Wednesday, February 08, 2006

Don't hurry. Be happy

It took me a little while to understand that when Aristotle said, "A wise man is never in a hurry" he wasn't talking about acting quickly. To be "in a hurry" is a state of mind akin to panic and leads to unnecessary errors while providing no benefit. It is better to face problems calmly and tackle them without hurrying. This can be most clearly seen (watched) in the better athletes. Study their calmness, their focus, their ability to take more time with the ball/puck/pigskin than their teammates. Think about Michael Jordan's calm demeanor, or how athletes lose their edge when an opponent "takes them off their game".

It has taken me a little while longer to understand that tyranny is as much a state of mind as hurrying. If you think you aren't free (even when you are) then you are not free because such a conclusion will prevent you from organizing, from acting, from speaking, or from enjoying happiness. If you think you are free (even when you aren't) then you will not censor your actions to suit external forces and are thus free indeed. People given free reign in a tyrannical state, however, might still be no good.

The best case scenario is to think yourself free, and to indeed be free, which is why our Constitution adamantly protects the qualities of the free mind.

We are not free from desires, we are not free from our emotions, but we are free when we think and act in opposition to them. Similarly, we are not free from external desires (unless we live alone), and we are not free from external emotions (dogma), but we are free when we can think and act in opposition to them.

Freedom is a rational decision not to accept tyranny, and what is tyranny but authority masquerading as Truth. It is this Truth that frees.

No comments:

Foot Quotes

"Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge"

Charles Darwin