Be as strong as the knowledge you hold

Modern philosophers should not be people separate from life, sitting in a high chair twiddling their thumbs whilst thinking about insignificant topics.

Nor should they be skinny turtle neck wearing weak men who can come up with a good reason for why god doesn’t exist but can’t keep their relationships together.

Centuries ago, Pythagoras was a boxer. Plato was a wrestler. Xenophon was a soldier and Marcus Aurelius was a leader of an empire.

A philosopher is someone deeply immersed in life, not just the intellectual path. Someone fascinated with the topic of how to be a better human being and get closer to wisdom and the truths of life.

A philosopher is physically, mentally and spiritually strong.

In this video I’m going to explain why being as strong as the knowledge we hold is the key to the deep life. And by strong I mean that in every sense.

Point 2: (my story)

Six months ago my friend Joe and I were walking through the streets of Bristol. Deep in conversation, we began talking about the quality of our lives before we met each other, and he instantly held me accountable for something.

I’ve known Joe for a year. And prior to this conversation he’d watched my first YouTube videos from 2 years ago. After watching these videos he decided to create an alter ego for me; “just philosophical Lewis” and began to mock me. “Hello, my name’s Lewis, did you know Seneca said this….”.

As you might know all too well, when being roasted by a friend we can either accept the truth they are showing us or strike back. I choose to thoroughly enjoy the mockery. Well… I had no choice because it was true.

Joe made me realise that 2 years ago I was just on the intellectual path. I was a thumb twiddling intellectually minded young man obsessed with ideas but as far as turning those ideas into action went, I was an amateur.

During this time of being just on the intellectual path, my relationship was failing, my mental health was the worst it’s ever been and physically I was skinny and weak. I had retreated into the realm of thought to escape life. Perhaps this is the shadow side of intellectualism.

We all know that one person who reads every self-development book there is and never seems to change their behaviour.

“I’ve just read a brilliant book about discipline” And yet they continue to settle into their default path of procrastination and complaining about things being hard.

That was me. Reading reading reading, but no action. All wretch and no vomit. And no physical strength to bear the knowledge I had acquired.

Point 3: (what changed)

But, there was one day when I decided to flip the switch.

I was reading “the art of conversation” by the French philosopher Michel Montaigne and he wrote about how knowledge needs a strong bearer, and how one must be as strong as the knowledge one holds.

“Knowledge is a weighty thing, they {learned men} sink beneath it. Their mental apparatus has not enough energy nor still to display that noble material and to apportion its strength, to exploit it and to make it help them. Knowledge can lodge only in a powerful nature: and that is very rare. Feeble minds, said Socrates, corrupt the dignity of philosophy when they handle it: she appears to be useless and defective when sheathed in a bad covering.”

Here I was, sat in my mum’s garden reading this book, and two words came to mind; physical prowess.

This was a light bulb moment. A sudden call to strength which I had not felt compelled to answer before.

Because it is not enough, as I’ve experienced, to merely KNOW. We must let the strength of that knowledge lodge into a strong physical frame, otherwise when life tests us, we will be found wanting.

As we’ve discussed, philosophers used to be gladiators, sailors, leaders. As men and women of the modern world, we need to return to this.

We need to fight to become the people that philosophy wants to make us.

Point 4: (what newel of knowledge represents)

In essence, this is what NewelOfKnowledge was born out of.

The path of wisdom AND the way of the warrior.

The direct meaning of the word Newel is ‘the central supporting pillar of a spiral or winding staircase’. The words ‘of knowledge’ represent the pursuit of the truths of life.

Therefore, in the same way as an apple corer gets straight to the heart of the fruit, NewelOfKnowledge will get us as close as we can to the truth. And the closer we get to the truth, the more silent we’ll become inside.

Before I tell you the values which will guide us forward, there’s one last point for me to explain.

There is a difference between knowledge and wisdom.

Knowledge means to know. Wisdom means to take that knowledge and apply it practically to life.

It is not enough to just know something. Action must follow. This is why I’ve chosen the word knowledge instead of wisdom. Because, you, as the philosopher watching this are responsible for one thing. Turning the knowledge you learn from this channel into practical wisdom.

The true definition of a philosopher is ‘lover of wisdom’.

So in the same way as a warrior will apply the skills he’s learned in practice to battle, so too we will apply the knowledge we’ve learned from this channel to life.

The 4 values which are going to illuminate our journey are:

• Wisdom
• Strength
• Courage
• Humility
  

The 4 corresponding traits we are going to develop, maintain and sharpen are:

• Verbal impeccability
• Physical prowess
• Unshakeable equanimity
• Intellectual humility
  

So, fellow philosopher, it’s a pleasure to share this journey with you.

From now, until death.

Stay dangerous.