Shining is always costly. Light comes only at the cost of that which produces it. An unlit candle does no shining. Burning must come before shining. We cannot be of great use to others without cost to ourselves. Burning suggests suffering. -LB Cowman
Not surprising to the more self-centered people, personal service, giving oneself over to serving others comes with costs associated, be it one's own life goals, one's own mental well-being, absorbing emotional negativity of others....
True faith drops its letter in the post office box, and lets it
go. Distrust holds on to a corner of it, and wonders that the answer
never comes. -LB Cowman.
If
it sounds like nonsense, it might actually be worthwhile, and you might
have been mistaken about it the whole time...... You don't ever reach
outside, how you gonna grow?
This might not be a dream, otherwise I'd expect more good stuff to happen......
If this were just a dream, would you have your self-control somewhat intact? Your loves and fears, to the sticking place, and a vision board of other dreams....
Are dreams but dreams inside of dreams?
Lucius Seneca: There is no good without reason; all reason is in accordance with nature.
Enjoy the journey that is life, folks.
If you want to experience what it is to be full, first be empty, and likewise, to emptiness, be full. To want either state is to hasten something, but what? What would you have of the universe, a universe that services all? Would you demand something gross, fancy, or something common to humans?
As of the old Stoic saying, "examine each thing severally...."
Pierce into those things with the perception, pierce them until it becomes the confetti in the celebration of content, unperturbed life.
On wanting and having, we love so well in wanting, and our love turns to ash, a kind of dull familiarity and may broach contempt upon having.
No sooner way to loathe something than to have it too easily, mayhap.
He is a true fugitive, that flies from reason, by which men are sociable. He blind, who cannot see with the eyes of his understanding. He poor, that stands in need of another, and hath not in himself all things needful for this life. He an aposteme of the world, who by being discontented with those things that happen unto him in the world, doth as it were apostatise, and separate himself from common nature's rational administration. For the same nature it is that brings this unto thee, whatsoever it be, that first brought thee into the world. He raises sedition in the city, who by irrational actions withdraws his own soul from that one and common soul of all rational creatures.
-Marcus Aurelius, The Meditations, 4.24
Either this world is a κόσμος, or comely piece, because all disposed and governed by certain order: or if it be a mixture, though confused, yet still it is a comely piece. For is it possible that in thee there should be any beauty at all, and that in the whole world there should be nothing but disorder and confusion? and all things in it too, by natural different properties one from another differenced and distinguished; and yet all through diffused, and by natural sympathy, one to another united, as they are?
-Marcus Aurelius, The Meditations, 4.22
They will say commonly, Meddle not with many things, if thou wilt live cheerfully. Certainly there is nothing better, than for a man to confine himself to necessary actions; to such and so many only, as reason in a creature that knows itself born for society, will command and enjoin. This will not only procure that cheerfulness, which from the goodness, but that also, which from the paucity of actions doth usually proceed. For since it is so, that most of those things, which we either speak or do, are unnecessary; if a man shall cut them off, it must needs follow that he shall thereby gain much leisure, and save much trouble, and therefore at every action a man must privately by way of admonition suggest unto himself, What? may not this that now I go about, be of the number of unnecessary actions? Neither must he use himself to cut off actions only, but thoughts and imaginations also, that are unnecessary for so will unnecessary consequent actions the better be prevented and cut off.
-Marcus Aurelius, The Meditations 4.20
We see Aurelius seeing God in nature, and nature the imagining of God, but also the human mind as the "City of God".
Whatsoever is expedient unto thee, O World, is expedient unto me; nothing can either be 'unseasonable unto me, or out of date, which unto thee is seasonable. Whatsoever thy seasons bear, shall ever by me be esteemed as happy fruit, and increase. O Nature! from thee are all things, in thee all things subsist, and to thee all tend. Could he say of Athens, Thou lovely city of Cecrops; and shalt not thou say of the world, Thou lovely city of God?
-Marcus Aurelius, The Meditations, 4.19, George Long edition.
Not to wander out of the way, but upon every motion and desire, to perform that which is just: and ever to be careful to attain to the true natural apprehension of every fancy, that presents itself.
-Marcus Aurelius, The Meditations, 4.18
This is in fact, a two-thousand-year-old treatise on "mindfulness" such has become popular.
Here the Philosopher Ruler probes the origins and underlying motivations of his own thoughts. Such goes hand in hand with the Biblical passage, of "whatsoever is good, whatsoever is pure..." that at first we go to understand these impressions, sensations and the accompanying thoughts or thought pattern.
