Modern Ronin Reflections is a collection of essays on engineering, learning, discipline, and life from Dr. Jack Yeh, exploring the mindset of a modern-day ronin.
Modern Ronin Reflections
I gradually came to realize that business is not merely a social construct. At its core, business is both a natural law and a form of morality. Because the foundation of business is mutual value exchange. We provide services to others, and others compensate us in return. The most common
Modern Ronin Reflections
I believe “don’t be selfish” is one of the most misunderstood moral teachings in society. A person who cannot love themselves cannot truly love others. The natural order should be: Learn to care for yourself first, then you gain the capacity to care for others. Selfishness itself is not
Modern Ronin Reflections
Carl Jung once said: “I would rather be whole than good.” This sentence touches one of the deepest psychological struggles of modern people. Society teaches us to be kind, agreeable, helpful, and socially acceptable. At the same time, we are taught to suppress the parts of ourselves that seem inappropriate—
Modern Ronin Reflections
When I was younger, whenever I had questions about life and existence, I would turn to philosophy and psychology in search of answers. I read many books and explored many ideas. But over time, I realized that true growth did not come merely from knowledge itself. What truly changed me
Modern Ronin Reflections
I have come to believe that the scarcest resources in life are not money— but time and attention. Because both are non-renewable. Whether we learn, invest, create, or grow, everything ultimately requires time. And if time must be spent anyway, why not let it compound? Without compounding, time simply
Modern Ronin Reflections
Society often tells us: “Become a better version of yourself.” But based on my own experience, I have come to see that this can also become a deeply harmful form of psychological conditioning. Why? Because hidden inside that sentence is an unspoken assumption: “Who you are right now is not
Modern Ronin Reflections
There is an old saying: “Seeing is believing.” Perhaps in the past, this was often true. But in the modern world, I increasingly feel the opposite can also be true. What we see today is often filtered, selected, amplified, and delivered to us by institutions, media systems, algorithms, or people
Modern Ronin Reflections
In Righteous Kill, Al Pacino speaks of a man dying twice: “The first time is when the body dies. The second is when the people who remember him are gone.” It is a deeply human idea — that memory itself is a form of continued existence. But there is another line
Modern Ronin Reflections
A philosopher once said: “Only when people are not doing what they truly love do they measure life through success or failure.” Looking back on my own career, I can say this feels profoundly true. The moments that brought me the deepest sense of meaning were not simply the moments
Modern Ronin Reflections
Some things cannot be fully measured, yet they profoundly transform a human life. Awakening, mindfulness, and shadow integration are rooted in inner experience. They are difficult to prove, and equally difficult to falsify. But the inability to quantify something does not mean it is unreal. Some truths are not first
Modern Ronin Reflections
We are often told to follow our passion. But from my experience, that is not where things begin. Passion is unstable. It can be easily influenced by emotion, novelty, and dopamine. It feels real, but it is not always reliable. What changed everything for me was not chasing passion, but
Modern Ronin Reflections
For a long time, I’ve had a persistent sense that everything we achieve in life— degrees, titles, awards, milestones— feels very similar to progress in a video game. It is as if we are controlling a character, leveling up, clearing stages, and occasionally collecting rewards along the way. But