Kevin Warstadt

The Meaning of Life

I listened to this course a while ago, and it’s absolutely wonderful. https://www.thegreatcourses.com/courses/meaning-of-life-perspectives-from-the-world-s-great-intellectual-traditions I’ve been listening to it over and over again for two years. I can’t recommend it enough.

Today

Today, I will remember that things don’t happen to me. They just happen. I should not be offended when faced with difficult things.

Stoic quote of the day 07/17

From Marcus Aurelius: “Choose not to be harmed—and you won’t feel harmed. Don’t feel harmed—and you haven’t been.”

Quote of the day 07/16/23

From Seneca: “People are frugal in guarding their personal property; but as soon as it comes to squandering time they are most wasteful of the one thing in which it is right to be stingy.”

Quote of the day 07/15/23

Here’s one from Epictetus. “If you want something good, get it yourself.”

A poem

A bird alighted on a bough It came to be I know not how He sang his song While I looked on The world sang all around him In a flash It seemed to be I was the bird The bird was me

Driving to work, I saw a person sitting at a stop light with their window open, flexing their hand. It reminded me that the people around me are like me, and that they are all dealing with their own problems. It reminded me of this quote from Kurt Vonnegut. “I was a victim of aContinue reading “Note to myself”

Quote of the day 07/14/23

Here’s one that I thought was quite funny from the Bodhisattvacharyavataraa. (After being hit with a stick) “The physical suffering I experience Is caused by both the stick and my body; But, since the stick comes from my assailant and the body from me, With which of these should I get angry?” Imagine someone hittingContinue reading “Quote of the day 07/14/23”

Quote of the day 07/13/23

Here’s another from the Bodhisattvacharyavataraa. Interesting echo of Seneca. “There is no evil greater than anger, And no virtue greater than patience. Therefore, I should strive in various ways To become familiar with the practice of patience.”

My message to myself

My message to myself today: Figure out what must be done and do it. Anything else is childish.