A piece of wisdom from
January 31, 2024 · Wednesday
The quote
“A good cook changes his knife once a year, because he cuts. A bad cook changes his knife once a month, because he hacks. The Cook Ting follows the openings — his knife is nineteen years old, and the edge is as fresh as the day it was sharpened.”
— Chuang Tzu · The Tao
The concept
Maat
The 5,000-year-old Egyptian principle of truth, order, balance, and the 42 Negative Confessions the heart was weighed against.
In ancient Egyptian cosmology, Maat was both a goddess and a principle, the order that holds back chaos (Isfet), the truth that lights the world, the balance that the Pharaoh's job was to maintain. When you died, your heart was weighed on a…
A practice for today
Try this once today: the lesson of Maat. The 5,000-year-old Egyptian principle of truth, order, balance, and the 42 Negative Confessions the heart was weighed against.
From the Bhagavad Gita
Verse 12.15
यस्मान्नोद्विजते लोको लोकान्नोद्विजते च यः। हर्षामर्षभयोद्वेगैर्मुक्तो यः स च मे प्रियः॥
“He from whom the world does not shrink, who does not shrink from the world, who is free from joy and envy, fear and agitation — such a person is dear to me.”
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