Yesterday, I had a good day. This is a time acknowledged by everyone and should be benchmarked — noted as a point of meaning — I believe. We don’t often get a really fine day, do we? I awoke early, before the alarm, in fact, and felt refreshed. As I did my yoga, thoughts of righteousness and prosperity washed over me.
Continue reading Find your good day
How does one stay in the light?
I recently had the misfortune of watching the news for several moments at a friend’s home. It was the holiday season, so we were, rather curiously I thought, given a special dose of negativity: murder, mayhem, pillage, chaos, and the like. It was easy to see how joyful feelings could be quickly extinguished. There was a stark juxtaposition of values. On the one hand, because of the season, the world was resplendent with joy — “Joy to the World, the Lord Has Come” (1) — goodwill to all. On the other hand, the news presented darkness, pain, and endless suffering.
Continue reading How does one stay in the light?
Friendship
This is a topic that is fraught with undue amounts of pain and frustration. When we gain consciousness at 20 or so, we realize, fundamentally, that we are alone. — at least all thoughtful people do. Life then becomes an attempt to bridge the distance between other beings in our society and meet people who are like me
— who understand what I’m about. This is most certainly an arduous journey. At its most simple, friendship is something that must be earned. It cannot be simply acquired like a piece of clothing or a new pair of shoes.
Aristotle breaks friendship down into three areas (1): The most basic could be called business friendship, “Friendships of Utility.” These are relationships that have a mutual benefit. Perhaps you have a favorite client or supplier that you enjoy having lunch with. They are nice, but you have no emotional attachment to them. If you need to make a business decision and stop contact with them, you will.
Then there are the friends that you meet once or twice a week. You can have a coffee or drink together — or go to a concert or to the movies. Developing further closeness is limited potentially by age or ambition, or yet by social class. The Philosopher (2) calls these “Friendships of Pleasure.”
The final friendship possesses a deep spiritual and emotional connection. This is the so-called “Friendship of the Good.” Virtue-based friendships are built on mutual respect and admiration for each other’s work, for example, and a commitment to moral excellence. If we are fortunate, here is where my soul mate (3) resides — the love of my life.
On a non-sexual level, this encapsulates the “mate” that is understood in the Australian environment or the “good buddy” that we often talk about in North America. In life, we achieve very, very few of these friendships, and, as we grow in years, we often fail to replace them because of age, or time or circumstance.
The result, most telling of all, unfortunately, is that a disproportionate amount of older people live alone. (4) Many of these individuals are in a state of deep psychological suffering and loneliness. The seniors’ night out organized by the local church or community center is simply not enough. Here is also where we find the dog or cat to assist in one’s isolation. The true solution to this neurosis is to recognize that the relationship with your best friend must begin with yourself. This then extends to God, Gaia, or the Universe and ultimately to other people. All other friendships, intimate and otherwise, are thus bonuses on the turbulent path of life.
The great humanitarian Dr. Albert Schweitzer (5) leaves us with a thought: In everyone’s life, at some time, our inner fire goes out. It is then burst into flame by an encounter with another human being. We should all be thankful for those people who rekindle the inner spirit. (Parts of this essay were first published in 2023)
A closing thought:In the Internet Age, we are bombarded with imagery. It is important, I feel, to protect oneself from the onslaught of nonsense that threatens to overwhelm and nauseate us. This can only be done through prayer, meditation, and introspection. This strengthens your relationship with God, as you see him, and shields all human beings from the many vicissitudes of life.
To sum up: This week, we spoke about friendship.
To be noted: From Helen Keller (6) — Walking with a friend in the dark is better than walking alone in the light.
Just for fun: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lo2qQmj0_h4&ab_channel=acdcVEVO
For reflection: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q7TD8cfZOIU&ab_channel=BingeSociety
This week, on your wonderful walk, please ponder what friendship means to you.
Every day look for something magical and beautiful.
Don’t be a wage slave –critical thinking is great!
Home Page
Quote: Live your life in a state of wonder and imagination.
Footnotes:
1) https://www.marieclaire.com/sex-love/a4028/friendships-aristotle-utility-ethics-lifestyles/
2) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aristotle
Aristotle was revered among medieval Muslim scholars as “The First Teacher,” and among medieval Christians like Thomas Aquinas as simply “The Philosopher,” while the poet Dante called him “the master of those who know.”
3) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soulmate
5) https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/peace/1952/schweitzer/biographical/
The seven deadly sins: which one have you committed?
