Your Taste Will Save Your Soul.

Happy Sunday, Reader,
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In a world where A.I is accelerating at a scary rate, and we’re questioning what reality is and what isn’t…

I believe that those who will rise to the very top will not be the ones who work the hardest, but those who lean into their taste.

Aesthetic intelligence is the final moat. Taste, discernment and subtle judgement now matter more than information.

Knowing what looks good, feels good, and stirs the soul has been something humans have understood since time began.

This intentionality is woven into the fabric of our human experience - from the choice of words an author uses, the frames of a film a director stitches together, even to the city planning that goes into building the streets we walk through.

That’s what makes great art - music, movies, writing and work that embodies expressions of the individual or collective taste.

But now, where A.I has closed the gap and lowered the barrier to entry in every field; the philosophy of taste matters more than ever.

How much of what you see is a.i generated? That lacks soul and depth? [I think they call it “slop”]

Previously, taste was nice to have; now it will save you not only financially but also spiritually.

Because, unfortunately, the (new) world is designed to make you feel spiritually numb.

And if you do not awaken to the fact that you must play your part in rebuilding it, you will live forever as a machine. Just as they intended.

And so in this letter, I’m going to give you a practical guide on how to lean into your taste,

• So you don’t get left behind.
• How to break through the noise using your unique gifts
• And why you should resist the programming that you’re being fed so that you can live on your terms…
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Developing Aesthetic Judgement.

We all have this inherent knowing of what feels good, sounds good, and looks good.

When our senses are satisfied to some degree, we usually attribute it to the experience as a whole.

Maybe it’s a song you’re hearing on the radio, or a podcast you’re listening to.

The top 1% dive a little deeper; they break down the layers of the experience to identify what is making them feel this way, rather than leaving it unconscious.

And that is what helps them develop what I like to call aesthetic judgement or aesthetic intelligence.

They get curious, ask questions, go down rabbit holes, read books, visit museums, and speak to professionals. To get to the root of why what they’re looking at or experiencing feels magical.

I remember when I uncovered my first “why” behind why something makes me feel a certain way.

It was film.

Watching films always felt like an experience to me. Falling into a world that felt like it could be real, developing relationships with characters through the looking glass, wondering where the storyline would go…

When I broke down why I love film, I began to uncover the threads of what goes into movie making.

I took studio tours to see behind the scenes and learn about set design, music design, acting, directing, and production.

To make a long story short, the further I dove into this rabbit hole, the more I began to understand why movies make us feel this way.

And then came the important part that I want to get across to you - pattern recognition.

In my opinion, one of the highest forms of intelligence is pattern recognition.

When I knew that certain chords were used in particular scenes to evoke specific emotions, it was easy to spot them in any other film I watched thereafter.

I knew what the director was trying to communicate to the audience subliminally.

And now that I knew this, my skill of aesthetic judgement/intelligence had been sharpened.

Judgement is just the ability to make considered decisions or come to sensible conclusions…

When I have the why in my mind to reference, it helps me form an accurate judgement.

And better yet, I can use that conclusion in my own work; I’ll tell you exactly how shortly.

But so that you know, this doesn’t just go for film; I have a bunch of these “whys” in my mind now.

I wondered why walking through European cities felt pleasing, whilst walking in America didn’t. I learnt about city planning and architecture, and then began to spot patterns across the countries I visited.

I wondered why certain books spoke to me more than others. I learnt how to write. I began to spot patterns in the books I read in their sentence structure, language, and pacing.

I wondered why stage magic and being a showman called to me so much as a kid. I learnt about human psychology, the art of steering a conversation, and flair.

You see, aesthetic judgment is subjective.

What I like, you might not, and vice versa.

Which is why I can’t just tell you what’s ‘good or bad’.

But I can tell you how to develop the eye to decide for yourself.

In life, you don’t want to be guessing when the data is readily available for you to discover - that’s a fool's game.

If you guess, you cannot repeat or implement, and that is what creates mastery.

So the first step to saving yourself is to become conscious of what stirs your soul, and dig into why that is.

(By the way, becoming aware of these things can also protect you from when it is being used against you too.)

Once you uncover the answers, you find the patterns, when you find the patterns, you sharpen your intelligence.

For instance, I am building software with a friend at the moment, which I know is going to be huge.

(News on that soon, excited to share - this will genuinely transform the way you approach your internal mastery.)

And before we began, I drew out some universal design laws we must follow that help evoke emotion on a subconscious level.

This was based on the patterns I had seen in companies and people I admire like Steve Jobs.

