241231 What I learned in my studies this morning 5
Today's Meditation(s): So ends the year. Sitting on the porch at the fire table. Listening to an audiobook. Planning to go to bed before midnight. Thanking goodness that I have tomorrow off.
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241229 What I learned in my studies this morning 5
Today's Meditation(s): Not feeling it today. I can control what I choose to do. I choose to go to bed. Tomorrow will be better.
241228 What I learned in my studies this morning 5
Today's Meditation(s): Reading John Sellars explanation of Epicurean epistemology. Empiricism vs. Academic Skepticism. Good stuff. Reminds me of college.
241227 What I learned in my studies this morning 5
Today's Meditation(s): Letters from a Stoic , XIII 6 (Graver and Long) Two lessons I take here: do not worry beyond necessity and be careful with whom I surround myself. Am I vexing myself? Am I creating problems where there are none? Am I borrowing trouble from tomorrow? How do I stop this? Am I associating with people of value? Are those around me making me and my life better? Are they stoking bad habits and misleading me? Choose better. Live happier.
241226 What I learned in my studies this morning 5
Today's Meditation(s): Christmas + 1 Visiting with our families is generally good. I like my in-laws, both my wife's family and my siblings" spouses. Mrs. Student likes my parents and siblings. We get along. We have a good time when we see each other. It's a good thing. And something we're really hoping is imprinting on our kids.
241225 What I learned in my studies this morning 5*
Today's Meditation(s): Christmas. Tonight, Mrs. Student wasn't feeling well, so she went to bed early. I was going to read with one when I had a thought. I called the kids together and we called first one grandma then the other, caroling for all we were worth. They loved it. The kids loved / tolerated it. I loved it. All in all, a great memory I'm glad to share with them.
241224 What I learned in my studies this morning 5**
Today's Meditation(s): " Control what you can control. Play the next play. ” - Nick Saban Seems like Nick has been reading some Stoics. Or maybe he figured it out himself. Either way, it's still solid thinking. Today was a day of family. All of us up early because of the boundless enthusiasm of one. I was groggy, but I loved it. I knew it was something I may never get again and I really wanted to appreciate it. So I played the next play: sit, watch, remember, be happy. Nothing more. Nothing less.
241223 What I learned in my studies this morning 5
Today's Meditation(s): I wonder what effect having novels in mind, primarily, when I think of 'creativity' has. I really don't want to see the diagram of that sentence. Or maybe I do.... Is there a way to diagram sentences online? Surely there is. No. And don't call me Shirley.
241222 What I learned in my studies this morning 5
Today's Meditation(s): Letters from a Stoic , XIII 4-5, Seneca (Trans. Graver and Long) Letter thirteen . . . one of the most famous of the Moral Letters to Lucilius for a reason. It's something almost universally accepted as true: 'We are more often afflicted in thought than in fact."
241221 What I learned in my studies this morning 5
Today's Meditation(s): If I actively don't feel like writing tonight, and mention it, does it count?
241220 What I learned in my studies this morning 5
Today's Meditation(s): Still thinking about creativity. Expanding definitions versus righteously included variations on the theme. So athletics counts just as much as tap or swing or ballet. Renoir and graffiti can both move. Puns as well as plays. But maybe we can exclude some supposed examples of each? Maybe there is a limit? Or maybe there should be? Or maybe anything can be creative; what does it matter to me if someone wants to deem creative something I would not? And, if so, them I could claim creativity. But it would feel cheap to me. So do not.
241219 What I learned in my studies this morning 5
Today's Meditation(s): Tao Te Ching , 81 (Deng Ming-Dao and Jane English) A so the Tao ends. And the Tao continues. And the Tao is. Follow Tao. Be soft. Be pliable, bendable, moldable, flexible. Be water. Be humble. Be true.
241218 What I learned in my studies this morning 5*
Today's Meditation(s): Tao Te Ching , 80 (Deng Ming-Dao and Jane English) Leave each other in peace.... Why does this seem so hard for people? Leaving others in peace is one of my foundational principles and I think I do it rather well (though there's always room for improvement). It's why I so loathe politicians. It's why I don't even want to be manager / supervisor over others at work. I want to be left alone to pursue my peaceful practices and I offer the same courtesy to everyone else. Ask me for advice? I'm happy to help in whatever way I can. Ask me to order others to do things, with the everpresent threat of coercion that must accompany all 'orders'? Yeah. No. Piss right off with that. I don't want to be forced to live as others would have me live. And I will not be party to forcing peaceful people to live as I would have them live. My life is not theirs. Their lives are not mine.
