The Good Life - 06/10/2023 - Return of the Muse
Poetry of a sort has joined me at the guitar. Nearly every evening, while Yumiko prepares dinner, I sit in the garden with a glass of red wine and my dog and I strum the guitar. I know six chords, and a number of picking progressions, and my fingers have gained enough memory to use these without the need of much thoughtful control. So, while the red wine sinks in and Helios descends towards night, and the sweet sea breeze softens the remaining daylight into dark, I sit alone and strumming; playing out my few simple sounds to accompany the gentle passing of time. And with my mind free of the guitar, I’ve found the old words have joined me again. The old muse is back. She who once met me under that desert bridge, the same who walked with me in Japan, and who lived alone with me on that beach up there in the North, and who first spoke to me when I was ten, and I gazed then alone at the lighted expanse of Metropolis, twinkling at evening below our backyard overlooking the great and grinding expanse of LA. The muse is back. Perhaps she was never gone. Her voice is so welcome and familiar to me, I’ve known her all my life, only now I am no longer compelled to write down what I hear, and instead I just sing the words into life that I hear, to the tune of my guitar; I sing alone to my dog, and into my garden, and at that dearest gentle night which does come—words now here and then gone each evening before dinner, when my wife calls me in, and I halt my voice and the sound of the guitar, and bid goodnight to the darkening evening sky and that most blessed soft wind from the sea. I then call my little dog to my side, go in and gently shut and latch the door. Another good day done. Another day finished with music and my Muse. Another good day of life lived and complete once again.
#GoingAlone #SeasonOfPhilosophy
The Good Life Meditation is my daily recitation and reminder of personal objectives and principles used in pursuit of a purposeful life in spite of a universe of seeming indifference. Learn more about The Good Life at my website GoingAlone.org or by reading my book Going Alone. And visit our Discord at: https://lnkd.in/gFgfGmY6
OBJECTIVES: 1. Be Always Ready to Die 2. Make Good Use of Time and Resources 3. Develop Good and Sound Life Principles 4. Cultivate Good Emotional Reactions 5. Perform Good Actions 6. Recognize True Limits and Opportunity 7. One Thing Slowly
PRINCIPLES: 1. Principle of War 2. Principle of Reason 3. Homunculus 4. Anchorhold 5. Home of Good and Evil 6. Principle of Purpose 7. Atomic Principle 8. Principle of Nature 9. The Pirate Ride 10. Principle of Maturity 11. Social Principle
12. Principle of Family 13. Public Speaking 14. Temperance 15. Life Will Not Go Well 16. The Horror Show 17. That Which Must Be Borne 18. The Feast of Offal 19. Distraction 20. Agency and The Great Indifference 21. The Best Seat in the House 22. The Restless Man 23. The Path of Wildness 24. The Great Life Adventure 25. The Risk of Avoiding Risk 26. Sin and Damnation 27. Complete Oblivion 28. The Season of Philosophy
29. Scriptwriting 30. Bullseye Aim 31. The Uphill Climb 32. Arena and Utility 33. Nothing IS enough 34. The Principle of Fun
#Stoic #Stoicism #StoicPhilosophy
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My name is Kurt Bell.
You can learn more about The Good Life in my book Going Alone.
Be safe... But not too safe.