I recently watched a video of the hot dog eating competition at Nathan’s on Coney Island, New York. (2) Disgusting would be an understatement. Now I am not conservative when it comes to extreme events. I am as titillated as the next person when I watch someone jump out of an airplane without a parachute fall into an enormous net, and survive. (3) But, the food thing, I don’t get.
As parents, we plead with our children to develop their table manners. Your social class, and therefore your business or matrimonial acceptability, is still determined by how you hold your knife and fork. What is this sort of nonsense saying to our young people?Upwards of 30% of Americans are obese. (4) Is gluttonycool? This acceptance of the base and obscene is not the correct way. Why not hold ourselves to a higher standard of taste and quality? We do not have to be pompous and condescending, but surely there is a social level, a litmus test of decency, that must exist. If we do not want to be wage slaves, we must affect some style, some poise. We must develop our personal brand.
Some suggest that the Internet is pulling us to the lowest common denominator. “The assimilation of taboo images to the everyday language of doing business produces a strange effect. It domesticates the taboo while at the same time making the everyday transactional world more porous, and more open to the forbidden. The wolf of unbridled appetite slips into everyday convention in the sheep’s clothing of commercial language.…Every private thought is performed for public consumption, and every leisure moment (from toilet training to lovemaking) is a highly focused search for a specific gratification, guided by experts serving you in their field. No unexpected events or unanticipated human contact need apply.”(5)
At a recent small talk session, a young woman asked, “What is true wisdom?” It must be associated with the ability to think lucidly about what is good for you, your society, and mankind. Ask anyone, “Is the world a violent place?” and they will answer in the affirmative. This is all without any personal experience — pure falsehood. The world is not comprised of violence, anger, and fear. It is comprised of good, kind and loving people and experiences. Yes, bad things do happen, but not usually, not to most people. Therefore, when our behavior is elegant and sophisticated, we advance the good and minimize the moral violence in the world.
Rabbi Harold Kushner (b. 1935), the author of Why Bad Things Happen to Good People, leaves us with a thought: If you have been brave enough to love, and sometimes you’ve won and sometimes you’ve lost; if you have cared enough to try, and sometimes it worked and sometimes it didn’t; if you have been bold enough to dream and found yourself with some dreams that came true and a lot of broken pieces of dreams that didn’t, that fell to earth and shattered,then you can look back from the mountaintop you now find yourself standing on, like Moses contemplating the tablets that would guide human behavior for a millennia, resting in the Ark alongside the broken fragments of an earlier dream. And you, like Moses, must realize how full your life is and how richly you are blessed. (Parts of this essay were first published in 2017)
A closing thought:There is a concrete planter next to our building. It is filled with aquatic plants — lily pads and the like. Recently, I noticed two young children, a boy of around three and a girl of close to two, staring intently at a dragonflynestled on one of the fronds. It wasa scene from a Claude Monet (1840-1926) painting. Now, as we all know, time is irreplaceable. This magical moment will never happen again. Did their father catch it? No, he was too busy on his cell phone.
To sum up: This week we spoke about the danger of the Internet and the acceptance of the most banal, the most basic. This is not human nature, hopefully. We, as people, want the best for ourselves, our loved ones and our society. Through education, we will develop the necessary thinking skills to confront an ever-changing world.
To be noted: I pride myself on remembering names. Recently I had the humbling experience of confusing not one name, but two. I somehow transposed the name of one person onto the figure of another. The Taiwanese, of course, are always extremely polite. It was not until the end of the evening that a kind soul was good enough to tell me that I had been misaddressing these two people the whole time. To “rub salt in the wound,” this was after I had been complimented on my excellent memory, by the same people.
Just for fun: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bWx_HlL3k24&ab_channel=TotalBaroque
For reflection: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UKENclPUUBc&ab_channel=Bite-sizedPhilosophy
This week, please reflect on your control over your Internet usage.
Every day look for something magical and beautiful.
Don’t be a wage slave –critical thinking is great!
Home Page
Quote: Goodness and kindness await all those who seek. The universe is just: perhaps not always fair, but just.
Footnotes:
1) http://www.bibleinfo.com/en/questions/what-are-seven-deadly-sins
2) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hAXXy75msQM
3) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6qF_fzEI4wU
4) https://www.niddk.nih.gov/health-information/health-statistics/overweight-Obesity
5) Against the Machine: Being Human in the Age of the Electronic Mob, by Lee Siegel
Catch the moment
I am, but one of more than eight billion human beings, and yet each of us is unique. My thoughts are my own, private unto me. We live in the slipstream of the mind — from a magical beginning to an immortal end.
