Summer Spleen

Written in August 2025

Dedication

To all those lighbearers of existence cometh before who lit the path. 

Introduction

Speaking from the purity of my heart, clearness of my mind and firmness of my Being, thirty-one maxims, one for each day of August, of what most certaintly I believe in. Let this be good counsel for better days. 

One : Know Thyself, Know the Remedy.

The right medicine is delivered best when the source(s) of the illness is correctly identified. Even in case of correct idenfication, poor understanding of medicine can lead to delivering the incorrect formula required. In both cases, chance may occassion the illness be rectified, more often that not, the medicine may lead to no benefit, and if luck not be in your favor, aggravate it. 

If you shall be honest to no one, be honest at least to yourself. A general is handicapped whose forces he does not know. The questions that make you uncomfortable, therein lies the path to better self understanding. 

Amor Fati, not Amor Casus. 

Two : Stillness

Many an ill ariseth from not being able to sit still, both in mind and body. If one cannot be still, one yet has not mastered mind nor body. 

Three : Clarity of Thought

Let not the illusions of the world confuse your judgement. Clarity of thought, like any ability, practiced and refined, alloweth one not fall to the trickeries and tomfooleries, both from within and without, that the world present. 

How may one achieve clarity of thought?  An earnest study of epistemology, to understand the boundaries and capabilities of the mind. And within epistemology, take care to read the skeptics  and given the predominant place science in our world, the philosophy of science. 

Once the origins and constraints of knowledge are understood, logic is required, to understand the appropriate combinations to produce new knowledge, allowing one to avoid the common pitfalls of thinking.  

Having aquired tools to understand the origins, limits and arithmetic of thought, one's clarity of thought may still be compromised from the unconscious desires, invisible to the untrained eye. An investigation into one's unconscious, necessary to pinpoint sources of lobbying taking place, embedded deep in thought patterns, clouding one's judgement. 

Four : Integration of Being

Integration of Being. In a teleological sense, the seed of a rose flower has as its purpose the realisation of its Being. Requires thus good soil, full of nutrients with enough depth for the roots to shoot deep. When combined with the right formula, sunlight and water, to sprout, grow and flower into its Being. Once its Being cometh, once the zenith of Being achieved thus, to enter its period of preparation to death, providing the nutrients it once used itself to provide for the next generation. 

Five : What is required for life

Two things are required for life, health and raison d'etre. If you want to race in formula 1, you need a formula 1 vehicle. 

For health, adequate sleep, deep breathing, hydration, sunlight, physical exercise and yoga, raw garlic and the occasional ciggarette. For raison d'etre... 

Ah. 

I shall let smarter minds figure that one out. 

Six : Set an Ideal

Given the infinitude of possible courses, our journey's and destinations in life will be left to chance unless one asserts a path worth going on. Left to chance, given that ills are easier to traverse than virtue, it is no surprise many end up in ill when choice has been neglected. 

For a destination to be chosen, the ability to value accurately is a necessary precondition. For all choice is a valuing of more and less preferable, for better or worse, we always choose what we prefer. Make sure, you know how to value. 

Sometimes, no destination is preferable. Often the quality of the journey is worth more than the destination, for once arriveth, the satisfaction is but a momentary sensation. Don't wed yourself to one path, the random occurences of life open up possibilities that our mind could never have been able to conceive. 

The skills once gains to go down one path will assist you in going to wherever your soul may decide to venture on. 

Seven : Live in Contradictions

Learn to live in war and peace; 

Learn to live in masculine and feminine; 

Learn to live freely and determined; 

Learn to live light and darkness; 

Learn to live in control and freefall; 

Learn to live in Apollonian and Dionysian;

Learn to see and close your eyes; 

Learn to live in the beautiful and ugly, 

of that which is this wonderful contradiction of existence. 

Eight : All the World is a Stage

All life is a stage. Actors come in, play their part and subsequently exist. 

Sunrise, Noon, Sunset, Darkness. 

Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter. 

Life giveth many a role to play. When the role is given to you, take it in earnest to give the best performance. 

Child, Teenager, Youth, Adult, Senior. Employee, Employer. Guest, Host. Child, Parent. Significant other. In Dance, Music and Play. 

Each instance occassions us to partake in the exhuberant play of life, and life rewards those whose performance is believed. 

Maketh thus your priority to known what role you play and how to perform it well. And remember, those who who have fun, play the best. 

Note (writing from the present): Due to crippling Apathy the Author did not write 31 maxims.