The Beginning

You already know that Shawn Mirza style – deep, dark, and aggressive – straight from tradition and into the furthest reaches of newness. Man is what he chooses himself to be – that has always been the core of his philosophy, like many others. Still, those that have read his work know that Shawn is a new kind of philosopher.

From an early age, Shawn was influenced by the works of Niccolo Machiavelli, particularly “The Prince,” which he read at age twelve. It was the effects of this foray into strategy that would never leave him, and we can see Shawn adopt the same cold, matter-of-fact tone in his writing. Not surprisingly, he was soon introduced to Nietzsche, being lured by the title of the book “The Will to Power.” So began what was to be a long line of comparisons to the German philosopher.

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“Essays,” Mirza's introductory work, is many things to many people, as it must be. Its free-thinking spirit, dabbling in themes of personal power, strategy, pragmatism, metaphysics, and anti-theism, characterized by strong, empowering language with a hint of metaphor, challenges the reader in piercing fashion. Written and published when he was only twenty years old, it is not a book, but an experience; not a book written for an audience, but a book written to find one.