taeko
how to be a stoic: using ancient philosophy to live a modern life
massimo pigliucci 2017 9780465097968
stoic discipline
make the best of those things that are in our power, and take the rest as nature gives it
is/ought gap
meta–ethics
if someone is presenting them with just one of two forced choices, that person is probably committing what is called the fallacy of false dichotomy—he’s not telling them that other options are available
core virtues
reification of evil
“wisdom alone, is the good for man, ignorance the only evil”
is quoted, but does not exist in the passage of the original greek
ὐθύδημος
euthydemus
plato, 281d,e
agnoia, amathia
ἀμαθία
not-knowing, not-learning
the euthydemus of plato, with an introductory and notes
george henry wells 1881
281d,e
page 24
lamb 1967
Plato in Twelve Volumes, Vol. 3 translated by W.R.M. Lamb. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1967.
perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text
[281d] and dim of sight and hearing rather than sharp?
We agreed with each other as to these and all such cases.
To sum up then, Cleinias, I proceeded, it seems that, as regards the whole lot of things which at first we termed goods, the discussion they demand is not on the question of how they are in themselves and by nature goods, but rather, I conceive, as follows: if they are guided by ignorance, they are greater evils than their opposites, according as they are more capable of ministering to their evil guide; whereas if understanding and wisdom guide them,
[281e] they are greater goods; but in themselves neither sort is of any worth.
I think the case appears, he replied, to be as you suggest.
Now what result do we get from our statements? Is it not precisely that, of all the other things, not one is either good or bad, but of these two, wisdom is good and ignorance bad?
“As we pity the blind and the lame, so should we pity those who are blinded and lamed in their most sovereign faculties. The man who remembers this, I say, will be angry with no one, indignant with no one, revile none, blame none, hate none, offend none.”
“As the writer Michael Shermer has observed, the more clever people are, the better they are at rationalizing away the sources of their cognitive dissonance. Conspiracy theorists, for instance, are often brilliant at explaining what others perceive as gaping holes in their theories of how the world really works.”
“the best way to help students change their conceptual outlook about scientific notions is to purposefully increase their cognitive dissonance until they feel so uncomfortable that they themselves seek out more information and new sources to resolve the conflict. This, of course, is not always possible—I doubt that it would have worked with Medea or Eichmann—but the notion provides us with a good understanding of both what is going on and what, if anything, can be done about it.”
“The wrongdoer does not understand that he is doing harm to himself first and foremost, because he suffers from amathia, lack of knowledge of what is truly good for himself. And what is good for him is the same thing that is good for all human beings, according to the Stoics: applying reason to improve social living.”
stockdale: “You must never confuse faith that you will prevail in the end—which you can never afford to lose—with the discipline to confront the most brutal facts of your current reality”
first (re)claim your agency
become good at being an agent: values, preferences, goals, deliberations, decisions, and actions
we need to learn how to maintain agency under changing circumstances
focus on abilities, not disabilities: Instead of saying, “I can’t do that,” say, “I can do it this way.”
“The art of life is more like the wrestler’s art than the dancer’s, in respect of this, that it should stand ready and firm to meet onsets that are sudden and unexpected.”
Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, VII.61
changing your environment, for instance, by taking a physical break from the problematic situation; shifting the timing of your interaction with another person if the present moment seems not to be the best time to handle the problem, but being sure to set an alternative time for coming back to it in order to send the signal that you are not dodging it; practicing avoidance by not exposing yourself, if possible, to the cause of your distress; and finding alternative ways of doing what you need to do that may reduce the opportunity for conflict while still allowing you to accomplish your goals
Colin Killeen 1998: “[Loneliness] is such an innate part of the human psyche, that it cannot be solved like a puzzle; it can only be alleviated and made less painful. This can only be achieved by increasing humankind’s awareness of this distressing condition that everyone has to endure in some way, shape or form, sometime during their lives, about which there is nothing to be embarrassed.”
