Stillness Is The Key Flashcards
Preface/introduction
To Zeno And his fellow adherents of stoic philosophy, if a person could develop peace within themselves, if the could achieve apatheia, as they called it, then the whole world could be at war, and they could still think well, work well, and be well. In English we call it stillness. It’s all but impossible to find a philosophical school or religion that does not generate this inner peace - this stillness - as the highest good and as the key to elite performance and happy life. And when basically all the wisdom of the ancient world agrees on something only a fool would decline to listen.
Introduction to stillness
The call to stillness comes quietly. The modern world does not. All of the humanity problems, stem from a man’s inability to sit quietly in a room alone. This stillness is required to become master of one’s own life. To survive and thrive in any and every environment no matter how loud or busy. Stillness is the key to unlocking all that we are capable of in this life. The question then is, how do we achieve this stillness? We will need to focus on three domains the trinity of the mind, body and the soul, the head the heart and the flesh.
Qoutes about the mind
The mind is restless, Krishna, impetuous, self willed, hard to train, to master the mind seems as difficult as master the mighty winds
Like the rock that waves keep crashing over. It stands unmoved and the raging of the sea falls still around it. Marcus Aurelius
Trust no future, however pleasent!
Let the dead past bury its dead!
Act- act in the living present!
Heart within, and god overhead! Henry wadsworth longfellow
A wealth of information creates a poverty of attention
The domain of the mind
As a leader, or as a person for that matter. We need to be strong enough to think too near, too plausible. We need to consider the bigger picture, never corner a opponent and always assist him to save face. Think, what is the advantage they are trying to get. Don’t let you who dominate the discussion, just as Kennedy in the Cuba crisis. He was the stillest guy in the room. In the face of adversity we need the same stillness as Kennedy. His calmness his open-mindedness his empathy his clarity. This means be present, no preconception, take time, sit quiet and reflect, reject distraction. The lessons was not one of force but of power of patience, foresight and presence, empathy, quiet solitude and wise counsel.
The mind - Become present
Being present demands all of us. Its not nothing. It may be the hardest thing in the world. Even during a quiet evening at home, all were thinking about is the list of improvements that needs to be made. If there is a beautiful sunset, instead of taking it in, we take pictures. We are not present. And so we miss out on life, on being our best, on what’s there. We do not live in this moment, we in fact try desperately to get out of it, by thinking, doing, talking, worrying, remembering, hoping. Tolstoy observed that love cannot exist off in the future. Love is only real if it is happening right now. If you think about it, that’s true for basically everything we think feel and do. Remember there’s no greatness in the future. Or clarity, or insight, or happiness. There is only this moment.
The less energy we waste regretting the past or worrying about the future, the more energy we will have for what’s in front of us. Don’t reject a difficult or boring moment because it is not exactly what you want. Don’t waste a beautiful moment because you’re insecure or shy. Make what you can of what you have been given. Live what can be lived. That’s what’s excellence is. That’s what presence makes possible.
Jesus told his disciples not to worry about tomorrow, because tomorrow will take care of itself. Another way of saying this is; you have plenty on your plate right now. Focus on that, no matter how small or insignificant it is. Be here all of you, be present.
The mind - limit your inputs
If you wish to improve be content to appear clueless or stupid in extraneous matters. There is a ego in trying to appear the most informed person in the room, the one with all the gossip who knows every single thing that’s happening in everyone’s life. Not only does this cost us our peace of mind, but there’s a serious opportunity costs, if we were stiller, more confident, had the longer view what was truly meaningful, maybe we could dedicate time to this.
In meditations Marcus says: “ask yourself at every moment, ‘is this necessary?”, there is a great saying; garbage in, garbage out. If you want good output, you have to watch over the inputs. THIS will take discipline. IT will not be easy. It is in stillness that we can be present and finally see truth. It is in stillness that we can hear the voice inside us. All this noise, all this information all the inputs. We are afraid of the silence.
The mind - empty the mind
We should think less. Don’t overanalyze, just do the work. Marcus Aurelius wrote about cutting free of impressions that cling to the mind, free of the future and the past to become the sphere rejoicing in its perfect stillness. The problem is that, unthinkingly, we think too much. Be the librarian who says “shhh!” To the to all distractions of the mind. Because the mind is an important and sacred place. Keep it clean and clear.
The mind - slow down, think deeply
In stoicism and Buddhism and countless other schools we find the same analogy: the world is like muddy water. To see through it, we have to let things settle. We can’t be disturbed by initial appearances, and if we are patient and still, the thrush will be revealed to us.
So much of the distress we feel comes from reacting instinctually instead of acting with conscientious deliberation. We’re reacting to shadows. We’re takin as certainties impression we have yet to test. We’re not stopping to put on our glasses and really look. After we slowed down, we should think on a regular basis about;
- what’s important for me
- what’s actually going on in my life
- what might be hidden from view
- what the rest of the chessboard looks like
- what the meaning of life really is
Exercise; sit in a room and let your mind go wherever you want. Start paying attention to your thoughts to see if a word or goals materializes.
