This was given to me to pass on to my kids to remind them that "today is not just another day."
Gradual Shaping of The Soul
The uncertainties of life and the vicissitudes of existence do not in any manner contradict the concept of a creator lovingly shaping each of his children’s souls. All evolving creature’s lives are beset with certain inevitabilities. Consider the following:
1. Is courage (strength of character) desirable? Then man must be reared in an environment which necessitates grappling with hardships and reacting to disappointments.
2. Is altruism (service of one’s fellows) desirable? Then life experience must provide for encountering situations of social inequality.
3. Is hope (the grandeur of trust) desirable? Then human existence must constantly be confronted with insecurities and recurrent uncertainties.
4. Is faith (the supreme assertion of human thought) desirable? Then the mind of man must find itself in that troublesome predicament where it ever knows less than it can believe.
5. Is the love of truth and the willingness to go wherever it leads, desirable? Then man must grow up in a world where error is present and falsehood always possible.
6. Is idealism (approaching a concept of the divine) desirable? Then man must struggle in an environment of relative goodness and beauty yet be still driven by an irrepressible urge to reach for better things.
7. Is loyalty (devotion to highest duty) desirable? Then man must carry on amid the possibilities of betrayal and desertion. The valor of devotion to duty consists in the implied danger of default.
8. Is unselfishness (the spirit of self-forgetfulness) desirable? Then mortal man must live face to face with the incessant clamoring of his own inescapable self for recognition and honor. Man could not intentionally choose the divine life if there were no self-life to forsake. Man could never struggle to hold on to righteousness if there were no potential evil to exalt and differentiate the good by contrast.
9. Is pleasure (the satisfaction of happiness) desirable? Then man must live in a world where the alternative of pain and the likelihood of suffering are ever imminent possibilities.
You’re in very good company with your wisdom here, Sam! ⬇️
“The first step to the knowledge of the wonder and mystery of life is the recognition of the monstrous nature of the earthly human realm as well as its glory, the realization that this is just how it is and that it cannot and will not be changed. Those who think they know how the universe could have been had they created it, without pain, without sorrow, without time, without death, are unfit for illumination.” — Joseph Campbell
A beautifully paradoxical view. I almost pulled Campbell off the shelf this morning and opted for Caesars Commentaries instead. I cannot wait to get to it.
Nailed it! One of the worst words is that life/etc 'should' be better. To that I say, 'Make it so.' But you have to look into evil to begin to understand just how good we have it these days.
Those with all the money and theoretical ease which it is supposed to bring, the black SUV pulls in through the gates of the local watering hole FOB the G650 engines warm, drinks cart at the ready for a transatlantic flight…are indeed the most miserable cheap rotten people on earth. They sold their souls for a lot of wealth and will never see or hear blue birds in a territorial fight for one the wetland blue bird boxes posted on one’s isolated property. They fret over their money but can’t punch, kick, stab, shoot, swing an E-tool in anger at an attacker. They expect everything give nothing back. Well unless it is a library at a fancy university with their name on it. Suffering is good. We don’t think so, there is nothing as bad as several drill instructors at USMC OCS deciding it’s you turn for 10-15 minutes of professional enhancement. Would guess those moments of quietude in the shit during Hell week might be considered suffering….but you’re more alive in that suffering than the man or woman with everything. They suffer in the worst way, they have nothing to live for, so they exist…shopping for expensive “stuff” fills the void…so yes Sam, suffering is good. Just don’t too much of it, and enjoy the respite from it!
I know and knew those miserable people and joined the USMC to escape them..I became an Infantry Officer, led men…it saved my life…it’s personal, suffering saves your life can’t escape the irony!
I wonder if Bukowski counts as Enlightenment, but he definitely did his own flavor of suffering.
Regardless, this is one of my favorite passages that has traveled with me for decade, and your essay shook it out of my head again:
“If you're going to try, go all the way. Otherwise, don't even start. This could mean losing girlfriends, wives, relatives and maybe even your mind. It could mean not eating for three or four days. It could mean freezing on a park bench. It could mean jail. It could mean derision. It could mean mockery--isolation. Isolation is the gift. All the others are a test of your endurance, of how much you really want to do it. And, you'll do it, despite rejection and the worst odds. And it will be better than anything else you can imagine. If you're going to try, go all the way. There is no other feeling like that. You will be alone with the gods, and the nights will flame with fire. You will ride life straight to perfect laughter. It's the only good fight there is.”
― Charles Bukowski, What Matters Most is How Well You Walk Through the Fire
I would question whether you are even capable of writing bad drivel, but my suspicion is that the answer is no, because of the discipline you bring to writing. I am starting to run out of good comment material. :D
Gam zeh ya’avor (גם זה יעבור) or "this too shall pass" is an old biblical Jewish saying reminding us that every moment, whether joyful or painful, is temporary. It teaches humility in success and growth through hardship, knowing no state lasts forever. I bring this up because it connects to the idea that there’s insight in suffering, and misery lies in having everything as well. Take things as they come, use what helps you grow, and move on. Nature doesn’t care, and neither should you.
