Non-Linear!

 Non-Linear!

@Twitter

The non-linear approach is different

Rather than trying to discover a particular arc path-

And follow it to conclusion

It recognizes that there will be many different moments and 

Opportunities to create meaning thar arise in out life

The idea is not that we will participate in one story

That can be easily be wrapped up by our biographer 

But there are many adventures and quests that we can pursue

Rather than the attitude of the saint who is given a mission

It takes attitude of swashbuckling adventurer who goes out to seek his fortune - 

This approach to the problem of meaning 

Recognizes that rather than trying to discern a mission-

It is better to become a king of person

A person who is capable of acting on and recognizing opportunities

To make meaning when they are seen!

The Hill of Discomfort!

                                                               

Before you start - It looks simple - 

but once you got on to it -

 it looks complex And discomfort 

and you need to climb the hill of discomfort!

Hill of complexity!

Progressively it gets tough and tough - until then -

You get to see that it looks simple all again!

It's like morning in the treadmill in gym!

First 5 minutes look tough and dismfort

Then it all clears out - body and mind

What's on other side of fear - Courage

What's on other side of discomfort-  Clarity 

What's on other side of complexity- Simplicity 

YOu need to climb the hill yourself!

None can do it for you!

But Keep going!

Keep going ! 

Keep going!

Climb the hill of discomfort- 

And there is best stuff waiting on other side!

The need to Write!

 The need to Write!

By Paul Graham @Paul Graham Blogs

Writing is not just a way to convey ideas

But also a way to have them!

There is a way of thinking that can only be done by writing.

If you don't need to go deeply into a problem,

You can solve it without writing

But if you need to solve a complicated , ill-defined problem

It will almost always help to write about it!

Which means that someone who's not good at writing -

Will be almost at a disadvantage to solve such problems.

You cant think well without writing well

You can't write well without reading well

People who want just information may find other ways to get it

But people who want to have ideas-can't afford -

Not to write well and read well!

Rushing

 Bob Dylan

I did everything fast

Thought Fast

Ate Fast

Talked Fast

Walked fast

I even sang my songs fast

I needed to slow my mind down, If I was going to be a composer 

with anything to say!

My Notes:

Thank god! I am not the only one rushing!

but then I need to slowdown ....Is it not?

By being in present - physiological world

and not live in the psychological world - Past / Future

Always dreaming ! Always Reminiscing !

Never being alive! Feeling alive! 

Having Enough

Having Enough

Brunello Cucinello

Life on a rural farm

The willingness to make sacrifices for others

To be able to wait for a reward

The devotion to work

For me, these are the everlasting values;

The joy of working together and sharing what was 

Being produced

Turned work into a joyful liturgy

Not a punishment!

And it makes me thing:

Having enough itself is a form of wealth!

Keep your identity small:

Paul Graham Blogs

If people cant think clearly about anything

That has become part of their identity

Then all other things being equal

The best plan is to let as few things into

Your identity as possible

There is a step beyond thinking yourself as ‘X’ , but tolerating ‘Y’

Not even to consider yourself as ‘X’

The more labels you have for yourself

The dumber they make you!

Jiddu Krishnamurti says : 

‘Avoid Labels’

Because Labels become an means towards an end

And eventually, the ends are forgotten!

On external graces vs Internal Virtues

Theory of Moral Sentiments

Adam Smith

The external graces,

The frivolous accomplishments

Of that impertinent and foolish thing called

A Man of fashion are commonly

More admired than the solid virtues 

Of a warrior ,stateman , a philosopher or a legislator!

When the Duke of Sully was called upon by Louis the Thirteenth

To give his advice on some great emergency

He observed , the favorites and courtesans

Whispering to one another and smiling at his unfashionable appearance

(To which Duke of Sully responded to the King)

“Whenever your majesty’s father , did me the honour to

Consult me , he ordered the buffoons of the court 

To retire into the ante-chamber”

Look with all Intensity

 Look with all Intensity

Jiddu Krishnamurti 

Book of Life

JK says

Our ears are stuffed up with those things

That we already know!

So listening becomes extra-ordinarily difficult!

I think or rather - it is a fact - that

If one can listen to something with all of on’s being

-with vigor, with vitality

The very act of listening is a liberating factor

But unfortunately, you never do listened, as you never

Learned about it !

Afterall, you only learn when you give your whole being to something!

When you give your whole being to mathematics, you learn

But when you are in a state of contradiction

When you do not want to learn, but are forced to learn

Then it merely becomes a process of accumulation!

If you want to learn about a leaf - a leaf of spring or leaf of the summer

You must really look at it , see the symmetry , texture, quality if the living leaf

There is beauty , there is vigor , there is vitality in a single leaf

So to learn about the leaf, the flower, the cloud , the sunset

Or  a Human Being

You must look with all intensity!!!

Vainglory !!!

 Vainglory 👍

Theory of Moral Sentiments , Adam Smith

Amidst all the greedy pomp of most ostentatious greatness

Amidst the venal and vile adulation of great and learned

Amidst the foolish accumulation of common people

Amidst the pride of conquest and war

He is still secretly pursued by avenging furies of shame and remorse!

Even the great Caesar , who could at an instant dismiss his enemies

Could not dismiss his suspicions!

And he felt 👍I have lived long enough , for Nature! 

I am contented to die! 

Certainly he had lived too long enough for real glory

Ie., that stems from the happiness in the love and esteem of his equals!!!

16 Forms

 

The Prashna Upanishad:

Pg.236 :

Sukesha : Master, The prince of Kosala asked me:

“Do you know the Self in sixteen forms? “

Sage Pippalada : Self is the hub of the wheel of Life

Sixteen forms are only the spokes

As rivers of different names

Enter the Sea

And people speak of sea alone

Similarly all the sixteen forms disappear as Self is realized

There is no more name and forms as we enter immortality!

