From a blog by Mark Mason
http://markmanson.net/stop-trying-to-be-happy
Month: December 2015
Few Minds More Brilliant
In history, there have been few minds more brilliant than that of the Greek philosopher, Plato. I mean, consider a man who was the student of Socrates and the teacher to Aristotle. Plato is one of the founding fathers of what we know to be Western Philosophy. The contributions that Plato has made on the minds of anyone who has studied him are truly timeless in nature. Here is a collection of 30 of his greatest quotes:
“Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a harder battle.”
“Courage is knowing what not to fear.”
“Every heart sings a song, incomplete, until another heart whispers back. Those who wish to sing always find a song. At the touch of a lover, everyone becomes a poet.”
“Wise men speak because they have something to say; fools because they have to say something.”
“We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light.”
“Only the dead have seen the end of war.”
“The price good men pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men.”
“Do not train a child to learn by force or harshness; but direct them to it by what amuses their minds, so that you may be better able to discover with accuracy the peculiar bent of the genius of each.”
“The heaviest penalty for declining to rule is to be ruled by someone inferior to yourself.”
“According to Greek mythology, humans were originally created with four arms, four legs and a head with two faces. Fearing their power, Zeus split them into two separate parts, condemning them to spend their lives in search of their other halves.”
“Love is a serious mental disease.”
“Never discourage anyone…who continually makes progress, no matter how slow.”
“One of the penalties of refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors.”
“Good people do not need laws to tell them to act responsibly, while bad people will find a way around the laws”
“I am the wisest man alive, for I know one thing, and that is that I know nothing.”
“There is truth in wine and children”
“Ignorance, the root and stem of every evil.”
“I’m trying to think, don’t confuse me with facts.”
“If women are expected to do the same work as men, we must teach them the same things.”
“…and when one of them meets the other half, the actual half of himself, whether he be a lover of youth or a lover of another sort, the pair are lost in an amazement of love and friendship and intimacy and one will not be out of the other’s sight, as I may say, even for a moment…”
“The measure of a man is what he does with power.”
“Those who tell the stories rule society.”
“The madness of love is the greatest of heaven’s blessings”
“Human behavior flows from three main sources: desire, emotion, and knowledge. ”
“There are three classes of men; lovers of wisdom, lovers of honor, and lovers of gain.”
“Education is teaching our children to desire the right things.”
“When men speak ill of thee, live so as nobody may believe them.”
“There are two things a person should never be angry at, what they can help, and what they cannot.”
“In politics we presume that everyone who knows how to get votes knows how to administer a city or a state. When we are ill… we do not ask for the handsomest physician, or the most eloquent one.”
“How can you prove whether at this moment we are sleeping, and all our thoughts are a dream; or whether we are awake, and talking to one another in the waking state?”
Love Is The Only Thing
Channels for Sharing
To those who love me:
Had I been told as a teenager my life would turn out this well, I wouldn’t have believed it. While no stranger to pain and heartache, so much good has come to me through the years. I’m grateful. However, it’s so easy to let gratefulness become more knowledge than a sense of things. Grateful can unconsciously become more noun than verb. True gratitude should be action in the present. I’m relearning that.
Being blessed with comfort and possessions, I humbly ask any loved one who is considering giving me a gift for Christmas to reconsider the item. Instead of buying a gift do something simple: give to someone in need, make a craft; a meal (or certificate for one in the future); written good luck wished in a bottle thrown from shore; a kind word of appreciation; share time together; remember to call on the holiday or any effort that is given from the heart and not a store rack. And if all you do is think of me kindly on the holiday that will be more than enough.
My most hoped for gifts this holiday season are to love and be loved. For every smidgen of affection and caring I receive year round, I am grateful.
We are not cisterns made for hoarding;
we are channels made for sharing.
Billy Graham
Beatus Rememberence (Happy Remembrance)
Feeling grateful brings a grace like little other. Through the power of gratefulness my life became more contented and centered. For three years I wrote almost every day about the light and dark times that shaped and molded my life. Those were contented times.
Nothing bad has happened. My level of gratefulness remains above average I think. However, when I PRACTICED gratitude in a near daily meditation and wrote about it, EVERYTHING was better. Human nature is to take for granted anything held in abundance. And so, richly filled with the joy of being grateful, over time I slowed in my notice of things to be thankful for.
By paying only spotted attention to this blog for well over a year, I have misplaced some of what was once gained. Realizing this brings a tingle of optimism; a happy remembrance. I know every full benefit of gratitude can be restored. I need only practice gratefulness regularly: look up, be present, and live what comes to me as well as I can.
More very soon….
When a new day begins, dare to smile gratefully.
When there is darkness, dare to be the first to shine a light.
When there is injustice, dare to be the first to condemn it.
When something seems difficult, dare to do it anyway.
When life seems to beat you down, dare to fight back.
When there seems to be no hope, dare to find some.
When you’re feeling tired, dare to keep going.
When times are tough, dare to be tougher.
When love hurts you, dare to love again.
When someone is hurting, dare to help them heal.
When another is lost, dare to help them find the way.
When a friend falls, dare to be the first to extend a hand.
When you cross paths with another, dare to make them smile.
When you feel great, dare to help someone else feel great too.
When the day has ended, dare to feel as you’ve done your best.
Dare to be the best you can…
Steve Maraboli