I'm here for this. I'm reading the Old Testament front cover to back at the moment and am in awe I did not do this earlier in my life. The wisdom on a single page is incomparable.
One must feel the rough and jagged edges to understand (or maybe embrace) comfort, to be removed from 'evil and suffering.' Because, as you say, "What is the point?"
Might I substitute good work, good effort, lack of idleness into this possibility? To understand how one has earned distinction, of understanding in the current day? Maybe that is the enlightenment.
I, for one, am too tired of the greed and bombs perpetrated by others and felt by the lesser because: "What is the point?" (This is not intended to be political - more generalized which is why I seek to substitute good work, effort, little idleness.)
Is how one uses their 'personal standing' part of the point?
I think it is. This was a riff on one minute aspect of the path, and I think there are many. To your point, good productive meaningful work is a path as well, for I do not know of many sources of meaningful work that do not also include the ups and downs of suffering and misfortune. I use extreme examples to flesh out ideas, but by no means are they the only examples. Thank you for this distinction.
My simple mind needed something to grasp. I find myself much more content than many others and I often wonder why but know that analyzing that why often leads me to judge their choices, their values.
That also couples in with people's avoidance of boredom lately. To them, it's insufferable, but it has so many benefits to give! I'm also still working on it, but self-made suffering (to a certain extent) will only improve our lives in the long run!
Yes, "self-made suffering"! That is when living becomes an art, like an exploratory tool of the self and the cosmos, so long as it is channeled masterfully.
This was given to me to pass on to my kids to remind them that "today is not just another day."
Gradual Shaping of The Soul
The uncertainties of life and the vicissitudes of existence do not in any manner contradict the concept of a creator lovingly shaping each of his children’s souls. All evolving creature’s lives are beset with certain inevitabilities. Consider the following:
1. Is courage (strength of character) desirable? Then man must be reared in an environment which necessitates grappling with hardships and reacting to disappointments.
2. Is altruism (service of one’s fellows) desirable? Then life experience must provide for encountering situations of social inequality.
3. Is hope (the grandeur of trust) desirable? Then human existence must constantly be confronted with insecurities and recurrent uncertainties.
4. Is faith (the supreme assertion of human thought) desirable? Then the mind of man must find itself in that troublesome predicament where it ever knows less than it can believe.
5. Is the love of truth and the willingness to go wherever it leads, desirable? Then man must grow up in a world where error is present and falsehood always possible.
6. Is idealism (approaching a concept of the divine) desirable? Then man must struggle in an environment of relative goodness and beauty yet be still driven by an irrepressible urge to reach for better things.
7. Is loyalty (devotion to highest duty) desirable? Then man must carry on amid the possibilities of betrayal and desertion. The valor of devotion to duty consists in the implied danger of default.
8. Is unselfishness (the spirit of self-forgetfulness) desirable? Then mortal man must live face to face with the incessant clamoring of his own inescapable self for recognition and honor. Man could not intentionally choose the divine life if there were no self-life to forsake. Man could never struggle to hold on to righteousness if there were no potential evil to exalt and differentiate the good by contrast.
9. Is pleasure (the satisfaction of happiness) desirable? Then man must live in a world where the alternative of pain and the likelihood of suffering are ever imminent possibilities.
If I ever lose this I know that you will have it.
Thank you for sharing Robert—this is stellar and extremely well framed.
Robert, I am glad that Sam’s post invited you to share these excellent insights. Now, more of us will have them to pass on.
absolutely love this.
Robert, what a well-articulated form. A practice to move towards.
I think an easy life does nothing to deepen the spirit. Never learning the precious beauty of suffering. Amazing post, Sam!
If there is one mission in the time we have been given, "deepening the spirit" as you put it should be one of them. Thank you, Rea.
You’re in very good company with your wisdom here, Sam! ⬇️
“The first step to the knowledge of the wonder and mystery of life is the recognition of the monstrous nature of the earthly human realm as well as its glory, the realization that this is just how it is and that it cannot and will not be changed. Those who think they know how the universe could have been had they created it, without pain, without sorrow, without time, without death, are unfit for illumination.” — Joseph Campbell
A beautifully paradoxical view. I almost pulled Campbell off the shelf this morning and opted for Caesars Commentaries instead. I cannot wait to get to it.
I wish I still had Joe’s wisdom ahead of me to enlighten the first time. You are so prepped and ready for what he has to say, whenever you get there!
I'm stoked!
Nailed it! One of the worst words is that life/etc 'should' be better. To that I say, 'Make it so.' But you have to look into evil to begin to understand just how good we have it these days.
