Ancient Wisdom for a Modern World
Whatever you do, make it an offering to me – the food you eat, the sacrifices you make, the help you give, even your suffering. In this way you will be freed from the bondage of karma, and from its results both pleasant and painful. Then, firm in renunciation and yoga, with your heart free,
I think a lot about the role work should play in a meaningful life, so I thought it would be helpful to gather a list of (mostly) ancient wisdom type quotes about work or almost about work for some perspective. I offer these without commentary. Work for the sake of rest The Sabbath is not
This week of Passover brought up an interesting question: “Why do you observe Judaism when you could do nothing at all?” Doing nothing is a relatively simple option. You don’t have to go to a 4 + hour Seder or prepare for one. You don’t have to go to Minyan or Shabbat services. You could
I’ve decided that humility is the hardest  trait to acquire, more so than the other qualities I’ve tried to acquire. With Stoicism, you can learn pretty quickly to let small things roll off your back. In Catholicism, there are many clear paths to developing compassion for others (I’ve been volunteering at a charity). In Judaism,
On Saturday night, I attended a 10-year reunion dinner for my college’s ballet club, Balance. Little did you know, I am actually an aspiring ballerina. Before I wanted to be a Navy SEAL, I wanted to dance like no one has danced before. Just kidding. My girlfriend was a member of the group while we
Buddhism: Week 1 Wrap-up Over the past week, I’ve done a total of 140 minutes of meditation (20 minutes per day x 7). While it would have been great if that were enough time to achieve nirvana, unfortunately that isn’t the case. Here’s what I’ve learned so far about meditation It is friggin’ hard! Whenever
Everything is foreseen, yet the freedom of choice is given. The world is judged with Goodness, and everything depends on the abundance of good deeds. – Pirkei Avos I’m in love with freedom. I love that I can choose where I go to dinner, who I can marry, what I should do for my career,
Unlike some of my other months, I don’t feel like I did much of anything for Buddhism month. For Stoicism month, I took daily ice baths. For Catholic month, I went to Mass almost every day. For Judaism month, I attended prayer services nearly every morning. And for Islam month, I prayed five times per
I traditionally have chafed under authority. Not that I’m a rebel or anything; I just dislike being forced to do things I don’t want to do, like most people I assume. There is nothing worse than having a plan for the day, or, having a plan to do nothing for the day, and say, having
When I taught English in Egypt, I assigned homework for the students to complete. There were a few students who were habitually late with their work so I would ask them directly if they were going to be on time. They would routinely respond “Insha’Allah,” which means “God willing.” In this particular context, the response