The village may pay the bard, who does not defend the village, but the bard can make the village worth defending.
~ Balaji Srinivasan
Tag: vision
- Theme: Self
Pain is a Re-prioritizer
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1–2 minutesIn the midst of hurting, assigning importance becomes obvious: without our health, we can not pursue frivolities.
I care nothing about work, deadlines, or money in the throes of a migraine. I only want back my ability to function and move through the world, think, and attend to those I care about. In pain, I cease to be me. - Theme: Growth
Potential: the vitality of the unknown
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1–2 minutesWhen we are young, our potential is abundant. We channel our shiny-eyed, optimistic life energy into opportunities.
Most opportunities foreclose who we are, solidifying how we fit into the world.
Over time we trade fortuity for stability, scheduling manufactured excitements and working hard to rob ourselves of the vitality of the unknown. - Theme: Self
The good boy
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1–2 minutesBeing a ‘good little boy’ keeps us in place, acquiescent to authority. But my little boy is also the one throwing a tantrum at injustice and unfairness.
My little boy is a sensitive optimist overridden by a scared man. Sometimes, I need to forgive the man and allow him to become the child. - Theme: Growth
Don’t outlast; instead outdo
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1–2 minutesExtending life is more important to most people than the intensity of life. Conflating longevity with quality robs us of peak experience in favor of caution for a gray future of deterioration.
The best advice is to prioritize your top 25 dreams, go for the top 5 and ignore the rest. Don’t outlast; instead, outdo. - Theme: Growth
Reckless You
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1–2 minutesThere is a part of you that is reckless. It works to destroy you under the pretense of fully living.
This paradox is temporary, because it is a feeling: it is the small you lashing out, not the greater you already connected to life. - Theme: Growth
“I – it” or “I – thou” or beyond “I”
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1–2 minutes“I” to “it” is our self-to-object relation, which is the vast majority of how we relate to the world.
“I” to “thou” requires reciprocating relations.
A third way to relate is to move behind the “I” into a universal lacking any exchange because it is all one. - Theme: Self
Avoidance shrinks your world
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1–2 minutesThe more we avoid pain (and seek comfort), we narrow our world. When difficulty arises, we repeatedly retreat to prevent confrontation.
In retaliation to being cornered, we often manufacture victimhood or become externally adventurous, avoiding the inner courage to confront ourselves.