“The Happiness Of A Man In This Life Does Not Consist In The Absence But In The Mastery Of His Passions.”
~Tennyson~
Sonnet 29, Shakespeare
When, in disgrace with fortune and men’s eyes,
I all alone beweep my outcast state,
And trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries,
And look upon myself and curse my fate,
Wishing me like to one more rich in hope,
Featured like him, like him with friends possessed,
Desiring this man’s art and that man’s scope,
With what I most enjoy contented least;
Yet in these thoughts myself almost despising,
Haply I think on thee, and then my state,
(Like to the lark at break of day arising
From sullen earth) sings hymns at heaven’s gate;
For thy sweet love remembered such wealth brings
That then I scorn to change my state with kings.
One of the most beloved sonnets in the Shakespeare canon, its enduring saliency proves useful for readers of any epoch, particularly one as bewildering as this. Let's visit with the Bard for a bit and redeem our hopes, allay our fears, and partake of the atmosphere-defying phenomenon of poetry that uplifts even while all the world seeks your downfall and destruction. No hyperbole is this: You are in a war. You will decide if you win.
We are living through yet another period seeking the wholesale denigration of humankind so that, the opening of this sonnet describes what so many are experiencing right now, as characters are impugned and villianized in an attempt to annihilate they who represent common sense and fairness; who stand, in spite of fear, against the tyranny of the minority, minor in size, in thought, minor in every possible way no matter how well-funded or fleetingly "mighty".
A price is to be paid by joining the allegiance of a defiant autonomy, is being paid by most regardless of political proclivity both pecuniarily and an ever-dwindling quality of life. There is a shared "aloneness with much beweeping of outcast states", a bereavement resulting from increasing estrangement due to ostracization replete with active anger shame and shunning while, of course, never ceding moral superiority, my God, how could such self-delusion produce anything but despair?
But, either side of this schism can create isolation: a personal hell for those activated into ignorant duplicity (creating as much turmoil within as they create without), alongside those who recognize manufactured manipulation, who mourn its devastation and the profligate toll upon its victims but are unable to conquer the hydra of bitterness due to their recognition and the apocalyptic outcomes both implied and worse fearfully inferred with inescapable emphasis.
Though ideologically separate the experiences are similar: both groups rely on the external world for cues on how to behave and respond. The unconscious partaking of this ubiquitous tendency will cause more grief at this dangerous time than others, for, there is no safety siding with the perniciousness pervading every corner of existence, including within you. You cannot afford to be so cavalier but must be braver -- avenues of escape & distraction are outlets of the past. The world will continue to narrow and compress and you shoved into greater confinement.
It's too easy to take up the yoke of martyrdom (particularly when one is being martyred) and thrash against the discomfort, forlorn cries evoked and emitted as we finish the diminishing by denying our sacrosanctity and agreeing, for a while anyway, that all is lost and the world has won. As the juggernaut of unspeakable unfairness sustains its rampant crushing of the collective the individual's crucible will be transfigured into enlightenment or bear down with incomprehensible magnitude as the force behind it has passed its baton to the intimate enemy who knows better than the best how to keep us small.
The forsakenness of the moment may cast a spell but it is one whose incantation we must recite daily to take effect. This unremitting tragically peremptory castigation of one's self, of life itself, is so inverted in nature, such a pathetically human way of attempting to exert control or punishment (commensurate to whatever inadequacies we hold so dear and without question!) & we see that it works -- the Law works -- chained in a prison of your own making, you can also free yourself... Grace and dignity through Love is both key and key directive rendering circumstances secondary to the power you have finally claimed to use as your own, on your own terms, that was always yours all along.
When rejecting confusion as reality, having had enough inner discourse to invite both divinity and equanimity to the party (at will) who else do you invite? Time is a precious commodity and when spent in depth dividends of like-kind shall be reaped for, to have comrades of like-mind is ideal for the soul genuinely and volitionally progressing. It is from this shared stratum we should seek company rather than scattering time about shallowly to many therefore never taking root into strong thriving friendships. Never envy others, wishing to be "featured like him, like him with friends possessed." Your friends are unique unto you and your journey. They're irreplaceable and unexchangeable; at the right times do they appear and for the right time do they remain until you see them again.
