☕ saturday mornings - October 8, 2022
non striving, facing suffering & sailing through life
Happy Saturday all!
I hope you’re having a great start to your weekend. I’m so glad you’re here.
What I’ve been up to:
I took a bus to Barcelona for the weekend to meet up with friends. Yesterday, I explored the old Gothic quarters, meandered down to the ocean and toured the La Sagrada Familia, the largest church in the world, designed by the Catalan architect Antoni Gaudí.
Inspired by David Perell, I'm starting to study the Bible. I don't see myself as a highly religious person, but as David points out, "the Bible is filled with stories that contain more depth than just about anything written today". Also, whether you’re religious or not, it has had a profound influence on Western Civilization. (See his essay The Book You Need to Read).
Here's a recap of the coolest things I've explored this week.
✍️ Quote I’m pondering:
Sigmund Freud, Austrian neurologist, on the beauty within adversity:
“One day, in retrospect, the years of struggle will strike you as the most beautiful.”
✍️ Another quote I’m pondering:
Rumi, 13th-century Persian poet, on the art of non-striving:
“When I run after what I think I want,
my days are a furnace of stress and anxiety;
if I sit in my own place of patience, what I need flows to me,
and without pain.
From this, I understand that what I want also wants me, is looking for me and attracting me.
There is a great secret here for anyone who can grasp it.”
📚 Book passage I loved:
Dostoevsky said once “There is only one thing that I dread: not to be worthy of my sufferings.”
Martyrs in [the concentration] camp, whose suffering and death, bore witness to the fact that the last inner freedom cannot be lost. It can be said that they were worthy of their sufferings; the way they bore their suffering was a genuine inner achievement.
... The way in which a man accepts his fate and all the suffering it entails gives him ample opportunity— even under the most difficult circumstances— to add a deeper meaning to his life. He may remain brave, dignified and unselfish. Or in the bitter fight for self preservation he may forget his human dignity and become no more than an animal.
Here lies the chance for man either to make use of or to forgo the opportunities of attaining the moral values that a difficult situation may afford him. And this decides whether he is worthy of his sufferings or not.
― Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl
💡 Idea from me: Sailing through life
There's an old saying, attributed to Otto von Bismarck, that “man cannot control the current of events. He can only float with them and steer.”
To keep the boat analogy going, a good friend once explained to me how life is like sailing. You start with an initial direction, an intention, but things change dynamically and unpredictably. You’re constantly trimming the sails, making minor adjustments as you go.
This has been a helpful reminder recently, as I tend to commit to a certain direction with the belief that if I work hard enough or want it bad enough, it will work out. In some cases it's true, but often there are things out of our control.
Like sailing, you don't know how the wind may change, but you have to be able to adapt and readjust.
Trust the flow of events and remain open to life's serendipity.
You'll still get to the destination you seek.
❓ Question for You:
If you have a ten year plan, what's stopping you from doing it in two?
📸 Photo of the week:
La Sagrada Familia is stunning for many different reasons.
But, the part of the church that was the most impressive and distinctive was the stained glass.
If you have any feedback or just want to be friends, feel free to reach out.
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Have a fantastic weekend.
Much love to you and yours,
Tommy