Filosophy Archives - Page 8 of 35 - Learning Without Scars

Friday Filosophy v.12.24.2021

Socrates (469 BC – 399 BC) was one of the greatest Greek philosophers. He did not propose any specific knowledge or policy. He showed how argument, debate, and discussion could help men to understand difficult issues. Most of the issues he dealt with were only political on the surface. Underneath, they were moral questions about how life should be lived. Such is the influence of Socrates that philosophers before him are called the Presocratic philosophers. Socrates made enemies, three of whom brought charges against him. Socrates was tried for his life in 399 BC, found guilty, and put to death by drinking hemlock (a herbal poison). The story of his trial and death is the subject of a tract by Plato which is called the Apologia.

Most of what we know about Socrates comes from the works of Plato, who was his pupil. Socrates lived in the Greek city of Athens. His method of teaching was to have a dialogue with individual students. They would propose some point of view, and Socrates would question them, asking what they meant. He would pretend “I don’t know anything; I’m just trying to understand what it is you are saying”, or words to that effect. This is now called the Socratic method of teaching. Socrates is sometimes called the “father of Western philosophy“. This is because in the discussions he uncovered some of the most basic questions in philosophy, questions which are still discussed today.

The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing.
By all means, marry. If you get a good wife, you’ll become happy; if you get a bad one, you’ll become a philosopher.
Worthless people live only to eat and drink; people of worth eat and drink only to live.
Wisdom begins in wonder.
Once made equal to man, woman becomes his superior.
The greatest way to live with honor in this world is to be what we pretend to be.
He is a man of courage who does not run away, but remains at his post and fights against the enemy.
I was really too honest a man to be a politician and live.
Ordinary people seem not to realize that those who really apply themselves in the right way to philosophy are directly and of their own accord preparing themselves for dying and death.
I decided that it was not wisdom that enabled poets to write their poetry, but a kind of instinct or inspiration, such as you find in seers and prophets who deliver all their sublime messages without knowing in the least what they mean.
Beauty is the bait which with delight allures man to enlarge his kind.
Ordinary people seem not to realize that those who really apply themselves in the right way to philosophy are directly and of their own accord preparing themselves for dying and death.

The Time is Now

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Friday Filosophy v.12.17.2021

John Robert Wooden (October 14, 1910 – June 4, 2010 was an American basketball player and coach. Nicknamed the “Wizard of Westwood”, he won ten NCAA national championships in a 12-year period—seven in a row. Wooden was named a member of the Basketball Hall of Fame as a player (inducted in 1961) and as a coach (in 1973), the first person ever to be in both categories. He was a Democrat. Our Friday Filosophy v.12.17.2021 brings you words of wisdom from Coach John Wooden.

Wooden was born on October 14, 1910 in Hall, Indiana. He studied at Purdue University. Wooden was married to Nellie Riley from 1932 until her death in 1985. They had two children. Wooden died on June 4, 2010 in Los Angeles, California from natural causes, aged 99.

Success is peace of mind which is a direct result of self-satisfaction in knowing you did your best to become the best you are capable of becoming,
It’s the little details that are vital. Little things make the big things happen.
If you don’t have time to do it right, when will you have time to do it over?
Be more concerned with your character than your reputation, because your character is what you really are, while your reputation is merely what others think you are.
Talent is God given. Be humble. Fame is man-given. Be grateful. Conceit is self-given. Be careful.
Do not let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do.
Things turn out best for the people who make the best of the way things turn out.
Be true to yourself, help others, make each day your masterpiece, make friendship a fine art, drink deeply from good books – especially the Bible, build a shelter against a rainy day, give thanks for your blessings and pray for guidance every day.
Don’t let making a living prevent you from making a life.
You can’t live a perfect day without doing something for someone who will never be able to repay you.
You can’t let praise or criticism get to you. It’s a weakness to get caught up in either one.
Don’t give up on your dreams, or your dreams will give up on you.

The Time is Now.

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Friday Filosophy v.12.10.2021

Friday Filosophy v.12.10.2021 focuses upon Peter Ferdinand Drucker; German: November 19, 1909 – November 11, 2005) was an Austrian-American management consultant, educator, and author, whose writings contributed to the philosophical and practical foundations of the modern business corporation. He was also a leader in the development of management education, he invented the concept known as management by objectives and self-control, and he has been described as “the founder of modern management”.