But (save for pathological conditions, for which one needs to seek medical help), it is our choice, our own attitude, that turns solitude into loneliness. We may be alone, but we do not consequently need to feel helpless.
agápe, éros, philía, and storgē
the Stoic principles are as follows
…
when i help you, i also help myself: on being a cosmopolitan
massimo pigliucci 2017
https://aeon.co/ideas/when-i-help-you-i-also-help-myself-on-being-a-cosmopolitan
“the deep sense that not everything that happens is about you. It might seem that getting the sense that life isn’t about you is a downer, but this is what makes modesty life-affirming. Dropping the feeling that life has to be about you means opening up to all the other great things life can be about. It allows you to connect with others more deeply, and feel like a more integrated part of the world. When you’re not as invested in being better than others, you stop looking at the internal scoreboard so often, and when you do that, your gaze can wander to better places.”
modesty is not to be timid or meek but a way of being in the world that means you don’t get in the way of your life
nicolas bommarito 2019
aeon.co/essays/modesty-is-not-a-cranky-killjoy-but-a-way-to-get-more-from-life
meditation-induced coherence and crucial events
rohisha tuladhar et al. 2018
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fphys.2018.00626
meditation experience predicts negative reinforcement learning and is associated with attenuated frn amplitude
paul knytl, bertram opitz 2018
http://dx.doi.org/10.3758/s13415-018-00665-0
Participants in the study, a mixture of experienced, novice and non-meditators, were trained to select images associated with a reward. Each pair of images had varying probabilities of a reward e.g. images that result in a reward 80 per cent of the time versus those that result in a reward 20 per cent of the time. Participants eventually learnt to select the pairing with the higher outcome.
Researchers found that participants who meditated were more successful in selecting high-probability pairings indicating a tendency to learn from positive outcomes, compared to non -- meditators who learned the pattern via low-probability pairings suggesting a tendency to learn from negative outcomes.
During the study participants were connected to an EEG, a non-invasive method that records electrical patterns in the brain. Results from the EEG found that while all three groups responded similarly to positive feedback, the neurological response to negative feedback was highest in the non-meditation group, followed by the novice group and then by the experienced meditation group. These results indicate that the brains of meditators are less affected by negative feedback, and that this may be a result of altered dopamine levels caused by meditation.
Previous studies in this field on patients with Parkinson's disease, where dopamine levels are severely reduced, have shown that the compound affects how people respond to feedback, indicating that dopamine is integral to how we learn and process information. The present study suggests that meditation may present a way to affect levels of dopamine in the brain and the way humans deal with positive and negative feedback.
Paul Knytl, lead author and PhD candidate in psychology at the University of Surrey, said: "Humans have been meditating for over 2000 years, but the neural mechanisms of this practice are still relatively unknown. These findings demonstrate that, on a deep level, meditators respond to feedback in a more even-handed way than non-meditators, which may help to explain some of the psychological benefits they experience from the practice."
Bertram Opitz, Professor in Neuroimaging and Cognitive Neuroscience at the University of Surrey, said: "Meditation is a powerful tool for the body and the mind; it can reduce stress and improve immune function. What we have found is that it can also impact on how we receive feedback, i.e. if we quickly learn from our mistakes or if we need to keep making them before we find the right answer.
"If it is the latter this can impact how individuals perform in the workplace or classroom. Such individuals may benefit from meditation to increase their productivity or prevent them from falling behind in their studies."
abstract Focused attention meditation (FAM) practices are cognitive control exercises where meditators learn to maintain focus and attention in the face of distracting stimuli. Previous studies have shown that FAM is both activating and causing plastic changes to the mesolimbic dopamine system and some of its target structures, particularly the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) and striatum. Feedback-based learning also depends on these systems and is known to be modulated by tonic dopamine levels. Capitalizing on previous findings that FAM practices seem to cause dopamine release, the present study shows that FAM experience predicts learning from negative feedback on a probabilistic selection task. Furthermore, meditators exhibited attenuated feedback-related negativity (FRN) as compared with nonmeditators and this effect scales with meditation experience. Given that reinforcement learning and FRN are modulated by dopamine levels, a possible explanation for our findings is that FAM practice causes persistent increases in tonic dopamine levels which scale with amount of practice, thus altering feedback processing.
culture shock
applicable to many situations, but here we are particularly interested in communicating given a different culture
from military member to student: an examination of the communicative challenges of veterans to perform communication accommodation in the university
william t. howe, maria shpeer 2019
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/17475759.2019.1592770
interviewed 20 ex service personnel who attend the University of Oklahoma. His study, published in the Journal of Intercultural Communication Research found that despite veterans being the same age as other college students, military service had instilled them with vastly different cultural values, which meant they experienced 'cultural shock' when going from a military environment to a college campus. Interestingly this was true for both combat and non-combat veterans, suggesting that it is not combat that is making it difficult for veterans to return to civilian life, but military training and an adoption of military culture.
