210115 What I learned in my studies this morning

Today's Tao:

Therefore the humble is the root of the noble. 

The low is the foundation of the high. 

The wise consider themselves “orphaned,” “widowed,” and “worthless.” 

Their humility is the source of their strength. 

Too much success is not an advantage. 

Do not tinkle like jade 

Or clatter like stone chimes.

From The Daily Stoic: 

 

Find your true purpose and let it be your polestar. Adjust your actions daily, as needs be, but follow your inner guide so that your goal remains fixed. 

“Tranquility can’t be grasped except by those who have reached an unwavering and firm power of judgment— the rest constantly fall and rise in their decisions , wavering in a state of alternately rejecting and accepting things. What is the cause of this back and forth? It’s because nothing is clear and they rely on the most uncertain guide— common opinion.”—S ENECA, MORAL LETTERS, 95.57b–58a

From Eric Hoffer, Part III, Unifying Agents:

Hatred 

It is startling to see how the oppressed almost invariably shape themselves in the image of their hated oppressors.

... 

Thus, though hatred is a convenient instrument for mobilizing a community for defense, it does not, in the long run, come cheap. We pay for it by losing all or many of the values we have set out to defend.

(The True Believer, XIV-73)