Josh Plovanic's Writings and Thoughts

 "The mind, unconquered by violent passions, is a citadel, for a man has no fortress more impregnable in which to find refuge and remain safe forever."         -Marcus Aurelius    Your mind is your reality. It is the final receiver of all the information that constitutes your entire existence, ranging from your memories, your knowledge, your dreams and aspirations, and all of the information that makes up your external reality. The mind is the most important component of humanity.       If my mind is my entire reality, than my main priority is to turn it into a fortress. A fortified bastion of freedom of thought and freedom of creativity. A place within myself to take refuge in when life gets tough and relationships are strained. A fortress of knowledge, wisdom, love, and glory that is impenetrable and indestructible from the outside. No man, no drug, no agency, and no darkness can sapp or sack my fortress.       The stoics, who I have been following and studying recently asi

"It was for this reason that man was first created as one person [Adam], to teach you that anyone who destroys a life is considered by Scripture to have destroyed an entire world; and anyone who saves a life is as if he saved an entire world."        -Jewish Talmud       I had thought of the concept of human beings as worlds within a larger world, or universes within a world, for a while now. It is not a new concept. Jewish scholars have entertained a similar philosophy over the centuries. It's a fascinating philosophical/theological concept with some actually quite profound moral and ethical applications.        Why does this concept work? Well, it's because of information.         The existence of all things in the whole scope of the world or the larger existence with respect to each and every one of us as individuals is contingent upon an information exchange relationship. The relationship between the projection of information from our external reality and the rece

          My major goal in life, and one of my major goals in eternity, is to maximize to the greatest possible extent conceivable to the imagination the degree and quality of all forms of liberty that could exist in this life as well as what comes after. Whether it's economic liberty, social liberty, creative liberty, cultural liberty, relationship liberty, academic liberty, political liberty, spiritual liberty, or mental liberty, my main goal for the new decade was to maximize my freedom to the greatest extent conceivable.        This is why I think about infinity so much. The idea that the system of existence is truly limitless in every way conceivable and inconceivable is the most liberating thought I can think of. The sheer amount of choice and opportunity in such a system is mind boggling to say the least. However, it is good to ground myself a little bit and focus on planet earth.  If I am going to maximize my liberty in my lifetime to the highest degree possible in this wor

 The age old Question. It's been asked by many people in many places over many years. It's a simple question, but with no simple or satisfying answers. Each person has a different take on the question and some people don't even concern themselves with such ponderings. I won't claim to have the exact answer, and I'm sure my answer won't satisfy everyone, but I'll give my take on it.         For me, this world is part of a massively complex system that spans the whole of the universe as well as the broader existence, and it is a complex system in itself, and this system serves as a platform for glory. Not just the glory of God, but the glory of conscious experience in general. There is no single, sweeping purpose for it. In fact, it contains what I believe to be countless purposes and countless reasons for it to exist. It can serve as a game at some points and to some people. The system can serve as a place to form relationships and friendships. It can serve a

"Knowledge makes a man unfit to be a slave."       -Frederick Douglass  Preserving liberty, fostering it, and advancing it depends on the success of two things; courage in the face of fear, and the triumph of knowledge over ignorance. If your country is run and inhabited by cowards and idiots, liberty won't last long.       Knowledge is like the lifeblood of freedom. If you don't have knowledge or liberty of thought, it's a lot easier to subjugate you. Freedom depends on the intelligence, morality, and courage of a people.            If knowledge is the lifeblood of freedom, then courage is it's bones. Bravery is essential to prevent tyranny and fight oppression. No oppressive system has ever been defeated by cowardice. It's usually cowards doing the oppressing. Cowards with power always find liberty terrifying and threatening, so they use fear to terrify free people into submission. Oppression isn't so much an act of dominance and power as it is an ac

