The Stoics

‘Stoicism’ was a philosophy that flourished for some 400 years in Ancient Greece and Rome, gaining widespread support among all classes of society. It had one overwhelming and highly practical ambition: to teach people how to be calm and brave in the face of overwhelming anxiety and pain.
We still honor this school whenever we call someone ‘stoic’ or plain ‘philosophical’ when fate turns against them: when they lose their keys, are humiliated at work, rejected in love or disgraced in society. Of all philosophies, Stoicism remains perhaps the most immediately relevant and useful for our uncertain and panicky times.

Our individual natures are all parts of the universal nature wherefore the chief good is to live in accordance with nature which is the same thing as in accordance with ones own nature and with the universal nature.

appreciation of stoicism;

A system of lofty principles illustrated in the life's of many noble men. The subject has perennial fascination. It has both speculative and practical values. Its analysis of human nature and its theory of knowledge gives insight to the problems of the universe and the right mode to guiding life.

Formula.
1. Live agreeably to Nature.
2. Man as a rational being has the power of recognizing the rationality of the cosmic order and cheerfully submitting to it.
3. Withdraw from the futile pursuit of happiness in varying and uncertain circumstances saying give me beauty in the inward soul may the inward and 
outward man be at one, that the highest human bliss is the mind conscious to itself of right. the mind free from passion is a citadel. Resolve to be thyself and know that he who finds himself looses his misery.
4. Universal brotherhood of man.

is this not the widest principal of what they call Hinduism. For the term Hinduism is a word coined for people who live tuned to nature. Its all coming back call it the (vicious) circle.

wonder7 new bonus words.

not familiar because very few Japanese books are translated to English.
top 7 Japanese words that we could use in English.

1. Ikigai

(Flickr user Raul Pacheco-Vega)Literally translating to "life value," Ikigai is best understood as the reason somebody gets up in the morning—somebody's reason for living. It's a combination of what you are good at, what you get paid to do, what you love to do, and what the world needs.
We often find our ikigai during flow states, which occur when a given task is just challenging and absorbing enough that we forget time has passed, that "in the zone" sensation. But it's more nuanced than something that is simply absorbing or a passion; it's a fulfilling kind of work that benefits oneself and others.

2. Karoshi

Volume 90%

 

Karoshi, or death from overwork, provides a nice contrast to the concept of ikigai. Japan's work culture is so over the top that dying from working too hard is not uncommon. This word covers a range of ailments from heart failure to suicide, so long as the root of their cause is in working too hard.

As another hardworking nation, the U.S. could stand to better appreciate the dangers of overwork. Americans put in an average 47 hours a week, which is demonstrably bad for our health.

3. Shinrin-yoku

(Flickr user jungle_group)

This word translates to "forest-bathing," which sums up the activity fairly well. It's getting outdoors to de-stress, relax, and promote well-being. While the concept is familiar, we clearly don't place enough importance on getting outdoors to honor it with its own term.

According to the Environmental Protection Agency, Americans spend about 87% of their time indoors, which is clearly too much. Meanwhile, being in nature is associated with a slew of benefits, like improving memory, reducing stress and anxiety, and even lowering inflammation. Scotland has the right idea—doctors in Shetland can now prescribe nature to their patients.

4. Shikata ga nai

Used interchangeably with shouganai, this term roughly means "it cannot be helped." You can think of it as the Japanese equivalent of c'est la vie´or amor fati. It's the idea that one should accept things outside of one's control with dignity and grace and not implode from the pressure of having no control over a terrible situation.

This concept is a bit controversial. During the U.S. internment of Japanese-Americans after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, many Japanese-Americans resigned themselves to their mistreatment, characterizing the situation as shikata ga nai.

On the other hand, when a tsunami devastated Japan in 2011, many outside observers commented upon the stoic way the Japanese carried on with their daily lives, an example of the positive side of shikata ga nai.

