How to Deal with Adversity

Came across this book at the Middendorf Kredell Branch Library by the shopping center in O'Fallon, MO . How to Deal with Adversity by Christopher Hamilton.

The introduction eloquently presented a philosophy that I want to share and comment on.

"The School of Life" name of the book series is pretty funny too. I would make fun of it, but the book itself is good so I won't, or rather... I would like to but I can't find a way!

Adversity

We cannot escape adversity, nor should we try to. It is part of our human condition. So to do anything about it, we ought to first accept that it is inescapable.

The Vacuity of Life

People are filled with emptiness, and a craving to fill it.

The solution is often a mere distraction, and becomes an end of itself.

"Technology gives them a sense of never being alone, of never having to face their emptiness. But that is certainly in large part an illusion."

filling the void becomes an addiction

the world is indifferent to us. addiction is trying to "make the world respond to us, to strip it of its indifference."

in a consumer society, we do not replace things because they are worn out but because we are bored of them. we dignify this term as "fashion"

the religions and old philosophies have become outdated, so people have a hard time accepting these, but the need survives. that is, modern societies are in need of moral and philosophical guidance.

comment: we try to use technology, medicine, and our marvels of science to 'treat' these 'disorders', but really it is just a common healthy need that is not met by a modern, unhealthy society. We used to have religions to mediate this human condition, but with the mismatch between old beliefs and new knowledge, these old methods don't work so well anymore.

We should never forget our own idiocy.

People are like chemicals, they behave according to their nature so a volatile situation doesn't have to be judged as one party's fault. It's just what happens when you put baking soda next to vinegar.

comment: Unless you're a noble gas. An inert, neutral stable large atom that gets along with anybody and doesn't interact one way or another. But why should everyone be a noble gas? Why should the periodic table consist of only six elements in one family of chemicals. Life would be boring and nobody could accomplish much of anything with a handful of elements. Actually, life wouldn't even exist without H,C,N,O, P, S.

Don't try to change others. It's hard enough to change yourself. 

comment: Don't put yourself in the wrong situation. Know yourself, know your environment, and distance yourself from the chemicals that produce violent reactions with your nature.

comment: Live your questions. Do not try to fight those feelings of dissatisfaction, but explore them!

comment: Cultivate love through living your questions. Accept loneliness (one of our yearning to fill emptiness). Accept emptiness and the quest to fill it! Don't hide emptiness, seek to fill it and reach out to let people know it's there, so they can fill it! They too have their emptiness. Those who are unwilling to admit their void, who will fill theirs, when the owner denies that they have a void?

comment: But don't be morose, gloomy, dejected. Be happy you are empty, for that means you can be filled! Filled with new experience. Cultivate love for your want, your lack of fulfillment, lack of a perfect life, for that is the way to personal improvement and greater fulfillment!

comment: If we open our eyes, we might be consoled for the pain we carry. stop worrying about your lacks, problems, hurts. Go see what is out there and let a greater process take over. Wash, brush aside those petty miseries you clung onto, because you were living trapped in a cobwebbed corner where only those problems reside! Step out into fresh air, a greater ocean, under a vast expanse of sky!