Drucker’s books and articles, both scholarly and popular, explored how humans are organized across the business, government, and nonprofit sectors of society. He is one of the best-known and most widely influential thinkers and writers on the subject of management theory and practice. His writings have predicted many of the major developments of the late twentieth century, including privatization and decentralization; the rise of Japan to economic world power; the decisive importance of marketing; and the emergence of the information society with its necessity of lifelong learning. In 1959, Drucker coined the term “knowledge worker“, and later in his life considered knowledge-worker productivity to be the next frontier of management.

The best way to predict the future is to create it.
Efficiency is doing things right; effectiveness is doing the right things.
There is nothing so useless as doing efficiently that which should not be done at all.
The entrepreneur always searches for change, responds to it, and exploits it as an opportunity.
We now accept the fact that learning is a lifelong process of keeping abreast of change. And the most pressing task is to teach people how to learn.
The most important thing in communication is hearing what isn’t said.
The aim of marketing is to know and understand the customer so well the product or service fits him and sells itself.
Effective leadership is not about making speeches or being liked; leadership is defined by results not attributes.
Most of what we call management consists of making it difficult for people to get their work done.
Knowledge has to be improved, challenged, and increased constantly, or it vanishes.

The Time is Now

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Filosophy, Words of Wisdom

Friday Filosophy v.12.03.2021

Henry David Thoreau. July 12, 1817 – May 6, 1862) was an American naturalist, essayist, poet, and philosopher. Thoreau’s books, articles, essays, journals, and poetry amount to more than 20 volumes. Among his lasting contributions are his writings on natural history and philosophy, in which he anticipated the methods and findings of ecology and environmental history, two sources of modern-day environmentalism.

Thoreau was a lifelong abolitionist, delivering lectures that attacked the fugitive slave law while praising the writings of Wendell Phillips and defending the abolitionist John Brown. Thoreau’s philosophy of civil disobedience later influenced the political thoughts and actions of such notable figures as Leo Tolstoy, Mahatma Gandhi, and Martin Luther King Jr.

Thoreau is sometimes referred to as an anarchist. In “Civil Disobedience”, Thoreau wrote: “I heartily accept the motto,—’That government is best which governs least;’ and I should like to see it acted up to more rapidly and systematically. Carried out, it finally amounts to this, which also I believe, ‘That government is best which governs not at all;’ and when men are prepared for it, that will be the kind of government which they will have. … I ask for, not at once no government, but at once a better government.”

Rather than love, than money, than fame, give me truth.
It’s not what you look at that matters, it’s what you see.
Many men go fishing all of their lives without knowing that it is not fish they are after.
The price of anything is the amount of life you exchange for it.
Disobedience is the true foundation of liberty. The obedient must be slaves.
If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours.
Not until we are lost do we begin to understand ourselves.
Success usually comes to those who are too busy to be looking for it.
Make the most of your regrets; never smother your sorrow, but tend and cherish it till it comes to have a separate and integral interest. To regret deeply is to live afresh.
Things do not change; we change.

The Time is Now

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Filosophy, Words of Wisdom

Friday Filosophy v.11.26.2021

Ludwig Philipp Albert Schweitzer; 14 January 1875 – 4 September 1965) was an Alsatian polymath. He was a theologian, organist, musicologist, writer, humanitarian, philosopher, and physician. A Lutheran, Schweitzer challenged both the secular view of Jesus as depicted by the historical-critical method current at this time, as well as the traditional Christian view. He received the 1952 Nobel Peace Prize for his philosophy of “Reverence for Life“, becoming the eighth Frenchman to be awarded that prize. His philosophy was expressed in many ways, but most famously in founding and sustaining the Albert Schweitzer Hospital in Lambaréné, which up to 1958 was situated in French Equatorial Africa, and after this in Gabon. Our Friday Filosophy v.11.26.2021 shares thoughts and ideas from this extraordinary man.

