Is it better to live in luxury or live like a common man? The danger with living in luxury is that it destroys your soul. Money does the same thing. Am I saying this because I do not have that luxury myself? Look around you. Do the wealthy have a soul? Some maybe. Look closely, most have sold theirs to procure more luxury, more power, more money. That is not the way.
Let go of what is not yours. What has been given to you is not yours forever, it is yours for now only. Cherish it. This will allow you to look at it with truly appreciative eyes.
Attachment causes unhappiness. That is all that needs to be said. Since I’m the sort that can’t stop after a single sentence consider this: Attachment is what makes it hard for us to accept change. Don’t be like the Red Queen in Alice in Wonderland running faster and faster to stay in the same place…
Here is a Zen master story that fits beautifully into Stoic philosophy.
A Zen master once had a beautiful glass cup. He told people that complemented him on its beauty that it was already broken. One day it did break, his response: “Of course.”
Don’t become attached.
No one can take away your accomplishments, they are yours. Even if someone does a thing better than you, that has no impact on what you have achieved. Enjoy your accomplishments. Hold on to them, strive to improve them to the best of your ability.
If something appears new to you, rest assured, someone has seen it before. This moment has come before and will come again. This understanding is not meant to be discouraging, this is meant to inspire us to action.
When we respect destiny and fate, we give ourselves the grace we need to receive acceptance.
These thoughts would make an excellent focus for meditation. Repeat each of these slowly and ask yourself how aligned are you with each of these.
Our job is to make ourselves better, it is not to make others better. Everyone is on their own journey. As much as you may want to someone else make a change, those efforts will never bring about lasting results.
Both hope and fear are nothing more than projections into the future. Both are the enemy of the present.
We only get upset with things when we view their state as permanent.
Events are simply that, events. How we explain them is on us and is key to whether we are able to grow personally out of acceptance of those events.
Complaining is easy but it gets you nowhere. Explaining your mistakes is a waste of breath. Acknowledge them, yes. Better yet, learn from them.
When you feel distress because of some external thing, it is only your judgement of that thing that is causing you distress. You cannot alter that thing but you can control how it impacts you.
Have we reached the apex of humanity or are we living in an ever changing cauldron of emotions and actions that tend to repeat without our taking particular note? Wise people resist the temptation to think this time things are different.
We should remember the “Ship of Theseus.” Athenians kept the ship battle ready for centuries. Gradually every board being replaced when necessary. In Japan there is a famous Shinto shrine that is completely replaced every 23 years. Our understanding of what something is cannot by definition be more than a snapshot. All is fluid.
We should remember the “Ship of Theseus.” Athenians kept the ship battle ready for centuries. Gradually over time every board was replaced.
In Japan a famous shrine is completely rebuilt every 23 years.
Our understanding of what something is cannot be defined by a snapshot. All is fluid yet permanence must be respected as an ideal, not as a physical reality.
What is duty?
Duty is performing the role that has been handed to you and doing it to the best of your ability.
What you should you trust? Your reputation? Your money? Your position? None of these.
You should trust your judgement. Cultivate solid judgement in all things. What requires sound judgement, the need to conquer the world or conquering the need to conquer the world.
Those that are too proud are eventually brought low. When the gods send evil, no one escapes. Life can change in an instant.
The notion that we reside in the center of the universe and the universe revolves around us is toxic to our souls.
We tend to view change as bad, just as we tend to desire stableness. Neither of these is good or bad in themselves.
What if the fate that we endure was prescribed for us like a doctor prescribes medicine. What then does that say about fate and how we should approach it?
Always display character. It may not serve you in the short term but it will always serve you in the long term.
We need each other. We must be there for each other and allow others to be there for us. This is the natural state of man. To deny this or worse, betray this truth, is a betrayal of our humanity.