Coded Energy

08/27/2024

Hello, Me; it's me, You!

08/22/2024

"Make your own Bible. Select and collect all the words and sentences that in all your readings have been to you like the blast of a trumpet." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

Anyone else do this? An immensely rewarding part of my daily practice 🙏🏻

08/12/2024

07/30/2024

https://youtu.be/TEDpnBmGD2g?feature=shared
Seneca the Younger wrote: "There are only a few who control themselves and their affairs by a guiding purpose; the rest do not proceed; they are merely swept along, like objects afloat in a river."

Have you been able to find your guiding purpose? Have you discovered ideals or principles to live by?

If so, how has it changed your life? Do these things help you control yourself and your affairs, as Seneca claims?

For me, developing a daily practice based on values, principles, and beliefs of my deliberate choosing has vastly improved my life. I went from feeling like a victim to feeling like a victor :)

Do you have any insights? Want to share your experience? Reach out to me in the comments below :)

Seneca the Younger wrote: "There are only a few who control themselves and their affairs by a guiding purpose; the rest do not proceed; they are merely swept...

07/26/2024

Verse 1: The Tao that can be named is not the Eternal Tao ☯️

07/25/2024

https://www.newtraderu.com/2024/07/23/11-key-lessons-from-carl-jung-that-will-help-you-understand-yourself-better/
Great article summarizing the key lessons in Jung's work - highly recommend :)

Carl Jung, the visionary Swiss psychiatrist and psychoanalyst, left an indelible mark on our understanding of the human psyche. His groundbreaking theories

07/24/2024

https://youtu.be/JbwgefX4Jt8?feature=shared
Marcus Aurelius wrote: "If someone is able to show me that what I think or do is not right, I will happily change, for I seek truth by which no one was ever truly harmed. It is the person who continues in their own self-deception and ignorance who is harmed."

In this world of "alternate facts" and simplistic black-or-white thinking, I believe that the attitude expressed by Marcus in this passage is precisely what we need.

Why do you think so many of us (including myself) feel this impulse to "win," to have our views elevated above the opinions of others? Why is it so difficult to change your mind when presented with strong supporting evidence?

Oh, here's a good question: Does truth exist? Can we ever apprehend it with our dull senses and puny cognitive abilities?

Let me know what you think down below :)

Marcus Aurelius wrote: "If someone is able to show me that what I think or do is not right, I will happily change, for I seek truth by which no one was ever ...

07/23/2024

🙏🏻

07/22/2024

https://youtu.be/0XYkhsG5MJ4?feature=shared
In the Tao Te Ching, Lao Tzu says: "Not-knowing is true knowledge; presuming to know is a disease. First, realize that you are sick--then, you can move toward health.

"The master is her own physician; she has healed herself of all-knowing. Thus, she is truly whole."

Again with the Socratic paradox.

Knowing one's ignorance is the beginning of true knowledge.

Knowing that one does not know, one may begin to learn.

As I say in the video, much of this "not-knowing" relates to underlying assumptions and presumptions about the way things are and ought to be.

From these, we get motivation, intention, and expectation.

And through these, we weigh and evaluate our life and everything in it.

Work backward from your emotional reaction and accompanying thoughts to your expectations. Then ask yourself: Why did I expect this particular outcome?

How did I formulate this expectation?

Is it realistic? Has past experience provided sufficient evidence to justify such an expectation?

We could also discuss the role of past experience and highlight the inconvenient (but accurate) fact that this cannot always account for future events.

But that's another topic, isn't it?

For now, let's stick with Lao's message.

First, acknowledge that you're sick--then, you can work toward becoming healthy.

Ignorance and faulty assumptions are indeed like a sickness--no one contacts them willingly.

Rather, we are infected--from birth--through our biological and cultural conditioning by erroneous, illogical, and nonsensical ideas.

So there's no shame in admitting ignorance or clinging to irrational beliefs.

No more shame than admitting you caught the flu or came down with a migraine.

That's my two cents, anyway. Hope to hear yours in the comments below :)

In the Tao Te Ching, Lao Tzu says: "Not-knowing is true knowledge; presuming to know is a disease. First, realize that you are sick--then, you can move towa...

07/19/2024

https://youtu.be/Gxu9PL1ZV-o?feature=shared
Epictetus said: "When something happens, the only thing in your power is your attitude toward it. You can either accept it or resent it. [...] What really frightens and dismays us is not external events themselves but the way in which we think about them. [...] It is not things that disturb us but our interpretation of their significance."

What defines an unjust situation? A tragedy? A misfortune? Are these inherent qualities of events and circumstances or projections of the mind?

Epictetus (and countless others) maintain that our judgment of things, rather than things themselves, upsets us. It's an interesting hypothesis, to be sure, and best of all, anybody can test it at any time.


