Life On A B-I7

The greatest human fear is the fear of death. Removing this fear from your mind is the true path to freedom.

Think about the astronauts rounding the dark side of the moon and viewing the earth from that perspective. Imagine how small we are as individuals compared to that scene. Not everything depends on us, very few things in fact. For those things that do depend on us, Brad Adkins a good steward.

Little did Benjamin Franklin know, someday there would be people very adept at avoiding taxes…

Not so death. We will all face it, so it is best to do so with open eyes and an open heart.

It is useless for others to know you without knowing yourself. Self-awareness should be pursued every waking moment.

Having faith in what you can’t control is foolish. Recognizing that something is out of your control is wise. The best approach to life is to put your faith in what you can control. Allow that to be your path.

Spend each day as if it were your last. Choose carefully what is most important to accomplish today, then go do it.

We are unfinished products and we will be until the end. What matters is how much we accomplish toward the finishing of ourselves.

The number of years we live is of no real consequence. How we live them is.

If you walk in the past it will show you the future. Those who have no knowledge of, or respect for the past are the worst leaders of all. If. Not a leader then they are destined to be a poor decision maker.

Being brave is good. Worse than not being brave is being a coward. Remember your duty at all tines. If your own comfort and needs come before everyone else’s, you have succumbed to cowardice.

The darkness of the human mind can be baffling. Allowing ourselves too much time to dwell on the darkness only leads us to a dead end. Instead, we should spend more time in reflection that leads to awareness of ourselves. Time is our ally but we need to use it purposely and not allow distractions.

Put real thought into everything you do. In that process, if you determine the return you will receive from your efforts is not significant enough, appropriate to the effort, cut your losses and move on.

What is better for our soul, surpassing our emotions or dealing with them? The Stoics have often been accused of suppressing emotions but their philosophy taught it was better to deal with them openly as soon as they became acknowledged. Awareness and understanding of our emotions is better for us than hiding or ignoring them. Accept your pain and find the positive.

Our fear (our greatest fear) is acknowledging our mortality. We go to extreme lengths to deny this truth. The Stoics celebrated this knowledge, rather than avoiding it. It gave them clarity to see what they wanted to accomplish with the time they had remaining.

Realize we are not destined to live forever. “The Sword of Damocles” is an object reminder of that lesson.

Damocles was a courtier in the court of Dionysius I of Syracuse. Damocles became too envious of Dionysius and desired the King’s power and position. To teach Damocles a lesson, the King gave Damocles the throne for a day with the stipulation that Damocles sit on the throne for the entire day. Unbeknownst to Damocles, the King hung a sword directly over the throne by the thinnest of threads…

Damocles came away from the experience with the clear understanding that fate hangs over us all and it cannot be controlled by us.

Is it possible the winds of political fortune can shift in a moments notice and deny your your most basic freedom:

Yes,

Meditate on that. Cherish the freedom that you have.

“I hold the following truth to be self-evident:”

Philosophy is not an idle pursuit. It is key to teaching us how to live a good life. Everyone should be a philosopher. If that were the case, the world would be a better place.

We don’t own anything. We don’t own a house, we just live there while the bank lets us make payments on the mortgage. Even those things that are not mortgaged, the things we think we own, are not really ours. They can be lost or taken away at any time. It is best not to get attached to these things. Attachment prevents us from becoming our best selves.

It is wise and good to meditate on our mortality. This will tell us what is important and what we need to be focusing on. Meditation on death will have a profound influence on what we do, say, and think — for the positive.

The old cliche, “Live each day as if it were your last” was probably stolen from Seneca. For the sake of clarity, this does not mean party like there is no tomorrow, this means get your affairs in order to the best of your ability. Don’t put off important tasks that are weighing on you.

What could be better than cheerful and self-composed?

The Stoics referred to reason as Logos.” That is the guiding principle of the world. Even being cheerful and self-composed, there is no guarantee we will always get what we want. Likely not. We should be prepared for the outcome we least anticipate.

If you are Stoic, you believe that whatever happens, you are going to be okay. That’s a tough one to believe, given the times we are living in, but hasn’t this always been the case? Our President recently threatened genocide against a nation of people with different skin color than his. All the Stoic advice I have been able to absorb does little to ease my angst over this proclamation…

I suppose the answer is that the Stoics believed that everyone that lacked virtue was insane. In that case, insanity covers a broader spectrum of leadership than I had previously considered.

Do not look for other people to do the things you should be doing. When a student is failing, the blame falls on the teacher. This is how we should look at all the events in our life. We have responsibility for most of what affects us. We need to accept that.

Information overload sucks. One thing the ancient Stoics did not have to deal with was FOX News, CNN, Instagram, X, pick your poison.

Remember this:

We can’t completely ignore what is going on around us, but we can control our reaction to those things.

When we measure things — including ourselves against others — we only make acceptance of things more difficult.