? Possible? Intelligible? We discuss, you decide.

The singularity gets a bad rap, I think. It’s often mocked as the rapture of the nerds, and part of that is deserved. There are, admittedly, some singularity-enthusiasts whose picture of the future looks a bit too much like classical heaven to us.

But whatever with that, we just went to jiu jitsu summer camp! It was great and I ate all the pie! If you also went and ate as much pie as I—I think I had about 5 pieces, maybe 6—please let me know! Pie club! Exclamations!

Notes

• Apologies to all: last week, we gave you the wrong URL for Yoga for BJJ. This is the right one.
• Frank (Will Ferrell) answers a question in Old School (very important link). Also super important: Cheeeese!
• Ready to go down the fasting rabbit hole? For me, it started with the StrongLifts review of Brad Pilon’s intermittent fasting protocol. Found my way to Leangains from there. Then we bros found and talked to Thomas Seyfried. And most recently, my dude is Jason Fung, author of The Complete Guide to Fasting. I omitted some other influences, but that’s a lot right there. I’ll also say that, as a meditator (or whatever), I’ve been intrigued by fasting from a contemplative angle as well. The fact that fasting is enshrined in various spiritual and religious traditions further piqued my interest in the practice.
• Other diet/fasting things we mentioned: the film Fat, Sick & Nearly Dead, and the 5:2 diet, the details of which I had mostly right.
• For those keeping score at home, that bit I said about flowers and weeds belongs to Dogen. But Shunryu Suzuki commented on it, and Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind is likely where I first saw it. Here’s what Suzuki said: “Dogen-zenji said, “Although everything has Buddha nature, we love flowers, and we do not care for weeds.” This is true of human nature. But that we are attached to some beauty is itself Buddha’s activity. That we do not care for weeds is also Buddha’s activity. We should know that. If you know that, it is all right to attach to something. If it is Buddha’s attachment, that is non-attachment. So in love there should be hate, or non-attachment. And in hate there should be love, or acceptance. Love and hate are one thing. We should not attach to love alone. We should accept hate. We should accept weeds, despite how we feel about them. If you do not care for them, do not love them; if you love them, then love them.” (Lovely, no?)
• If not for back pain, we wouldn’t know who Bruce Lee is. Or so I’ve been lead to believe.

Media Mentions

Tom

• BJJ Globetrotters USA Camp 2017
• The Jiu Jitsu Brotherhood Podcast

Scott

• BJJ Globetrotters USA Camp 2017
• Pat Metheny Group

Zach

• BJJ Globetrotters USA Camp 2017 (special Zachs-allowed version)
• Sherlock
• Billions