I was influenced by Dr. Schweitzer in my teens when I read his book titled “My Childhood and Youth.” He devoted his life to the well-being of the people in Africa. A wonderful example for anyone and everyone.

Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful.
An optimist is a person who sees a green light everywhere, while a pessimist sees only the red stoplight… the truly wise person is colorblind.
Think occasionally of the suffering of which you spare yourself the sight.
In everyone’s life, at some time, our inner fire goes out. It is then burst into flame by an encounter with another human being. We should all be thankful for those people who rekindle the inner spirit.
I don’t know what your destiny will be, but one thing I know: the only ones among you who will be really happy are those who will have sought and found how to serve.
Do something wonderful, people may imitate it.
Ethics is the activity of man directed to secure the inner perfection of his own personality.
Happiness is nothing more than good health and a bad memory.
The true worth of a man is not to be found in man himself, but in the colors and textures that come alive in others.
A man can do only what he can do. But if he does that each day he can sleep at night and do it again the next day.
Man is a clever animal who behaves like an imbecile.
Everything deep is also simple and can be reproduced simply as long as its reference to the whole truth is maintained. But what matters is not what is witty but what is true.
Wherever a man turns he can find someone who needs him.
Seek always to do some good, somewhere. Every man has to seek in his own way to realize his true worth. You must give some time to your fellow man. For remember, you don’t live in a world all your own. Your brothers are here too.
The willow which bends to the tempest, often escapes better than the oak which resists it; and so in great calamities, it sometimes happens that light and frivolous spirits recover their elasticity and presence of mind sooner than those of a loftier character.
Success is not the key to happiness.
The African is my brother but he is my younger brother by several centuries.
My life is my argument.

The Time is Now.

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Filosophy

Friday Filosophy v.11.19.2021

Steven Alexander Wright (born December 6, 1955) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, writer, and film producer. He is known for his distinctly lethargic voice and slow, deadpan delivery of ironic, philosophical and sometimes nonsensical jokes, paraprosdokians, non sequiturs, anti-humor, and one-liners with contrived situations. Wright was ranked as the 15th Greatest Comedian by Rolling Stone in its 2017 list of the 50 Greatest Stand-up Comics.[2] His accolades include the Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film and two Primetime Emmy Awards nominations as a producer. In this, our Friday Filosophy v.11.19.2021, we share some thoughts from Steven Wright.

Whenever I think of the past, it brings back so many memories.
What’s another word for Thesaurus?
I intend to live forever. So far, so good.
I went to a restaurant that serves ‘breakfast at any time’. So, I ordered French Toast during the Renaissance.
Experience is something you don’t get until just after you need it.
A clear conscience is usually the sign of a bad memory.
You can’t have everything. Where would you put it?
I have the world’s largest collection of seashells. I keep it on all the beaches of the world… perhaps you’ve seen it.
Someone asked me, if I were stranded on a desert island what book would I bring… ‘How to Build a Boat.’
Right now, I’m having amnesia and deja vu at the same time… I think I’ve forgotten this before.
I went down the street to the 24-hour grocery. When I got there, the guy was locking the front door. I said, ‘Hey, the sign says you’re open 24 hours.’ He said, ‘Yes, but not in a row.’
I used to work in a fire hydrant factory. You couldn’t park anywhere near the place.
For my birthday I got a humidifier and a de-humidifier… I put them in the same room and let them fight it out.
My doctor told me I shouldn’t work out until I’m in better shape. I told him, ‘All right; don’t send me a bill until I pay you.’
I’m going to get an MRI to find out whether I have claustrophobia.

The Time is Now

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Filosophy, Words of Wisdom

Friday Filosophy v.11.12.2021

FRIDAY FILOSOPHY v.11.12.2021

Vincent Willem van Gogh March 1853 – 29 July 1890) was a Dutch Post-Impressionist painter who posthumously became one of the most famous and influential figures in Western art history. In a decade, he created about 2,100 artworks, including around 860 oil paintings, most of which date from the last two years of his life. They include landscapes, still life’s, portraits and self-portraits, and are characterized by bold colors and dramatic, impulsive and expressive brushwork that contributed to the foundations of modern art. Not commercially successful, he struggled with severe depression and poverty, eventually leading to his suicide at age thirty-seven.

