Living out of a 2019 Subaru Ascent named Mirja
“Nature provides exceptions to every rule.” – Margaret Fuller
“FREEDOM!” – ‘William Wallace’
This rule is really at the heart of this entire philosophical and spiritual bullshit that is my rules. All of my rules are useless without this one. In one simple line, it describes the freedom that all of my rules are actually about, while also giving a call to wisdom and a warning of responsibility. Every rule has an exception, and every rule has a time and place to be bent and broken.
“Listening is being able to be changed by the other person.” – Alan Alda
“If for a moment you are inclined to regard these taluses as mere draggled, chaotic dumps, climb to the top of one of them, and run down without any haggling, puttering hesitation, boldly jumping from boulder to boulder with even speed. You will then find your feet playing a tune, and quickly discover the music and poetry of these magnificent rock piles — a fine lesson; and all Nature’s wildness tells the same story — the shocks and outbursts of earthquakes, volcanoes, geysers, roaring, thundering waves and floods, the silent uprush of sap in plants, storms of every sort — each and all are the orderly beauty-making love-beats of Nature’s heart.” – John Muir
This rule might seem obvious, but the challenge would be to take it deeper. Actively listen not only to others in conversation, but to the animals and plants in nature. To the rocks and streams. To the wind and rain, and the sun and the stars. To the spiritual centers of the universe and God. Listening actively is not shutting up, but rather partaking in deep, heartfelt conversation. Responding and seeking to understand and empathize.
“Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.” – Viktor E Frankl
“Extraordinary people survive under the most terrible circumstances and they become more extraordinary because of it.” – Robertson Davies
This rule: this rule is my most treasured rule. It is simple, but expands into everything in life. It is such an invasive philosophy that there is really nowhere that it cannot be applied. It makes up a part of my very identity, even. Yet, despite such an invasive role in my life, it is one I still find particularly difficult at times as well.
“Insist on yourself; never imitate. Your own gift you can present every moment with the cumulative force of a whole life’s cultivation; but of the adopted talent of another you have only an extemporaneous half possession. That which each can do best, none but his Maker can teach him.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
“Don’t compromise yourself. You’re all you’ve got.” – Janis Joplin
I must confess that I stole this philosophy straight out of Burning Man’s 10 principles. I like their wording, and I like the meaning behind it. It also serves as something of an obvious philosophy for me to hold in this vagabond lifestyle of mine, although I really do think that it expands beyond those obvious points as well.
“To improve is to change; to be perfect is to change often.” – Winston Churchill
“If you want to be a new man you have to stay in new places, and do new things, with people who never knew you before. If you go back to the same old ways, what else can you be but the same old person?” – Joe Ambercrombie
How does one expand on the point made by Winston Churchill? This quote alone sums up my Rule #6, “Never Stop Changing.” It’s difficult to even think of what I could possibly add. I’ve spent weeks, now, researching quotes and what people have to say. Turns out, a lot of people have a lot to say about change. Yet Winston Churchill still stands as the one to make one quote summing all of it up.
“You grow up the day you have the first real laugh at yourself.” – Ethel Barrymore
“Laugh at yourself, but don’t ever aim your doubt at yourself. Be bold. When you embark for strange places, don’t leave any of yourself safely on shore. Have the nerve to go into unexplored territory.” – Alan Alda
What’s the point of things without a good sense of humor? Why make my list of rules, if I can’t laugh at how ridiculous that is? A life taken too seriously is a terribly boring affair. So, I made a rule to remind myself to step back and laugh at the stupid and/or silly things I do on a frequent basis. A reminder to laugh at myself, instead of doubting myself.
“I’m beginning to think that to hope isn’t the same as to expect something. To hope is to believe that life is an acceptable chaos.” – Goenawan Mohamad
“I smile at every circumstance that comes my way because I don’t expected life to be an easy journey.” – Edmond Mbiaka
Murphy’s Law states that anything that can go wrong, will go wrong. I hold that to be true, but I also hold the contrary to be true: anything that can go right, will go right. This rule calls for preparation for the Murphy’s Law, while also calling for maintaining a positive mindset in hope of things going right. In that, this rule is one of the cornerstone rules following a similar theme of my rules: taking responsibility for your life.
With the new year, and my birthday now through, it’s time for a little rambling about reflections and my plans for the future. The last year has been a crazy one, and the next year is promising to be interesting, if much slower than the last. I’ve got all kinds of thoughts and plans, and I haven’t really concisely put them down yet. So, here we go!
“There is a time for everything, … a time to kill and a time to heal, … a time to weep and a time to laugh, … a time to search and a time to give up, … a time to love and a time to hate” – King Solomon of Israel
This is one of my rules that I would feel all of my rules would be incomplete without. Each rule has its time and place, and each rule has a time and place in which it does not belong and should be broken. Expanding even further, however, this goes for more-or-less everything in life: everything has a time and place in which it belongs and a time and place in which it does not belong. This rule calls to consider each time and place and learn the wisdom to know what belongs when and where.
“Though we travel the world over to find the beautiful, we must carry it with us, or we find it not.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
“If your daily life seems poor, do not blame it; blame yourself, tell yourself that you are not poet enough to call forth its riches; for to the creator there is no poverty and no poor indifferent place.” – Rainer Maria Milke
On the surface, saying such a thing as “Seek the beauty in everything” seems cheesy, and somewhat not so difficult. The truth is: it is more difficult than it seems. In the worst moments of life, there is a grand beauty to the bad sides, and this rule calls to seek that even in those times. It also calls to seek the beauty in surroundings and in others, regardless of preexisting bias and preferences.