In this carefully considered and treasured group may be some family members, perhaps not, however those meant to be in your orbit will remain and never look upon the past with regrets but wish fond farewells and bonhomie to all who've moved on and beyond as well as those we've moved beyond. Where there is or was growth to be had is the purpose we serve each other. We may be grateful for all we've encountered then move forward. It's similarly inane to covert another's "scope" or "art" as we could no more trade ours for theirs than we could our friendships. Your level of awareness is yours and the particulars and details of your specific life are UNIQUE unto you, no path exact to another but manifested individually piece by evolutionary piece.
Should you wish for greater understanding -- get it. Should you wish for better skill or to gain a new one -- earn it. And you will, get out of your way and join in the dance of both being led in moments and making it happen in others. The rhythmic flow of the universe has music which enraptures as you're engaged knowing you are promised one day to achieve scope including ALL scope and art encompassing EVERY/ANY art hearkens to your noble betrothal since before birth. You and Creation have vowed to one another to bring into being an already perfect being through the infallible process of perfecting -- which can be quite messy. (For those needing clarification, perfection and stagnation have nothing whatever to do with each other.)
Returning to the exposition of sonnet 29, with concise alacrity self-inflicted ailments are painted into a portrait of spiraling misery with hues of gray and ash. Self-pity, public rejection, self-beratement blaming in anger everyone, everything; frustration ejaculating useless prayers accusing with shame weakness acutely felt. He succumbs to the lie of powerlessness and sees no end nor out of his self-inflicted viciousness and while he longs to be better, he damns the struggle. Surely, the onslaught provokes, others more endowed and capable sneer at his inept fecklessness and failures; his falling short time and again. The self-immolation finds its peak of dejection in a land of derision abided in so vigorously and convincedly that meager gifts, or marvelous ones, great loves and talents once enjoyed are denied in the maelstrom of self-disgust.
ALL OF THIS is occurring as we speak and an opportunity is being presented to you to surpass the invasion of doom and evolve past the existence you once accepted as acted upon victim of vicissitudes, jerked about and controlled, trained to fight by a cooing sinister master you subconsciously wish to please. But the soul can never be content serving what defeats us and here is the appropriate place to consider stagnation. There's no safety in staying the same, waiting for rescue or ideal circumstances, looking for some idealized hero to save you from the mess that you have created and to find this out once and for all, that you are more than enough to face, to understand, to overcome is a reward worth discovering in a time demanding you either do, or be done for.
Prescriptive in the latter verses is
And now for the most descriptive verse, "With what I most enjoy contented least." Beleaguered and bleary eyed from the relentless onslaught of negativity, we take it in, begin to emulate mass mind joining in on the melee, especially in our treatment of ourselves. So subjugated, so we subjugate in kind and in doing so lose semblance of who we were in easier, kinder times, perpetuating the manufactured despair becoming bitter and despondent and forgetting, forgetting we have a choice. Where we once had the luxury to choose, no we MUST choose or lose ourselves completely. If your joys have been extinguished due to prolonged inuration take heart and don't be fooled: You ALWAYS make a choice -- don't let it be made for you.
Meanwhile in the continued world of disillusionment and loss of innocence is a countenance, perseverance, dignity far beyond what was gathers force transforming the opaque into ever increasing incandescence; the heartbreak and disillusionment catapulting to finer higher states.
My father used to clap his hands with delight if I used American curse words as a child. To his foreign ears profanity had little visceral impact and like many expats' without formal schooling the first expertise gained in a new language is often badinage of the x-rated kind so he could definitely get "blue" but he never swore in Thai. Now, listening to its rampant proliferation increasingly causes a recoil of crude tumefaction and unchecked tends to stick to the tongue like cling film so I make the effort, for myself, not to normalize what originated as obscenity no matter its ubiquity. This is not a judgment on anyone's use of language - to each their own - but swearing can easily become affectation so let's try to make a conscious decision either way rather than be ruled by impulse which gives us no choice at all.
