by Jason Ball
Everything created on Earth will return to it. Everything made of stardust will revert to it. Or to put it another way, everything returns to the simple atoms that make it.
51. Smile back
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?
52. It’s not about winning
Some people might be faster to get one over on others, but they won’t be more public-spirited, humble and ready to roll with the punches, forgiving those who put them down.
53. Never fear doing the right thing
When you can do good using the same reason we share with the wisest among us, you need fear nothing. When you stay true and do the right thing, you’ll not be harmed.
54. I have the power
You always have the power to be happy with what you’ve got, to be fair to others and to watch out for crazy thoughts that could mess up your head.
55. It’s your mind
Don’t look to others to tell you what to do, trust your own thinking and values, and do what needs to be done.
Everyone must do what’s right as they see it. You can’t concern yourself with every fool, nutjob and troll you encounter. Instead, look to other rational people as brothers and sisters.
Don’t be swayed by empty wants and desires – the grumbling belly, the stirring in your pants. These are just baseless instincts that want to rule your life.
Stay strong. It’s your mind that controls your body, not the other way around. Finally, don’t give in to being rushed or hoodwinked, let your mind plot a more enlightened course.
56. Died (and got better)
Take a second to imagine you’ve just died and by some kind of miracle, you've been given a new life. Live it to the full in harmony with the world around you.
57. Loving life
Love your life – every part that makes up your destiny – but nothing more. After all, what else do you really need?
58. Never liked snowflakes
Whenever things go wrong, think about all those snowflakes who reacted with wailing, hissy fits and #IT’S_SO_UNFAIRs.
What did it do for them? Nothing. Zilch. Nada.
Do you want the same to happen to you? Leave these reactions to others and focus on turning whatever happened into something useful – a valuable opportunity to build your resilience.
Whatever happens, whatever you do is down to you and you alone. The crisis in question? It’s of little consequence.
59. Dig for victory
Look deep inside. That’s where you’ll find your essential goodness. Keep digging and you’ll keep finding it.
60. Sit up dammit!
Whether you’re standing or sitting, don’t slouch. Just as you can tell a lot about someone from their expression, the same is true of the rest of the body. But make it natural, no faking.
61. Put ’em up
Life is more like a fight than a dance. You need to stay on your feet without panicking, even while you’re being pushed and hit from every side – sometimes from places and foes you’d never expect.
62. Like to be liked?
Make sure you get to know the people who you really wish liked you. Figure out what truly drives them. Why do they think and act the way they do?
That way you won’t get bent out of shape if they don’t say good things about you – in fact, you won’t care much either way.
63. Be gentle with me
The philosopher Plato once said, ‘No one wilfully abandons the truth.’
It’s the same for justice, wisdom, kindness and all the other virtues. Remember this and you’ll treat others with the gentleness they deserve.
64. Pain and the like
Whenever you’re hurting, remember this: There’s nothing shameful about pain, and pain can’t affect your mind unless you let it.
The philosopher Epicurus had it right: ‘Pain is never unbearable or unending as long as you know its limits and don’t imagine it’s worse than it is.’
And it’s not just pain. The same is true of tiredness, illness and heartbreak. Whenever you fall victim to anything like this, remind yourself, ‘I’m giving in to pain.’
65. Haters gonna hate
Don’t make the mistake of feeling for haters and trolls what they feel for others.
66. Rebel with a cause?
How do we know that James Dean was not a better person than Marilyn Monroe? It proves nothing to compare their careers, how they delivered a line, who they slept with or how they died. None of that really matters.
What does matter is what were they like on the inside? Did they treat others with compassion and fairness? Did they allow others to adversely influence them?
Ultimately, did they do the right thing when it mattered without being knocked off course by idle fears, dreams and fancies?
67. Make the most of what you have
The mind and body are not so bound up that the mind doesn’t know where it ends and everything else begins. It is perfectly capable of remaining separate.
Don’t forget that you need very little to be truly happy. Sure, you may not be the next Einstein, da Vinci or Mozart, but you can still be free in your own thoughts and generous to those around you. You can still live up to your full potential even if others never see it.
68. It’s all useful
Live freely and calmly even if it seems everyone around you is hell-bent on being total arses.
No matter what, there’s nothing stopping your mind from remaining untroubled, making correct judgements about events and capturing every opportunity that comes your way.
Get this right and your mind will happily assert, ‘This is the truth, no matter what others say.’ And when opportunities turn up, you’ll be able to greet them with, ‘So there you are, I was just looking for you.’
