I went into the woods to learn how to live deliberately. “ Henry David Thoreau later wrote Civil Disobedience a book that influenced Ghandi and Martin Luther King. Time spent idly walking in nature is life affirming.
I think you meant ‘Walden’. Sure, his Civil Disobedience essay stood as an inspiration to Gandhi and MLK but that’s not what he wrote by going into the woods. He wrote CD in 1849 while he spend his reclusive time at Walden pond between 1845 - 1847.
For me, it was time spent in nature learning to live deliberately that gave Thoreau the insight to write Civil Disobedience. You are correct he did write Walden right after living near at the pond.
Han's philosophy, I think, is clearly influenced by Taoism and Zen Buddhism, for example the concept of 'non-doing' (Wu-Wei). A very interesting philosopher, I am going to check him out.
The other problem is not just the greed for 'achievement', but what it consists of. One thing is to want to become an excellent pianist, another to become a millionaire. The former is mainly to do with one's own control, the latter is mostly due to 'luck', doing the right things at the right time, etc, things very difficult or impossible to control. As the millionaire Felix Dennis said: 'Feel free to believe in luck. But don't waste your time looking for it.'.
''What if the greatest chains are the ones we willingly forge for ourselves?''.
as Seneca wrote: 'Set your sights lower, not higher. For the higher you aim, the harder you'll fail.'.
All this achievement stuff is a delusion, borne out of the fact that, as Schopenhauer explained (paraphrasing), 'when we are young, life seems to be an infinite path before us, as if we were going up a hill. But when we are old, now for the first time we get to see what really lies on the other side of the hill, which we previously could not see.''.
very interesting. I wonder what Arthur Schopenhauer would say about all the unnecessary digital trash we waste our time on, today, since he saw the time humans get to live, as pathetic. He would be horrified. As he wrote: 'Time! Always chasing us, like a taskmaster with a whip!.....in this vale of tears, we are like lambs ready for the butcher. First goes one, then another....'.
There is nothing here describing why we have become so. It's hyper, surveillance capitalism. Period. Stop. It demands we behave so & leaves no alternative.
Yes, I already read the books above but they still awaken me again. I'll try not to do anything rather than to achieve something to leave some space inside of me. Good article!
I went into the woods to learn how to live deliberately. “ Henry David Thoreau later wrote Civil Disobedience a book that influenced Ghandi and Martin Luther King. Time spent idly walking in nature is life affirming.
I think you meant ‘Walden’. Sure, his Civil Disobedience essay stood as an inspiration to Gandhi and MLK but that’s not what he wrote by going into the woods. He wrote CD in 1849 while he spend his reclusive time at Walden pond between 1845 - 1847.
For me, it was time spent in nature learning to live deliberately that gave Thoreau the insight to write Civil Disobedience. You are correct he did write Walden right after living near at the pond.
His work 'On the disappearance of ritual' is absolutely fantastic
Agreed! I just read it last month
Han's philosophy, I think, is clearly influenced by Taoism and Zen Buddhism, for example the concept of 'non-doing' (Wu-Wei). A very interesting philosopher, I am going to check him out.
The other problem is not just the greed for 'achievement', but what it consists of. One thing is to want to become an excellent pianist, another to become a millionaire. The former is mainly to do with one's own control, the latter is mostly due to 'luck', doing the right things at the right time, etc, things very difficult or impossible to control. As the millionaire Felix Dennis said: 'Feel free to believe in luck. But don't waste your time looking for it.'.
''What if the greatest chains are the ones we willingly forge for ourselves?''.
as Seneca wrote: 'Set your sights lower, not higher. For the higher you aim, the harder you'll fail.'.
All this achievement stuff is a delusion, borne out of the fact that, as Schopenhauer explained (paraphrasing), 'when we are young, life seems to be an infinite path before us, as if we were going up a hill. But when we are old, now for the first time we get to see what really lies on the other side of the hill, which we previously could not see.''.
very interesting. I wonder what Arthur Schopenhauer would say about all the unnecessary digital trash we waste our time on, today, since he saw the time humans get to live, as pathetic. He would be horrified. As he wrote: 'Time! Always chasing us, like a taskmaster with a whip!.....in this vale of tears, we are like lambs ready for the butcher. First goes one, then another....'.
There is nothing here describing why we have become so. It's hyper, surveillance capitalism. Period. Stop. It demands we behave so & leaves no alternative.
Yes, I already read the books above but they still awaken me again. I'll try not to do anything rather than to achieve something to leave some space inside of me. Good article!
Double plus ungood, man
Taoist principle meets German rigorous thinking. Awesome Sauce...
“moments of pure leisure and rest without guilt” is such a craving, to dive deeply and escape the superficial whirl of Flatland…