More on this book
Community
Kindle Notes & Highlights
“Nobody can give you wiser advice than yourself.” - Marcus Tullius Cicero
“You get out on the farm. You look at the mountains across the valley, which are several million years old and are going to be there through the life of the planet. You understand that you’re a short-term phenomenon, like the mosquitos that come in the spring and fall. You get a perspective on yourself. You’re getting back to the fundamentals of the planet.” - Robert Hotz
“Life is very short and anxious for those who forget the past, neglect the present, and fear the future.” - Lucius Annaeus Seneca
Whatever happened, happened – and you have no recourse, no options to change that, no other reality to go to where it happened differently.
Buddha said life is flux. What will happen will happen. You must go with the flow, as there simply is no other alternative. To wish and hope for something different, something better is ludicrous as it is impossible to change what is. The universe is flux, and you must flow with these changes, good or bad, like a leaf falling from a branch, not knowing which way it will fly or ultimately where it will land.
To use a past event as an excuse to behave one way or another is a false justification for your future actions.
“On the occasion of everything that causes you sadness, remember to use this ‘dogma’: not only is this not a misfortune, but it is a piece of good fortune for you to bear up under it courageously.”
If you have accepted that all events are external and that the only thing you control is your judgment of and choice of response to said events, and that your rational ordinary mind wants to be virtuous and tranquil, then you also understand that no matter how degenerately someone is acting towards you, it does not stop you from responding with kindness and compassion in return.
