Brian Johnson (Heroic +1 series) explains 'soul force' or 'moral charisma'—the radiantly virtuous power (D) described by ancient Chinese philosophers and discussed in Edward Slingerland's book. He connects wu wei (effortless/virtuous action) to cultivating D as an outward, detectable radiance and closes with a brief imaginative exercise to embody one's most heroic, eudaimonic self.
Hi, this is Brian. Welcome back to another heroic plus one. In our last plus one, we talked.
About the fact that consistency is the.
Exponentially powerful variable that helps activate our soul force.
We discussed our soul force equation and.
The fact that from my perspective, activating.
Our soul force is a function of.
Getting your energy focused on what's important. Now, consistently today, I want to talk.
About the fact that cultivating what we.
Call our heroic soul force superpower was.
Essentially the whole point of ancient Chinese philosophy as well. Seriously. We talk about this in our notes on Edward Slingerland's great book, Trying not.
To Try, which for the record, has.
Become one of my all time favorite.
Notes that I have reread many times. Check it out. We also talk about this in our plus one on virtuous charismatic power and in our plus one on the four different approaches to wu wei.
Here's the short story. Ancient Chinese philosophers like Confucius and Lao.
Tzu were all about helping people experience.
The state of what they called wu wei.
We translate wu wei as effortless action or spontaneous action, but it, like so.
Many of the beautiful ancient words we explore, has a deeper meaning, something closer.
To effortless, noble, or virtuous action. In other words, the ancient Chinese philosophers.
Wanted to help people get to a.
Point where they effortlessly showed up as the best, most heroic version of themselves.
All day, every day. Sounds a lot like eudaimonia.
And the point of all of our work together, eh? Now how did they help people do that?
By helping them cultivate what was known.
As D. What is D spelled?
D. E. As Slingerland says, and I quote, people who are in wu wei.
Have D typically translated as virtue, power, or charismatic power. D is radiance that others can detect, and it serves as an outward signal.
That one is in wu wei.
End quote.
Now, Slingerland also describes that felt sense of power as moral charisma. Virtuous, charismatic power, also known as moral charisma, also known as soul force. How'd you like some of that? Think of the most radiantly alive person.
You know, the one you most respect and admire.
Imagine yourself in their presence as they shine. You know that energy you feel from them. That's their moral charisma, or as we.
Like to say, their soul force.
And that brings us to the point of today's 1. Imagine yourself as the most radiantly alive version of you. See yourself going through your day effortlessly expressing the best version of yourself. Feel the eudaimonia and the virtuous, charismatic.
Power of your soul force being fully expressed.
You got it?
Fantastic. Go be that best, most heroic version of yourself today.