Holding on to anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else; you are the one who gets burned.
Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment.
Health is the greatest gift, contentment the greatest wealth, faithfulness the best relationship.
The mind is everything. What you think you become.
No one saves us but ourselves. No one can and no one may. We ourselves must walk the path.
To keep the body in good health is a duty… otherwise we shall not be able to keep our mind strong and clear.
It is better to travel well than to arrive.
You will not be punished for your anger; you will be punished by your anger.
There are only two mistakes one can make along the road to truth; not going all the way, and not starting.
Peace comes from within. Do not seek it without.
To enjoy good health, to bring true happiness to one’s family, to bring peace to all, one must first discipline and control one’s own mind. If a man can control his mind he can find the way to Enlightenment, and all wisdom and virtue will naturally come to him.
Whatever words we utter should be chosen with care for people will hear them and be influenced by them for good or ill.
It is a man’s own mind, not his enemy or foe, that lures him to evil ways.
Just as a candle cannot burn without fire, men cannot live without a spiritual life.
However, many holy words you read, however many you speak, what good will they do you if you do not act on upon them?
To be idle is a short road to death and to be diligent is a way of life; foolish people are idle, wise people are diligent.
In a controversy the instant we feel anger we have already ceased striving for the truth, and have begun striving for ourselves.
I do not believe in a fate that falls on men however they act; but I do believe in a fate that falls on them unless they act.

The Time is Now.

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Filosophy, Words of Wisdom

Friday Filosophy v.11.05.2021

FRIDAY FILOSOPHY v.11.05.2021

Gautama Buddha, popularly known as the Buddha was a Sramana who lived in ancient India (c. 5th to 4th century BCE). He is regarded as the founder of the world religion of Buddhism, and revered by most Buddhist schools as a savior, the Enlightened One who rediscovered an ancient path to release clinging and craving and escape the cycle of birth and rebirth. He taught for around 45 years and built a large following, both monastic and lay. The Buddha was born into an aristocratic family in the Shakya clan but eventually renounced lay life. According to Buddhist tradition, after several years of mendicancy, meditation, and asceticism, he awakened to understand the mechanism which keeps people trapped in the cycle of rebirth. A couple of centuries after his death he came to be known by the title Buddha, which means “Awakened One” or “Enlightened One”. Gautama’s teachings were compiled by the Buddhist community in the Vinaya, his codes for monastic practice, and the Suttas, texts based on his discourses. These were passed down in Middle-Indo Aryan dialects through an oral tradition.

Holding on to anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else; you are the one who gets burned.
Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment.
Health is the greatest gift, contentment the greatest wealth, faithfulness the best relationship.
The mind is everything. What you think you become.
No one saves us but ourselves. No one can and no one may. We ourselves must walk the path.
To keep the body in good health is a duty… otherwise we shall not be able to keep our mind strong and clear.
It is better to travel well than to arrive.
You will not be punished for your anger; you will be punished by your anger.
There are only two mistakes one can make along the road to truth; not going all the way, and not starting.
Peace comes from within. Do not seek it without.
To enjoy good health, to bring true happiness to one’s family, to bring peace to all, one must first discipline and control one’s own mind. If a man can control his mind he can find the way to Enlightenment, and all wisdom and virtue will naturally come to him.
Whatever words we utter should be chosen with care for people will hear them and be influenced by them for good or ill.
It is a man’s own mind, not his enemy or foe, that lures him to evil ways.
Just as a candle cannot burn without fire, men cannot live without a spiritual life.
However, many holy words you read, however many you speak, what good will they do you if you do not act on upon them?
To be idle is a short road to death and to be diligent is a way of life; foolish people are idle, wise people are diligent.
In a controversy the instant we feel anger we have already ceased striving for the truth, and have begun striving for ourselves.
I do not believe in a fate that falls on men however they act; but I do believe in a fate that falls on them unless they act.

The time is now.

