Optimal grip

“Drink because you are happy, but never because you are miserable. Never drink when you are wretched without it, or you will be like the grey-faced gin-drinker in the slum; but drink when you would be happy without it, and you will be like the laughing peasant of Italy. Never drink because you need it, for this is rational drinking, and the way to ... See more

When we hear a phrase like ‘freedom from emotions’, we may have an ambivalent reaction to it. Evoking an image of no-emotions may bring about some fear that our lives will become flat. It is important to understand, however, that this not what results from the practice. On the one hand there is a decrease of emotions and the attachment to emotions,... See more

I died to the mineral state and became a plant; I died to the

vegetable state and reached animality;

I died to the animal state and became a man; then what should I

fear? -- I have never become less from dying.

At the next charge (forward) I will die to human nature, so that I

may lift up (my) head and wings (and soar) among the angels.

I often feel like I’m accumulating insight when I’m doing, but it doesn’t translate into changes in my action and perception unless I take a pause from doing. When acting on the world, I am like a dam filling with potential energy, but it is only in silence and stillness the dam can open up, and the insights I have accumulated can transform into ki... See more

Observe the street…Note down what you can see. Anything worth of note going on.

Do you know how to see what’s worthy of note?

Is there anything that strikes you?

Nothing strikes you. You don’t know how to see.

You must set about it more slowly, almost stupidly.

Force yourself to write down what is of no interest, what is most obvious, most common, most ... See more

It’s time in my life to make fewer arguments for things and do more sitting down with things to just experience them. ‘I don’t want to tell you what happened. I want to tell you how it felt,’ is how Namwali Serpell’s latest novel, Furrows, begins. It is also one way of summarizing how the current shift in my personal character is changing my writin... See more

There’s also a great anecdote from Nobel-winning physicist Richard Feynman, where he talks about how physics used to delight him when he used to play with it, but then it started to disgust him when he got burdened by this idea that he was obligated to advance the future of science. That he was supposed to be doing “important” work.

The frustration at losing the life you’ve dreamed of is then important because you have to remember what you’re losing. Every choice that we make closes the door to numerous other choices that were available, one road taken means that another is forever unavailable, we can’t go back in time and redo our lives. Even if we were to return to the same ... See more