"Veterans have been through tougher times, even in basic training alone, than many people may realise, therefore to them complaining about writing a paper is silly when they compare it to their past experiences of facing death," says Howe.
As well as being unable to relate to civilians feeling stress over 'trivial' matters like exams, ex military personnel were often upset by the way their classmates dressed, and their perceived lack of respect towards authority figures.
"In the military good hygiene, grooming, and making sure your clothes are clean and professional are of vital importance, so to a veteran, students coming to class not groomed properly, or in clothes that they perceive as being too casual conflicts with their military values," says Howe.
"In addition, while lecturers at university often encourage open discussion, this is distinctly different from what veterans experienced in the military, where communication is top-down and upward dissent is discouraged. Veterans often got angry when other students talked during lectures."
Finally, while most students enjoyed talking about politics, veterans were very uncomfortable and unwilling to do this. "The United States Military has very conservative and strict rules that individuals must abide by. For example they are not allowed to criticise the President -- doing so could result in forfeiture of pay, dishonorable discharge, and even imprisonment" says Howe.
The culture clash was often exacerbated by differences in the style of language used by veterans and civilians. For example veterans often used military jargon and acronyms when interacting with civilians, and would grow frustrated when other students couldn't understand them. Veterans also felt that the profanities and dark humor they used was often misinterpreted by civilians and seen as crude and vulgar when, for the veterans, this was a normal way of speaking.
"Another issue was the directness of communication by veterans," says Howe. "In the army it is seen as natural to say "do this" and expect others to do it. However this sort of speech usually resulted in the veterans being disliked by others and ostracized from the group."
The study showed that veterans responded to this culture clash in three separate ways: by trying to see things from the perspective of the other students, by verbally lashing out and confronting the person, and finally by remaining silent.
By far the most commonly used strategy was silence: 100% of veterans interviewed said that they often kept quiet or refused to speak their mind in class. The reasons for this varied from not wanting to talk about politics to being afraid of getting in trouble for saying something others would perceive as inappropriate. However eventually some veterans erupted and had verbal conflicts with others.
"Many veterans entered a 'spiral of silence', and in doing so continued to feel more and more isolated," says Howe. "Any prolonged silence about a troubling issue is not good for an individual, and the worry is that this extreme isolation could lead to a feeling that life is not worth living and a decision to permanently silence themselves with suicide."
According to Howe the findings show that more needs to be done to help veterans and civilians understand one another, and to reintegrate veterans into society.
"The military takes 8-12 weeks to strip military members of their civilian culture and replace it with a military culture. To not spend the same time and effort to reverse the process at the end of a servicemember's time in uniform is irresponsible," says Howe.
abstract This study examined the transition of veterans from the military to the classroom. Guided by communication accommodation theory (CAT), results of semi-structured interviews (N = 20) of military veterans were analyzed to see how and why participants described communication approaches in the university setting. Approaches appeared guided by inculcated values developed during earlier cultural experiences, in the military. Participants described interpersonal and group communication exchanges in three broad themes: cultural clash, perspective taking, and self-silencing. This research supports prior psychological research that explored difficulties combat veterans face after exit and extends this research to non-combat veterans from a communicative perspective.
rumination selectively mediates the association between actual-ideal (but not actual-ought) self-discrepancy and anxious and depressive symptoms
joanne m. dickson et al. 2019
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2019.05.047
it's not failing to make progress toward our 'ideal-self' that is problematic but rather the tendency to focus on that lack of progress in a negative way that leads to psychological distress.
In other words, it pays to be kind to yourself, say the key researchers.
The study, led by Associate Professor Joanne Dickson from ECU's School of Arts and Humanities, explored whether 'ideal-self' and 'actual-self' discrepancies were associated with depressive and anxious symptoms.