Whatever happens, every event offers you the chance to be more human and more rational. Everything, good or bad, is useful. Nothing is ever really unsolvable or beyond our imagination – it’s all familiar and helpful.
69. Maybe today?
To live each day as if it was your last, without rushing or dawdling or living in denial, that’s the perfection of character.
70. The universe has a point
You don’t hear the universe grumbling about all the crap it has to put up with, it just goes on providing the perfect environment for us to thrive in (when, that is, we’re not screwing it up).
So how can you, who’ll be gone in the blink of a cosmic eye, complain about being tired or bored or whatever? Doesn’t that make you kind of pathetic?
71. Out of my hands
Isn’t it crazy that I don’t make the effort to avoid harming other people, which is easy enough, yet do everything I can to avoid being harmed by others who I simply can’t control?
72. Dumb judgement
If you think something is stupid or unfriendly, you can happily judge it as inferior. No problem.
73. No cheers, no applause
When you’ve done a good deed and someone else has benefited, shouldn’t that be reward enough? Why do you need anything more? It’s only idiots who are desperate for prizes and applause.
74. Your just desserts
OK, I know, no one ever gets sick of receiving a reward. Who doesn’t enjoy a bit of external validation? But doing the right thing is a reward in its own right. So never get tired of helping others as this is a direct route to rewarding yourself.
75. It’s simply logical, Captain
After the Big Bang went off, everything else that happened was simply a logical next step. If this wasn’t the case, nothing would make sense. Remember this and you’ll be way more chill about everything.
13
The Eighth Book
‘Win with modesty. Lose with grace.’
1. A dose of reality
OK, reality check time.
There’s no way you can claim to have fully lived up to your potential as someone who uses reason in all thi
ngs and always does the right thing. Even if we ignore childhood ignorance and those awkward years around puberty, such a claim just won’t stand up to the slightest challenge.
Your mind is likely to have been regularly confused and chances are, this will continue. Your whole life – who you are, what you do, who you hang out with – all provide ample opportunity for negative influences. This is just the way it is.
The good news is, once you wise up to this, you should no longer give an actual shit about how others see you. All you can do is try your best to be true to yourself and true to what nature would have you be from now on. Understand what this means and refuse to become distracted by all the noise around you.
Before today, all your attempts at discovering the good life are likely to have been unsuccessful. You haven’t found it in clever thinking, money, celebrity, sex, drugs or rock and roll.
So where is it? In doing the right thing.
Be hard on yourself. Don’t slack or make excuses. Determine what’s right and what’s wrong. Understand that nothing is right that doesn’t help you be fair, self-disciplined, courageous and free.
2. A quick question
Before you do anything, ask yourself: What will be the consequences of this? Is this something I’m going to regret? All too soon I’ll be dead and forgotten, but until then, is what I’m about to do right in the eyes of my fellow humans and common morality?
3. An unfair comparison?
Winston Churchill, Lenin, JFK – who are they compared to Socrates, Einstein and Stephen Hawking?
The latter looked deep into the true nature of the world. They shared a common drive, stayed true to reason. The others? Yes, they were responsible for momentous events but they were also enslaved by petty things too.
4. Throwing your toys out of the pram
Sure, you may explode in some screaming tantrum but others will simply get on with getting on.
5. Simple
Don’t worry. Seriously, don’t. Everything is bound to the laws of nature and soon enough, you’ll be a distant memory.
So focus on what you’ve got to do right now. Split reality from fantasy. Do your best. Be good. Stick to the path of an honest, just person. Be kind. That’s it.
6. The restless world
The universe is continually moving stuff around, transforming it into this and that. Change is everywhere but there’s nothing to be afraid of. It’s all predictable and entirely natural.
7. Follow your path
Everyone’s core nature is content following its own path. If your nature is governed by reason, this will mean avoiding the false and fake, focusing on the common good, ignoring things that are outside your reach and rolling with the punches.
Your core nature is a part of the wider universe in the same way a leaf is part of a tree. But a leaf has no reason, feels nothing and doesn’t get upset if someone trolls it on Twitter.
Human nature, however, is part of a universal nature which is free, mindful and fair. It’s what gives us our share of time, resources and the world around us – maybe not equally from individual to individual but in the wider environment.
8. Today’s lesson
‘School’s out, I’ve nothing left to learn,’ you might say.
Well you can learn to watch against arrogance.
You can learn to rise above pleasure and pain.
You can learn not to worry whether you’re popular or well-liked.
And you can learn not to be upset by friends and foes alike (and even to care for them in spite of everything).
9. Not another word
No one should ever hear you moaning about your life (not even you).
