The Good Life - 07/07/2023 - Rounding Cape Horn
In his novel, Two Years Before The Mast, Richard Henry Dana Jr. writes about his 1836, mid-winter experience of rounding Cape Horn in the sailing ship Alert, during the crew’s long voyage home to Boston after a year and a half working the coastal trade in California. Dana describes the feeling of exhilaration among the cold and weary crew as they sight the snowy Falkland Islands, meaning they are beyond the dangers of the cape and are entering the Atlantic Ocean, and of the captain then ordering the laying on of extra sail for the voyage north towards the equator and then home. It’s a wonderful five pages in the book, which I read and read again in order to enjoy the vivid and exhilarating experience which Dana relates, which was, in fact, an important part of his own life journey and adventure. In a way, I’m feeling that same way now with Yumiko as we round our own Cape Horn and begin to lay on extra sail towards the end of our careers, the conclusion of our child-raising years, and the start of our new lives of retirement in Japan. But there’s still some good, hard work ahead before our new lives can begin…
Before we’re done with this life, Yumiko and I must still cross the equator, and both the southern and northern horse latitudes, and then get past Bermuda during hurricane season, and across the windy chop of the Gulf Stream, to then perform our careful soundings off Cape Cod and among the islands to know our decreasing depth and read the story of the mud, sand, and pebbles drawn up from the deep; before we can then round the lighthouse at Provincetown and enter the great bight of the cape and then fire our guns to summon a pilot to guide us safely through the roads and to the wharf at Boston Harbor, and the end of our long journey, and the start of something new.
#GoingAlone #GreatLifeAdventure
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.