We search happiness in outer world. We seek respect from others. We are hungry for praise and pride. We always look at the outer world for everything we do. But in most cases it doesn’t work.
It is because most of the content we are looking for are present within us not in other people or outer world. Happiness is within us, the story is within us. We just need to have that eyes to see it.
Whenever we are supposed to chose a cookies or a brand of shoes most of us come up with chocolate chip, and Nike.
It is not because it is popular but it has made huge impact in our life. We are already consciously or unconsciously aware of it. We can decide it without any help from others.
There are many such things that has made an impression on our life due to which we chose them without any assist or suggestions. We are unconsciously aware of many things
Marcus Aurelius' following quote shows us the wise way to live life happily. It goes like this:
" In your actions, Don't procrastinate. In your conversations, don't confuse. In your thoughts, don't wander. In your soul, don't be passive or aggressive. In your life, don't be all about business."
In simple and short words, it means: Act now, Be honest, Be aware, Accept reality, and live.
Everything that happens to us can carry different meanings: one that benefits us and one that does not. What happened may already be fixed, but the meaning we assign to it is still within our reach.
There is always a choice in how we interpret an event. One meaning can make us weaker, more bitter, and more defeated. Another can make us stronger, more patient, and more aware. The event itself may be the same, but the meaning changes the way we carry it.
Suppose you get COVID. You cannot control the fact that it already happened. But you can choose how to respond to it. You may see it only as misfortune, frustration, and interruption. Or you may also see it as an experience that teaches patience, perspective, and acceptance. The situation remains difficult, but the meaning you choose can change its effect on your mind.
The meaning that strengthens us is the one worth choosing. If we keep selecting the interpretation that makes us smaller, we remain trapped in what has already happened. But if we choose the meaning that helps us move forward, then even a painful experience can become part of growth.
So everything that happens to us has different meanings, and we should be careful about which one we carry. The event is not always in our control, but the meaning often still is.
There is a old saying that goes- "one should be tolerant with others and strict to themselves." But we see the other way around most of the time.
Being tolerant with others requires empathy, patience and temperance and being strict with ownself means being self-disciplined and staying in accord with the principles.
PS: Happy Thanksgiving everyone
Today world lost one of the greatest footballer of all time, an Argentine Diego Maradona. I'm a huge fan of football as he has influenced most of my childhood and his loss meant a lot in world football too. He was an idol of most people's idol.
"When a god decides it's time. I guess he will come for all of us." Maradona said.
I talk about death most of the time and it's because it is the single most reality and the greatest motivating human factor. Most of us run towards fame and money not realizing that the people who we think will remember us will also soon perish.
The only thing that comes into my mind when I hear this is the Seneca's words - Death is not something that comes in the future instead we are dying everyday. An hour we spent on judging and talking about others we died one hour of our death. And it is so powerful.
It makes a lot of sense to me when I connect all these dots together.
The survival is possible with the victory which we can sense from our evolution. Darwinism and Lamarckism validates that we are evolving because of our victory towards something or somebody.
Churchill said, “Without victory there is no survival.” The victory I'm talking about here is not related towards the biology but the present day life. To have a victory three things are the most:
1. Unity in vision
2. Diversity of skills, and
3. Combined dedication towards specific goal
All these are crucial for grabbing victory when it comes to win against the odd in present day business and entrepreneurial world. One should never forget the old saying which goes, “To lead yourself, use your head; to lead others use your heart.” Victory is inevitable if we all all these things in place.
Let's shift attention towards the present day stock markets.
This pandemic has brought lot of profits to some big corporations like it always does when there is a huge crisis. During the beginning of the pandemic, the investors focused on the big pharmatheutical companies who were developing Coronavirus vaccines. Then they shifted their attention towards clouds, software and chips companies including AMD and NVDA.
Now the market is validating Electric vehicle companies and their stock price is popping up everyday. It kind of makes sense too as the oil production decreased, people are interested in electric vehicles. Take Tesla, it is up 670% this year adding $88 billions in Elon Musk's fortune this year alone. The Chinese EV company, NIO is up record 2800% this year which is insane.
The world is volatile and so is the market... But there is always a possibilities that what goes up will come down and vice-versa.
Marcus Aurelius wrote a journal almost 2000 years ago, which is now published as a book, Mediations. His journal was not meant to be published but was written to himself to guide him towards courage, temperance, justice and wisdom. His words are more important in today's world.
Here are some of his words:
Let nothing be done rashly and at random and without purpose, but all things according to the rules of art.
If our intellect part is common, the reason also, in respect of which we are rational being is common.
Take away thy opinion and then there is taken away the complaint. And no man will think himself wronged.
Whatsoever happens in the world, happens justly.
Death hangs over thee all the time. While thou livest, while it is in thy power, be good.
He who has a vehement desire for posthumous fame does not consider that everyone of those who remember him will himself also die very soon.
That which is really beautiful has no need of anything; not more than law, not more than a truth, and not more than a benevolence or modesty.
If you seek tranquility, do less or do what's essential-what the logos of social being requires.
Self is not universal, and it changes over time and situation. For an example: Cyberneticians came to a different notion of self, accessible from the outside, identified with feedback systems—an account of the self that emerged from Norbert Wiener’s engineering work on weapons systems during World War II. Today’s world, we see a new notion of the self-emerging; we start by modeling artificial intelligence on a conception of who we are, and then begin seeing ourselves ever more in our encounter with AI.
Different ages have different concepts of self, defined by the contemporary availability of technology from stone age to present day modern world. The most fascinating thing is that all the technologies are triggered and discovered by ‘self’, and in the end it is that technology that rules us. Think about what happens when AI overrules human mind, the effects it creates in jobs and employment: We have invested billions in AI. For what reason? Jobs will be at risk when human works are completed by AI more efficiently and more productively. How do we be able to progress our “self” to challenge AI? Can we complete with AI in the future? If not, then how will the world looks like? Peter Galison talk about this brilliantly here.