Calmness.....................

 

     Calmness of mind is one of the beautiful jewels of wisdom.  It is the result of long and patient effort in self-control.  Its presence is an indication of ripened experience, and of a more than ordinary knowledge of the laws and operations of thought. . . .

     Yes, humanity surges with uncontrolled passion, is tumultuous with ungoverned grief, is blown about by anxiety and doubt.  Only those whose thoughts are controlled and purified make the winds and the storms of the soul obey them.

     Tempest-tossed souls, wherever you may be, under whatsoever conditions you may live, know this—in the ocean of life the isles of blessedness are smiling, and the sunny shore of our ideal awaits your coming.  Keep your hand firmly upon the helm of thought.  In the bark of your soul reclines the commanding Master; He does not sleep; wake Him.  Self-control is strength.  Right thought is master.  Calmness is power.  Say unto your heart, "Peace, be still!"

-James Allen, Serenity

Today........................

 

their eternal calm...................

 

To the body and mind which have been cramped by noxious work or company, nature is medicinal and restores their tone.  The tradesman, the attorney comes out of the din and craft of the street, and sees the sky and the woods, and is a man again.  In their eternal calm, he finds himself.  The health of the eye seems to demand a horizon.  We are never tired, so long as we can see far enough.

-Ralph Waldo Emerson, from Chapter III in his essay Nature

 

bear...............................

 

To bear trials with a calm mind robs misfortune of its strength and burden.

-attributed to Seneca

Calm.................................

Claude Monet    1883     Port d'Aval, Rough Sea 

 

Claude Monet   1883  The Manneport, Cliff at Étretat 

“If the ocean can calm itself, so can you. We are both salt water mixed with air”

-Nayyirah Waheed

Staying calm is a super power............

 Think about all the bad news, economic or otherwise, of the past twenty-two years that might have caused you to stop investing, or to pull your money out of the market.  Just as a reminder: the Dow was 10,540 at the end of January, 2000.  It is 32,134 today.   For a more readable copy of the chart, go here.

Everything...........................

"Only be training ourselves to calm down and listen can we begin to recognize the word of God in everything, even the most mundane utterances of life."

-The Monks of New Skete:  In the Spirit of Happiness

On sustainability.....................

"It is  hard to be against sustainability.  In fact, the less you know about it, the better it sounds. That is true of lots of ideas"

-Robert M Solow,  Sustainability:  An Economist's Perspective

     As Solow points out in his lecture "Sustainability:  An Economist's Perspective," the term 'sustainability' is subject to varying interpretations.  Depending on which interpretation one chooses, sustainability could be congruent with a market economy, or it could rule out economic activity altogether.
     Human economic activity alters the environment.  We nurture some species of plants and animals, and we hamper others.  We transform plants, animal products, and minerals into different forms.  We use chemical reactions to change matter from one form to another.  Some of those chemical reactions provide us with energy in useful forms.
     Suppose we were to define sustainability as leaving the natural environment exactly as we found it.  That definition is appropriate for a society of hunters and gatherers.  If you want to hunt and gather sustainably, you cannot kill game or gather plants at a higher rate that they are naturally replenished.  However, such a strict definition will not accommodate more advance economic activity characterized by specialization.  Living by such a definition would in fact require that we revert to hunting and gathering.

-Arnold Kling,  Specialization And Trade:  A Re-Introduction To Economics