Tag Archives: Philosophy

PROMPT: Won’t Live to Witness

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Daily writing prompt
What’s something you’d love to see in the future, but know you probably won’t live to witness?
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I would love to see an era in which AI and robotics frees up humans to work on the project of being better humans physically, mentally, creatively, emotionally, artistically, etc.

However, I suspect that on the way to that point there will be periods of dystopia, chaos, and quasi-Armageddon. As near as I can tell, it will involve the invention of a new form of economy (and possibly governance,) which I haven’t seen anyone discussing in the merited depths.

FIVE WISE LINES [June 2026]

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Photograph of sunset taken at Moalboal, Philippines across the Tanon Strait.

When I was younger I could remember anything,
whether it had happened or not;
but my faculties are decaying now and soon
I shall be able to remember only the things
that never happened.

Mark twain

“The mind is not a vessel to be filled,
but a fire to be kindled.”

Plutarch [paraphrased]

Judge a man by his questions
rather than his answers.

Voltaire

Resist much, obey little.

Walt whitman; “To the states“

People don’t take trips —
trips take people.

John steinbeck

PROMPT: Fear and Self-Doubt

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Daily writing prompt
How do you handle fear and self-doubt?
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Feel it but don’t feed it. I feel whatever emotional sensation it brings with my whole attention, but don’t ruminate — i.e. don’t let the mind go into worst-case scenario building or pity partying or self-criticism. Use the sensation as an anchor for one’s awareness. This honors the source of consternation while recognizing that one’s mental (/ emotional) experience of an event is not the event, itself — i.e. that one has influence over one’s experience even when one has zero influence over the event. Gain confidence with the small emotional experiences and work toward the big ones.

This was the great gift I received in being taught sakshi bhava, the yogic practice of dispassionate witnessing.

PROMPT: Question Reality

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What’s a moment that made you question reality?
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I have them all the time. When I was actively working on lucid dreaming / dream yoga, I was particularly attuned to them (as the practice necessitates.) The most common instance is when one sees something in one’s environs that one has never noticed before. It would happen all the time when I was living in Bangalore because it was such a visually chaotic and rapidly changing place that I could walk down a street ten times and not notice an unusual sign or building facade, and then — POW! — the moment I saw it I was in utter disbelief that it could have been their all the time.

I haven’t discounted (nor accepted) the simulation hypothesis, and I suspect whatever the world is, it’s not precisely any of the things we’ve thought it to be.

PROMPT: Expected to Hate

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What’s a movie you expected to hate but ended up loving?
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I’ve had it the other way round (i.e. disliked a movie I expected to like,) but I can’t really say I’ve ever watched a movie that I expected to hate. Do people do that? In the very short life one has, are there people who sit around entertaining themselves with movies they expect to not be entertaining? Despite all that I have learned in this life, people perplex me more and more each day.

PROMPT: Meaning of Life

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What is the meaning of life?
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I don’t know that there is a meaning of life, and — if there is — I truly doubt that it’s one size fits all. I’ve got to give it to the Existentialists on this particular question.

PROMPT: Word or Phrase

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What’s a word or phrase that annoys you?
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“Popularity contest,” as in “This isn’t going to win me any popularity contests, but…” You know what’s not popular? Popularity contests. I’ve never heard of one. What you are really saying is, “I’m about to be a jackass, and I just want you to know that I’m aware I’m being a jackass.” Just own your jackassery all ready. You can’t soften the blow of being a jackass.

PROMPT: Perfect Road Trip

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How do you plan the perfect road trip?
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As loosely and flexibly as your stress tolerance will bear.

PROMPT: Minimalist

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What are the biggest benefits of minimalist living?
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You own few things and nothing owns you.

Perspective [Lyric Poem]

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Photograph of a monkey looking sideways through the bars at a temple in Lopburi, Thailand.
Perhaps, you cannot change your jail,
   And you can't choose the lumps and scars --
 No matter how you scream or wail --
   But you pick your view through the bars.