Dennis > Recent Status Updates

“It is ridiculous not to escape from one’s own vices, which is possible, while trying to escape the vices of others, which is impossible.”

"'It is my bad luck that this has happened to me.' No, you should rather say: 'It is my good luck that, although this has happened to me, I can bear it without pain, neither crushed by the present nor fearful of the future.'
[...]
So in all future events which might introduce sadness remember to call on this principle: 'this is no misfortune, but to bear it true to yourself is good fortune.'"

"No, you do not have thousands of years to live. Urgency is on you. While you live, while you can, become good."

"If you set yourself to your present task along the path of true reason, with all determination, vigour, and good will: [...] if you grapple this to you, expecting nothing, shirking nothing, but self-content with each present action taken in accordance with nature and a heroic truthfulness in all that you say and mean - then you will lead a good life. And nobody is able to stop you."

"Paradoxically, nonhierarchical arrangements are often the most hierarchical. People who argue for a group or meeting to have no facilitators because facilitators are “hierarchical” are almost always the people who dominate the decision-making. They know that rules and structure will limit their power."

"In brief, the road to higher pay is a toll road. But at this point in history, there are female tollbooths and male tollbooths, and the toll charged to women is lower. This should encourage every woman who wishes to embark on the road to higher pay to take it while the tolls are still low, and every man who wishes to be with his children [...] to be aware that there was never a better time to be a great dad."

"When we can psychologically check out from our work, we tend to
call it a job; when we can’t, we call it a career."

“Why has government been instituted at all? Because the passions of men will not conform to the dictates of reason and justice without constraint.”

"Aphorisms have the advantage of piercing straight into the soul, without the need of further explanation; they stir the soul to action by awakening its more noble instincts, which otherwise lie dormant. ... a well-formed aphorism, a condensed formula for truth, which is striking by its self-evident nature ... sets us in motion, in that our heart is touched, our mind is enticed and our desire for virtue is aroused."

Almost made it through the editor's introduction 😂

Many ideas are new to me, requiring very attentive reading. Becker addresses man's psychology in its function as a bulwark against death anxiety. Through a psychoanalytic lens, for now, light is shed on the early contradiction that children have to contend with: being themselves deeply symbolic creatures, whilst at the same time bodily limited and subject to death. Bear with me as I crawl through this book.