The Modern Marcus

by Jason Ball

  42. Pick a side

  We’re all trying to build a better world, even if we don’t know it or disagree about what a better world would look like. Everyone plays a part (even the moaners and groaners).

  You need to consider what your role in all this will be – whose side are you on? But know this, while whatever you do will have to be in keeping with the wider universe, you should ensure your part is not just a walk-on.

  43. Doing their bit

  Does the sun try to do the rain’s job? What about the rest of the stars? They may all be different but they’re all acting as part of the universe.

  44. So, about gods…

  Just say there is a god (or a bunch of gods for that matter).

  If they spent time plotting my fate, they did a pretty good job. From where I stand, it’d be hard to imagine they have it in for me. And why would they? What would be in it for them? How would it help the wider universe which, you have to think, is their main concern?

  OK, even if they don’t care a jot about me, I guess I ought to think well of them and anything that happens as a result.

  Of course, if they don’t care about anything at all, then let’s forget the whole prayer and worship thing. Because if this is the case, I’m still able to look after myself and stay true to who I am.

  I’m rational. I have a city and a country. As Marcus, I have Rome. And as a human being, I have the world. So whatever is good for these, is good for me.

  45. All good

  As a general rule, what is truly good for one person is good for everyone. We just need to be clear that by good, we mean the stuff that helps real people in the real world rather than any purely moral assessment.

  46. Same, same, same

  Look at your newsfeed – what’s really new? It just the same stuff over and over.

  It’s the same with life as a whole – ups and downs, causes and effects. When will it end?

  47. I see dead people

  Think about everyone who’s ever died – millions and billions of them. Rich, poor, smart, dumb. It’s a long list on which your name will appear soon enough – alongside princes and presidents, philosophers and footballers, beauties and bullies.

  Think about them all. What did they hope to achieve from life? In reality, the only value lies in seeking truth and being fair (even to those who don’t deserve it).

  48. Celebrate the awesome

  When your spirits need a lift, take a moment to think about all the good qualities of your friends – their energy, generosity, modesty, whatever. Nothing is more inspiring to keep in mind.

  49. Lean times

  Think yourself too skinny? Would you like to be fatter? How about an extra 150kg? Probably not. So why worry about how much longer you might live? Be happy with what you’ve got.

  50. We try harder

  Sure, try to get others on your side but, when push comes to shove, act anyway if it’s the right thing to do. If they try to stand in your way, stay calm, take a different tack – turn the obstacle into an opportunity to exercise patience and self-control.

  Don’t forget, you might be wrong and to do the impossible is, well, impossible. It’s enough to try your hardest – that is success.

  51. Doing happy

  Ambitious people tend to find happiness in what others think.

  Those who crave pleasure focus on how they feel.

  Wise people find it in what they do.

  52. Opinions are like arseholes…

  You don’t have to have an opinion. You don’t have to get stressed out about things you can’t control. These things are not asking for your judgement.

  53. Becoming a mind reader

  Learn how to pay real attention to what people around you are saying. Try to get inside their heads.

  54. Bees?

  What’s useless for the hive is useless for the bee.

  55. Make clever choices

  Want to ignore ‘so-called experts’? Who are you going to listen to instead? And will their advice solve anything in the real world?

  56. Checking out

  You share the date of your birth with around 300,000 others. Think how many of them have already died.

  57. Sick thinking

  If you have jaundice, even honey will taste bitter. Rabies will make you crazily afraid of water. So why do I get angry? Do you think that errors in thinking have any less effect on us than bile or bacteria?

  58. Live your truth

  Nothing can stop you living according to the laws of your personal nature. And nothing can happen that goes against the laws of the universe.

  59. I’ll never forget whatshisname

  It’s sad that we try so hard to please others. To what end?

  Yet time will soon wipe it all away. Just think how much you’ve already forgotten.

  12

  The Seventh Book

  ‘So do you spend a fortune on vitamins and supplements to try to live forever? Or do you run harder in death’s shadow without complaint?’

  1. Look on the face of evil

  What is evil?

  Think about it – whether you look in the news, on your social feeds or in the pages of history, you’ve seen it all before. From madmen with automatic weapons in schools to Nazis with gas chambers in Poland to Catholic zealots with a thing against ‘witches’, nothing is new.

  The same scenes will be re-enacted in different ways at different times to different degrees. It’s as pedestrian as it is pathetic.

  2. Remember your first time?

  Principles die when the circumstances that lead to them are forgotten.

  So make sure you keep reminding yourself of why you hold certain things to be true and right. It means you’ll be able to quickly make the correct call about what’s going on around you, however new it seems.

