Dan Blizzarian, Aristotle and Friendship

Dan Bilzerian gets it.....the pursuit of money for money and sex for sex are blackholes, what Hegel would call the 'spurious infinity" of things. (Yes I  really do think he is correct about this.)


‘For, it seems, not everything is loved but [only] what is lovable, and this is either good or pleasant or useful’  Aristotle 
(N. Ethics 1155b).

Those who wish good things to their friends for the sake of the latter are friends most of all, because they do so because of their friends themselves, and not coincidentally. (1156b9–11) 

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Here we see Dan Blizerian (who for some odd reason does not call himself 'the Bliz' AKA Ozzy's handle in the 80's) playing captain of one of his pleasure crafts- of which he would own many. #CBD 



Background:

Dan is a around 40 years old and an US Instagram/internet star who I knew about because of social media and originally due to his dad's "questionable" financial activity in the '90's, see this article about how his family lived in a $60 million dollar mansion without actually owning it for decades.I am not a poker player but he was a big poker guy for a few years, as well. Was it a way to launder money or just spend an inheritance -who would know. 

https://www.tampabay.com/news/business/markets/years-after-62-million-judgment-paul-bilzerian-is-alive-and-well-on/2198173/


Now I am not going to start bashing Dan for being a privileged American playboy. That would be pointless. He does not seem to be a mean spirited person or out to hurt people. Why would I attack him?

I mean its the luck of the draw in many ways that led to his life. As Aristotle would say "luck" is a major component of happiness.

The guy has had his shares of health scares (heart attacks) and legal scares and who knows what else. The guy also has zero privacy.  Life is not all roses for anyone, ever.

What I want to talk about today is somethings he recently said in an interview. I only watched about 10 minutes of it but that was enough. He said, "chasing money and sex are black holes- you will never have enough". Furthermore he said that money does not make one happy, instead true friendships does. This is TRUTH. This is classical Greek wisdom. This is in Aristotle. 

Human strive for the good, as political animals it means we need others. Much of the world is survival and deception and loss. But sometimes we can transcend necessity and find other human beings we can truly call friends. It is in these social relationships, small groups at that, where humans find deep, satisfying happiness.

I was in fact taken back at how much I agreed with him and what he said. How could Dan be so astute on this. 



One word: EXPERIENCE. 

He has had the experiences of lots of money, or lots of models around him, or lots of parties, or lots of guns or lots of whatever he wants and you know what he said about being happy, "Doing mushrooms on beach with his buddies". For his this was a happy episode of life, it had little to do with money or anything else. He went on to say social media is bad for human relationships and he wants off it. This is some good advice.

While the guy is not really educated academically, he has a long forgotten form of education:

Its called being very rich and very independent and doing what you actually want until all the meaningless shit is revealed for what it is. 

In simple terms, millions of young people look at Dan and want his lifestyle. Whether it is legit real or a social media stage show for 'likes' and all the cars and models are in fact hired (who would know) it does not matter. The reality is Dan has been able to apparently live a lifestyle many young men would envy- and old men, and women and everyone -anyone, who likes to have fun would envy.

The point here is that when he says "friendship is what makes you happy" this is not some theory he has. 

Its more like, we did this big experiment and just did whatever we wanted, acted like super rich US capitalists, and pursued all the status symbols and actually lived THAT life. And found it wanting. That life does not make you happier. Is anyone smart enough to take this advice? I mean the curse of humanity is that we seem to have the desire to learn each thing ourselves, and want to ignore others. Its where the crazy idea that all opinions are equal comes from. 

If you want to be happy, focus on friendships, real friendships and carving out real quality time with these people. Make sure the people close to you are actually friends and ask yourself how you can be a better friend. 

“Friendship is unnecessary, like philosophy, like art…. It has no survival value; rather it is one of those things which give value to survival.” 

― C.S. Lewis, The Four Loves

COMING SOON: CHANGES

THANK YOU FOR VISITING MY BLOG. 

It is on a hiatus right now -in a maintenance phase while I develop my new website. 

I started this blog in 2011 (as a graduate student) and its been over 8 years now- so its time to "mature" my site to include more academic publications since I am now teaching a number of courses every semester and am working on my book.

My upcoming book: 

Leisure: Classical to Contemporary Conceptions should be out in summer of 2019