5. Tsundoku

(pexels.com)

While it's a little less high-minded than the previous words on this list, it's certainly one that I and others could use. A combination of tsunde-oku (letting things pile up) and dukosho (reading books), tsundoku is the practice of buying a book you swear you're going to read, obviously not doing that, finding a new book you swear you're going to read, and then letting these abandoned books pile up in your house until it's a certifiable fire hazard.

6. Irusu

Garden State (2004)

You're in a terrible, anti-social mood and don't want to see anybody at all today. Suddenly, your doorbell rings; you lie as still as possible in your bed (surrounded by the hordes of unread books you purchased), praying the unwanted visitor leaves. This is the practice of irusu, or pretending not to be home when somebody rings your doorbell. It's a very common experience, although maybe the modern-day equivalent is responding "Sorry, I just got this" hours after you actually saw a text.

7. Age-otori

Not everybody practices tsundoku, and I'm sure some extroverts are entirely unfamiliar with practicing irusu, but everybody can identify with getting a bad haircut. Age-otori is the feeling one gets after leaving a barbershop looking worse than you did going in. It's an ingenious word for the unique blend of regret, suffering, and shame you feel after you foolishly trusted your elderly barber when he said "Yeah, I can do a hard part."

Bonus words

While Japanese has some phenomenal words, there are some that the English language probably doesn't have need of. For example, a nito-onna is a woman so obsessed with her job that she doesn't have time to iron her blouses and so resorts to wearing knitted tops constantly. It's a wonderfully specific word, but its specificity probably doesn't translate to English-speaking contexts.

There's also the hikikomori, a mostly Japanese phenomenon involving modern-day hermits that don't leave their bedrooms for years and years. People like this exist in English-speaking contexts, but we generally characterize these as people suffering from anxiety, as loners, or hermits. In addition, part of what makes a hikikomori is the high pressure and highly ritualized nature of Japanese society, a feature that is mostly absent in English-speaking contexts.

So, write to our good friends Merriam and Webster. Let's see if we can pack a little more utility into the English language.

meditations.

Brahmajnana must conform to the nature of Brahman.
It is not possible to know the whole of Brahman for it is beyond any man's capacity at best one can relate partially to one or some of his nature that to in similarity only. Four types of meditation through which one can relate to brahmajnana.
Sampad upasana: This is an imaginary identification between two dissimilar objects with some similar attributes for eg. mind has endless modifications and the visvedevas are innumerable on the basis of this resembalance the mind is contemplated upon as the visvedevas the result the upasaka meditator attains infinite worlds.
In ancient India meditation was a subject of deep study, research and experiment. The followers of the Samkhya philosophy developed it into an independent science of mental life. When properly concentrated on an object, the mind undergoes certain changes. These changes are the same for a particular degree of concentration whatever be the object chosen. In other words, concentration follows certain universal laws. These laws were discovered by the great yogis of ancient India.
Brahmajnana involves sampad upasana because of the similarity of consciousness brahman is merely imagined in the Jiva.
Adhyasa Upasana: the mind is brahman. the alambana is accorded on the jiva and is contemplated as brahman.
Kriyayoga upasana: the meditation is based on some mode of activity. here the two factors are different but are contemplated as one owing to the similarity of action. 
Vayu is the great absorber at the time of cosmic dissolution, similarly at the time of sleep all organs of the individual are said to merge in the vital air (prana.) Because of this resemblance in activity prana is contemplated as vayu. similarly jiva is contemplated as brahman because of their causing to grow.
Samskara upasana.  In this upamsu sacrifice there is an injunction. that the sacrificer's wife should look at the ghee for its purification, his is a subsidary action to the performance of the sacrifice. The jiva contemplates himself as brahman. such a meditation purifies the agent of the specific ritual.