I all alone beweep my outcast state,
And trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries,
And look upon myself and curse my fate,
Wishing me like to one more rich in hope,
Featured like him, like him with friends possessed,
Desiring this man’s art and that man’s scope,
With what I most enjoy contented least;
Yet in these thoughts myself almost despising,
Haply I think on thee, and then my state,
(Like to the lark at break of day arising
From sullen earth) sings hymns at heaven’s gate;
For thy sweet love remembered such wealth brings
That then I scorn to change my state with kings.
One of the most beloved sonnets in the Shakespeare canon, its enduring saliency proves useful for readers of any epoch, particularly one as bewildering as this. Let's visit with the Bard for a bit and redeem our hopes, allay our fears, and partake of the atmosphere-defying phenomenon of poetry that uplifts even while all the world seeks your downfall and destruction. No hyperbole is this: You are in a war. You will decide if you win.
We are living through yet another period seeking the wholesale denigration of humankind so that, the opening of this sonnet describes what so many are experiencing right now, as characters are impugned and villianized in an attempt to annihilate they who represent common sense and fairness; who stand, in spite of fear, against the tyranny of the minority, minor in size, in thought, minor in every possible way no matter how well-funded or fleetingly "mighty".
A price is to be paid by joining the allegiance of a defiant autonomy, is being paid by most regardless of political proclivity both pecuniarily and an ever-dwindling quality of life. There is a shared "aloneness with much beweeping of outcast states", a bereavement resulting from increasing estrangement due to ostracization replete with active anger shame and shunning while, of course, never ceding moral superiority, my God, how could such self-delusion produce anything but despair?
But, either side of this schism can create isolation: a personal hell for those activated into ignorant duplicity (creating as much turmoil within as they create without), alongside those who recognize manufactured manipulation, who mourn its devastation and the profligate toll upon its victims but are unable to conquer the hydra of bitterness due to their recognition and the apocalyptic outcomes both implied and worse fearfully inferred with inescapable emphasis.
Though ideologically separate the experiences are similar: both groups rely on the external world for cues on how to behave and respond. The unconscious partaking of this ubiquitous tendency will cause more grief at this dangerous time than others, for, there is no safety siding with the perniciousness pervading every corner of existence, including within you. You cannot afford to be so cavalier but must be braver -- avenues of escape & distraction are outlets of the past. The world will continue to narrow and compress and you shoved into greater confinement.
It's too easy to take up the yoke of martyrdom (particularly when one is being martyred) and thrash against the discomfort, forlorn cries evoked and emitted as we finish the diminishing by denying our sacrosanctity and agreeing, for a while anyway, that all is lost and the world has won. As the juggernaut of unspeakable unfairness sustains its rampant crushing of the collective the individual's crucible will be transfigured into enlightenment or bear down with incomprehensible magnitude as the force behind it has passed its baton to the intimate enemy who knows better than the best how to keep us small.
The forsakenness of the moment may cast a spell but it is one whose incantation we must recite daily to take effect. This unremitting tragically peremptory castigation of one's self, of life itself, is so inverted in nature, such a pathetically human way of attempting to exert control or punishment (commensurate to whatever inadequacies we hold so dear and without question!) & we see that it works -- the Law works -- chained in a prison of your own making, you can also free yourself... Grace and dignity through Love is both key and key directive rendering circumstances secondary to the power you have finally claimed to use as your own, on your own terms, that was always yours all along.
When rejecting confusion as reality, having had enough inner discourse to invite both divinity and equanimity to the party (at will) who else do you invite? Time is a precious commodity and when spent in depth dividends of like-kind shall be reaped for, to have comrades of like-mind is ideal for the soul genuinely and volitionally progressing. It is from this shared stratum we should seek company rather than scattering time about shallowly to many therefore never taking root into strong thriving friendships. Never envy others, wishing to be "featured like him, like him with friends possessed." Your friends are unique unto you and your journey. They're irreplaceable and unexchangeable; at the right times do they appear and for the right time do they remain until you see them again.
