9781945186240

1. Evil: the same old thing.
No matter what happens, keep this in mind: It’s the same old thing, from
one end of the world to the other. It fills the history books, ancient and
modern, and the cities, and the houses too. Nothing new at all.
Familiar, transient.
2. You cannot quench understanding unless you put out the insights that
compose it. But you can rekindle those at will, like glowing coals. I can
control my thoughts as necessary; then how can I be troubled? What is
outside my mind means nothing to it. Absorb that lesson and your feet stand
firm.
You can return to life. Look at things as you did before. And life returns.
3. Pointless bustling of processions, opera arias, herds of sheep and
cattle, military exercises. A bone flung to pet poodles, a little food in the
fish tank. The miserable servitude of ants, scampering of frightened mice,
puppets jerked on strings.
Surrounded as we are by all of this, we need to practice acceptance.
Without disdain. But remembering that our own worth is measured by what
we devote our energy to.
4. Focus on what is said when you speak and on what results from each
action. Know what the one aims at, and what the other means.
5. Is my intellect up to this? If so, then I’ll put it to work, like a tool
provided by nature. And if it isn’t, then I’ll turn the job over to someone
who can do better—unless I have no choice.
Or I do the best I can with it, and collaborate with whoever can make
use of it, to do what the community needs done. Because whatever I do—