"Treatise to Himself"

The Meditations is divided into 12 books that chronicle different periods of Marcus' life. Each book is not in chronological order and it was written for no one but himself. The style of writing that permeates the text is one that is simplified, straightforward, and perhaps reflecting Marcus' Stoic perspective on the text. Depending on the English translation, Marcus' style is not viewed as anything regal or belonging to royalty, but rather a man among other men, which allows the reader to relate to his wisdom.
A central theme to Meditations is the importance of analyzing one's judgment of self and others and the development of a cosmic perspective. As he said "You have the power to strip away many superfluous troubles located wholly in your judgment, and to possess a large room for yourself embracing in thought the whole cosmos, to consider everlasting time, to think of the rapid change in the parts of each thing, of how short it is from birth until dissolution, and how the void before birth and that after dissolution are equally infinite".^[3] He advocates finding one's place in the universe and sees that everything came from nature, and so everything shall return to it in due time. Another strong theme is of maintaining focus and to be without distraction all the while maintaining strong ethical principles such as "Being a good man"
His Stoic ideas often involve avoiding indulgence in sensory affections, a skill which will free a man from the pains and pleasures of the material world. He claims that the only way a man can be harmed by others is to allow his reaction to overpower him. An order or logos permeates existence. Rationality and clear-mindedness allow one to live in harmony with the logos. This allows one to rise above faulty perceptions of "good" and "bad" – things out of your control like fame and health are (unlike things in your control) irrelevant and neither good nor bad.
 "I have had for some time an old copy of the Emperor Marcus' most profitable book, so old indeed that it is altogether falling to pieces . . . This I have had copied and am able to hand down to posterity in its new dress." he refers to passages in the "Treatise to Himself"  and it was this title which the book bore in the manuscript from which the first printed edition was made in the 16th-century.
eg.
If thou art pained by any external thing, it is not this that disturbs thee, but thy own judgment about it. And it is in thy power to wipe out this judgment now.'

Put an end once for all to this discussion of what a good man should be, and be one.


Soon you'll be ashes or bones. A mere name at most—and even that is just a sound, an echo. The things we want in life are empty, stale, trivial.

Never regard something as doing you good if it makes you betray a trust or lose your sense of shame or makes you show hatred, suspicion, ill-will or hypocrisy or a desire for things best done behind closed doors.

Not to feel exasperated or defeated or despondent because your days aren't packed with wise and moral actions. But to get back up when you fail, to celebrate behaving like a human—however imperfectly—and fully embrace the pursuit you've embarked on.

feminine indeed.

Weather you are a man or a woman unless the feminine becomes alive in you you will never experience the finer aspects of life. sadguru.

Nivritti or Pravritti does it matter?

Suka confesses that though he is a Brahma Nishta sage steeped in meditation of the Nirguna Brahman, he finds much joy and delight in singing the praises of the Lord’s excellences. This statement is made when Parikshit asks him the way to salvation. Quoting the Upanishad thought about what is really worthwhile, Suka says that each one has to know about the All-pervading and Omnipotent Lord, and to this end one has to hear His glories expounded, and then remember Him always, pointed out Sri R. Krishnamurthy Sastrigal in a discourse. The Bhagavata Purana is capable of leading people out of samsara by fostering devotion true and simple, regardless of whether they have opted for the spiritual path of renunciation, Nivritti, or the path of a householder, Pravritti.

There is a story about how the Lord wishes to enlighten Narada on the true devotion practised by even those in Pravritti. The Lord speaks highly of the devotion of a farmer in a village. Noticing that Narada feels disappointed that the Lord has not credited him as an ideal devotee, the Lord entrusts him with a simple task, to carry a bowl filled with oil around the world without spilling even a drop of it. Narada leaves with the oil bowl and proudly comes back to the Lord after carefully finishing the assignment. The Lord is pleased and as He takes back the bowl, asks Narada about the number of times he chanted His name when he was on the errand. Narada admits to the Lord that he had forgotten to chant the Lord’s name during his trip as he had to focus on not spilling the oil. After all, he was only doing the work allotted by God, argues Narada. The Lord points out that the farmer too does the work ordained for him, and in the midst of it takes care to remember Him.

paper kite