Stop complaining. If, for any reason, you feel subpar, never let on. Always behave & interact as though you're at your best.

Infinity is a loop that springs open to reveal an endless spiral.

—Eugenia Cheng

My father recently told me that he decided to replace the old washing machine he bought in the 80s. He went to the store and told the assistant what he wanted: a new machine to replace his old one. The assistant asked if the old one was still working. My father told him it was working fine – just old. The assistant told him to keep on with it: "In those days they made things to last. Nowadays they're made to last about five years."

Death should be the great letting-go. The final chance for the spirit to fly free. This is why it is so important for warriors to die in battle, where the spirit's raging for release.

Relax not into a dozy slackness but a taut responsiveness.

Egos interact at the level of bumper cars.

The change we need to make is no mere tweek. It is a fundamental seismic shift. For most this is not only impossible but ill-advised. As my teacher used to say: Most students are not ready to begin. The best we can hope to achieve is thorough preparation.

bene qui latuit bene vixit

Cultivate a fearless heart.

(The enemy is always fear  – one of the first things my teacher said to me.)

Make or break.

(Eventually we break – just hope it's later rather than sooner.)

A friend suggested I try out his AI app so I asked it to explain Deleuze & Guattari's concept of 'desire'. This is what it told me:

Deleuze & Guattari have a unique take on desire. They see it not as a lack, as traditional psychoanalysis might, but as a positive, productive force. They view desire as something that creates & connects, constantly generating new realities & possibilities, rather than just filling a void. It’s a fascinating concept!

I always suspected it was their word for 'spirit'. Now I know.

We must become past masters at borrowing energy if we expect to progress.

Pregnant with silence

analogue = potency

digital = exhaustion

It's obvious if you think about it.

For the scientist truth is objectivity.
For the artist truth is subjectivity.

I love cats because I enjoy my home; and little by little, they become its visible soul. 

—Jean Cocteau

frugality & friendship

Quiet mind is empty of words & thoughts but brimming with feeling & sensitivity.   A completely different way of being in the world.

We use words to make sense of consciousness: turn chaos into cosmos.

Things are so artificial nowadays that the mainstream is more likely to lead into a cesspool than the ocean.

One doesn't wait for a revolution. One becomes it.

—Carl Safina, The View from Lazy Point, 2012

Beware Buddhist drowsiness

MEDITATION

Mind sinks down to dantian
Spirit floats above the head

There is a foreign land within

資訊不等於知識
知識不等於智力
智力不等於智慧

Information is not knowledge
Knowledge is not intelligence
Intelligence is not wisdom

I am a little world made cunningly
Of Elements, and an Angelike spright

—John Donne

A passion for work

Estrangement from the mainstream