Hey friends,

Of all the virtues we aspire to embody, kindness should reside near the top. If you take inventory of all the world’s problems, almost every single one can be resolved with it.

With that said, there is a nuance to navigate.

It turns out that there’s a species of kindness which doesn’t add to one’s well-being, but detracts from it. Instead of acting as a force for compassion, it becomes a proponent of cowardice.

So in today’s post, we’re going to explore the border between the two. Even the greatest virtues require caution, and kindness isn't exempt.

When you’re ready, let’s dive right in:

​Be Kind, But Keep Your Integrity​

A Book I’ve Been Enjoying

​The Aleph and Other Stories by Jorge Luis Borges — If you were able to view every crevice of the world in an instant, how would you describe that experience? If you were to convey the wisdom you gleaned from observing infinitude, how would it come out? Would it sound profound, or unbelievably trite?

These are some of the questions that will emerge once you read the titular story from this beautiful collection of short stories. I loved “The Aleph” in particular because it explores the limits of language on describing experience, which is something I’ve long been fascinated by. And when fiction is done well, it does a better job conveying a conundrum than any work of non-fiction ever can.

An Illustrated Insight

"I... a universe of atoms, an atom in a universe."

— Richard Feynman

A Thought I’ve Been Pondering

A core tension we experience is the dance between our intuition and our conditioning. Intuition is your inner compass, whereas conditioning is the outer wind that disturbs it. Intuition requires no justifications, whereas conditioning always does.

We live in a world that actively tries to sway you from your intuition. People will use fear to convince you that their belief is greater than yours, or that you should reconsider the path you want to take. This could take the form of something wide like a social norm, or something narrow like a disapproving family member. Regardless of the scale, both are equally effective in getting you to doubt yourself.

Confidence is a commitment to trusting your inner compass, despite how strong the outer winds are. If you do the work to know yourself, then you’ll realize that no external voice can adequately convey the inner complexities you embody. And through that awareness, you’ll reliably choose your intuition above all else.

A Brief Parting Question

What’s an example of you choosing your inner compass above everything? How did you stick with your intuition even when it was difficult to do so?

As always, hit reply to share any thoughts, to respond to the parting question, or to simply say hello. I love hearing from you.

Thanks for reading, and feel free to share this email with anyone who might enjoy it. Have a great rest of your week!

-Lawrence Yeo

P.S. Thanks to Harry Hand for adding your support on Patreon! It means so much. If you’d like to support More To That and get access to exclusive AMAs, book recommendations, offline posts, and other reflections, join as a patron today.

P.P.S. If you want to learn how to write reflections like the one I shared today, check out The Examined Writer. It’s 3 hours of self-paced material, all designed to elevate your writing practice.