It also considered whether 'rumination', or excessive negative thinking, played a role in these relationships.
Professor Dickson said there are two key 'self-guides' that typically motivate us and provide standards for self-evaluation: the 'ideal-self' and the 'ought-self'.
"The 'ideal-self' is the person we ideally want to be -- our hopes and aspirations. The 'ought self' is who we believe we ought to be -- our duties, obligations, and responsibilities," she said.
"Our findings showed that perceiving one's hopes and wishes as unfulfilled and the loss of desired positive outcomes increases emotional vulnerability and psychological distress.
"Whereas actual-ought self-discrepancies were associated with anxiety (but not depression)."
The role of excessive negative thinking
Professor Dickson said a novel finding was the role of 'rumination', the tendency to engage in repetitive negative thinking.
"It's not failing to make progress toward our 'ideal-self' that is necessarily problematic but rather the tendency to repetitively think about this lack of progress that represents a significant vulnerability that, in turn, leads to increased psychological distress," she said.
In contrast, lack of progress in relation to our 'ought self' (ie duties, responsibilities, obligations) directly increased anxiety (but not depression), and this was not facilitated via repetitive thinking.
"It may be that fulfilling obligations, duties and responsibilities is more pressing or urgent than the pursuit of hopes and the more immediate negative consequences of not fulfilling these 'ought to' obligations may mean there is less time to engage in reflective contemplation," Professor Dickson said.
Advice for minimising psychological distress
Professor Dickson said self-guides as standards that we aspire to are beneficial in giving a sense of purpose and direction in life and promoting wellbeing, even if we don't always reach them, but turning the focus toward negative self-evaluation and self-criticism is counter-productive.
"Reflecting on and at times modifying our self-guides may be helpful, particularly if we are caught in a spiral of negative self-evaluation that is accompanied by a constant sense of failing to meet overly high standards.
"We need to be kind to ourselves and keep our self-guides in perspective," she said.
abstract Actual-ideal and actual-ought self-discrepancies have been theorised to be independently associated with depressive and anxious symptoms respectively. This study tested this prediction and extended it to consider whether rumination mediates these relationships. One hundred and thirty-eight students (48 males, 90 females) listed four adjectives describing how they would ideally hope to be and four adjectives describing how they ought to be. Participants then rated how distant they perceived themselves to be from each of their ideal and ought selves, as well as the importance of each ideal and ought self. Finally, participants self-reported levels of negative rumination, anxious and depressive symptoms. Actual-ideal self-discrepancy was independently associated with both anxious and depressive symptoms, whereas actual-ought self-discrepancy was independently associated with anxious symptoms only. Rumination mediated the independent relationships between actual-ideal self-discrepancy and anxious and depressive symptoms. Actual-ought self-discrepancy retained an independent association with anxious symptoms that was not mediated through rumination. Anxious and depressive symptoms both have independent associations with actual-ideal self-discrepancies, whereas anxious symptoms are uniquely associated with actual-ought self-discrepancies. We reveal further evidence for rumination as a cognitive-motivational transdiagnostic process linking self-regulatory difficulties with anxious and depressive symptoms.
catching desires that drink, that cigarette, that dance: wanting things is highly contagious. can you be immunised against the infection?
bence nanay 2019
http://aeon.co/essays/can-you-stop-yourself-being-infected-with-other-peoples-desires
structural balance emerges and explains performance in risky decision-making
omid askarisichani et al. 2019
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41467-019-10548-8
the first longitudinal study to prove several key tenants of structural balance theory (SBT), which provides an analytical framework to characterize how relationships change over time. SBT consists of four primary rules for relationships among individuals:
A friend of a friend is a friend
A friend of an enemy is an enemy
An enemy of an enemy is a friend
An enemy of a friend is an enemy
When all of these conditions are met, a network is said to be balanced. Through a two-year study of day traders, the researchers found that: (A) workers gravitate toward a state of balance in their relationships; and (B) performance improves when there is a high level of balance.
