Week 45: 12th May 2025 - 18th May 2025
Here are a few interesting reads for this week:
[Letter: From The Father On His Son’s 3rd Birthday]
A letter filled with solid advice. Here are a couple of my favorites:
[Article: On Equanimity]
Definition: mental calmness, composure, and evenness of temper, especially in a difficult situation
This article suggests that we should look at equanimity as something that is an active pursuit rather than something that can be attained.
I think this line is telling:
I like this concept because in life, there are many things that need constant effort in order to ensure entropy doesn't take over. You need to work out every day to remain fit, you need to put effort into relationships to maintain them, and you need to keep abreast of new developments in your field to stay competent.
This is a stark contrast to your life during education, where things have an in-built full-stop to them: assignments have a due date, classes have grades, education ends with a degree.
For things that need constant effort, you need a different type of mental strength and I feel articles like these provide a good reminder of this fact.
(Cooking is also one such thing, I 100% understand my Mom’s frustration when I declined her proposal for lunches and dinners, never again!)
[Article: On Consciousness]
A good read which begins by explaining the dualism view of consciousness and then goes on to describe various alternatives of what consciousness could be. In short,
Separate mind and body - Dualism
Additive complexity - The theory that each cell has a small consciousness, but when combined on a large scale, they add up to be a complex version.
An emergent property - For example, a group of ants or bees behaves in super complex ways which cannot be understood from a single bee or an ant, hence when atoms form complex neural nets, consciousness emerges.
An illusion! - The brain’s way of giving us a framework to interpret the world in a way that allows us to survive.
[Images]
\Much needed respite from the sun
[Random]
On Focus
“When I’m in writing mode for a novel, I get up at four a.m. and work for five to six hours. In the afternoon, I run for ten kilometers or swim for fifteen hundred meters (or do both), then I read a bit and listen to some music. I go to bed at nine p.m. I keep to this routine every day without variation. The repetition itself becomes the important thing; it’s a form of mesmerism. I mesmerize myself to reach a deeper state of mind.”— Haruki Murakami
On Unfocus
"When someone is seeking, it happens quite easily that he only sees the thing that he is seeking; that he is unable to find anything, unable to absorb anything, because he is only thinking of the thing he is seeking, because he has a goal, because he is obsessed with his goal. Seeking means: to have a goal; but finding means: to be free, to be receptive, to have no goal...For in striving towards your goal, you do not see many things that are under your nose."
— Herman HesseMore On Focus
What separates good work from great isn't talent but persistence.The most successful people aren't those who feel motivated all the time; they're the ones who work even when they don't feel like it. Too often, waiting to feel ready means never starting.
Outliers act despite their feelings, not because of them.
— (Source)
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I hope you enjoyed this newsletter. Let me know if you have any feedback.
Next week पुन्हा भेटू!
very good!