A collection of notes in regard to Action.

Ahimsa, or Cause no injury, do no harm, is a Buddhist concept referred to as nonviolence, and it applies to all living beings — including all animals. Also, the limits of non-violence.

• Control of actions and speech to avoid unwholesome actions.
• Effort to work as much as possible for the good of others, even at the risk of one's life.
• Decision to devote oneself to beneficial actions and to remain steadfast on it.
• Maintaining a state of mind turned to the happiness of others, to practise love for all beings without exception.
• Development of knowledge and understanding through study and analytical reflection. To teach knowledge to others. To use one's wisdom for a maximum of benefits.
• You may compete to the full extent of your capabilities, but you may not hunt down your competitors.
• The creatures who act as though they belong to the world follow the peace-keeping law, they give the creatures around them a chance to grow toward watever it's possible for them to become. That's how man came into being, the australopithecus didn't imagine that the world belonged to them, so they let him live and grow.
• You must absolutely and forever relinquish the idea that you know who should live and who should die on this planet.

What I tell my students, when they feel singularly unfortunate to be born in this moment, is this is your moment, the moment your soul showed up incarnate. In this world. It is an astonishing moment to be alive. You could have been born into a lull — instead you were born into a tipping point. It’s your one life and you’ve entered it at a flexion point — a point when everything you do matters. How often in history does a soul get to live in such an era? Don’t waste it. Show up for it. With everything you’ve got.

Some will invent, some will organize, some will witness, some will grieve, some will console. Live this life now. Even if in fury and grief, live it. You don’t want to die not having lived. It’s incredibly easy to find a way around experience rather than through it. But you will have cheated yourself out of your only possession: your life. You are here now. Now is the time to live fully, not hide, not escape.

Types of Fun

Into which category a given experience falls, of course, is highly subjective and highly subject to shifts (particularly from III to II) born of the rosy reflections afforded us by the passage of time. Which is probably a good thing. After all, as alpinists and mothers both know: It doesn’t have to be “fun” to be fun.

• Type I fun: Type 1 fun is enjoyable while it’s happening. Also known as, simply, fun. Good food, powder skiing, margaritas.
• Type II fun: is miserable while it’s happening, but fun in retrospect. It usually begins with the best intentions, and then things get carried away. Riding your bicycle across the country. Doing an ultramarathon. Working out till you puke, and, usually, ice and alpine climbing.
• Type III fun: is not fun at all. Not even in retrospect. Afterward, you think, “What in the hell was I doing? If I ever come up with another idea that stupid, somebody slap some sense into me.” Many alpine climbs. Failed relationships that lacked Type I fun. Offwidths. Writing a book.

incoming 2024 wisdom