The first rule of life is don’t die.
The best way to not die is to list the largest causes of death and then build systems to avoid them.
How do you not die at tennis? Avoid unforced errors.
Same in life. Systems that keep you from making unforced errors.
Just happened. I’m traveling and tested positive for Covid. I’m at my AirBNB, sitting. I don’t have the brainpower to do anything else except get a cup of water from time to time.
God did for me what I couldn’t do for myself. Sit a while. Do nothing. As Ed said, “when you are sick, your job is to get well.” First things first.
you can’t follow the rules. They aren’t designed to be followed. They’re designed to be arbitrarily enforced.
What you are is what you will get.
Is the ultimate rebellion.
Jiddu Krishnamurti spent years giving spiritual talks. He became more candid as he got older. In one famous talk, he asked the audience if they’d like to know his secret.
He whispered, “You see, I don’t mind what happens.”
https://www.collaborativefund.com/blog/the-psychology-of-money/
Sounds like Marcus Aurelius to me.
“What should I do? I’m confused.”
Don’t look to someone else to give you the answer. There is no Secret Wisdom of the Ancient Masters.
You already know the answer. You know what to do.
My job as your friend is to just talk to you until you see it.
That’s my synthesis today, looking back to early 1989 and something that Ed L. told me, when I was at a seeming impasse. He was brilliant, I thought. Always knew what to do.
He told me he didn’t know what I should do. But, he said, I knew the right answer. The kingdom of God is within, etc.
I don’t remember his exact words, but he said that his role as a mentor was to just keep talking to me until I told myself the answer.
The job of a friend is to help reframe the question. That’s what Ed did for me. Through conversation over coffee or at Baskin Robbins he helped me uncover answers inside.
Humility. He didn’t know the answers that were right for me, and didn’t pretend to know. Patience. Just talk. No agenda. Just talk.
And that quip about Secret Wisdom of the Ancient Masters is no joke. I spent several years deep in the occult, the esoteric, the gnostics—before understanding what Ed taught me and putting it all aside.
Now I live a simple life. Marcus Aurelius is about as complex as things get for me. The Sermon on the Mount. It’s not hard.