So don't take Epictetus on his words alone: take charge of your mind and find out for yourself!

Epictetus said: "When something happens, the only thing in your power is your attitude toward it. You can either accept it or resent it. [...] What really fr...

07/18/2024

😺😅🙏🏻

07/17/2024

https://youtu.be/7FfleJCmatg?feature=shared
Carl Jung wrote: "Your vision will become clear only when you look into your heart. Who looks outside, dreams. Who looks inside, awakens."

Though counter-intuitive and potentially unsettling, Jung's words are backed by modern science as well as ancient wisdom.

The idea that Ultimate Reality lies within, while what we perceive and experience "out there" is merely a mirage, has been explored at length for thousands of years. Scientists are only now arriving at the same conclusion: that what we experience on a daily basis is merely a controlled hallucination.

Perhaps the best known illustration of this idea can be found in Plato's Allegory of the Cave.

According to Plato, the external world is but a play of shadows on the mind's wall. To find the Ultimate Reality, one must turn away and proceed more deeply into the psyche, mind, and heart.

Have you ever made an effort to look into your heart? If so, what did you find and how did it affect your life?

Let me know in the comments below :)

Carl Jung wrote: "Your vision will become clear only when you look into your heart. Who looks outside, dreams. Who looks inside, awakens."Though counter-intu...

07/16/2024

Heaven and hell are right here, right now.
Every moment, you’re choosing:
Hell or heaven?
Fight what you fear or
Feed what you love?
Here's a secret:
The best way to fight what you fear is
To feed what you love.
Fighting what you fear feeds the fear.
Jung said it succinctly:
“What you resist persists, and grows stronger.”
Starve what you fear by feeding what you love.
That’s heaven - not a future promise
But a right-now guarantee.

07/15/2024

https://youtu.be/EUnlyjhS2TE?feature=shared
John Milton wrote: "The mind is its own place, and in itself can make a hell of heaven, a heaven of hell..."

Following Tenzin Palmo's "We live inside our minds," I thought Milton's quote would fit nicely.

It is my belief that "heaven" and "hell" are mental states, not literal places. It is these mental states that we project onto the world and which trigger our emotional reactions.

Have you ever found yourself in a hellish situation? Have you ever felt that your life was heaven on earth? If so, what were the contributing factors?

I would love to hear all about it in the comments below :)

John Milton wrote: "The mind is its own place, and in itself can make a hell of heaven, a heaven of hell..."Following Tenzin Palmo's "We live inside our mind...

07/12/2024

https://youtu.be/GtBEgnVSAlw?feature=shared
Tenzin Palmo writes: "We spend so much time buying nice houses, decorating them according to our desires, making everything look nice. We keep them clean, well-furnished, and beautifully decorated, and we show them with pride to other people. But actually, we don't live in our houses. We live in our minds. If we go somewhere else we leave our house behind. We don't carry it with us. We are not snails. But our mind we carry with us everywhere. We live in our minds."

Tenzin Palmo writes: "We spend so much time buying nice houses, decorating them according to our desires, making everything look nice. We keep them clean, we...

07/10/2024

https://youtu.be/wU0PYcCsL6o?feature=shared

An inspirational and profound speech from the late philosopher Alan Watts.Original Audio sourced from: “Alan Watts - 'Nature of Consciousness' from Human Con...

07/08/2024

https://youtu.be/t0KVkU8DahA?feature=shared
Epictetus taught his students the following: "We are like actors in a play. The divine will has assigned us our roles in life without consulting us. Some of us will act in a short drama, others in a long one. We might be assigned the part of a poor person, a cripple, a distinguished celebrity or public leader, or an ordinary private citizen.

"Although we can't control which roles are assigned to us, it must be our business to act our given role as best as possible and refrain from complaining about it.

"Wherever you find yourself and in whatever circumstances, give an impeccable performance."

Give an impeccable performance.

Words to live by, right here!

We don't control what roles are assigned to us, but we certainly control how well we perform them.

If you have been assigned an unpleasant role and can't find a way out of it, then you had best accept your lot for the time being and put on an impeccable performance.

No sense in resisting, complaining, or tormenting yourself unnecessarily.

Like many of the individuals I quote in these videos, Epictetus was speaking from experience.

Born into slavery and afflicted with a lame leg, he nevertheless earned his freedom and became one of the most influential philosophers of his day. His teachings shaped and molded people from all walks of life, including a young Marcus Aurelius.

So you see, what Epictetus preaches comes from direct, firsthand experience.

Accepting the role assigned to him, he freed himself from slavery and went on to teach a future emperor (posthumously, I know, but it still counts).

Anyway, there is a certain level of practicality to this quote, and to the notion of radical acceptance or Amor Fati.