241217 What I learned in my studies this morning 5
Today's Meditation(s): Is it inspiration that I lack? Follow through? Is it lack of imagination, not creativity? Is there a difference? I can work well within rules such as writing and playing music. I know when to break the rules and how to do so that it makes something beautiful or wondrous or fun or holy. I can make it sing . But I can't make something of whole cloth. I can't craft a new world or shining vista of creation. I can only tool around the edges, sniffing, glimpsing, real creativity. And I still can't define creativity so that we both know wtf I'm talking about.
241216 What I learned in my studies this morning 5*
Today's Meditation(s): Tao Te Ching , 79 (Deng Ming-Dao and Jane English) Be good and good will follow. Do not concern myself with other's actions. They do not lie in my domain. Be good and let them worry about them.
241215 What I learned in my studies this morning 5*
Today's Meditation(s): The Creative Act: A Way of Being , by Rick Rubin Still struggling with my lack of creativity. Trying to figure out if I'm making any progress or if this book is merely redefining creativity to encompass too much. Watering the term down to the point of meaninglessness. I come with a traditional concept of creativity: making new stuff. Doesn't matter if it's in painting or an impromptu plan or a symphony or an unexpected way out of it jam, creativity brings something new. I'm good at combining things within a set of rules. Give me a system and I can almost always figure out how to make it run with a high degree of success. Make it purr. But create the system? Find a solution from outside? Unlikely. It's happened , but oh so rarely. When creativity becomes anything, becomes a way of looking rather than a feat of doing, is it something new? Is it no longer what I'm searching for? Or is it exactly what I need?
241214 What I learned in my studies this morning 5
Today's Meditation(s): You have so much more in you than it feels like you do. And how do you know this? Because the load you’re handling today dwarfs the load you could have carried at other times in your life, the things you are handling calmly today would have freaked you out just a few years ago . ~ The Daily Stoic I like it. Though I still sometimes have a hard time believing it. What to do when I doubt myself? (Other than my best despite my doubts.)
241213 What I learned in my studies this morning 5
Today's Meditation(s): Tao Te Ching , 78 (Deng Ming-Dao and Jane English) No one who wants to rule is worthy. Anyone who has the spirit to be a true leader understands that rulers are not leaders. If they were leaders, they would be leaders instead of rulers . Leaders inspire. They have a deserved loyalty which allows people to follow their lead despite disagreements. They follow because they trust, they choose . Leaders don't coerce. Rulers may try not to coerce, but it's always there and it absolutely will be used if they deem you uncooperative enoug. So... choose leaders, not rulers.
241212 What I learned in my studies this morning 5*
Today's Meditation(s): Tao Te Ching , 77 (Deng Ming-Dao and Jane English) Who has more than enough and gives it to the world? Only the wise. They remain humble and do not seek recognition. Anonymity is fine so long as the goal is achieved within Tao's plans.
241211 What I learned in my studies this morning 5
Today's Meditation(s): Tao Te Ching , 76 (Deng Ming-Dao and Jane English) Yield and let pass. Give way and slip the affront. Physical and psychic attacks will fail. Do by not resisting.
241210 What I learned in my studies this morning 5
Today's Meditation(s): Tao Te Ching , 75 (Deng Ming-Dao and Jane English) I object to rulers, so this seems Natural to me. Leaders? Ok. Organization? Sure. Agreed upon rules? Let's do it. "Authority"? A "right to command" instilled by some made up ceremony? A "duty" to obey simply because of who it is or what position they hold? Get bent. If I consent, all is good. If I do not, you'd better be able to make me because I'm not doing it of my own volition.
241209 What I learned in my studies this morning 5
Today's Meditation(s): Tao Te Ching , 74 (Deng Ming-Dao and Jane English) Know my role. Know my path. Follow what is there to be found. Don't force it.
241208 What I learned in my studies this morning 5*
Today's Meditation(s): Tao Te Ching , 73 (Deng Ming-Dao and Jane English) Fulfilled plans without yearning. The minimum achieves more than the maximum. That way fights Tao. Choose Nature. Choose action through inaction. Choose simplicity and acceptance.
241207 What I learned in my studies this morning 5**
Today's Meditation(s): Tao Te Ching , 72 (Deng Ming-Dao and Jane English) Let go of that and choose this . . . the sum of all wisdom. Let go of striving. Choose acceptance. Let go of intrusion. Choose letting be. Let go of plans. Choose following Nature.