Never elevate your opinion of a particular animal above the rest. I used to think quite highly of monkeys, and then one — of the kleptomaniac variety — stole my sunglasses and mocked me from a high tree like a cowardly school bully.
Isn’t it enough to know that all animals are better than people.
To me, that is much like asking whether I prefer a hammer or a Phillips head screwdriver. They are different tools for different purposes. Good luck if you love your ballpeen hammer so much that it’s the only tool for you but your problem of the moment is a deeply embedded wood screw.
Northern or Southern hemisphere? Landlocked or coastal? Temperate or Equatorial? I need more information.
I think it was a sword, back in the days when swordsmanship was among the subjects i studied. But I can say, with some measure of pride, that I really don’t know for sure because I don’t really put much value in owning things and have become ever less interested in possessing more stuff.
When you’re a traveler, they’re all just anchors, and not goods.
Anything expensive I buy better be absolutely essential, have multiple uses, or —ideally— both.
What have you been working on?
Being…. POW!… more spontaneous. 自然 (zìrán) in the Taoist conception.
What principles define how you live?
Before traveling, empty my cup. Before returning home, empty my cup.
Collect experiences, not geegaws.
Wishing for the world to be some other way is a grand waste of time.
If there is a river flowing toward where I want to be, surrender to it.
See humor everywhere, especially in myself.
Be content with who I am at the moment, while struggling to be a better version in future editions.
Strive to find the non-adversarial path.
Keep looking until I see what is beautiful in all things and creatures.
Don’t attempt to construct anyone else’s list of principles to live by.
Feel the sensations that arise without letting the mind amplify them out of proportion.
Seek only simple pleasures, enjoy them fully, and then move on.
What would you do if you lost all your possessions?
I’d like to think that I’d keep on keeping on, and I try to cultivate the mindset to do so, but –having never experienced it — I can’t honestly say.
What’s a topic or issue about which you’ve changed your mind?
Oh so many things over the years. The biggest / most fundamental being the likeliness of the existence of a god or gods. The smallest being the relative appeal of toast.
Few things in life matter as much as they feel they do. Almost nothing is perilous, while many things feel as though they are. Don’t let illusory feelings keep one from living boldly.
Or, as the Epicureans liked to say, “What is painful is easy to endure.”
