Tag Archives: stoicism

Wrestle, Wrestle, Wrestle

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“The art of living is more like wrestling than dancing, in so far as it stands ready against the accidental and the unforeseen, and is not apt to fall.” Marcus Aurelius

Greco-Roman Wrestling (Public Domain photo)

Greco-Roman Wrestling (Public Domain photo)


Wrestle, wrestle, wrestle.  Life is definitely more like a wrestling match.  The people who think that it is dancing, that it is something of a frolic, have a misunderstanding.  Not that certain kinds of dancing don’t require some struggle (professional ballroom dancing comes to mind), but I am certain that is not the kind of dancing Marcus is talking about.  No, indeed life is more like a wrestling match.  And that is not bad! Continue reading →

Partial Answers from Everywhere

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“Nothing is exactly as it seems, nor is it otherwise.”  Alan Watts

Here is a reality that many of us forget:  Everyone is partially correct.  Every theory, belief, and philosophy…partially correct.  There is a Zen saying I think describes this: “As soon as you speak of something, you have missed the mark.”  I think this applies to our perception of reality as well.  When it comes to our understanding of reality, Continue reading →

Awareness–Right Here, Right Now

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All men’s difficulties and perplexities are concerned with external things. ‘What am I to do?’ ‘How is it to be done?’ ‘How is it to turn out?’ ‘I fear this or that may befall me.’ All these phrases are used by persons occupied with matters outside their will.” Epictetus Discourses Book 4 Chapter 10.

There is a never-ending urge for us to focus on things external and things in the future.  Don’t get me wrong, we all take care of business by managing things external, Continue reading →

Balancing The Present Moment with the Future

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I do a lot of talking about the present moment here on the site.  For good reason:  the present moment is where I will find true happiness.  It is the only thing that is real; the past is a memory and the future is never assured… Continue reading →

Inner Excellence and “What Should I Pursue?”

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I read a great piece today from Brian Kim.  It came in an E-mail, but I’ve added his site to the blogroll, because he gets to the heart of things rather quickly on what can be a complicated matter of happiness. If you came here direct to my post, here is the link:  briankim.net.

The quote that stuck in my head is Continue reading →