In this carefully considered and treasured group may be some family members, perhaps not, however those meant to be in your orbit will remain and never look upon the past with regrets but wish fond farewells and bonhomie to all who've moved on and beyond as well as those we've moved beyond. Where there is or was growth to be had is the purpose we serve each other. We may be grateful for all we've encountered then move forward. It's similarly inane to covert another's "scope" or "art" as we could no more trade ours for theirs than we could our friendships. Your level of awareness is yours and the particulars and details of your specific life are UNIQUE unto you, no path exact to another but manifested individually piece by evolutionary piece.
Should you wish for greater understanding -- get it. Should you wish for better skill or to gain a new one -- earn it. And you will, get out of your way and join in the dance of both being led in moments and making it happen in others. The rhythmic flow of the universe has music which enraptures as you're engaged knowing you are promised one day to achieve scope including ALL scope and art encompassing EVERY/ANY art hearkens to your noble betrothal since before birth. You and Creation have vowed to one another to bring into being an already perfect being through the infallible process of perfecting -- which can be quite messy. (For those needing clarification, perfection and stagnation have nothing whatever to do with each other.)
Returning to the exposition of sonnet 29, with concise alacrity self-inflicted ailments are painted into a portrait of spiraling misery with hues of gray and ash. Self-pity, public rejection, self-beratement blaming in anger everyone, everything; frustration ejaculating useless prayers accusing with shame weakness acutely felt. He succumbs to the lie of powerlessness and sees no end nor out of his self-inflicted viciousness and while he longs to be better, he damns the struggle. Surely, the onslaught provokes, others more endowed and capable sneer at his inept fecklessness and failures; his falling short time and again. The self-immolation finds its peak of dejection in a land of derision abided in so vigorously and convincedly that meager gifts, or marvelous ones, great loves and talents once enjoyed are denied in the maelstrom of self-disgust.
ALL OF THIS is occurring as we speak and an opportunity is being presented to you to surpass the invasion of doom and evolve past the existence you once accepted as acted upon victim of vicissitudes, jerked about and controlled, trained to fight by a cooing sinister master you subconsciously wish to please. But the soul can never be content serving what defeats us and here is the appropriate place to consider stagnation. There's no safety in staying the same, waiting for rescue or ideal circumstances, looking for some idealized hero to save you from the mess that you have created and to find this out once and for all, that you are more than enough to face, to understand, to overcome is a reward worth discovering in a time demanding you either do, or be done for.
Prescriptive in the latter verses is
And now for the most descriptive verse, "With what I most enjoy contented least." Beleaguered and bleary eyed from the relentless onslaught of negativity, we take it in, begin to emulate mass mind joining in on the melee, especially in our treatment of ourselves. So subjugated, so we subjugate in kind and in doing so lose semblance of who we were in easier, kinder times, perpetuating the manufactured despair becoming bitter and despondent and forgetting, forgetting we have a choice. Where we once had the luxury to choose, no we MUST choose or lose ourselves completely. If your joys have been extinguished due to prolonged inuration take heart and don't be fooled: You ALWAYS make a choice -- don't let it be made for you.
Meanwhile in the continued world of disillusionment and loss of innocence is a countenance, perseverance, dignity far beyond what was gathers force transforming the opaque into ever increasing incandescence; the heartbreak and disillusionment catapulting to finer higher states.
My father used to clap his hands with delight if I used American curse words as a child. To his foreign ears profanity had little visceral impact and like many expats' without formal schooling the first expertise gained in a new language is often badinage of the x-rated kind so he could definitely get "blue" but he never swore in Thai. Now, listening to its rampant proliferation increasingly causes a recoil of crude tumefaction and unchecked tends to stick to the tongue like cling film so I make the effort, for myself, not to normalize what originated as obscenity no matter its ubiquity. This is not a judgment on anyone's use of language - to each their own - but swearing can easily become affectation so let's try to make a conscious decision either way rather than be ruled by impulse which gives us no choice at all.
connecting the dots forward
Inspiration/Application
Looking ahead starts by looking within...
|
|
FOREVER YOUNG
(watch video all the way to the end for your happiness booster)
Compassion, when we love/support those who are in trouble, is not letting those who would hurt others to have their way, but to expect more from them, disciplining with LOVE so they may LOVE and RESPECT themselves MORE & in return respect others and value life itself. Any other approach is cruelty which leads to more cruelty.
