World of Malevolence and Horror

Daily Meditation #238–10/18/2022

History is woefully unheeded and always repeats.

How wars have begun.
The spectre of another Horseman of the Apocalypse — Famine — on the march.
Hyperinflationary regimes.
Holocausts and abject privation.

And yet.
And yet…

Is not a better part of history largely forgotten?

The discovery of writing.
Learning how to improve crops.
Using water to create power.
Countless romances and jokes untold.

The world as we have it — today — can be horrific while also being beautiful.
The two are not mutually exclusive.

There will always be calamity in the world. Malevolence is entirely incurable and it is an absolute fool’s errand to believe the world can be a utopia.

However.
Each day we can rise and think “How can I make myself better, today? Just today, what can I do better than yesterday to make things better for myself?”
Attacking each day with aspiration to do good for ourselves in our hearts — not in selfishness — is how the world improves.

Each one of us incrementally improving makes the world a bit better. And while some among us will still seek war, death, and destruction, a better part of our number will not. This is why the world continues to improve.

Every morning seek to “pluck the beam” from your own eye.

Eat well, move more.
Be financially prudent but generous.
Listen well and maintain good relationships.
Pour out gratitude and pursue spirituality — whatever it looks like to you.

Seek “the beam” and then, when it is plucked out after years of trying, you can begin to seek “the mote of dust in your neighbor's eye.”

The world we live in is far from perfect…
But it’s not that bad, either.

Today is day #238. Follow for daily philosophical meditations.

These are distillations from my coming book “YouDaimonia: the Ancient Philosophy of Human Flourishing.”