"This data shows that companies reap the benefits when conflict among employees is reduced," said corresponding author Brian Uzzi, the Richard L. Thomas Professor of Leadership and Organizational Change in Northwestern's Kellogg School of Management. "There are certain types of conflict that can't resolve themselves. This work can help managers identify those conflicts and actively step in to resolve them, ultimately leading to better performance."
From 2007 to 2009, researchers analyzed day traders' instant messages to determine the relationships among traders and compared those relationships to performance data for individual traders, controlling for factors including market volatility and work days. They found that the traders with the highest level of balance in their networks also made the best trades, regardless of the objective level of talent of any individual trader.
"We suspect that conflict in networks monopolizes some portion of workers' mental energy," Uzzi said. "Resolving that conflict frees up mental energy to make better decisions and perform at a higher level."
The findings of this study apply to individuals who engage in extensive high-risk decision making, particularly in situations where polarization is common, such as politics or in the military.
Further research is needed to determine whether the same rules hold in other work situations, such as creative and innovative endeavors.
abstract Polarization affects many forms of social organization. A key issue focuses on which affective relationships are prone to change and how their change relates to performance. In this study, we analyze a financial institutional over a two-year period that employed 66 day traders, focusing on links between changes in affective relations and trading performance. Traders’ affective relations were inferred from their IMs (>2 million messages) and trading performance was measured from profit and loss statements (>1 million trades). Here, we find that triads of relationships, the building blocks of larger social structures, have a propensity towards affective balance, but one unbalanced configuration resists change. Further, balance is positively related to performance. Traders with balanced networks have the “hot hand”, showing streaks of high performance. Research implications focus on how changes in polarization relate to performance and polarized states can depolarize.
thunderspace
Link: itunes.apple.com/app/thunderspace/id636485814
sunny
Link: itunes.apple.com/gb/app/sunny-calm-wave-ocean-sounds/id916540089
windy
Link: itunes.apple.com/gb/app/windy-sleep-relax-meditate/id841377297
happiness by design: finding pleasure and purpose in everyday life
paul dolan 2014
thinking is overrated: empty brain happy brain
niels birbaumer & jorg zittlau translated by david shaw 2018
the end of absence
michael harris 2014
altered traits: science reveals how meditation changes your mind, brain, and body
daniel goleman, richard davidson 2017
the neuroscience of mindfulness: the astonishing science behind why everyday hobbies are good for your brain
stan rodski 2018
the courage to be disliked: how to free yourself, change your life and achieve real happiness
ichiro kishimi, fumitake koga 2014
mcmindfulness: how mindfulness became the new capitalist spirituality
ronald purser 2019
the wisdom of frugality: why less is more - more or less
emrys westacott 2016