Seeing no possible way out, and finding no loophole or solution, we must often put up with circumstances and situations that we consider negative, unpleasant, or sub-optimal.

These are the roles assigned to us.

While there is no way out, we are nevertheless faced with a decision: do we accept our role and play it to the best of our abilities, or do we resist, complain, and whine?

Seems like a no-brainer to me.

What do you think?

Epictetus taught his students the following: "We are like actors in a play. The divine will has assigned us our roles in life without consulting us. Some of ...

07/04/2024

https://youtu.be/S0BZiyJq5rI?feature=shared
Kahlil Gibran wrote: "Your living is determined not by what life brings to you as by the attitude you bring to life; not so much by what happens to you as by the way your mind looks at what happens."

This particular insight can be found in Stoicism, Taoism, Buddhism, and many other traditions. Shakespeare's Hamlet probably said it best: "Nothing is either good or bad, but thinking makes it so."

Have you ever paid attention to how your mind looks at what happens? Have you ever noticed a correlation between your attitude and inner-experience? Tell me about it in the comments below :)

Kahlil Gibran wrote: "Your living is determined not by what life brings to you as by the attitude you bring to life; not so much by what happens to you as by...

06/28/2024

https://youtu.be/JcVTBsVD7FA?feature=shared
Henry David Thoreau wrote: "As a single footstep will not make a path on the earth, so a single thought will not make a pathway in the mind. To make a deep physical path, we walk again and again. To make a deep mental path, we must think over and over the kind of thoughts we wish to dominate our lives."

How do we build new habits? How do we dismantle old ones? Share your truth with us!

Henry David Thoreau wrote: "As a single footstep will not make a path on the earth, so a single thought will not make a pathway in the mind. To make a deep p...

06/27/2024

https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg26234971-200-the-universe-is-built-a-lot-like-a-giant-brain-so-is-it-conscious/
"An astrophysicist and a surgeon walk into a bar. No, this isn’t the start of a bad joke. A few years ago, astrophysicist Franco Vazza met his childhood friend Alberto Feletti, who had become a neurosurgeon. As they reminisced and chatted about their work – Vazza modeling the structure of the universe, Feletti poring over the composition of the brain – a thought struck them: why not compare the two?
"Vazza looked at the number of nodes in each network and how densely each node was connected. The results surprised him. 'It is a tantalizing level of similarity,' he says. The structures differ in size by some 27 orders of magnitude. But if you ignore that, 'the two patterns sort of overlap', says Vazza."

As within, so without; as above, so below.

Research has found the universe is remarkably similar in structure to the human brain. But does this mean the cosmos has a consciousness of its own?

06/27/2024

https://youtu.be/yhqubZrzCyo?feature=shared

6 years ago I opened up shop and started sharing daily bread with the world. Now, I'm getting ready to reopen the bakery again. Started watching some old videos and realized that sharing my favorite quotes with you all was the best and most rewarding part of making content. Here I go again 😊

The Roman philosopher Seneca the Younger wrote: "Each day acquire something which will help you to face poverty, or death, and other ills as well. After runn...

06/03/2024

https://youtu.be/rcaDYQvC9IA?feature=shared

Fantastic chat with my friend and author Tara Wild. Touching, insightful, and inspirational story 🙏🏻

Tara Wild is the author of "Snapshots of My Broken Heart: How We Find Peace and Connection When We Choose To View Loss Through the Lens of Love" and a member...

05/30/2024

Experience transcends language.
Words are not the things to which they point.
The map is not the landscape;
the menu is not the meal.

Realize this and your vision is unified;
ignore it and your vision is fragmented.

Names confine; likewise, they can lead to freedom.
The freedom of words is not in them but through them.

Those with fragmented vision are caught in the manifestation, are slaves to desire and aversion.
Those with unified vision see through the manifestation and behold the Great Mystery beyond.
The Great Mystery beyond is the gateway to all understanding.

05/11/2024

Last Friday as a 40 year old and the universe gives me this beauty!

05/08/2024

"Reality is an illusion, albeit a very persistent one."
- Albert Einstein

05/07/2024

"This place is a dream - only a sleeper considers it real. Then death comes like dawn, and you wake up laughing at what you thought was your grief."
- Rumi - رومی

05/06/2024

“If humanity is to survive, we will have learned to take delight in the essential differences between people and between cultures. We will learn that differences in ideas and attitudes are a delight, part of life's exciting variety, not something to fear.”
― Gene Roddenberry

05/03/2024

"My destination is no longer a place, rather a new way of seeing."
- Marcel Proust

05/02/2024

"You are not enclosed within your bodies, nor confined to houses or fields. That which is you dwells above the mountains and roves with the wind. It is not a thing that crawls into the sun for warmth or digs holes into darkness for safety, but a thing free, a spirit that envelops the earth and moves in the ether."
- Kahlil Gibran