Your experience and your reality is only narrowed or broadened by the quality of your perceptions.
If so be that the souls remain after death (say they that will not believe it); how is the air from all eternity able to contain them? How is the earth (say I) ever from that time able to Contain the bodies of them that are buried? For as here the change and resolution of dead bodies into another kind of subsistence (whatsoever it be;) makes place for other dead bodies: so the souls after death transferred into the air, after they have conversed there a while, are either by way of transmutation, or transfusion, or conflagration, received again into that original rational substance, from which all others do proceed: and so give way to those souls, who before coupled and associated unto bodies, now begin to subsist single. This, upon a supposition that the souls after death do for a while subsist single, may be answered. And here, (besides the number of bodies, so buried and contained by the earth), we may further consider the number of several beasts, eaten by us men, and by other creatures. For notwithstanding that such a multitude of them is daily consumed, and as it were buried in the bodies of the eaters, yet is the same place and body able to contain them, by reason of their conversion, partly into blood, partly into air and fire. What in these things is the speculation of truth? to divide things into that which is passive and material; and that which is active and formal.
-Marcus Aurelius, The Meditations 4.17
He who is greedy of credit and reputation after his death, doth not consider, that they themselves by whom he is remembered, shall soon after every one of them be dead; and they likewise that succeed those; until at last all memory, which hitherto by the succession of men admiring and soon after dying hath had its course, be quite extinct. But suppose that both they that shall remember thee, and thy memory with them should be immortal, what is that to thee? I will not say to thee after thou art dead; but even to thee living, what is thy praise? But only for a secret and politic consideration, which we call οἰκονομίαν, or dispensation. For as for that, that it is the gift of nature, whatsoever is commended in thee, what might be objected from thence, let that now that we are upon another consideration be omitted as unseasonable. That which is fair and goodly, whatsoever it be, and in what respect soever it be, that it is fair and goodly, it is so of itself, and terminates in itself, not admitting praise as a part or member: that therefore which is praised, is not thereby made either better or worse. This I understand even of those things, that are commonly called fair and good, as those which are commended either for the matter itself, or for curious workmanship. As for that which is truly good, what can it stand in need of more than either justice or truth; or more than either kindness and modesty? Which of all those, either becomes good or fair, because commended; or dispraised suffers any damage? Doth the emerald become worse in itself, or more vile if it be not commended? Doth gold, or ivory, or purple? Is there anything that doth though never so common, as a knife, a flower, or a tree?
-Marcus Aurelius, The Meditations 4.16
When
you put on a cape, does it make you Superman or The Phantom of the
Opera? Let us be equal to anything life tosses us today, peoples.
If thou shalt find anything in this mortal life better than righteousness, than truth, temperance, fortitude, and in general better than a mind contented both with those things which according to right and reason she doth, and in those, which without her will and knowledge happen unto thee by the providence; if I say, thou canst find out anything better than this, apply thyself unto it with thy whole heart, and that which is best wheresoever thou dost find it, enjoy freely. But if nothing thou shalt find worthy to be preferred to that spirit which is within thee; if nothing better than to subject unto thee thine own lusts and desires, and not to give way to any fancies or imaginations before thou hast duly considered of them, nothing better than to withdraw thyself (to use Socrates his words) from all sensuality, and submit thyself unto the gods, and to have care of all men in general: if thou shalt find that all other things in comparison of this, are but vile, and of little moment; then give not way to any other thing, which being once though but affected and inclined unto, it will no more be in thy power without all distraction as thou oughtest to prefer and to pursue after that good, which is thine own and thy proper good. For it is not lawful, that anything that is of another and inferior kind and nature, be it what it will, as either popular applause, or honour, or riches, or pleasures; should be suffered to confront and contest as it were, with that which is rational, and operatively good. For all these things, if once though but for a while, they begin to please, they presently prevail, and pervert a man's mind, or turn a man from the right way. Do thou therefore I say absolutely and freely make choice of that which is best, and stick unto it. Now, that they say is best, which is most profitable. If they mean profitable to man as he is a rational man, stand thou to it, and maintain it; but if they mean profitable, as he is a creature, only reject it; and from this thy tenet and conclusion keep off carefully all plausible shows and colours of external appearance, that thou mayest be able to discern things rightly.
