You don’t have to believe there’s a god directing the universe, you just have to stop believing that you’re that director. As soon as you can control your spirit to that idea, the easier and happier your life will be, because you will have given up the most potent addiction of all: control*
Ryan Holiday
It doesn’t have to be some monumental matter–
It sneaks up on us:
Thinking we know best
how to stack the dishwasher
or iron the clothes …
*Ryan Holiday’s The Daily Stoic (330).
Heard in the bus queue–
Older colleague to younger:
Use nepotism to get ahead and
put aside your principles in order to
break into something.
As for goodness,
If not now then when?
Modern life is about finding answers, not asking questions. Romantic love is often absent, or “solved” using technology. There is little or no spiritual seeking. Work is a job, not a calling. There is little natural or artistic beauty in daily life. And suffering is something to be eliminated.*
Arthur Brooks
If we avoid the pain,
We may also be avoiding the good things–
*Arthur Brook’s The Meaning Of Your Life.
Each work (or more exactly, the artist’s inner odyssey as she labours to produce each work) will be a hero’s journey in its own right.*
Steven Pressfield
*Steven Pressfield’s The Artist’s Journey.
The universe exists on at least two levels…The second level exists “above” the first but permeates the latter at all times and in all instances. The second level is the invisible world, the plane of the as-yet-unmanifested, the sphere of pure potentiality. Upon this dwells that which will be, but is not yet.*
Steven Pressfield
That which Steven Pressfield sees above,
I imagine below –
Though above or below doesn’t matter,
As long as it is there–
The place we go to
is a place of reframing or retelling our stories,
An extraordinary world of possibility
enabling us to do what we must do.
*Steven Pressfield’s The Artist’s Journey.
The other kind [of magic], though, is surprisingly abundant. This is the magic of being able to turn on lights for others. It happens when we cause connection or open doors. It’s the magic that comes from creation, and it’s based on abundance.*
Seth Godin
So if you want to solve problems, drive change, and create a better world, all you have to do is start.**
gapingvoid
Abundant because everyone can make magic,
Though if we never begin, no one will ever know –
Including us –
How one thing leads to another,
And how the more connection we have –
others, the universe, god –
The stronger the magic,
And it doesn’t have to be for everyone,
But it does have to be for someone.
*Seth Godin’s blog: The other kind of magic;
**gapingvoid’s blog: Stop Waiting For A Sign.
The artist has no idea what he’s doing…The artist is not expressing himself. He is discovering himself.*
Steven Pressfield
Finding our work,
Whether paid or unpaid,
Is finding ourselves,
And then we can give ourselves away–
Some would call this freedom.
*Steven Pressfield’s The Artist’s Journey.
If you have to stand in queues
this can be a good question
to carry with you–
It never wears out
or goes out of date.
A year ago,
I was enjoying my hot chocolate
as I sat in a Melbourne cafe, watching
a humongous queue of Oasis fans
waiting their turn to buy merchandise.
It caused me to ponder how
the best place to be
is in a creative line of one–
Doing the thing
only each of us can do.
It sounds facile to say, “We don’t pick our subject. Our subject picks us.” But I’m convinced that statement is true…Like the hero’s journey, the artist’s journey demands to be lived out. It demands to be expressed.*
Steven Pressfield
I didn’t set out
with the idea of doing
what I now do.
It found me
along the way
and I cannot not do it.
Something speaks to us
through our lives,
And how will we respond?
*Steven Pressfield’s The Artist’s Way.
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