the art of rest: how to find respite in the modern age
claudia hammond 2019
Link: 01076-4256cab114d804626069866890a940b9.html
Link: m.youtube.com/watch
中島みゆき 离别之歌
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夏川里美
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石川さゆり
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kawanonagarenoyouni
美空ひばり
Link: run-workflow
知らず知らず 歩いて来た
細く長い この道
振り返れば 遥か遠く
故郷が見える
でこぼこ道や
曲がりくねった道
地図さえない
それもまた 人生
ああ 川の流れのように
ゆるやかに
いくつも 時代は過ぎて
ああ 川の流れのように
とめどなく
空が黄昏に 染まるだけ
生きることは 旅すること
終わりのない この道
愛する人 そばに連れて
夢探しながら
雨に降られて
ぬかるんだ道でも
いつかは また
晴れる日が来るから
ああ 川の流れのように
おだやかに
この身を まかせていたい
ああ 川の流れのように
移りゆく
季節 雪どけを待ちながら
ああ 川の流れのように
おだやかに
この身をまかせていたい
ああ 川の流れのように
いつまでも
青いせせらぎを 聞きながら
知らず知らず 歩いて来た
SHIrazuSHIrazu ARUiteKIta
i came walking on this long, narrow path
細く長い この道
HOSOkuNAGAi konoMICHI
without knowing it
振り返れば 遥か遠く
FUriKAEreba HARUkaTOOku
when i turn around
故郷が見える
FURUSATOgaMIeru
i can see my distant hometown
でこぼこ道や 曲がりくねった道
dekobokoMICHIya MAgari kunettaMICHI
the uneven path twists and turns
地図さえない それもまた 人生
CHIZUsaenai soremomata JINSEI
and doesn’t even have a map
ああ 川の流れのように
aa KAWAnoNAGArenoyouni
ah, like the flow of the river
ゆるやかに いくつも 時代は過ぎて
yuruyakani ikutsumo JIDAIwaSUgite
the era passes by leniently
ああ 川の流れのように
aa KAWAnoNAGArenoyouni
ah, like the flow of the river
とめどなく 空が黄昏に 染まるだけ
tomedonaku SORAgaTASOGAREni SOmarudake
the sky is just endlessly dyed at twilight
生きることは 旅すること
Ikirukotowa TABIsurukoto
living and taking a journey
終わりのない この道
OWArinonai konoMICHI
an endless path
愛する人 そばに連れて
AIsuruHITO sobaniTSUrete
take the person i love to my side
夢探しながら
YUMESAGAshinagara
while searching for a dream
雨に降られて ぬかるんだ道でも
AMEniFUrarete nukarundaMICHIdemo
even if i’m rained on and the path is muddy
いつかは また 晴れる日が来るから
itsukawa mata HAreruHIga KUrukara
someday the sunny day will come again
ああ 川の流れのように
aa KAWAnoNAGArenoyouni
ah, like the flow of the river
おだやかに この身を まかせていたい
odayakani konoMIwo makaseteitai
i want to calmly go with the flow
ああ 川の流れのように
aa KAWAnoNAGArenoyouni
ah, like the flow of the river
移りゆく 季節 雪どけを待ちながら
UTSUriyuku KISETSU yukidokewoMAchinagara
the changing seasons
ああ 川の流れのように
aa KAWAnoNAGArenoyouni
ah, like the flow of the river
おだやかに この身をまかせていたい
odayakani konoMIwomakaseteitai
i want to calmly go with the flow
ああ 川の流れのように
aa KAWAnoNAGArenoyouni
ah, like the flow of the river
いつまでも
itsumademo
forever
青いせせらぎを 聞きながら
AOiseseragiwo KIkinagara
while listening to the blue blabbling stream
kuukou
Link: run-workflow
何も知らずに あなたは言ったわ
たまには一人の 旅もいいよと
雨の空港 デッキにたたずみ
手を振るあなた 見えなくなるわ
どうぞ帰って あの人のもとへ
私は一人 去ってゆく
いつも静かに あなたの帰りを
待ってるやさしい 人がいるのよ
雨にけむった ジェットの窓から
涙をこらえ さよなら言うの
どうぞもどって あの人のもとへ
私は遠い 街へゆく
愛は誰にも 負けないけれど
別れることが 二人のためよ
どうぞ帰って あの人のもとへ
私は一人 去ってゆく
何も知らずに あなたは言ったわ
NANImoSHIrazuni anatawaIttawa
たまには一人の 旅もいいよと
tamaniwahiTORIno TABImoiiyoto
雨の空港 デッキにたたずみ
AMEnoKUUKOO decknitatazumi
手を振るあなた 見えなくなるわ
TEwoFUruanata MIenakunaruwa
どうぞ帰って あの人のもとへ
doozoKAEtte anoHITOnomotoe
私は一人 去ってゆく
WATASHIwaHITORI SAtteyuku
いつも静かに あなたの帰りを
itsumoSHIZUkani anatanoKAEriwo
待ってるやさしい 人がいるのよ
MAtteruyasashii HITOgairunoyo
雨にけむった ジェットの窓から
AMEnikemutta jettonoMADOkara
涙をこらえ さよなら言うの
NAMIDAwokorae sayonaraIuno
どうぞもどって あの人のもとへ
doozomodotte anoHITOnomotoe
私は遠い 街へゆく
WATASHIwaTOOI MACHIeyuku
愛は誰にも 負けないけれど
AIwaDAREnimo MAkenaikeredo
別れることが 二人のためよ
WAKArerukotoga FUTARInotameyo
どうぞ帰って あの人のもとへ
doozoKAEtte anoHITOnomotoe
私は一人 去ってゆく
WATASHIwaHITORI SAtteyuku