When everything seems cruel, unfair, fake, painful, and gloomy all around—making it seem as though there were nothing else to life—one must remember that the reason all these undesirables exist is DUE TO the simultaneous existence of marvels such as compassion, justice, truth, pleasure, and joy.

And it is the mere possibility of all that good stuff happening (and our ability to change our state by seeking all of it) that makes it worth living even in the worst of instances.

The meaning to suffering in our lives then stems from the desire to seek the opposite.

The Amazing Things & Ideas List

• Benjamin Franklin on the pointlessness of anger:

“Anger is never without a reason but seldom a good one.”

— Benjamin Franklin

• Education: exactly what a Renaissance man or woman does not need:

“The authority-pleasing, question-suppressing, rule-following approach to education may have served to provide society with assembly-line workers and bureaucrats, but it does not do much to prepare us for a new Renaissance.”

— Michael J. Gelb, How to Think Like Leonardo Da Vinci

• Revisiting one of my favorite poems:

Have you ever watched kids on a merry-go-round,
or listened to rain slapping the ground?

Ever followed a butterfly's erratic flight,
or gazed at the sun fading into the night?

You better slow down, don't dance so fast,
time is short, the music won't last.

Do you run through each day on the fly,
when you ask “How are you?”, do you hear the reply?

When the day is done, do you lie in your bed,
with the next hundred chores running through your head?

You better slow down, don't dance so fast,
time is short, the music won't last.

Ever told your child, we'll do it tomorrow,
and in your haste, not see his sorrow?

Ever lost touch, let a friendship die,
'cause you never had time to call and say hi?

You better slow down, don't dance so fast,
time is short, the music won't last.

When you run so fast to get somewhere,
you miss half the fun of getting there.

When you worry and hurry through your day,
it's like an unopened gift thrown away.

Life isn't a race, so take it slower,
hear the music before your song is over.

— Slow Dance, a poem by David L. Weatherford

• Email from Steve Jobs to himself, 2010

“Steve often sent himself messages to capture what was on his mind.”

That’s it for this week! Thank you for reading.

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Onward,
Arjun

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