  And if you can’t bring the right principle into focus, why worry? It's probably nothing to concern yourself over.

  Understand this and you’ll have nothing to fear. Simply view events through your previous experience and it’ll be like you’re born again.

  3. This is life

  Another must-see show on TV. A dog-whistle tweet. Taking offence. Mock outrage. Trigger warnings. Work. Sleep. Work. Sleep. That’s life my friend. And it’s your job to take your place among it all – with good humour and without being a dick. Because at the end of the day, you’re no more than the things you care about.

  4. Talk is cheap

  People talk a lot. Some also do stuff. Pay attention to both. For the latter, make sure you understand their purpose. For the former, spend time getting to grips with what they really mean.

  5. Are you up for it?

  Are you really up to the task? If so, you should use your mind as nature intended. If not, you should either leave it to someone who knows what they’re doing or else find someone to help and simply do your best.

  Whichever route you go, one thing is key: to do the right thing to benefit the world around you.

  6. Gone. Gone. Gone.

  How many once praised ‘heroes’ are now consigned to oblivion? And how many of those who heaped praise on them are no more too?

  7. Ask a comrade

  It’s no big thing to ask for help. Be like a soldier hurling yourself into the breach. You may be hurting, you may not be as fast as you’d like, but you can always find a comrade to help.

  8. I love you tomorrow

  Never fear the future. No matter what, you’ll face it with the same reason and resources that arm you for the present.

  9. Unity for beginners

  Everything is connected, woven together – nothing is truly isolated. Together, it all forms a beautiful tapestry, one universe. The multitude makes the whole – all the interplay of natural rules, human laws, reason, logic and truth. And all creatures within can play their part.

  10. The whole in part

  Every atom is quickly absorbed into the universe. Every cause is soon enveloped by reason. And memories are swiftly buried
in the span of eternity.

  11. Natural is as natural does

  If you’re going to be rational about life, any natural act is also a reasonable one.

  12. Choose to act

  You can either do things or have things done to you.

  13. Out on a limb

  Everything that has reason is related, like the parts of a body. They’re meant to cooperate to get things done.

  You’ll understand this better if you see yourself as a limb on a single rational being rather than just a part of the whole. Mere parts get no support from the heart and no pleasure in supporting the whole.

  Doing good is therefore a duty to others more than it is an act of self-service.

  14. Leave victimhood behind

  For those buffeted by external events, so be it – they’ll find plenty to moan about.

  Me? I refuse to view whatever happens as evil, and nothing can force me to do otherwise.

  15. Be green

  Whatever the world says or thinks, I must be good. It’s like an emerald saying, ‘Whatever the world says, I must be an emerald and keep my colour true.’

  16. Boo!

  My mind has no need to create trouble or flights of fancy to seduce or scare. If someone or something else can frighten me, let them go for it. But I won’t let my own assumptions help in the effort.

  I’ll try to avoid physical pain of course and if my body hurts, it’ll let me know. But fear and pain only really exist in the mind, so they can only be truly experienced if the mind wills it.

  17. Unwelcome guests

  Happiness is about having a good mind, powered by reason. It’s a kind of inner god.

  So what’s this I see? Fantasy? Mental chatter? Idle brain farts? Get out of here, you’re not welcome.

  I know it’s just habit and, don’t worry, I’m not angry with you, but get lost.

  18. Ch-ch-changes

  We tend to fear change. But in truth, nothing happens without it. What could be more natural? Could you have a nice hot shower unless the water changed? Could you get energy from food unless your body changed it? Actually, can anything useful happen without change?

  It’s the same when we die, it’s just another change so that our atoms can feed the universe.

  19. Feel the rush

  We live our lives like we’re in the middle of a fast-moving stream, everything tumbling together, all sharing the same core nature.

  Think of how many Einsteins, Bowies and Mandelas have already been swept away. Whoever you are, whatever you do, it’s all the same – fast, brief and over too soon.

  20. Counting sheep

  The one thing that keeps me awake at night is the thought that I might do something my true self wouldn’t agree with or might want done differently or is not ready to do yet.

  21. Remember this

  Soon you’ll forget everything and everything will forget you.

  22. Live and forgive

  At the end of the day, you are perfectly capable of loving those who are dicks towards you. You just have to remember, they are your brothers and sisters. They either don’t mean it or are just being dumb. Soon we’ll all be dead, and as long as your core being isn’t damaged, you haven’t really been hurt.

  23. What’s next?

  The universe is endlessly making and remaking stuff out of the same atoms. First it’s a tree, then a dung beetle, then an iPhone, then you and then something else entirely.

