“Blessed is he, who has learned to bear what he cannot change, and to give up with dignity, what he cannot save.” We take on the responsibility of appeasing someone’s feelings, foolishly attempting to control something we can’t. Quotes from Schiller & Huxley. Like handing someone a glass of water while they are engulfed in […]
Creativity isn’t something everyone engages with; usually because we’re afraid of doing it wrong. With quotes from Carter, Nietzsche & more. In his book ‘Mere Christianity’, C.S Lewis speaks about the ‘Law of Right and Wrong’ or the ‘Law of Nature’. “…human beings, all over the earth, have this curious idea that they ought to […]
That engagement with awe soaks into our soul and becomes part of it. We’re uplifted, giving us renewed wind in our sails; a sense of excitement and wonder. It engages us with the world It can be difficult to conceptualise fortune as we cannot see it or touch it, but we experience it nonetheless. Most […]
The act of being good implies adhering to a high standard of moral conduct. At first it may bring to mind someone who is selfless, gentle, caring and incessantly agreeable. True goodness, however, demands of us a number of more complex and at times, thorny obligations.
Circumstance, Meaning It creates such a level of unease that every endeavour is taken to appease everyone. But of course, it is an impossible task. If we take any meaningful or purposeful action, there will be people who are not going to approve.
What do we think when someone upsets us? That depends on how we perceive the action or words that upset us. Do we think: ‘they did that, and it upset me’, or ‘they did that to upset me’? There is a very different perception of intent here. Things that happen or things that other people […]
If we supposedly have all the answers, what kind of relationship can we have with the inexplicable or the mysterious? Rainer Maria Rilke discusses possibility in the unknown and danger in the absolute. The skyline is only broken by hilltops, most of them heaving with vast forests. Menacing echos of calls can be heard from […]
We look up at the ideal we fall so short of, embittered. If only that target wasn’t so high, or better again, if it didn’t exist at all, we wouldn’t appear so dreadful! In doing so, we bring the heavens crashing down to join us in the slums. Now we are level. It creates such […]
We look up at the ideal we fall so short of, embittered. If only that target wasn’t so high, or better again, if it didn’t exist at all, we wouldn’t appear so dreadful! In doing so, we bring the heavens crashing down to join us in the slums. Now we are level.
What should we do in times of exhaustion? Perhaps ‘nothing’, is not the right answer. With quotes from F. Scott Fitzgerald, Joseph Addison & Charles Mackay. When we carry painful thoughts, a moment in silence can be a moment in hell. Can we tolerate sitting with stillness? Quotes from Seneca, Steinbeck & Eliot. In The […]
Prudence isn’t something we hear much about these days. When we do, it’s usually loosely associated with cautiousness- hardly a virtue. Why then, was it believed to be a cardinal virtue for all those centuries? Quotes from Aesop, Eliot, Cicero & more. Creativity isn’t something everyone engages with; usually because we’re afraid of doing it […]
Meister Eckhart (1260-1328) is quoted as saying “A human being has so many skins inside, covering the depths of the heart. We know so many things, but we don’t know ourselves! Why, thirty or forty skins or hides, as thick and hard as an ox’s or bear’s, cover the soul. Go into your own ground […]
In this act they redeemed their tragedy. They represented the very best of human nature, shouldering their suffering and showing courage in the face of fear. There are many things we wish we could change to be closer to who we want to be; the difficulty comes in how to make those changes. Imagine a […]
chance Archives | In Other Words
Circumstance, Meaning, Virtue Feeling lost is an indicator that there is something we should find that will bring us closer to our potential. Its like a mid-space, between where we were and where we are going.