If you had to sum up your life philosophy in one sentence, what would it be?
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No one understands what life, or this world, is well enough to be intolerant or angst-ridden.
PROMPT: Life Philosophy
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Category Archives: Philosophy of Life
PROMPT: Sentimental
What’s one thing you own that holds deep sentimental value?
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When we got our household storage back after 12+ years abroad, I discovered all sorts of items with tremendous sentimental value that I’d forgotten had existed. That’s how sentimental I am.
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PROMPT: Worst Travel Experience
What’s the worst travel experience you’ve ever had?
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My “worst travel experience” is like my “worst sexual experience;” it still beats the hell out of sitting at home alone on the couch. (Also, worst travel experiences make the best travel stories — given enough distance in the rearview to see the humor.)
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PROMPT: Travel Advice
What’s one piece of travel advice you always follow?
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入乡随俗 — i.e. “enter the village, follow the customs.”
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PROMPT: Personal Goals
Do you set personal goals for yourself?
It’s better than having them set for me… and also better than having to set personnel goals.
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PROMPT: Stress
How do you manage stress?
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Through the realization that one packs one’s own load.
Everything is passing weather, how one dials up (or down) the significance of the present situation is up to one (even if the situation, itself, is completely out of one’s hands.) As the Stoics said, either you can or can’t do something about a given event — either way, it’s not worth one’s worry. If you can’t do anything about it, worry is futile. If you can, do the virtuous thing and you can feel content even if it doesn’t seem to work out for you.
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PROMPT: Good Person
What does it mean to be a good person?
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I don’t know that it has a meaning. I tend to consider dualities in Taoist terms. Every Yang has a seed of Yin; the Yang flows into Yin and back again.
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PROMPT: Know
What’s one thing you know now that would have saved your younger self a lot of pain?
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I believe the distinction between knowledge and wisdom is that one merely needs to be able to understand knowledge, but one must be able to live wisdom. For example, one can teach a five-year-old Jesus’ lesson about turning the other cheek, and they may understand every word but still be struggling to live it sixty years later.
My point is that I’m doubtful that knowing anything would have saved me pain because I would have had to live it, and that takes time, experience, and struggle.
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PROMPT: While Traveling
What’s the best way to meet new people while traveling?
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Don’t travel in a big tour group or cruise. As a single or a couple, one can’t help but interact with locals. Stay where nationals of that country stay; eat where they eat.
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PROMPT: Underrated Life Skill
What’s the most underrated life skill?
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Juggling. Because there is absolutely no way to learn it without failing thousands of times. It’s not the dexterity, but the tenacity, that is of value. Not to mention the lessons of neither rushing nor overreaching that it teaches. Some balls must be left to drop.
