Who is Poor? Who is Wealthy?
Seneca
Who is Poor?
A man who craves for more ;
A man that does not reckon past gains , but of gains to come
A man that, despite his own wealth in warehouses and safes, covets neighbor's property
Who is Wealthy?
One who is content
With what is necessary and what is enough
One that can distinguish among - Necessity, Luxury and Superfluity
Seneca
It is for superfluous things for which men sweat!
Seneca
What is law of Nature?
Are'nt Hunger Thirst and Cold the necessities, and rest is superfluity?
Yes Says Seneca
Courting with powerful,
Submitting to their stern frown or their kindness,
dashing up the foreign shores,
or going for campaigning - all are superfluity-
that are barely hanging threadbare-
For that which is enough is already in our hands
Motto should be "Live according to Nature"
Seneca
Fool's life is empty of gratitude and full of fears; Its course wholly lies towards the future - Epicurus
This is a classic reminder to the gap and the gain -
count your gains- that you have attained and
have feeling of enough, for fortune is fickle ,
and you should not depend on it
Whatever your effort, the success of future - depends on Luck - Yeah!
Then be contended - Be have the feeling of enough
Seneca Says
" Lucilius, remind yourself , How many ambitions have you attained?
Continuously- Think of how many are behind you and thank the gods
- and be grateful for your past life- if you do so-
you have outstripped the millions of others.
But what have you to do with others?
You have outstripped yourself"
Count your gains! and have gratitude to everyone!
Seneca
Epicurus
If you live according to Nature, you will never be poor
If you live according to opinion, you will never be rich
Seneca : Letters from a Stoic Pg.23
Nature does not hurry...still everything gets done ...Leo Babauta
Natural desires are also limited...like Hunger, Thirst
Once we are sated, desire comes down;
On contrary, take the man-made superfluities , like the modern economy
Growth , growth and growth - everyone chasing growth...
quarter -on-quarter; year-on-year;
Seneca says that "False has no limits"
we are chasing facades - illusion - mirage -
the misleading desire that I will be happy when i get there
- like trying to touch the horizon;
"There is succession in your desires ;
for one begins where its predecessor end" Says Seneca
Maria Popova talks about two temporal models in blog post : Marginalian :
Chronos and Kairos - Linear and Cyclical respectively
Nature works in Cyclical mode - Birth and Death, Seasons;
We humans forget that cyclical mode!
- we can think in Linear mode only -everything as Linear , if not exponential progression with time;
Why do i keep forgetting that I am part of the Nature as well and that the Law of Kairos holds good for me
- like for Plants and Animals
Live according to Nature - Things come in cycles - Problems-Solutions;
Success-Failure;
Disease-Cure;
Live according to Nature; Live within Limits;
everything in moderation and nothing to the extremes!
Seneca
Maria Popova
Mukund
We're never happy with what we have, we want what others have too;
Ryan Holiday - Ego is the Enemy
Prof. Laurie Santos teaches wildly popular course "The science of happiness" in Coursera!
one important concept that prof. Santos talks is - about absolute vs relative coordinates .
She states that reason for unhappiness stems relative comparison of our self with others!
Let me take my case -
the way my professional career started- To where I am today -
leading team;
On absolute coordinates, I should be very very happy today , given where I started. i should feel arrived.
but what is the reality ? i end up comparing myself to others-
one who runs faster than me and feeling unhappy !
Mukund! Don't - Feel arrived!
"The word "euthymia" is the one we should think more often:
sense of our own path and how to stay on it
without getting distracted by all others" Ryan Holiday
Ryan Holiday
Mukund
Yes, But I have something he will never have ...Enough"
pg. 39 Psychology of Money Moran Housel
"At a party given by a billionaire, Kurt Vonnegut informs his pal,
Joseph Heller that their host,
a hedge fund manager, earned more money in a single day, than
earned from his wildly popular novel 'Catch-22' over its whole history.
Heller responded "Yes , But I have something he will never have ...Enough"
Say you are going to a 5-star hotel - it serves an extravagant buffet- 100s of dishes- you are hungry - you eat and eat - at some point the appetite comes down - mind gives up. you cannot eat more - is it not?
because , body has a control system - closed loop - that signals that it has had enough ;
I wish we have such a closed loop mechanism when it to dealing with money, fame , position and material pleasures!
In the book, Your Money or Your Life, author Vicki Robin helps us to identify the point of "Enough", when it comes to Money.
the concept is called Life Energy - amount of time you are trading off for the money earned;
At the point of enough, fulfillment breaks through the roof and reaches infinity!
Thoreau says " For my greatest skill - has been to want but little - so little distraction from my wonted moods- and so little capital required" Walde pg 37
any fool can be ambitious ; it takes a genius to feel contented and enough!
At the point of enough, fulfillment breaks through the roof and reaches infinity!
Thoreau says " For my greatest skill - has been to want but little -
so little distraction from my wonted moods- and so little capital required" Walden pg 37
any fool can be ambitious ; it takes a genius to feel contented and enough!
What does it matter how much a man had laid in his safe, or in his warehouse,
how large his flocks, how big his dividends, if he covets his neighbor's property,
and reckons not his past gains, but his hopes of gains to come
-Seneca
I am reminded of the concept of Gap and Gain
- by James Hardy and Dan Sullivan.
I am always thinking of my gaps - in position, fame , money in comparison to others;
I am not counting the gains received
but busy computing the gaps to pray for!
