Like a garden plant I will age and become still. Now is the time. Grow! Today's Meditation: A Calendar of Wisdom by Leo Tolstoy ----------------------------------------- Zen Flesh Zen Bones by Paul Reps and Nyogen Senzaki ----------------------------------------- Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse From The Daily Stoic:  Unless and until I learn to master myself, trivialities will be able to lead me wherever they want. Distraction is easy to find, hard to avoid. Training my mind is one of the most important things I can pursue.  I just wish it hadn't taken me my life up to now to figure it out. That, however, is reality.  So the best I can do is the best I can do now , in this moment, from this point onward. Grow.

New section is done.  Isocolon FTW. Structures. Phrases. Loop.  Today's Meditation: We've got a new book today: Tolstoy's Calendar of Wisdom . Tolstoy spent the final years of his life creating a book of collected wisdom from all kinds of sources.  One of our greatest novelists and deepest thinkers did my project for me a hundred years ago!  I can't believe I've never heard of it before. Ooooh boy! am I excited about this one.  From The Daily Stoic:  How often have I acted unconsciously? Acted without knowing the source of my imoulse? Acted in unthinking, uncaring, unnecessary, never-going-to-know ways?  Time to do better. Time to mindfully guide my actions from first principles.  From Ward Farnsworth, Classical English Rhetoric, Chapter 2. Structural Matters : 7. Parallel Structure: ISOCOLON Technical term:  ISOCOLON (ai-so-co-lon), one of the most common and important rhetorical figures, is the use of successive sentences, clauses, or phras

Slow cat weaves around Promising soft fur and purrs.  Tempting. Denying.  Today's Mediation: From The Daily Stoic:  Is there anything worse than spending time and money to impress others? Yet I do it. Why?  Why, when I realize before, during, and after that I don't even know those people, not truly.  And when I understand that their approval or disapproval means nothing to my life, not truly.  And yet I give away pieces of my life in such pursuits. Why? 

I learned a lot from  The last time I was here with  You and I are hope.  Today's Mediation: From The Daily Stoic:  Plan ahead. Easily said. Not so easy to do sometimes.  Anticipating negative outcomes, and planning for what to do if those events occur, is a major theme in Stoic thought and one I need to practice.    From Six Easy Pieces, by Richard Feynman: Chapter 1 Atoms in Motion  Feynman, again, makes a profound statement in a single paragraph. From this, he demonstrates how several other basic facts of the universe can be deduced such as the basic structures of solids, liquids, and gasses, temperature and pressure laws, and more.

Today makes today The longest I've been alive.  Happy day to me!  Today's Meditation: From The Daily Stoic:  Time and experience are my most precious currencies, yet I spend them on games which give only momentary enjoyment and on food which pleases and then *poof* is gone. I don't truly remember how good that pizza tasted the second it is gone from my mouth. Worse, way, waaaay too often I don't recognize how good it tastes  as I eat it . I let my mind wander and don't think about what I'm doing. It can be sublime to really enjoy a fine meal and be truly present in good company, but I rarely do. I let myself be distracted and focus on myriad unimportant things. I spend my time foolishly, not living in the moment. I must do better. My time here is finite. From Six Easy Pieces, by Richard Feynman: Chapter 1 Atoms in Motion  Feynman begins his lectures with three hugely important concepts:  (1) the foundation of (scientific) knowledge, (2)

Darkness lifts slowly Morning cat purrs and stretches.  Time to make the day.  Today's Meditation: From The Daily Stoic:  Quis custodiet ipsos custodes? (Who watches the watchmen?) There's more to me than my conscious mind. I study philosophy, and Stoicism in particular, to help guide my life. I'm trying to make my life better. To do that, I must begin by learning to control my thoughts and emotions. But that is just the first step. The ten thousand things, from the psychological effects food and when I last ate to the time of day to unconscious memories offering their bias toward people and situations, influence how I behave without my realizing it. If nothing else, I take medications which affect my personality. Being a better person starts with thinking about my thoughts. It continues with exploring how my inner world interacts with my outer world. 

Time, time, time See what's  Become of me. While I looked  Around for my poss....  Today's Meditation: From The Daily Stoic:  Which is easier?  For me to find contentment in what I have or what I want?  I still have work to do in this area.

