The Law of Love

Tag: writing

  • Manson’s book about how ‘everything is f*cked’ and how it relates to hope and the happiness

    I wrote about Manson’s book “The Subtle Art of Not GIving a F*ck” and now we turn our attention to his other book…

    “Everything Is F*cked” –

    Core Premise

    • Life is materially better than ever, yet people feel spiritually and psychologically bankrupt.
    • Hope is the ultimate resource, and society is losing it.

    1. The Paradox of Progress

    • Comfort, wealth, and technology have increased; anxiety, depression, and cynicism have also risen.
    • Material success ≠ happiness.

    Lesson: Focus on internal values and meaning, not external validation.

    2. The Crisis of Hope

    • Hope comes from believing in a larger narrative or purpose.
    • Modern ideologies (consumerism, politics, social media) often provide false or shallow hope.

    Lesson: Cultivate hope through authentic values and personal responsibility.

    3. Values and Responsibility

    • Poor or destructive values: instant gratification, entitlement, avoidance of discomfort.
    • Good values: long-term responsibility, resilience, honesty, enduring struggle.

    Lesson: Choose values that prepare you for adversity, not just comfort.

    4. Meaning and the Mind

    • Humans naturally create meaning, even in meaningless circumstances.
    • Problems arise when meaning is based on illusions, fantasies, or moral superiority.

    Lesson: Base life meaning on reality, responsibility, and ethical principles, not vanity or social status.

    5. Pain is Good

    • Suffering is essential for growth, character, and hope.
    • Avoiding discomfort leads to nihilism, cynicism, or stagnation.

    Lesson: Embrace pain as a teacher and guide.

    6. Self-Deception & Society

    • Modern people often blame external forces instead of accepting personal responsibility.
    • Freedom and hope require owning your life and choices.

    Lesson: Stop blaming, start acting consciously and deliberately.

    7. Key Takeaways

    1. Life is difficult and uncertain — avoid illusions of comfort.
    2. Meaning, hope, and fulfillment come from enduring struggle responsibly.
    3. True freedom = responsibility + honesty + clear values.
    4. Happiness is byproduct of growth and ethical alignment, not external success.

    Practical Application

    • Identify your core values and align your life with them.
    • Practice resilience and delayed gratification.
    • Face problems instead of avoiding them.
    • Maintain realistic optimism, grounded in action, not fantasy.
    • Limit social media, consumerist, or political distractions that undermine hope.

  • a day in the life of sue, a libertarian

    A DAY IN THE LIFE OF SUE, A REPUBLICAN
    Sue gets up at 6 a.m. and fills her coffeepot with water to prepare her morning coffee. The water is clean and good because some tree-hugging liberal fought for minimum water-quality standards.
    With her first swallow of coffee, she takes her daily medication. Her medications are safe to take because some stupid commie liberal fought to ensure their safety and that they work as advertised.
    All but $10 of her medications are paid for by her employer’s medical plan because some liberal union workers fought their employers for paid medical insurance – now Sue gets it too.
    She prepares her morning breakfast, bacon and eggs. Sue’s bacon is safe to eat because some girly-man liberal fought for laws to regulate the meat packing industry.
    In the morning shower, Sue reaches for her shampoo. Her bottle is properly labeled with each ingredient and its amount in the total contents because some crybaby liberal fought for her right to know what she was putting on her body and how much it contained.
    Sue dresses, walks outside and takes a deep breath. The air she breathes is clean because some environmentalist wacko liberal fought for laws to stop industries from polluting our air.
    She walks to the subway station for her government-subsidized ride to work. It saves her considerable money in parking and transportation fees because some fancy-pants liberal fought for affordable public transportation, which gives everyone the opportunity to be a contributor.
    Sue begins her work day. She has a good job with excellent pay, medical benefits, retirement, paid holidays and vacation because some lazy liberal union members fought and died for these working standards. Sue’s employer pays these standards because Sue’s employer doesn’t want his employees to call the union.
    If Sue is hurt on the job or becomes unemployed, she’ll get a worker compensation or unemployment check because some stupid liberal didn’t think she should lose her home because of her temporary misfortune.
    Its noontime and Sue needs to make a bank deposit so she can pay some bills. Sue’s deposit is federally insured by the FSLIC because some godless liberal wanted to protect Sue’s money from unscrupulous bankers who ruined the banking system before the Great Depression.
    Sue has to pay her Fannie Mae-underwritten mortgage and her below-market federal student loan because some elitist liberal decided that Sue and the government would be better off if she was educated and earned more money over her lifetime.
    Sue is home from work. She plans to visit her father this evening at his farm home in the country. She gets in her car for the drive. Her car is among the safest in the world because some America-hating liberal fought for car safety standards. She arrives at her childhood home. Her generation was the third to live in the house financed by Farmers’ Home Administration because bankers didn’t want to make rural loans. The house didn’t have electricity until some big-government liberal stuck his nose where it didn’t belong and demanded rural electrification.
    She is happy to see her father, who is now retired. Her father lives on Social Security and a union pension because some wine-drinking, cheese-eating liberal made sure he could take care of himself so Sue wouldn’t have to.
    Sue gets back in her car for the ride home, and turns on a radio talk show. The radio host keeps saying that liberals are bad and conservatives are good. He doesn’t mention that Republicans have fought against every protection and benefit Sue enjoys throughout her day. Sue agrees: “We don’t need those big-government liberals ruining our lives! After all, I’m self-made and believe everyone should take care of themselves, just like I have.”