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the mix. I need to master my procrastination and not use these philosophies to slack my committed duties. Action is still required, and has the added benefit of removing fear and anxiety because since the sage "always confronts difficulties, he never experiences them."[15] The sage knows to "Deal with it before it happens. Set things in order before there is confusion."[16] A personally humorous reminder is that "Good binding requires no knots, yet no one can loosen it."[17] Taking care to do things correctly the first time, in a slow and measured manner, is another form of mindfulness and living in the moment. Letting go is not to be mistaken for carelessness or sloppiness as the sage "takes care of all things and abandons nothing."[18]

Further, I am reminded that we are all on different paths, or merely different parts of the same one, and that it is good to have patience with those whose views may be different. "Knowing others is wisdom; knowing the self is enlightenment. Mastering others requires force; mastering the self needs strength. He who knows he has enough is rich."[19]

I periodically hitchhike to restore my faith in humanity because I think that, ultimately, the divine can best be found in the random kindness of strangers. It's a need I have. To take myself down to nothing, strip away everything, in essence, to submit myself to the universe. I put myself on the line, and therefore, everything becomes more meaningful. It's all perception. This misery restores my faith in humanity by contrast. Nietzsche ascked "How can the ugly and the disharmonic, the content of the tragic myth, stimulate aesthetic pleasure? ...Even the ugly and disharmonic are part of an artistic game that the will in the eternal amplitude of its pleasure plays with itself."[20] Without the disharmonic, the harmonic would sound less melodic and without the ugly, the beautiful would be without form.

Sometimes life has to get pretty bad before it can be beautiful. But then that beauty outshines all the pain it resides in. Life is more immediate, more real when you're broke. Choices are more meaningful. People's power over you is increased, whether positive or negative. Fight or flight means something other than an obsolete survival reflex. I suppose life just seems more precious when it's the only commodity you've got. Perhaps that is why "the sage seeks freedom from desire. He does not collect precious things. He learns not to hold on to ideas. He does not grasp and therefore does

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