(watch video all the way to the end for your happiness booster)
Compassion, when we love/support those who are in trouble, is not letting those who would hurt others to have their way, but to expect more from them, disciplining with LOVE so they may LOVE and RESPECT themselves MORE & in return respect others and value life itself. Any other approach is cruelty which leads to more cruelty.
newthought²
≈loveinaction
≈loveinaction
Steve Jobs Said ONE simple decision will never let you down and Make All the Difference In Your Life...
Inc.
-Jeff Haden
Steve Jobs had extremely high expectations. He challenged himself—and the people around him—to work smarter, work longer, and work harder so he, and they, could accomplish everything they dreamed possible.
Jobs believed in the power of asking. Jobs believed the future was something we can all make our mark upon.
And maybe even more important, Steve Jobs believed in the fundamental power of belief itself—and of using that belief to motivate and inspire.
As Jobs said:
You can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future.
You have to trust in something—your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.
One of the biggest reasons most of us don't set out to achieve a huge goal is that we think we first need to develop a comprehensively detailed grand plan, one where every step is charted, every milestone identified—where success is pre-ordained.
But because we don't have that kind of plan—because creating that kind of plan is basically impossible—we hesitate. We need to see an end before we see a beginning.
And so we never start.
Jobs knew that plans are never perfect. Only in hindsight can they appear that way.
Here's what really happens. People who eventually find success start by trying things. Lots of things. They succeed at some. They fail at others. They learn from those successes and those failures.
And along the way they seize and at times even create their own opportunities to advance themselves.
Want to start a business? Want to improve your health and fitness? Want to change careers? Determine the first steps. Get started. Keep going.
Most important, trust yourself.
Trust that you'll figure out how to react and how to respond to roadblocks and challenges. Trust that you will become a little wiser for the experience. Trust that you'll grow more skilled, more experienced, and more connected.
Try enough things, learn from every success and every setback, and in time you'll have all the skills, knowledge, and experience you need.
You can never guarantee that you will always succeed, but when you never bet on yourself and try something new, you can definitely guarantee that you will never succeed.
Trust that the dots will someday connect. Believe that the dots will someday connect.
In the meantime, your life will be a lot more interesting.
And a lot more fun.
Inc.
-Jeff Haden
Steve Jobs had extremely high expectations. He challenged himself—and the people around him—to work smarter, work longer, and work harder so he, and they, could accomplish everything they dreamed possible.
Jobs believed in the power of asking. Jobs believed the future was something we can all make our mark upon.
And maybe even more important, Steve Jobs believed in the fundamental power of belief itself—and of using that belief to motivate and inspire.
As Jobs said:
You can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future.
You have to trust in something—your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.
One of the biggest reasons most of us don't set out to achieve a huge goal is that we think we first need to develop a comprehensively detailed grand plan, one where every step is charted, every milestone identified—where success is pre-ordained.
But because we don't have that kind of plan—because creating that kind of plan is basically impossible—we hesitate. We need to see an end before we see a beginning.
And so we never start.
Jobs knew that plans are never perfect. Only in hindsight can they appear that way.
Here's what really happens. People who eventually find success start by trying things. Lots of things. They succeed at some. They fail at others. They learn from those successes and those failures.
And along the way they seize and at times even create their own opportunities to advance themselves.
Want to start a business? Want to improve your health and fitness? Want to change careers? Determine the first steps. Get started. Keep going.
Most important, trust yourself.
Trust that you'll figure out how to react and how to respond to roadblocks and challenges. Trust that you will become a little wiser for the experience. Trust that you'll grow more skilled, more experienced, and more connected.
Try enough things, learn from every success and every setback, and in time you'll have all the skills, knowledge, and experience you need.
You can never guarantee that you will always succeed, but when you never bet on yourself and try something new, you can definitely guarantee that you will never succeed.
Trust that the dots will someday connect. Believe that the dots will someday connect.
In the meantime, your life will be a lot more interesting.
And a lot more fun.
≈it's time.
