I wish I could/would write a more meaningful response like those before but instead: I sort of snickered to myself when reading. Too often my words are, "not a big deal" when others go on a tyrade about the line at Starbucks or the pause of their internet service. I spent 10 minutes staring at my couch yesterday wondering why it had to be plugged in. Could people no longer move the lever that raised their feet. Why do we drive to the gym when we could walk there? Why are (all, it seems) spaces automobile accessible but not made for the mobile who want to move a muscle.
Stacy this is an awesome riff! I actually laughed out loud at your comment about a couch that had to be plugged it. That is next level. I couldn’t agree with you more. The number of people I see driving in circles around a parking lot waiting for a slot closer to the door sometimes leaves me laughing. Thank you for dropping your thoughts.
Attachment to the thing one carries in their hand, pocket, purse is a problem. That carries over into expecting instant results. I riff because it is tiring to observe how many want a “thing” that makes their life easier so that they can what, sit a bit longer until they are unable to stand on their own? Gads, I’ll stop now …
I stand in awe of your ability. This may be your best post ever, and that’s saying a lot. If I may be so bold, this sentence especially resonated and is the essence in my mind, “Ours is the greater test, for our iron kinsmen were hard by necessity whereas we must be hard by choice.”
On a lighter note, I dated a woman many years ago that I often joked about by saying she thought a hike was a bad parking spot at the mall.
I really appreciate it Marshall. It's a theme I love to riff on. And I guess hikes are relative to a certain degree... I see many of my neighbors drive their cars down thirty meters of driveway to pick up their mail. To each his own, I suppose. Thank you for the comment.
I am printing this essay, binding it, and leaving it on the living room table where all will see it. I believe you are home, and it is a house big enough for every being, should they choose to enter. Because it is analog, there are no limits or ends to it. The walls continually expand to fit the breadth of every persons conscious. I remember the look of wonder sparkling in the eyes of my aging professor of molecular genetics as he explained the analog nature of DNA, and how information handling in the central nervous system was limitless because of its analog nature. This has all proven out, that the minuscule digital data boxes that confine digital reality do not even remotely approach the grandeur of the analog expanse of consciousness. "Presentiment" is a now proven characteristic of the human mind. There is no digital algorithm that can process Presentiment or the analog paths that have been entrusted to us by birth. And it is also not nearly enough to say Thank You for opening this door to our new Home.
Robert, I feel as though we need an essay on this subject alone. Thank you for giving me this to think about. I now want to look up the history of presentiment and who has done some good thinking on it. I’m stoked you enjoyed this.
I want to riff a little on your magnificent essay. Our world now seems to encourage the creation of pixel-based hardships; dumb online trainings you need to keep your job, EOBs from the insurance company denying your coverage and impossible to appeal, businesses and organizations that take your sweat equity and cash and then turn their back on you when you need support. Those kinds of hardships seem to multiply and are a constant dissemination of pain to the ordinary person. Those I have no need for. And yet, Epictetus reminds us not to whine too much anyway, right?
But...hiking a mountain in the cold wind, doing a hard task with joy, enduring the obscenities of aggressive drivers while maintaining as much composure as you can. Helping friends move house, caring for a sick friend, offering compassion just when you feel you have little to offer. Listening with curiosity to someone who needs to be heard even if you've got little patience. Doing battle with your own shadow qualities. These things should be attempted without bitterness or regret, without need for reward, without expectation of thanks. For they are themselves the things we should do just to be. They are "no trouble at all" and they bind us together in community, in brotherhood, in kinship.
Back when I as a lawyer, in between actual productive work, I made it a point to go out twice a year to some random patch where a screwup could get me a dirt overcoat. The reason for this was recaging my gyros and reminding myself that pushing paper can be much less meaningful than ensuring the rope is INSIDE the carabiner or the food is INSIDE the bear box etc. etc.
The word “victim” is repugnant to me. It carries the implication of voluntary helplessness, and it’s unfitting for an American. Each of us is responsible for our own safety and for those who rely on us, and relinquishing that to strangers is foolhardy.
Victim is indeed unfitting for an American. I wish to god this were the predominant philosophy once again. Maybe it will be, I am optimistic.
Very well said—it is the margin cases, the edge, one foot in the wild that reminds us we are animals built for the concrete world of cause and effect. I couldn’t agree more, Eric.
Our predecessors the Roman Legionnaires carried a typical 80-100 pound load and marched 15-20 miles per day (the “normal march”). When the balloon went up the guys they were fighting were every bit as hard.
It must have been a trip marching with them. The sounds, smells, jokes, aggression. The sort of togetherness that is contagious and allows us to push even further than we could individually. Brutal for sure. But also enlightening.
This is a very interesting perspective Sam, thank you. It makes me feel even more pleased that I've decided to start strength training, even though it's massively out of my comfort zone! Do you know Jeff Krasno? He talks about 'good stress' in the same way you do here.
