Commonplace Book/tags/philosophy/Recent content on Commonplace BookHugo -- gohugo.ioen-USWed, 22 Jul 2026 12:47:00 +0000Sink a Ship/posts/4a1-sink-a-person/Wed, 22 Jul 2026 12:47:00 +0000/posts/4a1-sink-a-person/<h2 id="sink-a-ship">Sink a Ship</h2> <blockquote> <p>All the water in the world cannot sink a ship unless it gets inside the shio. All the negativity i the world cannot sink a person unless it gets inside the mind. &ndash; Mary Pickford<sup id="fnref:1"><a href="#fn:1" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">1</a></sup></p> </blockquote> <div class="footnotes" role="doc-endnotes"> <hr> <ol> <li id="fn:1"> <p>Why Not Try God - Mary Pickford.&#160;<a href="#fnref:1" class="footnote-backref" role="doc-backlink">&#x21a9;&#xfe0e;</a></p> </li> </ol> </div>Sink a Ship

All the water in the world cannot sink a ship unless it gets inside the shio. All the negativity i the world cannot sink a person unless it gets inside the mind. – Mary Pickford1

  1. Why Not Try God - Mary Pickford. ↩︎

]]>Letting Go/posts/4d1-letting-go/Thu, 12 Jun 2025 14:49:00 +0000/posts/4d1-letting-go/<p>Don&rsquo;t try to hang on too tightly to thoughts that come your way. If you don&rsquo;t have a pencil, a notebook, or somewhere to write them down, just let them go. They are a product of your mind, and if the thought or idea is important, it will come back to you when you need it.</p>Don’t try to hang on too tightly to thoughts that come your way. If you don’t have a pencil, a notebook, or somewhere to write them down, just let them go. They are a product of your mind, and if the thought or idea is important, it will come back to you when you need it.

]]>Tom Waits on Letting Go/posts/4d1a-tom-waits-letting-go/Thu, 12 Jun 2025 14:49:00 +0000/posts/4d1a-tom-waits-letting-go/<p>In an interview with Elizabeth Gilbert<sup id="fnref:1"><a href="#fn:1" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">1</a></sup> <sup>, </sup><sup id="fnref:2"><a href="#fn:2" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">2</a></sup>, Tom Waits shared his perspective on the creative process and how ideas for songs would torment him if he couldn&rsquo;t write them down.</p> <blockquote> <p>So he starts to feel all of that old anxiety start to rise in him like, &ldquo;I&rsquo;m going to lose this thing, and I&rsquo;ll be be haunted by this song forever. I&rsquo;m not good enough, and I can&rsquo;t do it.&rdquo;</p>In an interview with Elizabeth Gilbert1 , 2, Tom Waits shared his perspective on the creative process and how ideas for songs would torment him if he couldn’t write them down.

So he starts to feel all of that old anxiety start to rise in him like, “I’m going to lose this thing, and I’ll be be haunted by this song forever. I’m not good enough, and I can’t do it.”

But instead of going through another cycle of self-doubt he came to the realization that he could let it go.

And instead of panicking, he just stopped. He just stopped that whole mental process and he did something completely novel. He just looked up at the sky, and he said, “Excuse me, can you not see that I’m driving?”

  1. https://www.ted.com/talks/elizabeth_gilbert_your_elusive_creative_genius/transcript ↩︎

  2. Copy of the original interview, http://tomwaitslibrary.info/biography/interviews/play-it-like-your-hairs-on-fire/ ↩︎

]]>Creative Philosophy/posts/4d-creative-philosophy/Thu, 12 Jun 2025 14:48:00 +0000/posts/4d-creative-philosophy/<ul> <li><a href="../../posts/4d1-letting-go/">Letting go</a></li> </ul>
  • Letting go
    • ]]>    Presence: A Buddhist Perspective/posts/4c1-presence-a-buddhist-perspective/Thu, 12 Jun 2025 12:01:00 +0000/posts/4c1-presence-a-buddhist-perspective/<p>In Buddhism, sati (mindfulness) is the first factor of the Seven Factors of Enlightenment and a central part of the Eightfold Path. The Buddha taught that mindfulness is the gateway to wisdom and liberation.</p> <blockquote> <p>“Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment.”<br /> &mdash; The Buddha (Dhammapada)</p> </blockquote> <p><a href="../../posts/4c-presence/">Presence</a> is linked to impermanence (anicca); when we grasp that each moment is fleeting, we become more attentive to it.</p>In Buddhism, sati (mindfulness) is the first factor of the Seven Factors of Enlightenment and a central part of the Eightfold Path. The Buddha taught that mindfulness is the gateway to wisdom and liberation.

    “Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment.”
    — The Buddha (Dhammapada)

    Presence is linked to impermanence (anicca); when we grasp that each moment is fleeting, we become more attentive to it.

    ]]>    Presence/posts/4c-presence/Thu, 12 Jun 2025 11:57:00 +0000/posts/4c-presence/<p>Presence is the art of being fully here&mdash;awake to the moment, unburdened by the past or anxious for the future. This theme is foundational in many wisdom traditions, not only as a calming practice but as a moral and spiritual discipline. The goal is not just awareness, but embodied awareness&mdash;meeting life directly, without clinging, avoidance, or abstraction.</p>Presence is the art of being fully here—awake to the moment, unburdened by the past or anxious for the future. This theme is foundational in many wisdom traditions, not only as a calming practice but as a moral and spiritual discipline. The goal is not just awareness, but embodied awareness—meeting life directly, without clinging, avoidance, or abstraction.

    ]]>    Embrace Limitations/posts/4b-embrace-limitations/Fri, 06 Jun 2025 16:10:00 +0000/posts/4b-embrace-limitations/<p>Embrace limitations. Work within the confines of a system and make do with what you have.</p><p>Embrace limitations. Work within the confines of a system and make do with what you have.</p> This too shall pass/posts/4a-this-too-shall-pass/Fri, 30 May 2025 18:47:00 +0000/posts/4a-this-too-shall-pass/<blockquote> <p>This too shall pass.<br /> &ndash; Marcus Aurelius</p> </blockquote> <p>Attributed to Marcus Aurelius. This is a nice reminder that given enough time everything will change. Emotions can be strong in the moment but knowing they will pass can provide perspective.</p>

    This too shall pass.
    – Marcus Aurelius

    Attributed to Marcus Aurelius. This is a nice reminder that given enough time everything will change. Emotions can be strong in the moment but knowing they will pass can provide perspective.

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