100%. "Should" is the usually greatest sign of privilege imaginable.
Those with all the money and theoretical ease which it is supposed to bring, the black SUV pulls in through the gates of the local watering hole FOB the G650 engines warm, drinks cart at the ready for a transatlantic flight…are indeed the most miserable cheap rotten people on earth. They sold their souls for a lot of wealth and will never see or hear blue birds in a territorial fight for one the wetland blue bird boxes posted on one’s isolated property. They fret over their money but can’t punch, kick, stab, shoot, swing an E-tool in anger at an attacker. They expect everything give nothing back. Well unless it is a library at a fancy university with their name on it. Suffering is good. We don’t think so, there is nothing as bad as several drill instructors at USMC OCS deciding it’s you turn for 10-15 minutes of professional enhancement. Would guess those moments of quietude in the shit during Hell week might be considered suffering….but you’re more alive in that suffering than the man or woman with everything. They suffer in the worst way, they have nothing to live for, so they exist…shopping for expensive “stuff” fills the void…so yes Sam, suffering is good. Just don’t too much of it, and enjoy the respite from it!
That was a whirlwind tour around the globe and through multiple levels of economic stratification—thanks for this Charles, it is dialed in nicely.
I know and knew those miserable people and joined the USMC to escape them..I became an Infantry Officer, led men…it saved my life…it’s personal, suffering saves your life can’t escape the irony!
I wouldn't want to escape this life saving irony either, Charles.
I wonder if Bukowski counts as Enlightenment, but he definitely did his own flavor of suffering.
Regardless, this is one of my favorite passages that has traveled with me for decade, and your essay shook it out of my head again:
“If you're going to try, go all the way. Otherwise, don't even start. This could mean losing girlfriends, wives, relatives and maybe even your mind. It could mean not eating for three or four days. It could mean freezing on a park bench. It could mean jail. It could mean derision. It could mean mockery--isolation. Isolation is the gift. All the others are a test of your endurance, of how much you really want to do it. And, you'll do it, despite rejection and the worst odds. And it will be better than anything else you can imagine. If you're going to try, go all the way. There is no other feeling like that. You will be alone with the gods, and the nights will flame with fire. You will ride life straight to perfect laughter. It's the only good fight there is.”
― Charles Bukowski, What Matters Most is How Well You Walk Through the Fire
This is epic. There is a bit of Nietzsche in this as well. A total authenticity. Thank you for sharing this… I’m going to let it settle it
I would question whether you are even capable of writing bad drivel, but my suspicion is that the answer is no, because of the discipline you bring to writing. I am starting to run out of good comment material. :D
Haha much appreciated, Kit. Thank you. Once I get the feeling the drivel is starting I will never pick up a pen again, I promise.
Gam zeh ya’avor (גם זה יעבור) or "this too shall pass" is an old biblical Jewish saying reminding us that every moment, whether joyful or painful, is temporary. It teaches humility in success and growth through hardship, knowing no state lasts forever. I bring this up because it connects to the idea that there’s insight in suffering, and misery lies in having everything as well. Take things as they come, use what helps you grow, and move on. Nature doesn’t care, and neither should you.
I'm here for this. I'm reading the Old Testament front cover to back at the moment and am in awe I did not do this earlier in my life. The wisdom on a single page is incomparable.
This post reminded me of the Jackson Browne song, Doctor My Eyes.
https://youtu.be/Q__nKCr4wXE?si=yvFvUD486qtsnaul
This was great!
One must feel the rough and jagged edges to understand (or maybe embrace) comfort, to be removed from 'evil and suffering.' Because, as you say, "What is the point?"
Might I substitute good work, good effort, lack of idleness into this possibility? To understand how one has earned distinction, of understanding in the current day? Maybe that is the enlightenment.
I, for one, am too tired of the greed and bombs perpetrated by others and felt by the lesser because: "What is the point?" (This is not intended to be political - more generalized which is why I seek to substitute good work, effort, little idleness.)
Is how one uses their 'personal standing' part of the point?
I think it is. This was a riff on one minute aspect of the path, and I think there are many. To your point, good productive meaningful work is a path as well, for I do not know of many sources of meaningful work that do not also include the ups and downs of suffering and misfortune. I use extreme examples to flesh out ideas, but by no means are they the only examples. Thank you for this distinction.
My simple mind needed something to grasp. I find myself much more content than many others and I often wonder why but know that analyzing that why often leads me to judge their choices, their values.
That also couples in with people's avoidance of boredom lately. To them, it's insufferable, but it has so many benefits to give! I'm also still working on it, but self-made suffering (to a certain extent) will only improve our lives in the long run!
Yes, "self-made suffering"! That is when living becomes an art, like an exploratory tool of the self and the cosmos, so long as it is channeled masterfully.