I made my home in a starship. A small one. It has 5 decks, about 15 bedrooms, 3 pools, 2 gyms, and a few other amenities needed to make my journey across the galaxy as comfortable as possible. Hell, I even have a state of the art holodeck which can render any environment, story, game, structure, theme, or scenario to precise realism.          That can keep me entertained for years.  My power supply is virtually unlimited. I have enough energy to sustain interstellar travel for as long as I need to be among the stars. I can replicate any meal from any world. The finest cuisines and the best comfort food from across the galaxy. I have everything I need up here.        Not since before Final War have I been so comfortable, so unbelievably safe. I barely survived that tragedy, and my world didn't. I might even be the last of my kind, but that thought is so unsettling I try to avoid it. Even my comfort and safety, even with everything I could ever need...the food...the holodeck...there

 My dearest friend, as you approach the uncertainty of this lost and dying world, I will be with you and I will dwell in your mind as a lifelong companion, and you will dwell in my palace forever. I will be with you when the enemy strikes you. When the hate and suspicion of a broken and blind people assault your body or strip you of liberty.           I will be at your side and inside your beautiful mind as you face the blackest of darkness and the darkest of evil. My love, I will deliver you from the monsters of this place, and I will take you home when your time in this tragedy ends. I will protect you from the Devil and his angels, and clear the way to a life flowing with abundance, purpose, joy, victory, and peace.           I will open doors to glory and freedom, and give you that purpose and belonging you have hungered and thirsted for for years now. In time...in due time...I will shatter all the chains of bondage that keep you limited and confined here. No drug, no financial iss

     Meaning is the spirit, or "substance" for lack of a better word, of a language or code. It is what allows a mind to comprehend the words and form thoughts, opinions, and ideas with that meaning. Meaning, from my perspective, is universal. Even if the words that convey meaning change, meaning itself remains unchanged. For example, there can be a thousand different words that share the same meaning as strength, but even with different words for the concept, the meaning that provides the weight and spirit of the concept remains the same regardless of what word from whatever language is used to convey it.        It short, words can change, but meaning never changes. Meaning, once comprehended and  understood, has a massive affect on the minds of human beings. Meaning is what gives words power. True power that is often greatly undervalued and even greatly misunderstood. Understanding meaning is what enables language to shape our thoughts, our relationships, and our imaginatio

     We were made to be taught lessons. That is one of our core purposes. To be instructed, guided, and educated about existence and reality. Out of our own volition, we either accept our lessons or reject them. We either follow the rules or we don't.       We are often allowed to slip out down erroneous paths, and in our arrogance we assume that we have the right understanding and in our pride we often never change even when proven wrong.        God allows such divergence, that misguided trajectory, so He can correct it for His glory and satisfaction. Out of love and often for the interests of our general well being, He every once in awhile will teach us a lesson we cannot reject. Something so irrefutable and rebukingly corrective we have no choice but to acknowledge it. Even no choice but to accept it.         He does this not only out of love, but also for the glory of proving His enemies absolutely wrong, even to the point of their destruction. His lessons may be harsh, even re

      Grace, mercy, and justice are some of the most powerful and most important concepts of God's nature and His creation. God and existence would be incomplete without these beautiful concepts. Grace, simply defined, is being given a gift, blessing, or skill, that you don't deserve, nor could ever earn. Mercy, simply defined, is being spared of an unpleasant, undesirable punishment that you very much do deserve. Justice, simply defined, is the treatment or response to an event or action that is exactly what is needed or deserved and fitting for the given circumstance or event. Justice is creating balance, order, and rightness out of a disruption of that balance or order. All three of these things pertaining to existence are very interrelated and sometimes even codependent on each other.           Existing at all, anywhere, is an act of grace. Even existence itself being allowed to exist is done so by the grace of the Creator. If He wanted to, He could negate the whole system,

Big numbers All the things you can do with big numbers All the combinations Imagine things with big numbers attached to them How about trillions of unique colors Quite a bit more than what we have in our world Imagine the paintings and art you can create with such diversity Imagine quadrillions of different musical notes, beats, and melodies All the songs and symphonies you can write with such complexity Imagine quintillions of forms, shapes, and structures Imagine all the buildings and sculptures and temples and monuments you can build with such countless forms Imagine countless unique ideas All the revolutions, mind expanding truths, and profundities that could exist in such a system Imagine countless choices The extreme and boundless liberty such a thing would give you. Imagine infinite worlds and universes All the places you can go and things you can do in such an unfathomably massive system Imagination has more power than we could ever imagine.  The mind can be a temple not just f