Kindle Notes & Highlights
Both kinds of malcontents fail to see the irony of their arguments because they cannot recognize their own retreats from or into themselves as escapes. There is a romantic notion that there is a perfect form of engaging with the world that will elevate a mortal life above a series of brief distractions along a tedious journey dictated by faceless forces. The master commuter recognizes life as dust, and procures the least taxing means of avoiding that truth.
To wit: I have suffered thusly; I adhere to my current set of mores; my mores are superior because they have superseded mores that were lost to suffering; the application of the suffering I endured will create better behavior when applied to others. This is not a flawed argument in and of itself until you step back and consider a society full of people who think suffering is good and they should inflict it on another, which is most of the societies we have now. Perhaps it was inevitably passed down from times when suffering was inevitable, and death a daily foe instead of the desperately
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The principles may be simple, but many who discover principles are quick to confuse them with applications. To discover a common principle is the first lesson. To apply it is the work of a lifetime. To confuse the discovery with that lifetime is the business model of Medium.com, and discernibly not the business of the serious commuter.
All select a core set of principles, and they are as random as an honest gambler’s dice. Life’s long task is to adapt those principles to survive the complexity of the next billion choices, and discover the unteachable adaptations demanded by the doors of serenity. Any thorough philosophy of lasting note is a temporary place of coherence that extends into complexity. To pretend it is a stable bedrock upon which to rest an understanding of the universe is to start a cult.
Yet, in all environs, the most important navigation is of the self. The sufferance of the snowy hill between empty horizons, or the sudden crowd of French disembarking a tour bus, are challenges that will wither an uncharted soul. When the sea within is unknown, the obstacles of the outside world cannot be placed within a story of purpose. They are therefore overcome without reward, the very success merely adding additional chains of grudge and resentment. A well-mapped internal world allows the soul to anchor each day by islands of meaning. There it authors the story it means to tell, and
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Speed should never be pursued as end in itself. Rather, it should be seen as a positive effect arising from proper execution of legitimate fundamentals. The principle of least friction guides us in such circumstances and allows us to follow the lesser way. The lesser way does not maximize our speed, nor is it even the objectively shorter path. Yet it is necessary for smooth execution of vital maneuvers, such as the zipper and the weave. The lesser way is the small sacrifice of time for the benefit of all. It is also, ultimately, for the benefit of the self, as brief moments of humility are the
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However, trust in sight is misplaced: The eyes doth indeed deceive with some frequency. The brain, no fool, thus made hearing its foremost warning system. An eye accepts both lie and error, forcing its patchy perception into continuity for the sake of convenience and suppression of nausea. The ear is not in such a hurry to force its assumptions on the world, and pricks up at the slightest discontinuity that might suggest danger. The eye guides us through the day, but the ear protects us from the night.
