The romantic ideal of two people pair-bonding and staying together for a long time is still very much alive. However, in the current age, we can see that an increasing amount of people deliberately choose to stay single. Especially in the West, marriage is in decline, and singlehood is rising. According to data from the General […]
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The Less You Want, The More You Have
Imagine that we need one million dollars to be happy. If that’s the case, then as long as we don’t reach this amount, we’re unhappy. If we look at humanity’s poverty and its small percentage of millionaires, we can conclude that happiness is scarce if it requires seven figures in a bank account. Now, let’s […]
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Don’t Feel Harmed, And You Haven’t Been
Marcus Aurelius pointed out that regardless of the severity of circumstances, there’s always a choice in how we judge them. “Choose not to be harmed—and you won’t feel harmed. Don’t feel harmed—and you haven’t been,” he stated. Marcus’ instruction sounds easy, but it’s difficult to apply if we don’t understand what causes us to feel […]
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What If The World Is Actually a Prison?
What if this world is actually one giant prison? When the 19th-century philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer observed the amount of pain that we experience during our lifetimes, he concluded that it’s not happiness and pleasure we’re after, but a reduction of the ongoing suffering that’s an inherent part of existence. When we compare this world to […]
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We Don’t Need to Seek Love. We Just Have to Stop Resisting It
The 13th-century Sufi mystic Jalāl ad-Dīn Muhammad Rūmī also known as Mevlana, or simply as Rumi, observed that all phenomena of nature are bound together by love. Love is what keeps planets orbiting their stars, stars encircling the centers of their galaxies, and electrons revolving around the nucleus of an atom. Love is the force that […]
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How to Transform Yourself in Solitude
The Zhongnan mountains – located in the Shaanxi Province in China – have been a dwelling place for Taoist hermits for at least more than two thousand years. For centuries, they’ve been seeking refuge from society, and for different reasons. Some pursued a spiritual path, others wanted to reflect on the world from a distance […]
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Let It Go, Ride the Wind
The ancient Taoist text Zhuangzi describes Lieh Tzu as the sage who rode the wind with an admirable indifference to external things, and thus, in his lightness he was free from all desires to pursue the things that supposedly make us happy. Lieh Yokuo, also known as Lieh Tzu or Master Lie, is attributed as […]
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Miyamoto Musashi | The Path of the Warrior
At the age of fifteen, Miyamoto Musashi went on ‘musha shugyō’, which means ‘warrior’s pilgrimage’. During this time of his life, he traveled the land practicing his skills independently and engaged in a series of duels. After he received ronin status, he encountered the most challenging opponent he ever faced – Sasaki Kojiro – and […]
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The Backwards Law
What if we’d try not to think of a pink elephant. This probably won’t work. Because as soon as the pink elephant appears in our minds, it’s impossible to get rid of it by consciously not thinking about it. And the more we try to get rid of it, the more it persists. The elephant […]
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How to Fight Smart (Sun Tzu)
The Chinese military general and strategist Sun Tzu, who lived around 2,500 years ago, argued that the ability to wage war is of vital importance to the state. According to him, it’s a matter of life and death, and cannot be neglected. In his manual The Art of War, Sun Tzu states that the superior […]
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