Pleasure vs Joy

 Taittiriya Upanishad

Ascent of Joy

Pleasure and Joy

Pleasure comes from sensory experience - is transitory

And quite limited

Joy comes from being in harmony with creative forces of Universe

Is permanent

And has no limits at all!!! 

(Joy knows no bounds!)

My Notes:

Pleasure comes from Finite things with Name and Form

Joy from Infinite

Pleasure comes from tangibles

Joy from Intangibles

Pleasure comes from Getting!

Joy from giving!

The Nature of Genius

Maria Popova 

Genius is derived from the Latin word for ‘Spirit’

Denoting the spirit of the universe : that 

We can only submit to but cannot govern

William Wordsworth describes genius as : 

The act of doing well

What is worthy to be done

And what was never done before

Mark Twain:

All ideas are second-hand

Consciously and unconsciously drawn from 

Million outside sources !!!

Ralph Waldo Emerson: 

Great genial powers, one would say

Consists in not being original at all

In being altogether receptive

In letting the world do all

And suffering the spirit of the hour

To pass unobstructed though the mind!

AUM

 Mandukya Upanishad

Michael Nagler

“The supreme reality into which we merge in the “Fourth” state (Turiya)

Is also represented by the Sacred Syllable : AUM : ॐ

AUM stands for mantram - a form of sacred utterance

To still the mind

And become aware of the divine reality to which it refers

All mantrams according to Mandukya Upanishad 

Go back to AUM ॐ and then beyond

Even that primordial energy to Brahman- The ultimate goal of Spiritual progress

The Prashna Upanishad

The Upanishads by Eknath Eswaran

Those who seek the Self through meditation

Self-discipline , Wisdom and Faith in God

Travel after death by the Northern Path

The Path of Prana to the Soalr World

Supreme refuge beyond the reach of fear

And free from the cycle of birth and death!

Who is the Prime-mover?

Who Moves the World?

The Kena Upanishad

Eknath Eswaran

Student:

Who makes my mind think?

Who fills my body with vitality?

Who causes my tongue to speak? 

Who is that invisible one who sees through my eyes?

And hears through my ears?

Teacher:

The Self is the ear of the ear

The eye of the eye

Mind of the mind

Word of the words

And Life of life

Rising above the senses and the mind

And renouncing separate existence

The wise realize the deathless Self!

My Notes:

You are not the “Doer”

You are simply the “instrument”

A supreme designer has modeled me and simulating me !!!

How to journal like Marcus Aurelius

 by Ryan Holiday

How to journal like Marcus Aurelius

1. Write to yourself ,  for yourself
2. Prepare for the day ahead
3. Repeat the important things
4. Take it out on a page
5. Copy down favorite quotes
6. Ask yourself hard questions
7. Review in the evening

Parallels between Life and Fitness

 Matt Stephens (Twitter)

Parallels to Life and Fitness

• Discipline = Freedom
• Motion creates Emotion
• Consistency breeds Success
• Mastering the Mundane leads to  Success
• Growth happens outside of your comfort zone
• Recovering is as important as the Work you put in!

Shake it off your mind - 24 Hour Rule

 By Bill Walsh

The score takes care of itself

Bud Grant lost  four super-bowls as head-coach of Minnesota Vikings

and was able to keep it in perspective - as below

"I have got a 24-hour rule - you only let it bother you for 24 hours . Then its over"

Joy, Grief , Fear , Lust  - Dont let it linger on and on 

Dust it off you in the next 24-hours 

Don't cling to it!

more you cling , more you get attached to it

The more you cling ,  the more it becomes your identity 

 winner - loser 

Success-failure 

And the more identity gets frozen around you

it warps you in a cast like a thick iron cladding

that you cannot unshackle out of -

you end up becoming claustrophobic 

in emotions - even of that is of pleasure - win -it is no good!

for winning is not eternal 

like losing is not going to be

you must let it bother only 24 hours or less 

and then keep moving

keep moving and 

keep moving;

"You are more than an accounting system comprising of Win/Loss Ledger " Bill Walsh

Seneca puts this in a different way : 

Such things are therefore imaginary.

and though they for the moment

present a certain external appearance

They are no way permanent or substantial

We care about stuff as if they are permanent . 

but they are not

We think whatever is concrete to sight or touch as existent

-No they don't

They are all in a state of flux

-constantly diminishing!

None of us is the same (Wo)man tomorrow

But nonetheless, we crave for them as if they were always to exist

as if we were always to possess them!

I

 In my ignorance, I am sure that I am eternally "I" .

This conviction is rooted in emotionally charged memory ...Aldous Huxley

Patanjali in YogaSutra talks of 5 Vrttis - or forms of mental pertubrations

that disturb our mental serenity

One of them is memory - 

Memory stores the past and 

invokes along with it the emotions!

Now only when the memory is emptied 

can I escape from the sense of my water-tight  separateness! ....St.John of the Cross!

Vrttis - cause delineation of myself from Self - separateness

segmentation of me from other beings - Dividing -Dividing -Dividing

Now how to empty mind? - only by total awareness 

at least for a moment or two! 

I am reminded of the "Mind the Gap" article by Martin Crowe, the famous Cricket Player

"The gap between the balls - 30 sec time span 

between the last ball and when the next ball is alive

is most important period in batsman's innings" 

Oh my God! what a revelation!

Awareness is -  not what you do - but what you do in between what you do

Awareness is neither thought nor actions

Awareness is when we suspend our judgments , values and overthinking

Awareness is stillness

Awareness is what opens our way to understanding!