Bite off a little more than you can chew
You get stronger
And you do that in the gym
For example, when you go lift weights, you lift weights that are a little heavier all the time
And as a consequence, you develop yourself physically and you turn into
Who you could be, you turn into more than you are
[Chorus]
More than who – you are
(Who you could be)
More than who – you are
(More than you are)
More than who – you are
(Who you could be)
More than who – you are
(More than you are)
There's a mythological trope that I discuss fairly frequently about rescuing your father from the belly of the dragon
Or the belly of the beast
You see it in the Lion King
You see it when Simba is being initiated by the baboon and he ends up contemplating himself in a dark pool and then his father appears in the sky
And then in the Pinocchio story
When he's trying to become a genuine human being
Instead of a marionette pulled by other people's strings or a liar or a jackass 'cause those are his alternate destinies
He goes down to the darkest place he could find the bottom of the ocean and finds the biggest monster he can look at and inside he finds his father and then rescues him
You get stronger
And you do that in the gym
For example, when you go lift weights, you lift weights that are a little heavier all the time
And as a consequence, you develop yourself physically and you turn into
Who you could be, you turn into more than you are
[Chorus]
More than who – you are
(Who you could be)
More than who – you are
(More than you are)
More than who – you are
(Who you could be)
More than who – you are
(More than you are)
There's a mythological trope that I discuss fairly frequently about rescuing your father from the belly of the dragon
Or the belly of the beast
You see it in the Lion King
You see it when Simba is being initiated by the baboon and he ends up contemplating himself in a dark pool and then his father appears in the sky
And then in the Pinocchio story
When he's trying to become a genuine human being
Instead of a marionette pulled by other people's strings or a liar or a jackass 'cause those are his alternate destinies
He goes down to the darkest place he could find the bottom of the ocean and finds the biggest monster he can look at and inside he finds his father and then rescues him
Okay, so here's a problem
There's a big problem here
The problem is it's true
[Chorus]
You're oppressed, you're oppressed, you're oppressed
You're oppressed, you're oppressed, you're oppressed
You're oppressed, you're oppressed, you're oppressed
You're oppressed, you're oppressed, you're oppressed
God only knows why
You're oppressed, you're oppressed, you're oppressed
You're oppressed, you're oppressed, you're oppressed
You're oppressed, you're oppressed, you're oppressed
You're oppressed, you're oppressed, you're oppressed
(God only knows why)
Maybe you're too short or you're not as beautiful as you could be
Or your grandparent was a serf
Likely, 'cause almost everybody's great grandparent was
And you know, you're not as smart as you could be, and you have a sick relative, and you have your own physical problem
Frankly, you're a mess
Frankly, you're a mess
And you're oppressed in every possible way, including your ancestry and your biology
The entire sum of human history has conspired to produce victimized you
With all your individual pathological problems
It's like yes
True!
There's a big problem here
The problem is it's true
[Chorus]
You're oppressed, you're oppressed, you're oppressed
You're oppressed, you're oppressed, you're oppressed
You're oppressed, you're oppressed, you're oppressed
You're oppressed, you're oppressed, you're oppressed
God only knows why
You're oppressed, you're oppressed, you're oppressed
You're oppressed, you're oppressed, you're oppressed
You're oppressed, you're oppressed, you're oppressed
You're oppressed, you're oppressed, you're oppressed
(God only knows why)
Maybe you're too short or you're not as beautiful as you could be
Or your grandparent was a serf
Likely, 'cause almost everybody's great grandparent was
And you know, you're not as smart as you could be, and you have a sick relative, and you have your own physical problem
Frankly, you're a mess
Frankly, you're a mess
And you're oppressed in every possible way, including your ancestry and your biology
The entire sum of human history has conspired to produce victimized you
With all your individual pathological problems
It's like yes
True!
You know, if you take people and you expose them voluntarily to things that they are avoiding and are afraid of
You know, that they know they need to overcome in order to meet their goals, their self-defined goals
If you can teach people to stand up in the face of the things they're afraid of
They get stronger
And you don't know what the upper limits to that are because you might ask yourself
Like if for 10 years if you didn't avoid doing what you knew you needed to do
By your own definitions, right, within the value structure that you've created
To the degree that you've done that
What would you be like?
