The Good Life - 06/30/2023 - Duty: 30 years of labor
Updated: Jul 1
The ocean here has turned a corner of sorts, wrapping itself into summer in earnest, giving up its caprice, and the seeming will and anger of the wilder, colder times when everyone but the surfers and Angela and Dale and me stayed home and away from the sea. There’s no more strong currents now—no “movement of the entire sea going left or moving right.” The whole ocean now is just resting so seemingly still, in just one place, lapping gently upon the sand. Even the stingray are largely gone, the shallows now being a much safer place to walk and to stand. And the lifeguards too are more at ease with the languid sea, watching and allowing me to swim far out alone and by myself, feeling no pressing need to swim out to join and rescue me from myself and the deep—there being now so little to fear out there in the sea.
This softer summer sea is something nice to be sure, a destination for families with small children, and a good place for the frail and the old. The surfers have gone to look elsewhere for their challenge and for their fun; those young men and women of fall, winter and spring being now gone and someplace away. But Angela is still here, working and sleeping alone in her little blue tent. And Dale, who walks alone each evening remembering Debbie. And me, I’m still here too—at least for another year of seasons upon this strand where I was born. Another full year of seasons to walk, and to swim, and to mark time and note my thoughts before I leave it all behind at last for somewhere far away and different and new—a changing progress and progression of still more seasons, and of life, and the always changing sea.
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
My name is Kurt Bell.
You can learn more about The Good Life in my book Going Alone.
Be safe... But not too safe.