I am caught in an immense storm of consciousness. It rages onward, increasing in intensity, until — on rare occasions — I experience a moment of calm. This is the eye of the tempest. (1) There is an eerie stillness in this pause, and with it a deep trepidation: the fear that I might miss something, fail to reflect upon life, and soon be swept away once again as the typhoon of consciousness resumes its force.
How am I to “catch this moment” and truly give myself a moment of introspection and be at peace? This question defines my life, as it does everyone’s. Like others, I am busy. I take little time in my working day to ruminate, though I know I should.
Then, the other day, I was given a gift. I was rushing into a shop, slightly late, when a glint of sunshine overwhelmed me. It felt hot upon my cheek and struck with an intensity I have rarely experienced. In that instant, I was reminded to catch the moment. This oft-overused phrase is, in truth, entirely up to me. I am not unique in experiencing familiar human emotions — anxiety, fear, doubt — but I stand apart from others through my free will and how I choose to act in the world. I choose. I am not merely a victim of circumstance.
How, then, do so many suffer and live out tragic, unfulfilled lives? Joseph Campbell tells us that the hero’s journey (2) exists in all of us. It lies dormant until we act — unless we take those hesitant, halting steps toward somewhere we do not yet fully understand, we will never have the opportunity to be fully alive. Once begun, the journey carries irrevocable consequences for our lives.
This voyage is opposed by conformity and comfort. At first glance, life seems good enough. People say, “Why should I upset my fixed and serene life? I’m happy.” Yet what often follows is the angry rebellion of the soul against an inauthentic life. (3) The seven-year itch, the midlife crisis, the mental breakdown — these are merely different names for the same condition, when one’s being can no longer endure the falsehood.
“Is this all there is?” we ask. “I am financially secure, but I am not happy.” There is a profound sadness in this realization. One hopes to recognize this tragedy in others, not to discover it too late in oneself.
How do we avoid succumbing to mediocrity? We begin each day as if it were a special gift — an opportunity to begin anew. The past has been put to bed. The future is an illusion. Everything, in this moment, is up to me. And I begin, quite simply, by catching the moment. The Buddhist monk and peace activist, Thich Nhat Hanh, (4) leaves us with a thought: Life is available only in the present moment. If you abandon the present moment, you cannot live the moments of your daily life deeply.
A closing thought: It is easy to declare oneself a victim of circumstance: I have no choice. This is the life I was given. This is nonsense. We all possess free will, and with it the power to choose our path forward. Many say they do not know what this means. They do not know where to begin or where the door might be found. Here, I must ask a final question: Who is my teacher? The answer, of course, is myself. Given this truth, I need only open my notebook and begin to write. I can start small — with the day and the date — but, in time, I will write passages that speak to me. I must learn to be just a little brave, to realize my full potential.
To sum up: This week, we spoke about catching the moment to gain power in your life.
To be noted: From John F. Kennedy — Do not pray for easy lives. Pray to be stronger men.
Just for fun:
For reflection: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o7nnUDz-1HA&t=4s
This week, on your introspective walk, please contemplate your moments.
Every day, look for something magical and beautiful.
Don’t be a wage slave – critical thinking is great!
Quote: Remember to catch the moment
Footnotes:
1) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eye_(cyclone)
There Is Always More Money Than Ideas
I have a friend who believes that if you have an idea and the commitment to see it through, you can bring it to fruition — whatever that idea may be. Now, some ideas are so ridiculous or ill-conceived that they have no chance of success. But I’m not talking about these. I’m discussing the great business or conceptual ideas that only need funding to come to life. Skype would be an example. (1)
Continue reading There Is Always More Money Than IdeasPodcast Episode 157: What will your legacy be? This is why we should believe in Karma.
Podcast Episode 156: “Why not believe in God?” is a question proffered by Blaise Pascal. It behooves all of us to answer this quiry to our own psychological satisfaction. I must choose the answer that is best for me and my life.
Footwear
“These boots are made for walking, and that’s just what they’ll do. One of these days, these boots will walk on over you.” This is a popular Nancy Sinatra refrain from the 1960s. It reminds us that footwear has been a part of civilization since time immemorial, when we first left the Rift Valley. (1) Of course, we did not have any covering for our feet. It was soon realized, however, that some form of protection made the journey forward and the hunting of prey far easier. Thus, the first undertaking of footwear was associated with self-transportation. Later, its significance was further amplified by the discovery that speed could increase one’s food supply. Foot coverings protected us from stones, thorns, and broken ground, allowing the body to move further and faster with far less injury.
Continue reading Footwear