-Marcus Aurelius
So these chuds go on and on. "I don't want to be like my parents."
Well. How so?
What's so awful about your parents, you ungrateful little chud?
Indeed, if your conscious of wanting to be different, be conscious enough to realize their best attributes and carry something good of them forward.
For instance, my own parents are not wealthy, but they've worked hard until retirement.
A good thing, I suppose.
As professionals, they may have not been ambitious, but they did okay. My father probably earned his million almost twice over. It was customer service, business relationships, attention to detail.
He gave a second glance where others didn't.
My mother took an entry-level service job and advanced into a supervisor position. She did well enough to progress above the usual, on the quality of her work, and later, she was trusted with difficult problems with the business.
You see them now, relaxing, retired from employment, slightly forgetful, and you might be inclined to say, "I don't want to be like them." That's not quite fair to them.
During their earlier years, they were keen on the promise of the Social Security safety net for their retirement, where nowadays, we are told much different things in society; we are told to diversify, invest, try to own, dream of owning, even if you have to get on the rental treadmill. Our cars are more expensive. Our homes are more expensive. Comparatively, homestead land is still cheap, however.
There are things like Bitcoin to toss money at. Pay TV has proliferated such that everyone almost has an option for a monthly bill, be it cable or satellite, and we have to have internet, too, and a cellular phone.
Considering costs of reliable transportation, and all these so-called must have monthly expenses, I don't quite point to things like Quantitative Easing or the American Recovery Act is the pure leaders of inflation. The middle and lower classes are constantly, and more and more, squeezed for 30-100 dollars here and there, over and over again.
My parents didn't have to deal with that until more recent decades when an income crunch was becoming more and more obvious.
There is a time, plenty of time, to be who you are, to understand who you are.
Do you make time to acknowledge who you might be in the future? Do you see your potential?
The past is but a footnote; be today, and let the future be a daydream, a hopeful glimpse.
Here we've came through a religious celebration, myself and you and the rest of the world.
Religion at best, is a source of togetherness, peace and compassion, and of course, the worst of religion is written over and over again in the history books.
I was reading Ben Franklin a few weeks back, and he was talking about how so much of the earlier Colonial Americans activities centered on the "common good", somehow contributed something. Surely, it was not all pure altruism, but a directed capitalism oriented on service and community.
This reminds of the old "by perseverance, the snail...". Great efforts are finished one step at a time, and such, a journey of a thousand miles is completed one step at a time. So imagine that, things like the Great Wall, or the Pyramids, how it looked at the beginning.
Determination and perseverance. Or is it, severe personal detonation? Know when to sit down and rest; its good dream time and will keep you from overwearing yourself. Rest time can be productive if the mind to some extent remains active, with a few minutes of planning here and there, but those idle daydreams can sometimes turn into the roadmap to the greatest adventures.
"The emerald is still beautiful even if no one admires it." -Marcus Aurelius.
When it comes to friends, you're either lifting them up or dragging them down.
Also, when it comes to old friends, sometimes what is needed is not a teacher, but an example; one can spend time, and live well: that much is an example. Its just like evangelism, and like even Christ had trouble getting people to listen to him in own hometown: they knew him prior, and that tainted their view of him. The old contaminated the new, such as his own teaching of putting new wine in old wineskins: he cautioned against that.
But in choosing new friends, its good to look for a few that are seemingly on another "better" level, such that they inspire you; you can't always be the teacher, because if you're busy teaching, do you then have time to still learn and grow?
Continually success coaches look in their own worlds for those figures that inspire them to "level up" in multiple ways.
Do you do this in your own life? Do you seek out good examples?
I once criticized my rather earnest, good-hearted best friend for having "transactional relationships", of which, that between he and I was not transactional. I was being unfair to him, of course, lumping his friends and loved ones in with business acquaintances, but to my credit, he had mentioned some business acquaintances as friends.
Such as it is, we ourselves are going backwards when we're not going forwards, just like the old stick shift cars, on a hill not moving, these things would roll backwards, if the clutch wasn't out and the car moving. We're the same way, friends; we go backwards when we're not going forwards, because when we stop, time keeps going. Don't forget that:
We may stop for an hour or an afternoon. But time keeps going, therefore we lose time, as in the phrase "moving backwards".
If it robs you of your peace, then it wasn't worth it after all.
Indeed, the value of peace seems great, but often peace costs nothing at all.
Be tolerant with others; be strict on yourself.
-Marcus Aurelius.
