"I know of no better life purpose than to perish in attempting the great and impossible. The fact that something seems to be impossible shouldn't be a reason not to pursue it. That's exactly what makes it worth pursuing, where would the courage and greatness be if success was certain and there was no risk? The only true failure is shirking away from life's challenges."

Friedrich Nietzsche: Thus Spoke Zarathustra. A Book for All and None Also sprach Zarathustra: Ein Buch für Alle und Keinen. Composed in four parts between 1883 and 1885 and published between 1883 and 1891. Translated by Thomas Common, T.N. Foulis, Edinbugh and London, 1909. Vollständige Neuausgabe. Herausgegeben von Karl-Maria Guth. Berlin 2015. Umschlaggestaltung von Thomas Schultz-Overhage unter Verwendung des Bildes: Wassilij Dimitriewitsch Polenow, Meditation auf dem Berg, 1900. Gesetzt aus Minion Pro, 11 pt.

productivity

Productivity

philosophy

Philosophy

personaldevelopment

Personal Development

motivationandinspiration

Motivation & Inspiration

books

Books

Friedrich Nietzsche

Thus Spoke Zarathustra

“You wouldn't abandon ship in a storm just because you couldn't control the winds.”

One of the most influential books in the Western tradition, Thomas More's Utopia (1516) describes an imaginary island community enjoying perfect social and political harmony. This volume is the first to offer the original English translation of the work in an edition that allows students to explore in depth Utopia's historical and intellectual contexts as well as the circumstances of its reception. Based on Ralph Robynson's revised and corrected 1556 translation, with modernized spelling and extensive annotations, this edition returns students to the voice of the past, allowing them to experience the text as it was first encountered by early modern English readers.

With an Introduction by Mishtooni Bose. More's Utopia is a complex, innovative and penetrating contribution to political thought, culminating in the famous 'description' of the Utopians, who live according to the principles of natural law, but are receptive to Christian teachings, who hold all possessions in common, and view gold as worthless. Drawing on the ideas of Plato, St Augustine and Aristotle, Utopia was to prove seminal in its turn, giving rise to the genres of utopian and dystopian prose fiction whose practitioners include Sir Francis Bacon, H.G. Wells, Aldous Huxley and George Orwell. At once a critique of the social consequences of greed and a meditation on the personal cost of entering public service, Utopia dramatises the difficulty of balancing the competing claims of idealism and pragmatism, and continues to invite its readers to become participants in a compelling debate concerning the best state of a commonwealth.

Thomas More

Utopia

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

In the modern era, a great emphasis is placed on the attainment of social validation and on looking good in the eyes of others, and this is creating a population of men and women who are stunted in their development. For social validation is derived primarily from success in the external world, or at least the appearance of it. But this excessive orientation to the world of people, places and things is not a healthy way to live.

We can surround ourselves with an opulence of material goods, we can attain the contemporary social-ideal of beauty and style, our peers can admire us, but if the inner self is neglected, misery and suffering will haunt our days.

<ul><li>We should step off the path of conformity – as to conform means to seek social validation through the idea of external success. </li><li>We should re-orient our life so as to bring more order, harmony, and strength to our mind. We must in other words, live a more authentic life, a life that heeds the call of our inner man. </li></ul>

What Is The Cure?

<ul><li>Ridicule and rejection will teach us: that the world does not end when someone shames us, and no harm really comes to us when others disapprove of our ways so long as we are comfortable and are virtuous with the actions we take.</li><li>With time, insults and negative judgements by other people will become mere empty words that may pass through our ears but do not disturb our mind.</li></ul>

Remember:

We will no longer feel compelled to live by reference to others and if we are then willing to listen to the call of our inner man or woman, a greater life will open before us.

“The greatest height of heroism to which an individual can attain is to know how to face ridicule; better still, to know how to make oneself ridiculous and not to shrink from the ridicule.”

“Put up with being laughed at on occasion; look around you, and give yourself a good shaking to find out who you really are.” … Read More ›

Understand yourself and those around you.

psychology

Psychology

education

Learning & Education

Why Caring What Others Think Breeds Mental Illness

“A blazing fire makes flame and brightness out of everything that is thrown into it.”﻿

The great German philosopher <a href="http://dailyphilosopher.net/who-is-friedrich-nietzsche/">Friedrich Nietzsche</a> would describe his formula for human greatness as amor fati— a love of fate. “That one wants nothing to be different, not forward, not backwards, not in all eternity. Not merely bear what is necessary, still less conceal it….but love it.”

<ul><li>Treating each and every moment—no matter how challenging—as something to be embraced, not avoided. To not only be okay with it, but love it and be better for it. So that like oxygen to a fire, obstacles and adversity become fuel for your potential.</li><li>Understand that certain things are out of your control- particularly bad things. And you should face it with unfailing cheerfulness and strength.</li></ul>

Mindset:

“Accept the fact that all events occur for a reason, and that it is within your capacity to see this reason as positive.”﻿

Not this;<ul><li> I’m okay with this.</li><li> I think I feel good about this.</li></ul> But instead;<ul><li> I feel great about it. Because if it happened, then it was meant to happen, and I am glad that it did when it did. I am going to make the best of it.</li></ul>

The goal is:

That is not to say that the good will always outweigh the bad. Still, embrace all of it. Don’t wish for it to be any different. You don’t have to like it to work with it—to use it to your advantage. Amor fati— a love of what happens. Because that’s your only option.

Heads up!

Amor Fati: The Formula for Human Greatness

“No, you do not have thousands of years to live. Urgency is on you. While you live, while you can, become good.” -Book 4.17﻿

Packaged in handsome, affordable trade editions, Clydesdale Classics is a new series of essential works. From the musings of intellectuals such as Thomas Paine in Common Sense to the striking personal narrative of Harriet Jacobs in Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, this new series is a comprehensive collection of our intellectual history through the words of the exceptional few. Meditations is a collection of twelve books written by Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius. The books were originally compiled in the form of private journals. Marcus Aurelius used these notes as personal guides to live by and to better himself as a ruler. He compiled these journals during his time as emperor, and while they were not intended for public consumption, there are valuable lessons to be gleaned from his wisdom. The entries include his views of stoicism--the Hellenistic philosophy devoid of "destructive emotions" that could tamper with logic--and its practical use in ruling and military tactics. Completely unabridged, with a new foreword written by Huffington Post writer Carolyn Gregoire, this publication of Meditations is an all-encompassing collection of Marcus Aurelius's works.

history

History

Meditations (Medieval Greek: Τὰ εἰς ἑαυτόν, romanized: Ta eis he'auton, lit. 'things to one's self') is a series of personal writings by Marcus Aurelius, Roman Emperor from 161 to 180 AD, recording his private notes to himself and ideas on Stoic philosophy. Marcus Aurelius wrote the 12 books of the Meditations in Koine Greek as a source for his own guidance and self-improvement. It is possible that large portions of the work were written at Sirmium, where he spent much time planning military campaigns from 170 to 180. Some of it was written while he was positioned at Aquincum on campaign in Pannonia, because internal notes tell us that the first book was written when he was campaigning against the Quadi on the river Granova (modern-day Hron) and the second book was written at Carnuntum.

Marcus Aurelius Antoninus was Roman emperor from 161 to 180 AD and a Stoic philosopher. He was the last of the rulers known, noncontemporaneously, as the Five Good Emperors and the last emperor of the Pax Romana, an age of relative peace, calmness and stability for the Roman Empire lasting from 27 BC to 180 AD.