Herman Hesse Meditation No. 1

“Wisdom is not communicable. The wisdom which a wise man tries to communicate always sounds foolish.” - Hermann Hesse

Embrace the Wisdom Without and Within.

Maybe it’s not vocalized. Maybe it’s not written on pages. Maybe it’s not sent as a text. But wisdom is communicated through thought and action.

Wisdom usually does sound foolish when you’re not ready for that wisdom. I remember my own philosophical process that began years ago writing a monthly opinion column in the Leopard Prints inaccurately entitled “Ed Says”. Inaccurately titled because what I was saying was not what I had researched. What I was saying was not what I had learned. What I was saying was what I was told to say, told to think, told to believe. I was following the party line.

After a myriad of experiences in my life that occurred in the ‘90s, I gathered a store of knowledge that allowed me to synthesize that knowledge and experience into understanding and wisdom.

Then, I entered a new phase of my life with the turn of the century. I was a husband and father and those experiences added more knowledge and understanding and wisdom.

And over three decades later, I’m still not grown. I am still growing. Could I teach the fifteen year-old me the knowledge I have now? Could he even relate to me?

And that is why Hesse says that wisdom “always sounds foolish”. We shouldn’t be trying to tell wisdom. We shouldn’t be trying because it doesn’t work.

Wisdom is only communicated through thought put into action. If you want to show your wisdom, then you need to go beyond seeing the truth, you need to go beyond believing the truth, you need to go beyond speaking about the truth, and you need to live the truth.

Thoughts are great, words are great, but thoughts without actions? words without actions?

Activity masquerading as accomplishment . . . that is just mental masturbation.

So go out there and live your truth? You can be the change in your life and the life of others.

#ThinkBetter #BeBetter #NoGodsNoMasters #MyBodyMyChoice #MakeYourselfGreatAgain

Aurelius Meditation No. 3

“It never ceases to amaze me: we all love ourselves more than other people, but care more about their opinion than our own.” – Marcus Aurelius

Courage is choosing to change.

Humans are social beings no matter how much we try to fight against this urge. We need belonging, we need others, we need tribe.

Choose your tribe wisely. Find those that meet your purpose. Many times we are thrust into community by location, by situation, by circumstance but we don’t need to value the opinions of these chance acquaintances. We need to value the opinions of those building like us.

Part of mental health is being around people that share our vision, share our mindset, share our destination. You become a product of the people that surround you. So choose wisely.

If you want to become better, surround yourself with people that are getting better as well.

#ThinkBetter #BeBetter #NoGodsNoMasters #MyBodyMyChoice #MAkeYourselfGreatAgain