Author: Reality Laughs

Seneca:

“The whole race of man, both that which is and that which is to be, is condemned to die. Of all the cities that at any time have held sway over the world, and of all that have been the splendid ornaments of empires not their own, men shall some day ask where they were, and they shall be swept away by destructions of various kinds; some shall be ruined by wars, others shall be wasted away by inactivity and by the kind of peace which ends in sloth, or by that vice which is fraught with destruction even for mighty dynasties, – luxury. All these fertile plains shall be buried out of sight by a sudden overflowing of the sea, or a slipping of the soil, as it settles to lower levels, shall draw them suddenly into a yawning chasm. Why then should I be angry or feel sorrow, if I precede the general destruction by a tiny interval of time?”

Letters from a Stoic, Letter 71:15.

Remember that when you’re bemoaning the State of the Nation.

From an actual event today.

A. got a full-time job at Amazon. She is counting down the days until she quits. Six weeks. It doesn’t matter that she is banking money. She has set a quitting deadline.

This morning as she was leaving to go to work she burst into tears. “What’s wrong with the job?” I asked.

“It’s OK. Nothing’s wrong. It’s fine.”

That’s not right, of course. “Nothing” doesn’t cause tears.

My only response was “Let’s find you another minimum wage job. It is possible to find a minimum wage job that doesn’t make you cry.“

She started to cry-laugh.

And off to work she went.

I hope she looks for another job.

The introduction to the translation of Meditations that I read (by Gregory Hays) notes that it is fundamentally a book about how to defend against pain, not a way to find joy.

Marcus does not offer us a means of achieving happiness, but only a means of resisting pain.

Meditations, Kindle location 612

It’s worthwhile for you to look at this. You are what you eat, so to speak.

Just as you have deliberately turned to classical music and away from the routine music you listened to before, maybe it’s time to read books that create joy. Focus on offense rather than defense: create happiness rather than defend against sadness.

It’s just a thought.

Start with the idea that I can self-hypnotize by infusing myself with happy. This, let me assume, is possible. I can read happy books and articles. I can choose happy thoughts. I can listen to happy music.

Let’s also assume I can choose toward actions, thoughts, and words that are happy.

I have no idea if this will work or not. But let’s test the hypothesis. It can’t hurt and it might work.

First, the daily meditations. As much as I love Marcus Aurelius, let’s see what else there is. Seneca, maybe?

I’m more or less operating on the thought from Naval Ravikant that happiness is peace in motion and peace is happiness at rest. Peace and happiness I get in small doses, almost at random (seemingly). How can I cultivate them?

Hmmm. Start by finding that part of Naval’s podcast and listen to it again.

What is possible for someone else is possible for me.

How the mind conducts itself. It all depends on that. All the rest is within its power, or beyond its control—corpses and smoke.

Meditations, 12:33.

All.

Stay with God. Stay in the now. However you’re going to describe it.

That’s within my control.

See the out-of-my-control boundary. Remember it and observe without judgment. It’s all out of my control.

This is an exhortation to self. I like that word (exhortation), which I used to mean impassioned encouragement to action.

Whatever you think is causing the situation, is not.

There is a deeper cause at work. It’s simple when you see it. But it’s hard to see, mostly because it’s prosaic and obvious and therefore invisible.

Once seen, it cannot be unseen.

Example: a mix of Kevin Kelly and Nassim Taleb. Technology gets marginally better all the time. That’s the Kevin Kelly input. It’s an exponential function. That’s the Nassim Taleb input. Looking backwards is misleading because it does not reveal the exponential future.

The implications of this are at odds with business as usual.

Gravity always wins.

I have specific beliefs about where this leads in the society, economy, etc.

That’s all well and good. Things will happen the way they will happen. How am I going to position myself and my family to live well?

By seeing the obvious. By seeing the stuff in plain sight. By not being distracted by the chaff, by not being attracted by the chum.

I did what I do best: patiently take confusion and create a simple, clear path to the objective. For this project it took two days to figure out. Now I have shared my plan with the others. Let’s see whether it survives.

I’m home, feeling ok.

Now it’s time for the second shift. That first shift at work was all about them and their lives. Now it’s about building mine.

Let’s do this.

It’s where I am right now, at work. it doesn’t help that I’m not sleeping particularly well. That makes the hard slog sloggier.

And yet. Let’s imagine what Marcus Aurelius would say.

First, remember the part where he tells you to get out of bed. I can’t remember how many times recently I have awakened, wishing for more rest, and then that passage has come to mind.

At dawn, when you have trouble getting out of bed, tell yourself: “I have to go to work—as a human being. What do I have to complain of, if I’m going to do what I was born for—the things I was brought into the world to do? Or is this what I was created for? To huddle under the blankets and stay warm?”

Meditations, 5:1.

That gets me up and headed to the kitchen to make coffee.

Then, it’s time to not take myself or my circumstances too seriously.

that if you were suddenly lifted up and could see life and its variety from a vast height, and at the same time all the things around you, in the sky and beyond it, you’d see how pointless it is. And no matter how often you saw it, it would be the same: the same life forms, the same life span.

Arrogance … about this?

Meditations, 12:24

It’s harsh but accurate. Is it pity party? Is it arrogance? No, it’s the same old stuff for you and everyone else.

You can do what you can do. Let’s go do it.

Finish your coffee, have a shower, get dressed. There are things to do.

If I must live with the paradox, bring it on.

There is a nice courtyard at work. I will sit outside with a cup of coffee. Invite the longing. I will sit with the feeling rather than attempt to solve it like an equation.