Now he would never write the things that he had saved to write until he knew enough to write them well. Well, he would not have to fail at trying to write them either. Maybe you could never write them, and that was why you put them off and delayed the starting. Well he would never know, now.

– Ernest Hemingway (The snows of Kilimanjaro)

10 Life Lessons from Einstein

1. Fallow your curiosity

              “I have no special talent. I am only passionately curious.”

2. Perseverance is priceless

             “It’s not that I’m so smart; it’s just that I stay with problems longer.”

3. Focus on the present

             “Any man who can drive safely while kissing a pretty girl is simply not giving the kiss the attention it deserves.”

4. The imagination is powerful

             “Imagination is everything. It is the preview of life’s coming attractions. Imagination is more important than knowledge.”

5. Make mistakes

             “A person who never made a mistake never tried anything new.”

6. Live in the moment

             “I never think of the future – it comes soon enough.”

7. Create value

            “Strive not to be a success, but rather to be of value.”

8. Don’t expect different results

            “Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”

9. Knowledge comes from experience

           “Information is not knowledge. The only source of knowledge is experience.”

10. Learn the rules and then play better

          “You have to learn the rules of the game. And then you have to play better than anyone else.”

Trust men and they will be true to you ; treat them greatly, and they will show themselves great.

– Ralph Waldo Emerson

It is manifestly against the Law of Nature, however defined, that a child command an old man, an imbecile lead a wise man, and a handful of people abound in superfluities while the starving multitudes lacks in necessities.

– (Discourse on Inequality) Rousseau

Be the change…

If children live with criticism, they learn to condemn.
If children live with hostility, they learn to fight.
If children live with fear, they learn to be apprehensive.
If children live with shame, they learn to feel guilty.
If children live with tolerance, they learn to be patient.
If children live with encouragement, they learn to be confident.
If children live with praise, they learn to appreciate.
If children live with approval, they learn to love themselves.
If children live with acceptance, they learn to find love in the world.

– Dorothy L. Nolte

Docks of New York (Paramount, 1928)

“Docks of New York” directed by Josef von Sternberg, is another great silent movie which strikes by its images, symbols  and expressiveness. 

The story is placed in a depraved region of New York, where everything reminds of a hopeless society lacking  morality and human values. In this environment overflowed with vices and addictions, misery and poverty, a love is striving to survive, to unite and save two souls from a meaningless life, from being  swallowed into society’ s madness.

Will love overcome the strong current of reality which these two people were facing? Maybe yes, maybe no…but they can have a chance…and a faint hope is emerging toward the end.

“Man’s search for meaning” Victor Frankl

“He who has a Why to live for can bear almost any How.”

– Nietzsche

This simple and profound quote from Nietzsche captures perfectly the main idea of V. Frankl’s book “Man’s search for meaning”. The purpose of the author is to prove that a human being is capable to overcome any obstacle as long as he can find the meaning for his actions, for his life. Frankl argues this idea relaying on his own experience as a prisoner in Auschwitz, who succeeded to stay alive despite the outrageous conditions which destroyed physically and psychologically the majority of detained people.

So, how to survive when obviously the reality tells you that a concentration camp equals to certain death? Well, Frankl is saying that each person has a choice how to respond to everything comes in his or her life.

“Forces beyond your control can take away everything you possess except one thing, your freedom to choose how you will respond to the situation. You cannot control what happens to you in life, but you can always control what you will feel and do about what happens to you.”

To choose how to respond – this affirmation really struck me, because I was always thinking that there is just one way to respond to particular events in our life. Then, after reading Frankl’s book, I realized that society is actually the one who is responsible for teaching us these reactions. We definitely were not born with despair, anger, pain, envy, hurt etc., but we, being unaware, embraced them as part of normal reality.  For instance smiling in a situation of sorrow could be perceived as insanity since the reality is telling us we should cry.

“Emotion, which is suffering, ceases to be suffering as soon as we form a clear and precise picture of it.”

 Frankl emphasizes that reality is nothing then a subjective point of view and being a full actually can in many cases save your life.

“An abnormal reaction to an abnormal situation is normal behavior.”

“Life is a question for meaning” and Frankl saw three possible sources for meaning: in work (doing something significant), in love and in courage during difficult times. Everybody must fallow their vocation and passion, doing something they really like through dedication and striving for perfection. Love “is ultimate and highest goal to which man can aspire. The salvation of man is through love and in love.” Courage to find meaning in suffering, remaining brave, dignified and unselfish – that’s the true test of a man capable to go beyond difficult times and to be worthy of a meaningful life.

“Man’s search for meaning” reminds us about the pillars our existence is based upon; about the vital importance to have a life based on meaning as a condition to be able to go forward and stand up stronger after each failure.

A wonderful book which made a big impact in how I perceive now the life. It just shifted my attention from insignificant aspects to others, far more important and essential in my existence as a human being.

“Man is capable of changing the world for the better if possible, and of changing himself for the better if necessary.”

 

…The one permanent emotion of the inferior man, as of all the simpler mammals, is fear – fear of the unknown, the complex, the inexplicable. What he wants beyond everything else is security. His instincts incline him toward a society so organized that is will protect him at all hazards, and not only against perils to his hide but also against assaults upon his mind – against the need of grapple with the unaccustomed problems, to weigh ideas, to think things out for himself, to scrutinize the platitudes upon which his everyday thinking is based.

– H.L. Mencken

Encounter

Met you in a train that was rushing through the foggy and colored autumn

alongside the Baltic sea –

The last wagon, which turned out to be the first for that journey

was cold and sleepy –

I, crumbled, next to the window, was trying to catch a gleam of sun

which just emerged from cloudy sky –

My breath has drawn unusual signs on the almost frozen glass –

 

The melancholy of a lazy October morning –

People immersed in their thoughts –

A train, running between reality and dream…

seamed to lose the track of time and space –

The world was lost in its beauty; the moment found its eternity…

 

Suddenly, your eyes reminded me…

 I must breath; I have a heart…that was racing –

 Your eyes passed by…

 

In a split of second I saw our story –

I have held your hand; I have kissed your leaps,

I have laughed while foolishly we were running on the beach –

I have sprout into your soul which had grown in mine –

We were so happy, so in loved.

A look…a life lived in a second…

A tremendous amount of colors, sounds, feelings –

Next…

Lost connection, heart stopped beating –

I went back to window, to the dancing colors of autumn’12 –

You closed the door…your seat was in another wagon –

Our paths crossed and spread apart –

We are back to reality – 

Until…

 next encounter –

When our hearts will be ready to speak… fearless,

And everything will make sense:

coming home feeling; lights in the dark –

lost  fights, endless hopes, disillusions –

falls, tears, smiles, bittersweet dreams –

– all for…

LOVE.

I W