Be It Resolved...

“You could leave life right now. Let that determine what you do and say and think.”
     – Marcus Aurelius --

This, some of my more "Thích Nhất Hạnh"-oriented readers might be surprised to learn, is the Stoic version of the Zen Master's admonition to "Be In The Moment," or, more specifically:

"Drink your tea slowly and reverently, as if it is the axis on which the world earth revolves - slowly, evenly, without rushing toward the future. Live the actual moment. Only this moment is life."

Buddhism devolves pretty quickly into criminal levels of ankle-deep understanding, facile bullshit, and Deepak Chopra. That's not to say there isn't anything to learn there - there is. Most of it wouldn't fit on a bumper-sticker or a Gwyneth Paltrow tattoo, though. In fact, once you're willing to do a little more work than  Googling "Zen Quotes To Help Me Deal With My 1st World Problems", you'll find it's a deep system of thought and philosophy. Strip away the Hollywood/Western bullshit, much of it can be understood in terms of any of several schools of hard-core Stoicism. Not all, by any means. But enough to make it worth quoting both.

And, so, my New Year's resolution — to try to keep them in my mind as I get on with my life.

Trust me, it's gonna be harder than losing that 30 lbs or that time I quit smoking. I anticipate being terribly imperfect at it.

Enso - A Version Expressing The Beauty Of Imperfection