If i heap my riches I have ,
i should be satisfied with what I have compared to where I started.
I keep missing the "Enough" point! when shall i be satisfied and contented ?
Ozan Varol talks about this in his blog post :
an hungry stomach , gets satiated - Body knows it! when to stop!
but I don't know yet when to stop!!!
As if holding a bottomless bowl 😉 praying for more!
Stop craving for more ;
My wishlist seems to be infinite!
I have to be satisfied even years before!
Let me move into a spiritual plane : like Steven Pressfield says
Lifting the CG- center of gravity from Physical to Spiritual:
And let me tell myself I that i have enough already and not need anything more!
Instead I need to give out! Share out!
Seneca
Ozan Varol
Steven Pressfield
Mukund
What the wise man knows in the beginning, a fool learns in the end
Warren Buffet
"In the name of necessity, we are employed laying up treasure
which moth and rust will corrupt and thieves will break through
and steal.
At the end of it , we all find out, I lived a fool's life" Thoreau
I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately,
to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach ,
and not , when i came to die, discover that I had not lived! - Thoreau
Wise and Wisdom means knowing in beginning - if not everything -
at least something - a blueprint - so to speak - Learn from History!
Henry David Thoreau
Warren Buffet
Cease to hope and you shall cease to fear
- Seneca
Just like the chain that fastens the prisoner to the police, Hope and Fear go in lock step;
Fear follow Hope -
a mind that is in state of suspense
A mind that is always "looking forward to"
A mind that sends our thoughts long way ahead
And the foresight becomes the bane
While the hindsight recalls the torture of Fear
Present along becomes the salve
I am getting an idea here - about how to be attached detached;
For example - keep doing without expectations - showcase, talent , fame ,position - Being Someone!
rather to do something as John Boyd Says;
aim to become rich , not for the money alone , but the persona you become along the way
Do not hope - Hope is not a strategy -someone said!
Keep building knowledge and sharing along the way!
it will burst open as opportunities!
This is my contrarian strategy - I should say! it is my way!
Seneca
I would have each one be careful to find out and pursue his own way and not his father's or mother's or his neighbor's instead ...Henry David Thoreau,,,Walden.
Like the sailor, who needs the pole star - to be a sufficient guide -
each one of us need to find our own "North Star".
Finding our North star- purpose - is the truest course to Life.
It is the same analogy as map and compass
- you need the map to find where you are first and then the compass to guide us and arrive at our port -
many a time we do not have the Map - we do not know where we are- we are truly lost
Condition of human mind - lost in thought - says Eckhart Tolle .
No worry. If you don't have a map - pick some map -
Hold the north star - move - with purpose ; you shall find the terrain
Which map to pick you may ask ?
- i am reminded of Alain De Boton's - The school of Life - Journey of self-discovery
It has 5 islands that we as human have to traverse and discover - for himself/herself
1. Knowing Self: Honesty,Philosophy,Development,Identity
2. Knowing Others: Charity,Politeness
3. relationships:Oneness,Humor,Love
4. Work:Authentic,Confidence
5. Culture:Detachment (attached detachment)
If i may purse the above, " I may not be arriving at my port, within a calculated period - but i shall preserve the true course" - Thoreau - Pg37
In Life, North Star is the most important - the Moral compass- you can figure the map or borrow the map
- but you alone need to undertake the Journey and cross the valley.
whether we shall arrive or not- is none of our business
Why? you may ask - is that not failure?
No! - Its a success- major success, because you lived and lived well - with peace of mind
- That is by far the best definition of Success
Authors
Henry David Thoreau
Alain De Boton
Mukund
Cost of a thing is the amount of what I call Life which is to be exchanged for it, immediately or in long run
Walden
In the book , "your Money or your Life" , Vicki Robin talks about
the concept of Life Energy;
we are all exchanging our Life time for Money ;
so lesser the needs, lower the Money required
More the control you have on your time!
And more the Life!
Typically we measure the other way,
How much money will have I have in Future?
Rather we need to measure Life Energy:
How much of Dollars or Rupees that I need per hour
To expense my life!
measured in $ rate per hour in the Present
Henry David Thoreau
Vicki Robin
Philosophy leads to a sound mind- that blunts blows of chance beyond belief!
Seneca , Letters from a Stoic!
Seneca says that " Throw all hindrances away, give up all your time to getting a sound mind"
What is a sound mind?
A mind that reflects on Self
A mind that defines Principles
A mind that regulates conduct in the Present
A mind that reflects in the Hindsight
And continually adjusts and Tinkers
The Human Machine called Body-Brain-Intellect-Ego
Create an Habit
of the Mornings dedicated to Principle
of the Day dedicated to Conduct
of the Evenings reflecting upon the Day
Such a sound mind in sound body
will face the problems, impediments and nuisances
Take them as raw material and convert them into Accomplishments!
Arnold Bennett
Seneca
Philosophy offers counsel to Man!
-Seneca
Everyone is restless:
Death calls away one man!
Poverty chafes another!
Someone worried by neighbor's wealth!
Another worried by own wealth!
Someone afraid of bad luck!
All of them leads to restlessness
To such a man, Philosophy offers counsel
Through clear light of Truth
To Live according to Nature!
For she has demarcated necessary from superfluity
Live not according to opinions
That waver, hither and Thither
Live according to Nature
Spending your limited time here , on Necessities!
And not on frivolous Superfluity!
Seneca
