The Willow

The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci, Volume III by Leonardo da Vinci:

The willow, which by reason of its long shoots and by growing so as to surpass every other plant had become the companion of the vice which is pruned every year, was also itself always mutilated.

-From 'Fables', pg. 285

Some want so badly to succeed, and succeed now, that they grow too fast for their good. You can only understand this if you have seen it or you have experienced it. Things expand too quickly, and you get lost in the forest that you have created. Armed with only a single ax, you must chopped down your forest of jobs by yourself and still reach the deadline. So desperate, so lost, chopping and chopping but you just can't reach the end. It's not enough because after a tree becomes a stump, it grows yet again to become a new tree. More and more spout up. Soon you are overwhelmed and you lose.

You can't finish the forest by yourself unless you have fire.

But fire is a two-edged sword, you have to have enough control over it so it doesn't backfire to hurt you.

Be careful.

B.C.

Wasting Time?

The life of a psychologist is lonely. Always analyzing, always testing. When one sees beauty, they enjoy it. In the mode of a psychologist, they want to see how far the beauty will bend until it breaks.


In mercenary thinking, the psychologist would be the better off because they would know how far the beauty will bend until it breaks, and the normal one will not.


But in the future when the psychologist gets tired or even bored, they will look to for distraction of simple beauty. They will not find it. They will search, and search, but in the end they will be so used to analyzing they forget how to stop.


That is why the psychologist needs to remember: they are not the case. Come back to normality and remember how to enjoy.


It's not wasting time. It's growing in a different way.


B.C.

Difference

Difference between Understanders and Others.


Understanders don't completely understand. They have only began to understand. But once they start and reach a certain point, I'll catalog them as Understanders.


I've only met a few.


They're rare in younger circles. Why? These days understanding has lost the value that it deserves. Why reach out to the kid who insults you when you can just be comfortable with yourself? She'd keep bringing you down, after.


That's wrong.


Yes, you should learn to be comfortable with yourself, but that's only halfway.


When one kid insults another, the initial advice is: it's doesn't matter, you're important, beautiful, and not what the bully attacked. But that's only part of what should be done. You've fixed the victim, but what about the bully? Who's reaching out to them?


It's hard to reach out to those who seem like they don't want to be reached. And if they've truly closed themselves off, then you would be wasting your time trying to help them. But more often then not, they want to be helped. There's reason. They don't understand.


Understanding doesn't fester in those who won't use it. Practical intelligence can be possessed without use, but understanding is more than just practical intelligence.


B.C

Today's Subject, Beginnings

To begin, you need to understand what you're getting into, or you'll drown. There are those who come into incredibly unlikely circumstances and are carried straight to the top. But those are the naturals born with it, and if one isn't born with it, they never develop it. Some come close, but they always fall short.


Perhaps people sacrifice security for the adrenaline rush found in danger. The emotion is addictive, but you choose either one or the other. To feel, or to understand.


I will understand. Understanding every moment of life. Be so sharp that the control always lies in my hands.


Others will not understand. But that doesn't matter, because I will understand. And as long as that stands, so will I.


BC.