Karavansara

East of Constantinople, West of Shanghai


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Stoic Week Day 1: Happiness

The first day of the Stoic Week thing I’m doing requires me to take three moments during the day to meditate and reflect on the concept (and practice!) of happiness.
The seed for this is a quote from Cicero, that brings back high school memories for me:

The wise person does nothing that he could regret, nothing against his will, but does everything honourably, consistently, seriously, and rightly; he anticipates nothing as if it is bound to happen, but is shocked by nothing when it does happen …. and refers everything to his own judgement, and stands by his own decisions. I can conceive of nothing which is happier that this.

Cicero, Tusculan Disputations 5.81

But what this exercise brought back was also a much closer memory.

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Ending and beginning it with a (stoic) bang

After I mentioned Stoicism a few posts back, I downloaded an interesting little handbook from the Modern Stoicism website – the handbook of the Stoic Week 2018, that was held in October. And because I am a curious person, and I’m interested in strange things, I decided I’ll take the week routine, in the next seven days, and see what happens to me. We start tomorrow.

As I said in the past, Stoicism is a philosophy that grows in popularity in times of confusion, and, well, as far as confusion is concerned, we’re living through very interesting times.

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On the brink of 2018

A little less than thirty-six hours and we’ll be in 2019. This year passed in a flash, with a load of worries, surprises, adventures and misadventures. I read somewhere that as we get older, time seems to run faster. If it is so, then I am really old.

And yet, I’m getting used to this state of uncertainty. Sometimes I worry the stress and fatigue will have a bad effect on my health, but then everything seems to go smoothly. But I still have a lot of fun writing, and writing is paying the bills, and I’ve learned to let go of the rest – useless to worry about what you control, because you control it, useless to worry about what you do not control, because there’s nothing you can do about it.

I think I will rest for these 36 hours. Enough writing – I have submitted four stories to as many magazines in two days. Now I can rest.
Read a book, listen to some music, plan tomorrow night’s dinner for me and my brother. The countryside is silent and deserted, and there’s little to do – bring a little wood in for the fireplace, sketch some kind of menu for the celebration, and wait for 2019 to come around.

I hope it will bring good things for everybody.
Best wishes, ladies and gentlemen. And have fun.


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Revenge & Vengeance

Yesterday I stumbled on the same concept twice in a matter of hours, in writing first and then listening to a podcast, and it’s something I can relate to, so here’s a brief post on the subject.

William Goldman, legendary screenwriter and author of The Princess Bride, wrote

I write out of revenge.

William Goldman

And as I was listening to punk rocker, author and activist Henry Rollins interviewed by Joe Rogan, when asked about his powerhouse of activities he said

I am motivated by vengeance.

Henry Rollins

While Goldman stopped there, Rollins expanded on the idea. What motivates him, he said, is the will to get back to all those that along the way told him he would never make it.

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A learning experience: The Colorado Kid

No need to make a fuss about it: my favorite Stephen King book is Danse Macabre, with On Writing coming second. I’ve read also a nice share of King’s fiction, but I always found his essays a lot more interesting.

On the other hand, I was quite curious to read The Colorado Kid, for two main reasons:

  • First, it was published by Hard Case Crime, and I am sort of a Hard Case Crime cultist.
  • Second, everybody seemed to hate it, in particular those that style themselves as King’s fans.

With such credentials, I said to myself, it had to be good.
And so, having received a copy as a gift for Christmas, I spent two evenings reading it. And here’s a few thoughts.

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