10. FOMO
You’ll tend to regret missed opportunities.
Now, of course, anything good is useful and something people care about. But no one should regret missing out on pleasure. Pleasure in itself is neither good nor useful.
11. Probing questions
When you see anything, ask: What is this really? What’s it made of? What’s its true function? How long will it last?
12. Sleepy?
When you’re feeling sleepy and can’t be bothered, remember that doing the right thing for others is part of human nature. Sleep, however, you share with warthogs and dung beetles. Ultimately, keeping faith with your higher nature is always going to be more satisfying and fulfilling.
13. Prove it
Always test your thinking against the facts. Does it really hold up?
14 Is this person a dick?
Whenever you meet someone, immediately ask yourself, ‘What do they believe is good and evil, right and wrong?’ Because once you get that straight, you’ll never be surprised to find their actions stay true to form. They have no choice.
15. No surprises
Are you surprised that an apple tree bears apples? Then why be surprised when the wider world bears its own crop of events?
It’s like a doctor being surprised to meet a patient with a funny-looking rash.
Or a cab driver being surprised that someone might want to be driven somewhere.
16. So, you’re wrong
At the end of the day, it’s no limit to your freedom to change your mind when someone shows you that you’re wrong. After all, it’s your reason and judgement that allow you to accept that change is possible in the first place.
17. The blame game
If it’s your decision, why do it? If it’s another’s decision, who are you going to blame? God? Atoms? Either would be crazy and pointless.
If someone gets something wrong, try to correct them. If that’s not possible, correct what they did. And if you can’t do that, why bother with blame? It’s just not worth it.
18. Remains
When something dies, it doesn’t vanish from the universe. It’s still here. It just changes into its constituent atoms. The same atoms that make up everything in the universe. And you don’t hear them bitching about change.
19. What’s your role?
Everything, from bananas to baboons, exists for a reason. Even the sun has a job to do.
So why are you here? Simply for pleasure? The mere thought is pathetic.
20. Beginning, middle and end
Nature rules the beginning, middle and end of all things.
It’s like someone throwing a Frisbee. Does the disc benefit on the way up? Is it hurt by its descent? Or even as it rolls off down the beach? How does a bubble benefit from holding itself together instead of bursting?
It’s all part of the whole.
21. Take your clothes off
Get naked. Take a good look at yourself – check out the signs of age, illness, heavy nights spent partying.
Life is just as short for those who praise others as for those on the receiving end of praise. Same for those who remember others and who are themselves remembered after their time.
And even if this time is short, confined to some grotty little hellhole, the entirety of everything on Earth is just a tiny blue dot in the vastness of the universe.
22. Pay attention
Do what needs doing right now with your whole attention – whether you’re focused on an object, an activity, a principle or what someone is saying.
Of course, you’re going to be disappointed if you’d prefer to hope for goodness tomorrow rather than getting on with being good today.
23. Do or be done
If I’m going to do something, I want it to be for the good of the human race. If I’m on the receiving end, I’ll accept it as just a part of the greater tapestry of the universe.
24. Pass the soap
Think of your bath just after you’ve got out. A soup of oil, sweat and dirt. Pretty grim really. But all of life is like this, as is everything within it.
25. Extinction again
We all die.
When I pass, my children will bury me. In time, their children will bury them or see them go up in smoke. It’s always been this way.
Thousands of years o
f smart people, arrogant people, downright odd people – where are they now? All those geniuses, gone in a flash, some forgotten, some remembered as heroes and legends.
So think about how your wonderful, complex body will one day be broken down into its atoms and scattered. Your little life extinguished and everything that makes up your body recycled by the universe.
26. True happiness
Want to love what you do? Be true to your calling. Love others. Don’t trust your senses. Work out what’s true and false for yourself. Understand the universe as best you can.
27. Three relationships
We all have three relationships. The first is with our bodies. The second is with our fellow humans. The third is with the wider universe around us.
28. Imaginary pain
Pain can be bad for the body or bad for the mind.
If it’s the body, let it complain how it likes. If it’s the mind, well, the mind has a say in this. It can simply refuse to play and remain calm and untroubled instead.
You see, it’s ultimately up to the mind whether it is affected by every trouble, slight, desire and petty abuse that comes its way. None of this can trouble the mind without its consent.
29. Free your mind
Be free from mental turmoil by repeating to yourself, ‘It’s up to me whether I allow stupidity, anger, desire and all the rest of it in. I can see things as they really are and decide their worth.’
Remember, this ability is nature’s gift to you.
