210108 What I learned in my studies this morning

Today's Tao:

Knowing others is wisdom; 

Knowing the self is enlightenment. Mastering others requires force;

Mastering the self needs strength. 

Those who know they have enough are rich. 

Perseverance is a sign of willpower. 

Those who stay where they are endure. 

To die but not to perish is to be eternally present.

From The Daily Stoic: 

 

Many things can be addictions. Drugs?  Yes, of course. That's what first comes to mind for most people.  But there are other things which can compel us in unhealthy ways when taken to obsession.

Coffee. Work. Exercise. Complaining. Gossiping. Social media. Soft drinks. Phone games. Video games.

All of these and more can steal away our time. Find your balance. Reclaim your freedom from addiction.

From Eric Hoffer, Part III, Unifying Agents:

Hatred 

When choosing someone, to hate, find a group, a definition, which can encompass everyone not part of the Movement. 

For Nazis, Jews were either directly Jews, or they controlled things from behind the scenes. For Stalin, the American plutocrat filled the role. 

The current US political parties have divided their neighbors well. 

"Punch a Nazi" is the rallying cry of the current Left. Where Hitler was able to define everyone not an Aryan archetype as either "a Jew or controlled by the Jews," the modern Progressivism has proclaimed anyone insufficiently liberal a "racist / sexist / homophobe / transphobe / etc.," with Nazi as shorthand. ALL people not in the group are haters. People who, in their definition, quite literally hate as opposed to, say, people who agree with a goal but disagree with a method of achieving that goal. 

The right, the Proud Conservative, has done the same with "socialist / socialism / snowflake" as the epithet. Anyone not conservative enough is stupid and wants to steal jobs / income / opportunities from "hard working 'Mericans." 

Every difficulty and failure within the movement is the work of the devil, and every success is a triumph over his evil plotting.

(The True Believer, XIV-67)