★★★☆☆ | Philosophy | Digital | Borrow | StoryGraph | Goodreads
An interesting collection of stories and anecdotes about how ego can be a destructive force in a person’s life.
Highlights
Research shows that while goal visualization is important, after a certain point our mind begins to confuse it with actual progress.
The pretense of knowledge is our most dangerous vice, because it prevents us from getting any better. Studious self-assessment is the antidote.
General George C. Marshall—essentially … refused to keep a diary during World War II despite the requests of historians and friends. He worried that it would turn his quiet, reflective time into a sort of performance and self-deception. That he might second-guess difficult decisions out of concern for his reputation and future readers and warp his thinking based on how they would look.
Sympatheia—a connectedness with the cosmos.
Almost without exception, this is what life does: it takes our plans and dashes them to pieces. Sometimes once, sometimes lots of times.
Gilgamesh: He will face a battle he knows not, he will ride a road he knows not.
In Greek mythology, characters often experience katabasis—or “a going down.” They’re forced to retreat, they experience a depression, or in some cases literally descend into the underworld. When they emerge, it’s with heightened knowledge and understanding.