Monthly Archives: March 2019

Literature, Poetry

(Anthology) Poetry by Chrissy Greenslade

SUNDAY morning stillness settles,

Silent gulls go flying by;

Sultry clouds are drifting slowly,

Hiding sunbeams in the sky.

Finches, sparrows and a robin

Chase and flit searching for food;

Greedy starlings, cheeky manner,

Changing now the peaceful mood.

Camellia cascades now are shedding,

Dropping rosy flowered heads;

Yellow daffs with orange faces

Glow in budding flower-beds.

In the earth new life is stirring,

Calling as the church bell rings,

Reminding us of God’s creation,

The beauty, hope and joy of spring.

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Arts, Literature, Philosophy

(Philosophy) The Stoic: The Enemy of Happiness

PASSIONS & EMOTIONS

“It is quite impossible to unite happiness with a yearning for what we don’t have. Happiness has all that it wants, and resembling the well-fed, there shouldn’t be hunger or thirst.” – Epictetus, Discourses, 3.24.17

I’ll be happy when I graduate, we tell ourselves. I’ll be happy when I get this promotion, when this diet pays off, when I have the money that my parents never had. Conditional happiness is what psychologists call this kind of thinking. Like the horizon, you can walk for miles and miles and never reach it. You won’t even get any closer.

Eagerly anticipating some future event, passionately imagining something you desire, looking forward to some happy scenario – as pleasurable as these activities might seem, they ruin your chance at happiness here and now. Locate that yearning for more, better, someday and see it for what it is: the enemy of your contentment. Choose it or your happiness. As Epictetus says, the two are not compatible.

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The Force

Science

Science: ‘The Force’

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