201828 What I learned in my studies this morning

What is worth my time?

What needs, rather than demands?

Family. Self. Friends. 

Daily Stoic:

Living well is not a sin. Owning things is not evil. Things owing me is evil. 

So long as I am ready to lose it, it does not control me. 

There's a game I've played for about four years now. I got in within a month of its launch and have done very well at it. Probably a top 2000 player worldwide. Been in a top 25 (often top 15) group for a long, long time. I've put thousands of hours into building my in-game situation. I have it well tuned and can usually do my daily activities in less than about 15 minutes when a newbie would take an hour and even a vet would take 30-40 minutes. I'm top tier in this game. 

Today I gave it away. I gave the account to another player to control. We've set it up as a "take a few months off" type of thing, but I already feel more free.  I fully expect that in a week or so, I'll contact them and tell them just to keep it. 

It's a game. It's a computer game. It's not real. And still it's hard to walk away from something that (a) I've put so much effort into and (b) something that is a part of my daily habit. 

I used to like to think I was beginning to get a hint of a clue of an understanding of what the Stoics meant when they discussed this topic. I'm not ready. 

(Seneca believes that people's needs  are simple and that nature can meet all of them. I'll cover this in more detail later when I review the second part of Seneca's Letter LXXXVIII.) 

Today's Meditation:

Meditation II:

Today's Poem:

Walt Whitman, I Sing the Body Electric