Deep Survival: Who Lives, Who Dies, and Why

by Laurence Gonzales

Plato understood that emotions could trump reason and that to succeed we have to use the reins of reason on the horse of emotion. That turns out to be remarkably close to what modern research has begun to show us, and it works both ways: The intellect without the emotions is like the jockey without the horse.

We think we believe what we know, but we only truly believe what we feel.

In nature, adaptation is important; the plan is not. It’s a Zen thing. We must plan. But we must be able to let go of the plan, too.

He had discovered the first Rule of Life: Be here now.

He had just saved his life by risking it, which is the essential task of every organism. No risk, no reward. No risk, no life.

The Tao Te Ching says: He who is brave in daring will be killed, He who is brave in not daring will survive.

Epictetus, one of the great Stoic thinkers, was writing a survival manual. And what he said was this: If you want to be a survivor, be a philosopher.