I also have found myself that having humility in our suffering and finding meaning in it is hugely helpful. We might not ever know the meaning of our suffering, but if I believe in a wisdom at play much greater than my own, if I choose to believe that there are gifts and lessons in hardships that initially seem deeply unfair, then I feel a much greater sense of piece. I accept the mystery of life.
I hope you enjoy it, strength training has many virtues for the mind and the body. I don’t know of him, but I am going to look him up now. The last half of your message is pure poetry. That’s what it’s all about—finding the meaning in suffering, and maybe even realizing it’s so much suffering as it is simply life.
One thing I never cease to be surprised about is how much bitching the guys in combat units do. It is truly extraordinary.
But for my part, the only bitching I have ever seen was with regard to our own side; specifically, leadership, support, etc. Almost never have I heard anyone complain about the enemy. It is also always business, silent professionalism. Anyone who complains about an ambush or firefight or standing watch does not belong anywhere near a combat a unit.
I imagine the Tibetans were constantly in this mode. They did not answer to a "command" hundreds of miles away who ordered them to cut their hair, shine boots, compete online courses that have nothing to do with anything, who continued a war under false pretenses and then lied about it consistently while men suffered in the field, the list of both minor and major problems are endless.
So military while doing their profession find no trouble just like the Tibetans when it matters most, but unlike the Tibetans, the military lived in two different worlds.
I do think you missed an obvious point; climate change. To most of the activists out there, "climate change" is not something to be measured by science. It is a mythological beast that must be both worshipped and defended against. We must offer ritualistic sacrifices to the carbon gods, or they will destroy us in punishment for our iniquities. And only the wisest among us can find appropriate ways to appease the beast. You know, wise people like Al Gore, AOC, and Greta Thunberg.
I will haze myself accordingly! I had a list of around twelve I riffed in my mind and just picked the top three. We can do an entire book on those thought of as “wise” at present.
My grandfather used to say that no matter how poor or rich you were, the answer used to be “making a living”. On the other hand, I had a client who had trouble handing his business to his son, who would tell me “if you see a “U-haul” following my hearse, it is me taking it all with me”. But then, we had a good laugh over a great dinner and a good bottle of wine.
I wish I could/would write a more meaningful response like those before but instead: I sort of snickered to myself when reading. Too often my words are, "not a big deal" when others go on a tyrade about the line at Starbucks or the pause of their internet service. I spent 10 minutes staring at my couch yesterday wondering why it had to be plugged in. Could people no longer move the lever that raised their feet. Why do we drive to the gym when we could walk there? Why are (all, it seems) spaces automobile accessible but not made for the mobile who want to move a muscle.
Thank you for the morning read.
Stacy this is an awesome riff! I actually laughed out loud at your comment about a couch that had to be plugged it. That is next level. I couldn’t agree with you more. The number of people I see driving in circles around a parking lot waiting for a slot closer to the door sometimes leaves me laughing. Thank you for dropping your thoughts.
Attachment to the thing one carries in their hand, pocket, purse is a problem. That carries over into expecting instant results. I riff because it is tiring to observe how many want a “thing” that makes their life easier so that they can what, sit a bit longer until they are unable to stand on their own? Gads, I’ll stop now …
No need to stop. It is excellent thinking material, and leads to many fascinating rabbit holes and civilizational theories.
I stand in awe of your ability. This may be your best post ever, and that’s saying a lot. If I may be so bold, this sentence especially resonated and is the essence in my mind, “Ours is the greater test, for our iron kinsmen were hard by necessity whereas we must be hard by choice.”
On a lighter note, I dated a woman many years ago that I often joked about by saying she thought a hike was a bad parking spot at the mall.
I really appreciate it Marshall. It's a theme I love to riff on. And I guess hikes are relative to a certain degree... I see many of my neighbors drive their cars down thirty meters of driveway to pick up their mail. To each his own, I suppose. Thank you for the comment.
I am printing this essay, binding it, and leaving it on the living room table where all will see it. I believe you are home, and it is a house big enough for every being, should they choose to enter. Because it is analog, there are no limits or ends to it. The walls continually expand to fit the breadth of every persons conscious. I remember the look of wonder sparkling in the eyes of my aging professor of molecular genetics as he explained the analog nature of DNA, and how information handling in the central nervous system was limitless because of its analog nature. This has all proven out, that the minuscule digital data boxes that confine digital reality do not even remotely approach the grandeur of the analog expanse of consciousness. "Presentiment" is a now proven characteristic of the human mind. There is no digital algorithm that can process Presentiment or the analog paths that have been entrusted to us by birth. And it is also not nearly enough to say Thank You for opening this door to our new Home.
Robert, I feel as though we need an essay on this subject alone. Thank you for giving me this to think about. I now want to look up the history of presentiment and who has done some good thinking on it. I’m stoked you enjoyed this.
I want to riff a little on your magnificent essay. Our world now seems to encourage the creation of pixel-based hardships; dumb online trainings you need to keep your job, EOBs from the insurance company denying your coverage and impossible to appeal, businesses and organizations that take your sweat equity and cash and then turn their back on you when you need support. Those kinds of hardships seem to multiply and are a constant dissemination of pain to the ordinary person. Those I have no need for. And yet, Epictetus reminds us not to whine too much anyway, right?
