Affirmation of life is the spiritual act
by which man ceases to live thoughtlessly and
begins to devote himself to his life
with reverence in order to give it true value.
— Albert Schweitzer
Tuesday, July 19, 2022
Tuesday, July 12, 2022
The Search for Meaning
We live in a time when more and more people believe that life is random and meaningless. And that we’re passive victims of our biology and our environment. But is it true? And how can we find meaning and make sense of our lives? We explore those questions in this video.
One of the best answers I’ve ever seen to this is in the book “Man’s Search for Meaning” by Dr. Viktor E. Frankl. In it, he describes his own horrifying experiences as a Jewish survivor of the holocaust in the Second World War.
One of his most powerful insights was that even in the most hopeless and horrific situations, life has meaning. It always has meaning, which continues until its very last moment.
Frankl developed his own approach to psychology called Logotherapy.
The central claim is that the main driver of human motivation is the search for meaning.
He described four main ways we can find meaning and purpose in our lives:
1. Synchronicity and meaningful coincidence
2. Meaningful work
3. Meaning through love and relationships
4. Meaning through facing suffering
Thursday, February 11, 2021
To live is to discover for yourself what is true
To live is to discover for yourself
what is true
and you can only do it
when there is freedom
when there is
a continuous revolution
inside you
inside yourself
~ Jiddu Krishnamurti
What is insomnia if not the manic obstinacy of our mind to fabricate thoughts, reasonings, syllogisms and definitions of its own, its refusal to abdicate in the face of the divine unconsciousness of closed eyes or the wise madness of dreams?
- Marguerite Yourcenar
Year of the Ox
This is the Year of the Ox in the Lunar calendar.
The ten oxherding pictures describe the Zen training path to enlightenment,
Folk images are accompanied by poems and commentaries.
They depict a young oxherder whose quest leads him to tame, train, and transform his heart and mind, a process that is represented by subduing the ox.
Even though these images are presented in a sequence, Martine Batchelor cautions us against thinking that self-development and Zen practice go in a straight line; It is more like a spiral, and we go back to different stages but with more understanding.
You can see these pictures adorning the walls of Zen temples in China, Korea, and Japan.
The following commentary by Batchelor is adapted from her new book, Principles of Zen (Thorsons/HarperCollins).
The short pieces at the beginning of each commentary are poetic verses by Master Kusan, first printed in his book The Way of Korean Zen.
Master Kusan is the abbot of Songgwangsa Monastery near Kwangju City, Korea, illustrations are by Master Jikihara from the collection of Zen Mountain Monastery.
Sent from my iPad
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