Ewen's Newsletter - August 7, 2024
Hi All
Here’s this week’s newsletter.
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Film: I Am Cuba (1964)
Synopsis: Four vignettes about the lives of the Cuban people set during the pre-revolutionary era.
Undervalued Films page - Watch Trailer
Book: The Birth and Death of Meaning
About: Uses the disciplines of psychology, anthropology, sociology and psychiatry to explain what makes people act the way they do.
Music: White Lies
Artist: The Him
Undervalued Music page - Listen
Reflections
"A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on." - Winston Churchill
"Correction does much, but encouragement does more." - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
"Nature is a mutable cloud which is always and never the same." - Ralph Waldo Emerson
"It is the province of knowledge to speak, and it is the privilege of wisdom to listen." - Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.
"Blessed is the man who expects nothing, for he shall never be disappointed." - Alexander Pope
Longer Reflection
The ancients said:
“The Man of Tao remains unknown. Perfect virtue produces nothing. No-self is True-self. And the great man is nobody.”
Grateful For
This week, I’m most grateful for: How life has this way of working itself out.
What are you grateful for this week? (You’re welcome to share with me. But I encourage you to share your gratitude with those close to you)
Book Competition
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Here’s a snippet of the first reflection:
The Philosophy of Focus
When I was younger, I used to have a very set way of looking at the world. Like most growing up, I used to have an unwavering set of beliefs that were almost stuck on me. But as I’ve gotten older, all those beliefs have gradually fallen away to the point where I can’t even remember most of what I used to believe in. And now I don’t hold any beliefs. None whatsoever. And I am aware that this is quite antithetical to what most tell us. People say “You have to believe in something”, “You have to believe in yourself”, etc., etc. But I don’t believe in anything anymore.
What has brought this on has been my widened perspective. As I’ve come to new realisations of life, I’ve realised more ways in which I could disprove my beliefs. And quite naturally, my beliefs have eased. It’s not that I don’t have thoughts anymore. It’s just that I don’t believe any of my thoughts are true. They’re just words that float through my mind.
But what does all this have to do with focus?
Film
Watch my film Śūnyatā:
Books
If you haven’t already, grab both my books The Flow of All Things and The Shadow Stalker for free by clicking the covers:
Thanks for checking out this week’s newsletter. If you have any feedback or would just like to say “Hi”, you can simply reply to this newsletter. I do my best to respond to every email.
Have a great rest of your week.
Cheers,
Ewen