  Each of these exists for the briefest time. So why should the destruction of these things be any more threatening than their making?

  24. Grrr

  Angry faces aren’t natural. The more you slap a scowl on your visage, the less beautiful you’ll look (inside and out). Keep it up and, in the end, there’ll be no coming back.

  It’s the same with reason – when it’s gone, it’s super-difficult to regain.

  25. Born again

  Everything around you will soon become something else. Soon after, that too will be transformed into something even newer. And on and on. It keeps the world young.

  26. People just like you?

  When somebody is an arse towards you, ask yourself, ‘What were they thinking?’

  Once you understand that, chances are your anger will turn into pity. If they acted as you would have, you’ll probably forgive them (after all, you’d have done the same). If you’ve managed to get beyond artificial ideas of good and evil, it’ll be easier to tolerate others who aren’t there yet.

  27. It’s just stuff

  Don’t lust after stuff you don’t have or you’ll be a slave to your wants and desires. Instead, think about the things you already own that bring you the most joy. Imagine how much you’d want them if you didn’t already own them. But be careful, don’t fixate on them so much that you’d flip out if you were to lose them tomorrow.

  28. Sanctuary

  Your inner self is your sanctuary. Knowing that you did the right thing is all you will ever need to be at peace.

  29. Dream no more

  Ditch the daydreams. Stop being a slave to the what ifs and wouldn’t it be nices.

  Focus on the here and now. Learn to see what’s really happening (whether to you or to others). Break things down into what’s really causing them. Think about your final hour on Earth and leave others’ wrongs with them.

  30. Focus. Focus. Focus.

  Focus on what people are really saying. Go deep into what’s happening and who’s doing it.

  31. Two laws

  Let others see your simplicity, self-respect and indifference (whether to the good or the bad). Love your fellow humans. Remember, there are only two laws that pretty much govern everything we do: physical laws and moral laws. That should be enough for anyone.

  32. The big D

  So, about death… If you think about the entire universe simply being made up of atoms, death is just dispersion. Of course, if you think about it as a unified whole, death is simply metamorphosis.

  33. Ouchy, ouch, ouch

  So, about pain… If pain is really unbearable, it’ll kill you. Anything else is bearable.

  You can stay calm by distancing your mind from the pain. Leave the hurt parts to make their case (if they can).

  34. I want to live forever…

  So, about fame… Just look at the minds of those who lust after fame. They run from this, they run after that. Just like a beach wiped clean after each high tide, today's fame will be erased by tomorrow’s celebrity.

  35. A new perspective

  If you met someone who had true vision across all time and matter, do you think they’d care much about the life of a single person? No.

  And would they be scared of death? No way.

  36. Good deeds punished

  It’s the fate of great people to be spoken of badly for trying to do good things.

  37. Look at you

  It sucks that your mind can make your face do whatever it likes but can’t have the same power over its own thoughts.

  38. Stuff and nonsense

  Don’t worry about stuff – it sure as hell doesn’t worry about you.

  39. Bringing the happy

  Whether you’re focused on immortal gods or the rest of us doomed to die, bring joy.

  40. And in your prime too

  Like long grass in the face of a Flymo, some are cut down while others survive.

  41. Care not

  If the universe doesn’t care about me and those I love, there has to be a reason.

  42. Powerful allies

  At the end of the day, I have right and justice on my side.

  43. Not in my gang

  I’ll not be joining those that cry or those that fear.

  44. Easy decisions

  You’re wrong if you think anyone worth anything worries about living or dying. They simply decide what to do based on whether it is right and fair or wrong and unjust.

  45. The last stand?

  Here’s the thing: Wherever you make your stand (whether
due to your judgement or another’s influence) that’s where you need to face the music – let everything else go screw itself.

  46. You can’t save everyone

  Sometimes, doing the right thing may mean going beyond saving yourself or others from harm.

  Ultimately, you shouldn’t cling to life no matter what. You need to let things happen as they will, embrace your destiny and make the most of the time you have.

  47. The final frontier?

  Look up at the stars. You’re already travelling among them. Let this thought free you from the tedious parts of life on Earth.

  48. Look down

  According to Plato (and a whole bunch of people who’ve been up to space), anyone who wants to make pronouncements about the world should look down on events from way up above.

  Peace. War. Love. Hate. Births. Deaths. Family. Foreigners. People of every kind doing every kind of thing.

  From this vantage point, it’s all one crazy harmonious mix.

  49. The past is the future

  Look at history and you’ll see the future. It repeats over and over, both different and the same. Study people for a year, a century, millennia and it’s all the same. What else do you expect?

  50. The return ticket