But had I not dug deeper into why certain brands or designers made me feel that way in the past, I wouldn’t have been able to implement it into my own work.

But here’s where most people go wrong: they overconsume, and they don’t know where to look - which is why this next idea is so important…

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Filtering, Not Gathering.

I’ll tell you why information doesn’t matter anymore.

Naval said it best:

50 years ago, if you wanted to find something out, you had to go to your local library, find an encyclopedia, then swim through the ocean of words to find it.

Today, you open ChatGPT and ask,

“What did people used to do before toothpaste was invented?”

(I literally searched for that this morning when it came up as a thought)

The friction between question and answer is almost zero.

And so, if you’re optimising to have the best information - whether that be in your business or career - you are going to lose.

You will not outcompete A.I or computers in memorisation or recall.

It used to be the case that in life, the one with the most information won. But now, as Naval said, true knowledge is about filtering through the noise and BS.

Because with an abundance of information also comes an abundance of misinformation.

Again, this is where judgment or discernment comes in - choosing your sources wisely, who you listen to, who and what you take advice from, and what you consume.

If you’re trying to lean into your uniqueness but rely on ChatGPT to write your scripts for your content, you’re gathering, not filtering.

How would a robot know you better than YOU?

But if you’re trying to create a history report, then sure, it’ll work better than you trying to think your way there.

If your moat is your taste,

Filtering is what helps you collect the tools to build it.

And you can only filter when you know what you’re looking for (A.K.A: Aesthetic intelligence)

Do you see how it all connects?

Now, let me explain why the philosophy of taste is so important right now and what happens if you continue living passively.

Spiritually Numb

I’m not one of those people who say, “Oh, the world used to be better in the past! We had things right before!"

Because whilst we had some things right, we had some things very wrong too, but most people seem to skip over that part.

The 60s were great for the American dream and the nuclear family.

But it was also full of incredible levels of racism and discrimination that you wouldn’t believe. Commercial flights were reserved for the elite class. Opportunity for entrepreneurship was little to none. Just to name a few…

I think we live in the best time in history. It’s the golden age.

But because we’re so chronically online and constantly exposed to global terrors, it doesn’t feel like it.

But what if I told you that, too, was by design?

My point is that the deeper I go down the rabbit hole of why the world is the way it is, the more I speak with higher-ups, the more I understand that none of it is accidental.

And all of it is designed to keep you spiritually numb.

From the way neo-cityscapes are designed (using glass, mirror and soulless materials) all the way through to the propaganda you are fed to make you think that there are ‘teams’ and keep you divided on social media.

Here’s the truth: the universe will always find a way to reach an equilibrium.

So whatever forces are working for ‘evil’ must also be countered with ‘good’.

And you play your part, by refusing to eat the slop that you are being fed.

Instead, recognise that if you do not consciously choose to build a better world, you are actively contributing to a worse one, even through passivity.

They expect you to do nothing. To consume endlessly. To live mind-lessly. And in doing so, you play your part for them.

But by using the only power you were truly given, the gifts of your soul, you build a better world.

In his book Mastery, Robert Greene says:

"You have a destiny to fulfill" is a sentence that echoes in my mind almost daily.

It sounds larger than life, and sometimes I think it’s not that deep, until I realise, it is.

Taste is how you bring those seeds to life.

It’s how you contribute and pay your rent to the universe, because if you do, you will create things that create things.

Your work inspires something new, and the chain reaction never ends.

That’s why it’s important not to conform and to discover your own uniqueness.

Your uniqueness is just an expression of the one source.

And whenever you marvel at something, it is your consciousness taking delight in seeing itself in another unique form.

I say taste is the final competitive advantage, because that is what makes us human.

As A.i develops, I always think about this scene from i,Robot where Spooner says to Sonny (the robot):

"Can a robot write a symphony? Can a robot turn a canvas into a beautiful masterpiece?"

And Sonny calmly responds:

"Can you?"

Most humans can't write a symphony or paint a masterpiece either. But thats because most people have already surrendered their taste and they're already living like machines.

Not because they lack the capacity, but because they've never done the work of uncovering it. The rabbit holes, the pattern recognition, the "why" behind what stirs them.

It’s not about human vs robot, it’s conscious human vs. unconscious human.

Taste isn't something you passively have; it's something you actively develop or lose.

So, the question isn't whether AI can create something beautiful. The question is whether you will.

And if you can't answer that confidently, that's exactly why this philosophy matters.

P.S - Have you checked out my book? The Self-Mastery Playbook is a complete guide that shows you how to marry your inner mastery and your outer execution based on the principles of the top 1%.

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Until next time,

Milan

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