A piece of wisdom from
November 19, 2024 · Tuesday
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
Walk one slow block today and observe 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 6.5
उद्धरेदात्मनात्मानं नात्मानमवसादयेत्। आत्मैव ह्यात्मनो बन्धुरात्मैव रिपुरात्मनः॥
“Lift yourself by yourself; do not let yourself sink. For the self alone is the friend of the self, and the self alone is the enemy of the self.”
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