Michel de Montaigne puncuated his brand of philosophy with:
What do I know?
i’ve been thinking about getting another tattoo and this question might be it. I feel like it’s the heart and soul of my journey at the moment.
Michel de Montaigne puncuated his brand of philosophy with:
What do I know?
i’ve been thinking about getting another tattoo and this question might be it. I feel like it’s the heart and soul of my journey at the moment.
Does there exist an unforgiving cosmic ledger that balances our deeds and misdeeds with clinical precision? Am I doomed to reap what a sow? Or is the universe more forgiving than that? I like to believe that it is, otherwise I probably am doomed! Every decision we make has outcomes and consequences, big and small. I make so many decisions in a day; it’s nearly impossible for me to track all the variables that will have an impact on me some time in the future. I’ve had 3 cups of coffee so far today, how’s that going to play itself out long term? The short term is easier, at some point in the next couple of hours I’ll need to find someplace pee.
like Michel de Montaigne i also believe conversation is “sweeter than any other action in life.”
“Persuade yourself that each new day that dawns will be your last,” says the poet Horace, “then you will receive each unexpected hour with gratitude.”
own your habits.
Strolling beside a lake on a foggy morning, I relish the solitude of the forest. But every few minutes I hear a splash as a fish leaps to catch a bug. The sound awakens my inner angler who urges me to cast a line.
In my pocket, a have a copy of Jack Kerouac’s Big Sur, a novel he wrote when he needed to escape from noise and the pressure of fame. Like Thoreau, he retreated to a cabin, not to see how frugally he could live, but to fight his inner demons.
An antique shop sells a mirror that reflects not your physical appearance but your deepest fears, hopes, and existential beliefs. Would you look into it?
Can someone ever claim to have a truly fresh thought or say something that comes from the depths of their mind? Or, as creators, are we forever tied to the threads of conversation that came before us?
Growing up, I loved stories of heroic fantasy. Stories like the Lord of the Rings, Conan the Barbarian, and the Dragon and the George. These magical worlds full of swords and sorcery sparked my imagination. Once upon a time stories of magic and myth used to give people a sense of meaning and purpose, nowadays, they merely serve as entertainment far from reflecting empirical truth.
But if you look closer, modern myths also surround us, though we don’t always recognise them as such. Take money, for example. The paper bills in my wallet only have value because we collectively pretend and agree they do. Without this illusion, the entire economic system would crumble. Many of our personal beliefs and social norms depend on shared mythologies to shape our realities.
So perhaps the question is not whether myths are “true” in the factual sense. Rather, we should ask what purpose they serve. Some myths are toxic; they distort reality and promote harmful misconceptions. But others uplift our spirit, remind us of our ideals, and promote ethical purpose. The myths we choose to embrace reflect who we aspire to be, both individually and collectively.
There’s a balance between scientific empiricism with mythic imagination. Too much reliance on illusions risks dangerous delusions. But a strictly materialist worldview drains the meaning from life. The thing is, we are story-making creatures who subconsciously weave magic and science to create meaning, purpose, and significance into the myths we live by.
stand on the shore
of your mind and watch
the thoughts roll in like waves
how does it feel to watch,
to wait, to hide from the
endless tide?
come what may
your steadfast soul
will be the shore that stays
once you cross the frontier between black and white and wander into the land tinted in shades of grey, morality becomes a mirage that disappears as you approach it. what once seemed fixed and immutable becomes malleable as fluid as a river that can’t be dammed.
We create our essence through the choices we make. Who I am at this moment is the sum of all the choices I’ve made up until this point.
If our choices shape our essence, what guides these choices? Is it a random interplay of neurons firing in the brain or a more soulful, internal dialogue informed by our evolving sense of self?
I love this idea that we are the cartographers of our own existence. No territory is predestined; the ink with which we sketch our lives is composed of our choices, our actions, and our will. I find this to be much better than the idea that we are suppose to discover who we are as if we’re explorers searching for an elusive “X marks the spot” on a map of our lives. I’d rather be the author of my life than an actor playing a part on a stage.
In a world that idolises the ‘I,’ the soul finds sanctuary in the embrace of ‘We’—Ubuntu nourishes where isolation gnaws.
Hello world!