Carrying the Torch

Carrying the Torch: Dr. Bob is Gone. His Ideas Aren't.

They say you shouldn’t speak ill of the dead. I say that’s bullshit. Death doesn’t make a person a saint. But in the case of Dr. Bob Melamede, it’s hard to find anything ill to say. The man was a renegade, a visionary, a “stoned-out hippie with a PhD,” and my damn friend. And now, he’s gone.

But here’s the thing about ideas: they don’t die. They don’t get buried in a box and rot away. They either fade into obscurity or they catch fire and spread. Dr. Bob’s ideas are a wildfire waiting to happen. And it’s our job—yours and mine—to be the ones holding the torch.

The Problem: We’re Addicted to Equilibrium

You think you want balance in your life? You’re wrong. You’ve been fed a lie. The entire self-help industry is built on this fantasy of a “balanced life.” Work-life balance. A balanced diet. A balanced portfolio. It’s all a crock. Nature doesn’t do balance. Nature does flow. It exists in a constant state of flux, a dance on the edge of chaos. It’s a system that is far from equilibrium.

Life isn’t a perfectly balanced scale. It’s a raging river. You can either fight the current and drown, or you can learn to navigate it. Most people are trying to build a dam. They’re desperately trying to hold back the relentless forward march of time, to create a little pocket of stasis where everything is predictable and safe. They are Backward-Looking People (BLPs), and they are doomed to fail. The universe, my friends, is a one-way street. The arrow of time only points forward. The past is a ghost. Trying to live in it is an exercise in futility.

“The arrow of time is the increase of entropy. The universe is a one-way street. You can’t go back.” - Dr. Bob Melamede

This addiction to equilibrium, this fear of change, is the root of so much of our suffering. We cling to old ideas, old relationships, old jobs, long after they’ve started to poison us. We resist the natural flow of things, and in doing so, we create our own prisons. We become stagnant. And in a universe governed by the second law of thermodynamics, stagnation is death.

The Application: How to Live Far From Equilibrium

So how do we apply this to our own lives? How do we stop being BLPs and start being FLPs? How do we carry the torch for Dr. Bob?

First, you have to embrace the chaos. Stop trying to control everything. Stop trying to plan every last detail of your life. Life is going to throw you curveballs. That’s a given. The question is, are you going to be the one who swings and misses, or the one who knocks it out of the park? You have to learn to be adaptable, to be resilient, to be like water. As Bruce Lee said, “Be water, my friend.”

Second, you have to feed your ECS. And I’m not just talking about cannabis, although that can certainly be a powerful tool. I’m talking about a holistic approach to health. I’m talking about eating real food, moving your body, getting enough sleep, and managing your stress. I’m talking about things that our ancestors did instinctively, but that we’ve forgotten in our modern, sterile, “balanced” world.

Third, you have to find your flow. What are the things that make you feel alive? What are the things that make you lose track of time? What are the things that put you in that state of “effortless effort”? That’s your flow state. That’s your personal connection to the far-from-equilibrium nature of the universe. The more you can cultivate that state, the more you will be in alignment with the way things really are.

And finally, you have to spread the message. You have to be a beacon of light in a world that is increasingly dark and chaotic. You have to be the one who is willing to have the uncomfortable conversations, to challenge the status quo, to speak truth to power. You have to be the one who is willing to carry the torch.

The Takeaway: Your Action Items

I’m not going to leave you with a bunch of feel-good platitudes. I’m going to give you some concrete action items. Things you can do, right now, to start living a more far-from-equilibrium life.

1. Do something that scares you. I’m not talking about jumping out of a plane (unless that’s your thing). I’m talking about something that pushes you out of your comfort zone. Have that difficult conversation. Start that business you’ve been dreaming of. Take that trip you’ve been putting off. Do something that reminds you that you are alive.
2. Unschedule yourself. Look at your calendar for the next week and cancel one thing. Just one. Create a pocket of unstructured time. A space for spontaneity. A moment to just be, without a goal or an agenda. See what happens.
3. Learn something new. Pick a topic that you know nothing about and dive in. Read a book. Watch a documentary. Take a class. Expand your mind. The more you learn, the more adaptable you become.
4. Connect with nature. Go for a walk in the woods. Sit by the ocean. Stare at the stars. Remind yourself that you are part of something much, much bigger than yourself. Let the grandeur of the universe put your own petty problems in perspective.
5. Share this article. Seriously. If this resonated with you, don’t just keep it to yourself. Share it with someone who needs to hear it. Be a part of the wildfire. Be a torchbearer.

Closing

Dr. Bob is gone. But his legacy is just beginning. It’s a legacy of rebellion, of curiosity, of a relentless pursuit of truth. It’s a legacy that challenges us to be better, to be more alive, to be more human. It’s up to us to carry that torch, to keep the fire burning, to build a world that is more in tune with the fundamental laws of the universe.