[Chorus]
What would you be like?
What would you be like?
(If you stop wasting time)
What would you be like?
What would you be like?
What would you be like?
(If you spoke your mind)
What would you be like?
You know, that they know they need to overcome in order to meet their goals, their self-defined goals
If you can teach people to stand up in the face of the things they're afraid of
They get stronger
And you don't know what the upper limits to that are because you might ask yourself
Like if for 10 years if you didn't avoid doing what you knew you needed to do
By your own definitions, right, within the value structure that you've created
To the degree that you've done that
What would you be like?
[Chorus]
What would you be like?
What would you be like?
(If you stop wasting time)
What would you be like?
What would you be like?
What would you be like?
(If you spoke your mind)
What would you be like?
Better than alcohol, man
Yeah, and the funny thing is if you're trying to stop drinking you need something better than alcohol
And alcohol is pretty good so you better find something a lot better, man
Estimable people do estimable things it's like, yeah, well you wanna figure out something that you're doing with your life that's worth not getting drunk and screwing up
You might say, well, why do people drink too much?
If you like alcohol, that's a stupid question
Why do people drink too much?
Well, 'cause it's great
So why stop? Well, you do stupid things when you're drunk
You hurt yourself you compromise your health it's really hard on the people around you
You tend to turn into a liar and it screws up your life
It’s like yeah, but it's pretty fun
Yeah, well it is but
You need something better than that
And what's better isn't
Being straight and not making mistakes
It's like that's all prohibition in some sense, what's better is
No, you need an adventure, man
Yeah, and the funny thing is if you're trying to stop drinking you need something better than alcohol
And alcohol is pretty good so you better find something a lot better, man
Estimable people do estimable things it's like, yeah, well you wanna figure out something that you're doing with your life that's worth not getting drunk and screwing up
You might say, well, why do people drink too much?
If you like alcohol, that's a stupid question
Why do people drink too much?
Well, 'cause it's great
So why stop? Well, you do stupid things when you're drunk
You hurt yourself you compromise your health it's really hard on the people around you
You tend to turn into a liar and it screws up your life
It’s like yeah, but it's pretty fun
Yeah, well it is but
You need something better than that
And what's better isn't
Being straight and not making mistakes
It's like that's all prohibition in some sense, what's better is
No, you need an adventure, man
Genie is the root word for genius
And it's a really interesting idea because there's this unlimited power that's associated with genius, but it's constrained
And that's really what the human spirit is like
'Cause it has this aspect of the infinite
And it is something that can grant wishes
But it's also constrained, terribly
[Chorus]
I don't ask God for favors
Or for wishes
Or for wishes
You know?
I don't ask God for favors
Or for wishes
Or for wishes
You know?
We're constrained mortally and physically and all that but the thing is, is that
Both the infinite possibility and the constraint are necessary
That's what makes up the genie, it has to be both at the same time
And the idea that, you know, if you find your genie
You can have your wishes, that's right
You have to really want what you're wishing for
Or you have to make the proper sacrifices to get it
It can't be just some whim
You have to ask for something that you would rather not have
Which is usually wisdom
Somebody asked me about prayer
They asked me if I prayed and I thought, well, depends on what you mean by that, exactly
And it's a really interesting idea because there's this unlimited power that's associated with genius, but it's constrained
And that's really what the human spirit is like
'Cause it has this aspect of the infinite
And it is something that can grant wishes
But it's also constrained, terribly
[Chorus]
I don't ask God for favors
Or for wishes
Or for wishes
You know?
I don't ask God for favors
Or for wishes
Or for wishes
You know?
We're constrained mortally and physically and all that but the thing is, is that
Both the infinite possibility and the constraint are necessary
That's what makes up the genie, it has to be both at the same time
And the idea that, you know, if you find your genie
You can have your wishes, that's right
You have to really want what you're wishing for
Or you have to make the proper sacrifices to get it
It can't be just some whim
You have to ask for something that you would rather not have
Which is usually wisdom
Somebody asked me about prayer
They asked me if I prayed and I thought, well, depends on what you mean by that, exactly