XXXIII
DOKKŌDŌ PRECEPT THREE
“Do not, under any circumstances, depend on a partial feeling.”
Note: this does not say to disregard your feelings as some stoics would argue. Rather, it distinctly says “a partial feeling.”
If you are not steadfast in your feelings on a matter, then you should take that as a sign that you are not ready to make a final decision, and should spend more time in reflection. Far too often, you are quick to action, when patience is called for.
But do not take that as permission to avoid action entirely. When you are confident in your feelings toward a course of action, take it! It is only through action that you can gain wisdom.
You must master the balance between feelings and logic.
Logic provides the action plan you can follow to free up your mind to contemplate new problems as they arise. But without feeling, you become a slave to your reason. Instead you must feel deep inside your bones, the reason for your course of action.
“If we have our own why in life, we shall get along with almost any how.” – Friedrich Nietzsche (Twilight of thee Idols)
It is not enough to know a why, you must feel it so deeply that no obstacle will cause you to abandon hope.
The “Dokkōdō” (Japanese: 獨行道) (“The Path of Aloneness”, “The Way to Go Forth Alone”, or “The Way of Walking Alone”), is a short work written by Miyamoto Musashi a week before he died in 1645.
[source: Wikipedia]
FORWARD
This came about as a journal to myself. This is a series of tough love lessons that helped me on my own journey as an author.
Buy Slay Your Dragon: A Motivational Guide for Writers today and get the best meditations from this series all in one place.
If you’ve found this series helpful in your own journey, help spread the word by buying a copy and leaving a review.
Blurb
Struggling to make your writing dream a reality?
Can’t find the fire inside to finish that book?
Worried no one will want to read your book?
It’s time you Slay Your Dragon!
This is not another craft book. Or yet another, writer, writing about writing.
No.
Slay Your Dragon: a Motivational Guide for Writers is a series of daily meditations from Nicholi A.K. Baldron.
This book was produced using his own personal journal of tough love feedback to himself.
Follow along and see what he told himself to become an international bestseller in Fantasy and Mystery.
WARNING: This book is not intended for those with a sensitive disposition, there are several other excellent books that are less blunt. Instead, I have published this for fellow authors like myself, who need to be called out for their possible hubris and sometimes thick-headed nature.
