The Philosophical and Historical Foundations of Bushido: Major Cultural Influences Bushido, or “the way of the warrior,” is a code of ethics and conduct developed by the samurai in Japan. It draws its foundations from several philosophical and spiritual traditions, including Zen Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoism, and Shintoism. These influences have helped shape the moral, mental, spiritual, and practical principles of…
+Your life isn’t long enough to learn only from your own mistakes, which is why you must make it a point to learn from the mistakes of others. Mistakes are well-documented: we’re simply too proud to read about them Pride is a cardinal sin, but beyond religion, pride is a major obstacle to progress in personal development. Pride makes us…
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What distinguishes the education of kings from that of ordinary people? It is the teacher’s attention, which is not the same. Typically, in a classroom, the teacher’s attention is divided among students, distributed more or less equally depending on the teacher’s preferences. A king, on the other hand, is educated almost exclusively by tutors, which means that he benefits from…
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Pushing one’s comfort zone is a common theme in personal development. Its origins likely trace back to the hero’s narrative arc, where the hero embarks on a journey leading to profound transformation. While this narrative lever helps make a story captivating, it is not necessarily the most effective means to achieve deep change. The Pitfalls of the Comfort Zone Expansion…
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How is it that Greek philosophers remain popular in our modern world? Why can being born 2500 years ago be a comparative advantage compared to us, even though we have inexhaustible resources of information? Is it the art of asking questions and trying to answer them? The informational deprivation (relative to our time) in which the Greeks lived during the…
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The ability to attract is praised both in psychology and management magazines. Once considered a sin or a transgression—didn’t the serpent seduce Eve and Adam, or didn’t Paris seduce Helen, leading to the Trojan War?—today, seduction is yet another tool in the arsenal of power. Robert Greene, the author of “The Art of Seduction,” expressed it well in his book:…
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Patience may be one of the finest human qualities, yet it is undervalued, probably because it is silent and its fruits take time to appear. The values of immediacy vs. the values of certainty “Everything comes in its own time to the person who can wait.” – François Rabelais What dominates our choices are impulses, emotion, and the quick…
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If you think about it, the main mistakes we’ve made are the result of a lack of moral quality, even if we blame external elements or other people. Think back to your past regrets and mistakes If you contemplate your past mistakes, they are most often attributable to a lack of heart quality. For example, you failed an important exam…
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We all claim to want to get closer to the truth, yet few of us truly achieve it lastingly. The quest for truth is a painful process that often requires enduring many years of discomfort. This discomfort can take the form of loneliness, exclusion, misunderstanding from others, seemingly futile sacrifices, or the feeling of being lost oneself. Fighting alone and…
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There are works that last 100 years and others that last 1000 years. This may be what differentiates modernity from tradition. This unique relationship with time, especially with long-term time, exposes the vanity of contemporary times. Whereas 4000 years ago, people took the time to think and build the pyramids of Egypt, today we live frantically to construct things that…
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