5 things I took away from listening to Cornel West on the Joe Rogan podcast.

1. Cornel West is an unrivaled artist of the spoken word. His ability to flow with spontaneous prose is absolutely astounding. The wealth of thought that is the foundation of everything he says makes his speech nourishing like some kind of bread for the soul.

2. He made me miss my grandfather. We need to preserve our links to the past. Everyone is so caught up in social media, and I think that’s a good thing, but we need to make time to listen to our elders who have something to share with us. Listening to older people is absolutely a good idea.

3. Joe Rogan continues to evolve. He is a multidimensional thinker and his influence on bro culture should not be underestimated. Everyone can do better and following someone like Rogan who is constantly in pursuit of self improvement is just a good idea.

4. Culture continues to be more powerful of a force for good than politics or economics. We have to have some form of government, and we can’t survive without money. We need government for a lot of the basic things in life, and money is critical for living, but culture is what really inspires us to be great. West spoke about some of the great leaders of the civil rights movement and asked: “Do we remember who was the African American with the most money in 1965? No, but we remember Martin Luther King Jr. This kind of greatness is more important than any other form. Our real job is to speak from and to the hearts of other humans and work to inspire each other to be our best selves.

5. There is still hope for the human race. Things can seem dire, there’s plenty to worry about, but with enough courage we can face the challenges and persevere. When we work together, we grow to know each other better and our differences become strengths rather than threats.