I actually agree with the author to a very large extent, based on this, I'm going to try to move to a new city starting next year ..
you have less than one month..
Most lives are lived by default
81–90 of 138 posts
Re: Most lives are lived by default
#82Earlier quoted context omitted.
Because I never heard anyone refer to him as Marc Aurel in any of my philosophy classes and could not find any references to "marc aurel" on the internet. The familiarity of the statement made it seem like "marc aurel" was a household name. I also could not find the sentence in any copy of Meditations I found on the internet. Fyi: you can grab a copy of Meditations from a number of classics sites on the internet: htt…
Ah, yeah. I suppose I'm taking a leap of faith in assuming that they are one in the same and that the Marcus to Marc was just bad translation. Thanks for the link, might be good for some light reading until I get the physical copy.
I heard recently that there is a new translation which is rather good for the modern reader. (http://www.amazon.com/The-Emperors-Handbook-Translation-Medi...) I think I heard about it on the excellent "History of Philosophy: Without Any Gaps" podcast, but I'm not certain of that. It can seem silly to spend money when you can get the ideas for free, on the other hand, the style of translation can easily get in the way with ancient writers and old translations. I've quit reading a couple of dry translations of the Meditations when they would put me to sleep rather too fast during bed-time reading. I've got the new one on my Xmas wishlist and plan to buy it in the new year if someone doesn't get it for me.
So maybe check it out if you find the old versions slow going.
Re: Most lives are lived by default
#83Earlier quoted context omitted.
Thanks for the great insight. I agree on the whole with what you are saying, though I'm wondering why you choose to describe what I'm doing with my life as "running"? I'm not running at all, I'm just looking around for the purpose of learning and adventure. I have nothing to run from. > What did you find at the end? Was it nothing? Because that's what I found. I wasn't "looking" for anything, other than to enjoy my l…
I don't think the Puritan work ethic came out of debt; it came from the sanctification of work.
One could trace it back to monastic traditions born during the early middle ages. James Burke makes that point in one of the later Connections episodes in the first series.
Re: Most lives are lived by default
#84Earlier quoted context omitted.
Ah, yeah. I suppose I'm taking a leap of faith in assuming that they are one in the same and that the Marcus to Marc was just bad translation. Thanks for the link, might be good for some light reading until I get the physical copy.
I heard recently that there is a new translation which is rather good for the modern reader. ( http://www.amazon.com/The-Emperors-Handbook-Translation-Medi... ) I think I heard about it on the excellent "History of Philosophy: Without Any Gaps" podcast, but I'm not certain of that. It can seem silly to spend money when you can get the ideas for free, on the other hand, the style of translation can easily get in the w…
Ah, this is the exact copy I ordered, this is good to know. Personally, I prefer to spend a small sum to own a physical copy of the book - I'm a bit old fashioned in that way.
Re: Most lives are lived by default
#85Earlier quoted context omitted.
I agree completely that happiness comes from within. And yet there is a duality that has always struck me as important, though hard to explain: it's easiest to be happy when you're striving toward a goal you believe in. But you need to keep your sense of self, your ego, non-attached to the outcome of the striving. That is, you need to invest yourself 100% into doing things that are important to you, but remain detach…
Agreed. The idea is to act as if the outcome of what you were working on was the most important thing in the world to you, but to place no value on the actual outcome itself.
I think this can be put as "enjoy the process".
Re: Most lives are lived by default
#86Earlier quoted context omitted.
Because I never heard anyone refer to him as Marc Aurel in any of my philosophy classes and could not find any references to "marc aurel" on the internet. The familiarity of the statement made it seem like "marc aurel" was a household name. I also could not find the sentence in any copy of Meditations I found on the internet. Fyi: you can grab a copy of Meditations from a number of classics sites on the internet: htt…
"could not find any references to "marc aurel" on the internet." ? http://www.google.com/search?q=%22marc+aurel%22 "Mark Aurel, auch Marc Aurel oder Marcus Aurelius"
Not in the first three pages for me.
Re: Most lives are lived by default
#87A friend once told me, "You should try going with the flow once in a while." She was absolutely right. Yes, many people could improve their situation by not sleepwalking through life. But similarly, we (people on HN and other ambitious folks) can learn to be more content with what life has given us. To reconcile ourselves with randomness. To take some time away from competition and drive and optimization. Perhaps I'm…
Extremes at either end are bad. Somehow the majority of HN hasn't figured this out.
Re: Most lives are lived by default
#88Re: Most lives are lived by default
#89Earlier quoted context omitted.
After graduating with an engineering degree in a field I enjoy, and taking my first job, I soon began asking myself what's next. I grew up alongside many kids whose parents funneled them into the typical "dream careers": doctor, lawyer, finance (and other people who got there on their own). After quickly hitting my head on the (relatively low) glass ceiling, I wondered if I hadn't missed out on huge opportunities in…
It's better to be happy than not happy. Rich/not is something different. I know many people in varying degrees along that scale and their happiness does not seem to be correlated to their wealth. Many in the lower end of the scale believe their happiness is tied to it, though.
This recent Princeton study found that income and happiness are correlated until $75,000, after which happiness is flat.
Re: Most lives are lived by default
#90503 unavailable. I don't know, but I'll bet $10 that this is another Wordpress blog that made it to the HN homepage. Somehow it are almost always Wordpress blogs that go down.
If I really did bet for $10 that it's wordpress every time a site goes down on the HN homepage, I could simply quit my job. Perhaps I should ask $10 to optimize Wordpress websites (aka install a caching plugin and done), hmm...