But...hiking a mountain in the cold wind, doing a hard task with joy, enduring the obscenities of aggressive drivers while maintaining as much composure as you can. Helping friends move house, caring for a sick friend, offering compassion just when you feel you have little to offer. Listening with curiosity to someone who needs to be heard even if you've got little patience. Doing battle with your own shadow qualities. These things should be attempted without bitterness or regret, without need for reward, without expectation of thanks. For they are themselves the things we should do just to be. They are "no trouble at all" and they bind us together in community, in brotherhood, in kinship.
Nailed it, Anthony. Two radically different worlds, two radically different reactions. Now all we need to do is respond on our own terms.
We worry about minor threats while also letting them harm us when, instead, we can lean in and grow and watch that 'threat' become nothing.
I love it. Leaning in is a way of life unto itself.
Back when I as a lawyer, in between actual productive work, I made it a point to go out twice a year to some random patch where a screwup could get me a dirt overcoat. The reason for this was recaging my gyros and reminding myself that pushing paper can be much less meaningful than ensuring the rope is INSIDE the carabiner or the food is INSIDE the bear box etc. etc.
The word “victim” is repugnant to me. It carries the implication of voluntary helplessness, and it’s unfitting for an American. Each of us is responsible for our own safety and for those who rely on us, and relinquishing that to strangers is foolhardy.
Victim is indeed unfitting for an American. I wish to god this were the predominant philosophy once again. Maybe it will be, I am optimistic.
Very well said—it is the margin cases, the edge, one foot in the wild that reminds us we are animals built for the concrete world of cause and effect. I couldn’t agree more, Eric.
Our predecessors the Roman Legionnaires carried a typical 80-100 pound load and marched 15-20 miles per day (the “normal march”). When the balloon went up the guys they were fighting were every bit as hard.
It must have been a trip marching with them. The sounds, smells, jokes, aggression. The sort of togetherness that is contagious and allows us to push even further than we could individually. Brutal for sure. But also enlightening.
Thank you Eric.
This is a very interesting perspective Sam, thank you. It makes me feel even more pleased that I've decided to start strength training, even though it's massively out of my comfort zone! Do you know Jeff Krasno? He talks about 'good stress' in the same way you do here.
I also have found myself that having humility in our suffering and finding meaning in it is hugely helpful. We might not ever know the meaning of our suffering, but if I believe in a wisdom at play much greater than my own, if I choose to believe that there are gifts and lessons in hardships that initially seem deeply unfair, then I feel a much greater sense of piece. I accept the mystery of life.
I hope you enjoy it, strength training has many virtues for the mind and the body. I don’t know of him, but I am going to look him up now. The last half of your message is pure poetry. That’s what it’s all about—finding the meaning in suffering, and maybe even realizing it’s so much suffering as it is simply life.
Hi Sam, hopefully not too far afield, but the thought nagged at me while reading this excellent essay:
How to square the Tibetans “No trouble at all” with the famous bitching and moaning of grunts in the field.
This is an excellent comment.
One thing I never cease to be surprised about is how much bitching the guys in combat units do. It is truly extraordinary.
But for my part, the only bitching I have ever seen was with regard to our own side; specifically, leadership, support, etc. Almost never have I heard anyone complain about the enemy. It is also always business, silent professionalism. Anyone who complains about an ambush or firefight or standing watch does not belong anywhere near a combat a unit.
I imagine the Tibetans were constantly in this mode. They did not answer to a "command" hundreds of miles away who ordered them to cut their hair, shine boots, compete online courses that have nothing to do with anything, who continued a war under false pretenses and then lied about it consistently while men suffered in the field, the list of both minor and major problems are endless.
So military while doing their profession find no trouble just like the Tibetans when it matters most, but unlike the Tibetans, the military lived in two different worlds.
This is a thoughtful exploration of the topic. Thanks for thinking it through!
Analog. Yes. Your essays continually put me in mind of the ancients as I read the Iliad and the Odyssey.
Both are incredible pieces, beautiful portals into ancient minds.
"...killable yes, breakable no..." I LOVE that!
I do think you missed an obvious point; climate change. To most of the activists out there, "climate change" is not something to be measured by science. It is a mythological beast that must be both worshipped and defended against. We must offer ritualistic sacrifices to the carbon gods, or they will destroy us in punishment for our iniquities. And only the wisest among us can find appropriate ways to appease the beast. You know, wise people like Al Gore, AOC, and Greta Thunberg.
I will haze myself accordingly! I had a list of around twelve I riffed in my mind and just picked the top three. We can do an entire book on those thought of as “wise” at present.
My grandfather used to say that no matter how poor or rich you were, the answer used to be “making a living”. On the other hand, I had a client who had trouble handing his business to his son, who would tell me “if you see a “U-haul” following my hearse, it is me taking it all with me”. But then, we had a good laugh over a great dinner and a good bottle of wine.
That is an epic story. If laughing and wine is what it takes, those are also ancient cures.