I changed up my workout a bit this weekend and added sprinting. And I got back a familiar feeling that I really missed: taunt muscles in the morning. I absolutely love it when I wake up and feel the lactic acid firmly a hold of my legs. It’s good because it reminds you that, yes, yesterday you accomplished something. From there you can build on the foundations of literal physical labor. I see it as the foundation–as though whatever mental or spiritual work you do is then made more legitimate by its predecessor.

In fact, I think I am rearranging my schedule to fit sprint regimens in each weekend. And from this, I’ll start each week off with a solid base of sweat and toil. Everything after that simply adds on exponentially.

But back to the why. Why am I still running? Adding each week to the tally of miles and blistered feet so bad that sometimes I can barely stand? I’m down to an 8.1 bmi (or fat percentage) so it’s no longer really about health. At first it was to fill the hole, to plug that dearth of self-worth with a regular activity. Now that it proceeds in spite of having long moved past it, I would say is something I am incredibly proud of. Instead of being an indication of emptiness it is the manifestation of a certain contentment; a commitment to myself and to labor.

So I don’t want to push anyone else down the same path, it’s not about that. Running might not be for you, in fact maybe it’s not physical activity at all. But still, there is something to be said for that feeling of sweat build at your temples, clogging your pours until it tips and slides down your face. And having the wind catch your shirt and tug at it until your take it off and glisten in the sun. That glorious feeling as you coast to a stop and your body jerks quickly towards blackness, nearly fainting, but catches consciousness again at the last second. Music pounding through earphones that finally deduce the earth around you to a serene quietness. Here, I find peace, among other things. Mainly a full sense of being a man–or at least well on the road to becoming one. I find purpose; definitive goals that I force myself to reach, acting like destiny is a top I can spin on my palm. Here, I relish in the truth of the Von Clausewitz aphorism that “of all military virtues, energy in the conduct of operations has always contributed the most to the glory and the success of arms.” I look around to find myself alone on the track or the street, no competition or marks for comparison, just the energy and the passion that I brought with me.

So when you find that activity for yourself, cede control and pour into it. Allow the current to latch and pull you and there you will find a certain level of happiness that I have not found elsewhere. To the point where when you skip a day, you feel restless and hunger for it. And you pace rooms, eager for the freedom to get out there–alone–and do what you wish. From here you’ll find that overwhelming glory and comfort that people seek from religion–only more meaningful when you realize it comes from within. And then everything else becomes intermittent interruptions from your inner-peace that you really don’t mind. You’ll be enveloped by that calmness that Jack and Durden cherished after Fight Clubs. If there is something else that makes life more worth living–more human than that–then, as far as I can tell, it’s just an added bonus to what I’ve already found.

Actually my second because some douche from Dartmouth stole the exact format of my Tucker Max article. (Compare the two here and here)

Anyways, this guy (who I won’t link to here, but I’ll show you if you email) took myFight Club Moments post and tried to pass it off as his own. He even changed the part about Rudius Media to “As I learned from my time in the Navy…” And then later he topped the whole thing off by stealing a post from Robert Greene and then another one from me.

Of course I want to freak out and get pissed, but aside from emailing him, I don’t think I will. Although I can’t come close to grasping the lack of self-respect it takes claim another’s work as your own. I mean, cheating on a test is one thing, but to pretend, with little incentive, to own credit on a creative work you had nothing to do with is low and lame.

Here’s the advice I got from Tucker last time and if I was smart enough to come up with something better, I would.

“Dude, welcome to the creative arts. This is life. Plagiarism happens, and you aren’t a big enough or good enough writer yet to have enough weight to stop it on your end. Life isn’t alway fair Just keep writing good stuff and get big enough that next time, you do.”

Related: If you’re dealing with plagiarism, this is a good site to help guide you through legal action.

A few days ago I wrote out my essay outline format for a paper I had to write. It actually ended up helping me out a lot and I did 8.5 pages in less than 3 hours.

Here is what the introduction–following the format–ends up looking like:

Since understanding often induces simplification, it is no surprise that the study of global religion is found lacking. Indeed, it seems that Christianity and ethnic religions are so diametrically opposed in their philosophies that the subjection of the latter by the former was inevitable. As author Joel Tishken points out, the current definitions for what constitutes religion regularly ignores “huge portions” of the world. (303) From this he asserts that scholars must rid themselves of the bias that world religion is “evolving” towards a monotheistic, Christian-like faith. Vine Deloria in his book “God is Read” begins with similar assumptions and adds that the evangelical nature of Christianity has set it on a crash-course towards domination and conversion of native peoples. The views of both authors are exemplified in the oral history told by Lin Custalow’s “The True Story of Pocahontas.” This book–serving as a microcosm of the conflict between Christian settlers and the indigenous people of American–shows the great chasm between ethnic and evangelical religion, and how their coexistence seems unlikely. Ultimately, Christianity and ethnic religions look at the world in vastly different ways and thus it seems inappropriate and even condescending to attempt to place the two in a singular category.*

I put the thesis in bold. In the comments section of the last one, someone argued that the thesis should actually go at the bottom of the introduction, which I think is a huge mistake. Since a paper is about make a clear point and then supporting it, don’t you think that means, logically, your clear point must come first? Your thesis is the constitution of your paper and then your support is the democratic practices. One is meaningless without the other preceeding it. Boldly stating your point and then elaborating why that is true makes a great impression on the reader than stating, first, what your evidence is and then later, what it means.

*Let me make it clear that I don’t necessarily believe what I wrote, although it was the correct interpretation of the works. I make this point because I just had to sit through a fellow student use the same logic to actually defend cannibalism in Mesoamerican tribes; which of course is absolutely idiotic.