Timing? Everything!  What a difference a moment Makes to my day. Peace.  Today's Meditation: If only I could share it: The soft sound of snow Falling late at night From the trees At this old temple — Hakuin (1686-1768) From The Daily Stoic:  One of the things I like about Stoicism is that it is a practical philosophy. As in, it is meant to be practiced . I've studied philosophy for over 30 years now. Everything from Kant to Existentialism to Philosophy of Mind to ancient / medieval / modern / postmodern and political philosophy. Learning about Stoic thought and practice has made a thorough and lasting impact on how I live my life. My day-to-day thoughts and actions are different because of it. And better. 

My phone's in limbo,  Most apps not working at all.  Delayed thoughts today....  Today's Meditation: The Vedas deal mainly with the subject of the three modes of material nature. O Arjuna, become transcendental to these three modes. Be free from all dualities and from all anxieties for gain and safety, and be established in the Self. ~ Bhagavad-Gita, 2.45 From The Daily Stoic:  Seneca is here talking about things like greed and ambition. Vices common among aristocrats and gov't leaders, but not unknown to others.  These are not my vices, however.  Any bad habit of the mind can be a straightjacket. Be it unreasoning sloth or gluttony (two I do fight against), to apathy, mania, anxiety, optimism, or any of a host of others.  It's up to me to examine my life and find these problems so that I may deal with them. 

An early morning  Studying helps me center.  Thinking is healing.  Today's Zen: Bright stream winding—and straight. Green bamboos dense—and deep. One path all the way to the mountain road. Walking-singing-looking back at known peaks.   ~ P'ei Ti (~714) From The Daily Stoic:    I can help myself make good decisions by focusing on the right things: virtue and knowing what is up to me and what is not up to me. Wisdom and a good life follow from these two. 

Gaming Saturday! Finding paths through the dungeon, Monsters shall be killed! Today's Zen: When the six senses return to the source, they are thoroughly effective and clear, without compare. When the physical elements return to their source, the whole body is pure, without a particle of dust. Thus you manage to cut off causation, interrupt its continuity, merge all time, and obliterate all differences. Understand?  - Hung-chih (1091-1157) From The Daily Stoic:    The Inner Citadel.  The Mind's Fortress. That space within where I can find calm and center myself. Going places is fine — it can broaden the mind and help me see other cultures in their native light, stripping away preconceptions, misconceptions, and ignorance I have of the place, the people, and the society — but it's not always practical and certainly not always necessary.  And I may need to make extensive, or expensive, preparations to take advantage of these opportunities. I need to look inside first, rather t

Spring dew on the field Champions morning battle.  Ultimate. Huzzah! Today's Upanishad: The performance of all the sacrifices, described in the Maitrayana-Brahmana, is to lead up in the end to a knowledge of Brahman, to prepare a man for meditation. Therefore, let such man, after he has laid those fires, meditate on the Self, to become complete and perfect.  — Maitri Upanishad Don't get hung up on the rituals: they're only prescribed so as to bring you to the point that you can delve further into real wisdom.  Worldly duties are preparation for spiritual and philosophical practices. They are not the meaning of life and will hinder you if you obsess over them once you are ready to surpass them.  From The Daily Stoic:  I do not wish for ill-fortune, illness, or trials of trouble in my life, but I must face them when they come. I've had a good life — I'd change only one thing (though I'd give my life to change that) — and easy. Other than that single,

Oversleeping. Late. Morning studies shortchanged. Will fix tomorrow. Today's Zen: From The Daily Stoic: Go with the flow.  I got to practice that this morning after sleeping through my alarms. Luckily, work didn't notice.  Unfortunately, my morning studies suffered.  Losing an hour or two of quiet can do that. BUT . . . that is neither good nor bad.  It is simply a fact and I have to adapt and move on. I choose to face it and do better, rather than grouse and complain and mad my way through the day. It happened.  Tomorrow will be better.

Cat waking early  Raises me to consciousness.  Time to start anew.  Today's Zen: It has no shape or form; It is not square or round. There are no things in words; There are no words in things. Deliberate exploitation is contrary To true function; When meditating with no intention, Everything is Zen. - Tung-shan (807–869) From The Daily Stoic:  Today I escaped from the crush of circumstances, or better put, I threw them out, for the crush wasn’t from outside me but in my own assumptions.  —Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 9.13 My emotions are not me. My actions are.  They often happen without notice. Bursting upon the scene as impactful and urgent as always. Emotions demand they are the Most Important Thing right now .  Once I become aware of them, once I recover my wits, I can change them. After that realization, if I continue to indulge them, i have done so by choice and the repercussions are doubly mine. While this passage makes a good point about judging others and externals, it ap