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Filosophy, Words of Wisdom

Friday Filosophy v.10.29.2021

FRIDAY FILOSOPHY v.10.29.2021

Many of you will have noticed we have been writing Blogs and recording Podcasts that are trying to provoke businesses to embrace continuous improvement and make changes. Most recently as a result of a Podcast with Mets Kramer. We were talking about how Amazon and Google conduct their businesses. How within Amazon they were constantly reviewing customer needs and wants and making adjustments. They were working on their businesses not just in their business. Mets and I talked about the fact that within our Industry we were problem solvers. That isn’t a bad thing. We were working hard in the business trying to satisfy customer needs and wants. We didn’t find many dealerships that were working on their business. Trying to change their systems and processes. That simply won’t be sufficient. Time is running out on continuing to do what you have always done.

The only way to make sense out of change is to plunge into it, move with it, and join the dance. Alan Watts
They always say time changes things, but you actually have to change them yourself. Andy Warhol
Life is about not knowing, having to change, taking the moment and making the best of it, without knowing what’s going to happen next. Gilda Radner
You must be the change you wish to see in the world. Mahatma Gandhi
If you don’t like something, change it. If you can’t change it, change your attitude. Maya Angelou
He who rejects change is the architect of decay. The only human institution which rejects progress is the cemetery. Harold Wilson
There is nothing permanent except change. Heraclitus
The world is changing very fast. Big will not beat small anymore. It will be the fast beating the slow. Rupert Murdoch
I have noticed even people who claim everything is predestined, and that we can do nothing to change it, look before they cross the road. Stephen Hawking
The thing that lies at the foundation of positive change, the way I see it, is service to a fellow human being. Lech Walesa
Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future. John F. Kennedy
Progress is a nice word. But change is its motivator. And change has its enemies. Robert Kennedy
You must take personal responsibility. You cannot change the circumstances, the seasons, or the wind, but you can change yourself. That is something you have charge of. Jim Rohn
Life belongs to the living, and he who lives must be prepared for changes. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
It may be hard for an egg to turn into a bird: it would be a jolly sight harder for it to learn to fly while remaining an egg. We are like eggs at present. And you cannot go on indefinitely being just an ordinary, decent egg. We must be hatched or go bad. S. Lewis
Change the changeable, accept the unchangeable, and remove yourself from the unacceptable. Denis Waitley
There are two kinds of fools: those who can’t change their opinions and those who won’t. Josh Billings
In times of rapid change, experience could be your worst enemy. Paul Getty
It is change, continuing change, inevitable change, that is the dominant factor in society today. No sensible decision can be made any longer without taking into account not only the world as it is, but the world as it will be. Isaac Asimov
I’m a catalyst for change. You can’t be an outsider and be successful over 30 years without leaving a certain amount of scar tissue around the place. Rupert Murdoch

The Time is Now

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Filosophy, Words of Wisdom

Friday Filosophy v.10.22.2021

Friday Filosophy v.10.22.2021

Aesop 620–564 BCE was a Greek fabulist and storyteller credited with a number of fables now collectively known as Aesop’s Fables. Although his existence remains unclear and no writings by him survive, numerous tales credited to him were gathered across the centuries and in many languages in a storytelling tradition that continues to this day. Many of the tales are characterized by animals and inanimate objects that speak, solve problems, and generally have human characteristics.

Scattered details of Aesop’s life can be found in ancient sources, including Aristotle, Herodotus, and Plutarch. An ancient literary work called The Aesop Romance tells an episodic, probably highly fictional version of his life, including the traditional description of him as a strikingly ugly slave who by his cleverness acquires freedom and becomes an adviser to kings and city-states.

No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted.
We hang the petty thieves and appoint the great ones to public office.
A liar will not be believed, even when he speaks the truth.
Every truth has two sides; it is as well to look at both, before we commit ourselves to either.
After all is said and done, more is said than done.
It is not only fine feathers that make fine birds
The level of our success is limited only by our imagination and no act of kindness, however small, is ever wasted.
We often give our enemies the means for our own destruction.
The smaller the mind the greater the conceit.
Any excuse will serve a tyrant.
Self-conceit may lead to self-destruction
He that is discontented in one place will seldom be happy in another.
He that always gives way to others will end in having no principles of his own.
The unhappy derive comfort from the misfortunes of others.
Better be wise by the misfortunes of others than by your own.

The Time is Now.