If you invest the time and mental energie, you will not only find what’s interesting you will find the truth.
The mind - Start journaling
Keep a notebook. Travel with it, eat with it, sleep with it. Slap into it every stray thought that flutters up into your brain. The list of people ancient and modern who practiced art of journaling is almost comically long and diverse. Seneca, seems to have done his sitting and reflection in the evenings, much along the lines of Anne Frank’s. Then he would go to bed, finding that sleep which follows this self examination was particularly sweet. Anyone who reads him today can feel him reaching for stillness in these nightly writings. He called journaling a weapon for spiritual combat, a way to practice philosophy and purge the mind of agitation and foolishness and to overcome difficulty.
Journaling is a way to ask though questions about one’s own life. There is no ideal way how to journal. Make your own way work.
The mind - Cultivate silence
All profound things and emotions of things are preceded and attended by silence. Silence is the general consecration of the universe.
Thought will not work except in silence. If we want to think better, we need to seize these moments of quiet.
Each of us needs to cultivate those moments in our live. Where we limit our inputs and turn down the volume so that we can access a deeper awareness of what’s going on around us. In shutting doen, even if only for a short period, we can finally hear what the world has been trying to tell us. Or what we’ve been trying to tell ourselves.
The mind - Seek wisdom
Imperturbable wisdom is worth everything. All philosophical schools preach the need for wisdom. Tolstoy expressed his exasperation at people who didn’t read deeply and regularly; “I cannot understand how some people can live without communicating with the wisest people who ever lived on earth. People who don’t read have no advantage over those who cannot read.
Find people you admire and ask how they got where they are. Seek book recommendations. Add experience and experimentation on top of this. Put yourself in though situations. Accept challenges. Familiarize yourself with the unfamiliar. Do not mistime the pursuit of wisdom for an endless parade of sunshine and kittens. Wisdom does not immediately produce stillness or clarity.
The mind - Find confidence, avoid ego
“Avoid having your ego so close to your position that when your position falls, your ego goes with it” - Colin Powell
Confident people know what matters. Confident people are open, reflective and able to see themselves without blinder. All this makes room for stillness, by removing unnecessary conflict and uncertainty and resentment. Ego on the other hand is unsettled by doubts, afflicted by hubris, exposed by its own boasting and posturing. Don’t feed insecurity. Don’t feed delusions of grandeur. Both are obstacles to stillness. Be confident, you’ve earned it.
The mind - Let go
What we need in life, in the arts, in sports, is to loosen up, to become flexible, to get to a place where there is nothin in our way- including our own obsession with certain outcomes. We will get the stillness we need if we focus on the individual steps, if we embrace the process and give up chasing. We will think better if we aren’t thinking so hard. Only through stillness are the vexing problems solved. Only through reducing our aims are the most difficult targets within our reach.
The spirit
The domain of the soul
“Most of us would be seized with fear if our bodies went numb, and would do everything possible to avoid it, yet we take no interrest at all in the numbing of our souls” - Epictetus
For what is a man profited Jesus asked his disciples, if the shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul?
Mental stillness will be short lived if our hearts are on fire, or our soul ache with emptiness. We need an open heart. Meaningful relationships. Selflessness. Moderation. A sense of right and wrong. We are incapable of seeing what is essential in the world if we are blind to what’s going on within us. We cannot be in harmony with anyone or anything if the need for more, more ,more is gnawing at our insides like a maggot. We don’t need to judge Tiger Woods, we need to learn from him. Because we share the same flaws, the same weaknesses- and have the same potential for greatness if we are willing to put in the work. Since ancient times, people have strived to train and control the forces that resides deep inside them so that they can find serenity, so they can preserve and protect their accomplishments.
The work we must do next is less cerebral and more spiritual. Its work located in the heart and in the soul, and not in the mind. Because it is our soul that is the key to our happiness, contentment, moderation and stillness. Our soul is where we secure happiness and ultimately determine the extent of our greatness. We must maintain a good one.
The spirit - Choose virtue
“The essence of greatness is the perception that virtue is enough” - Ralph Emerson
Marcus Aurelius described a number of what he called “Epithets for the self”; Upright, modest, Sane, Honest, Patient, Caring, Kind. Virtue, the Stoics believed was the highest good - the summum bonus - and should be the principle behind all our actions. The person who knows what they value, who possesses easy moral self-command, who leans comfortably upon this greatness, day in day out. This persons has found stillness. A sort of soul power they can draw on when they face challenges, stress, even scary situations. We should ask ourselves about these values, what are we living for? The problem is that the busyness of life, the realities of pursuing a career and surviving in the world, come between us and that self knowledge. What is virtue? “True and steadfast judgment” - Seneca. Each of us must cultivate a moral code, a higher standard that we love almost more than life itself. We develop good character, strong epithets of ourselves, so when it counts, we will not flinch. We will be still.
