Sankofi

Anabasis

“You know, I need hardly to remind you, it is not numbers or strength that gives victory in war; but, heaven helping them, to one or other of two combatants it is given to dash with stouter hearts to meet the foe, and such onset, in nine out of ten, those others refuse to meet.  This observation, also, I have laid to heart, that they, who in matters of war seek in all ways to save their lives, are just they who, as a rule, die dishonourably; whereas they who, recognising that death is the common lot and destiny of all men, strive hard to die nobly: these more frequently, as I observe, do after all attain to old age, or, at any rate, while life lasts, they spend their days more happily.  This lesson let all lay at heart this day, for we are just at such a crisis of our fate.  Now is the season to be brave ourselves, and to stimulate the rest by our example.”

We came up hoping not to lose

I am not from the streets but this piece resonates.

Some people come up expecting to win. We came up hoping not to lose. Even in victory, the distance between expectation and results is dizzying for both. The old code remains a part of you, and with it comes a particular strain of impostor syndrome. You have learned another language, but your accent betrays you. And there are times when you wonder if the real you is not here among the professionals, but out there in the streets.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/05/opinion/sunday/coates-beyond-the-code-of-the-streets.html?smid=tw-share&_r=0

“Unfortunately,” he said, “in this society and probably in many other societies, we have a stigma that being in a difficult mental place is not acceptable. We should pull ourselves up by the bootstraps and fight through it. It’s a little peculiar to me that whole idea. If someone’s physically hurt, we’re OK with letting them take the time they need to come back, but if someone’s in a difficult place mentally, we’re not OK with allowing them to take the time they need to come back.”

http://www.grantland.com/blog/the-triangle/post/_/id/56620/the-return-of-landon-donovan

Real quote.  We are taught that we must perserve, and fight through obstacles.  Most times the most important and the best thing to do is to take some time, recuperate, and attack your goals once again.  No shame in staying down to catch your breath.  Very similar to one of my favorite quotes from Andrew Barton….

“A little I’m hurt, but yet not slain.  I’ll but lie down and bleed awhile, and then I’ll rise and fight again.”

 

Things Fall Apart

“If you don’t like someone’s story, write your own.”
- Chinua Achebe

TURNING and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.

- William Butler Yeats

Siddhartha

I am currently reading a book called Siddhartha that has been/is one of the most insightful pieces of literature that I have ever read.  I wish I could do it justice by saying that it is about the journey one takes to discover their true self, but that would be insufficient.  The following are some quotes from the book that, I think,  get closer to the point…

“Truly, nothing in the world has so occupied my thoughts as this I, this riddle, the fact I am alive, that I am separated and isolated from all others, that I am Siddhartha! And about nothing in the world do I know less about than me, about Siddhartha!” 
― Hermann Hesse, Siddhartha

“There is, so I believe, in the essence of everything, something that we cannot call learning. There is, my friend, only a knowledge-that is everywhere, that is Atman, that is in me and you and in every creature, and I am beginning to believe that this knowledge has no worse enemy than the man of knowledge, than learning.” 
― Hermann Hesse, Siddhartha

“The reason why I do not know anything about myself, the reason why Siddhartha has remained alien and unknown to myself is due to one thing, to one single thing—I was afraid of myself, I was fleeing from myself. I was seeking Atman, I was seeking Brahman, I was determined to dismember myself and tear away its layers of husk in order to find in its unknown innermost recess the kernel at the heart of those layers, the Atman, life, the divine principle, the ultimate. But in so doing, I was losing myself.” 

― Hermann Hesse, Siddhartha

“But one thing this doctrine, so clean, so venerable, does not contain: it does not contain the secret of what the Sublime One himself experienced, he alone among the hundreds of thousands. This is why I am continuing my wanderings not to seek another, better doctrine, because I know there is none, but to leave behind all the teachings and all teachers, and either attain my goal alone or die.” 
― Hermann Hesse, Siddhartha

“He lost his Self a thousand times and for days on end he dwelt in non-being. But although the paths took him away from Self, in the end they always led back to it. Although Siddhartha fled from the Self a thousand times, dwelt in nothing, dwelt in animal and stone, the return was inevitable; the hour was inevitable when he would again find himself in sunshine or in moonlight, in shadow or in rain, and was again Self and Siddhartha, again felt the torment of the onerous life cycle.” 
― Hermann Hesse, Siddhartha

“When you throw a rock into the water, it will speed on the fastest course to the bottom of the water. This is how it is when Siddhartha has a goal, a resolution. Siddhartha does nothing, he waits, he thinks, he fasts, but he passes through the things of the world like a rock through water, without doing anything, without stirring; he is drawn, he lets himself fall. His goal attracts him, because he doesn’t let anything enter his soul which might oppose the goal. This is what Siddhartha has learned among the Samanas. This is what fools call magic and which they think is effected by demons. Nothing is effected by demons, there are no demons. Everyone can perform magic, everyone can reach his goals, if he is able to think, if he is able to wait, if he is able to fast.” 
― Hermann Hesse, Siddhartha

There’s More to Life Than Being Happy

“Being human always points, and is directed, to something or someone, other than oneself — be it a meaning to fulfill or another human being to encounter. The more one forgets himself — by giving himself to a cause to serve or another person to love — the more human he is.”

“….the pursuit of meaning is what makes human beings uniquely human. By putting aside our selfish interests to serve someone or something larger than ourselves — by devoting our lives to “giving” rather than “taking” — we are not only expressing our fundamental humanity, but are also acknowledging that that there is more to the good life than the pursuit of simple happiness.”

http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2013/01/theres-more-to-life-than-being-happy/266805/

Lessons

1. Six inches of point beats two feet of blade.

2. People want to be led, not controlled.

3. “Experience is the teacher of all things.”

4. “Cowards die many times before their actual deaths.”

5. “I had rather be first in a village than second at Rome.“

6. “It is not these well-fed long-haired men that I fear, but the pale and the hungry-looking.”

7. “It is better to create than to learn! Creating is the essence of life.”

8. “The die is cast.”

https://thebrandbuilder.wordpress.com/2012/11/19/10-things-julius-caesar-could-have-taught-us-about-business-leadership-marketing-and-even-social-media/