Someone asked Antisthenes, the founder of the Cynics, what benefit philosophy brought him, and the answer was: “The ability to talk to oneself.” Disputes, confessions of grievances, as well as public relations, communication, news, and so on.
When we are alone, we sometimes speak in our hearts, and we carefully examine its content, but we still do not deviate from the above. Therefore, we are actually speaking to others, a rehearsal or a continuation of our speaking to others. When we really talk to ourselves, it is very rare.
To be able to talk to oneself, one must free the heart from worldly affairs and relationships and return to oneself.
This is a conversation that takes place in the soul, an inner life.
Talking to yourself is indeed an ability, and a rare one. There are many people, if you don’t let them talk about common things, they don’t know what to say.
He only cares about the outside world, and as a result has only the language suitable for conversing with others. Of course, such a person has nothing to say to himself. However, a person who has nothing to say to himself, can he say anything interesting to others?
In the ocean, thousands of species of animals swim around, and their purpose is to hunt their prey. However, not all animals in the ocean have the ability to take the initiative to hunt, and the naked squid is one of them.
Although it lives in the sea, it is like a piece of floating grass, never swimming, and it is even suspected that it cannot swim, let alone hunt for prey all over the world.
Fortunately, it encountered sargassum.
Sargasso is the only algae that can survive floating in the ocean without being attached to the seabed.
The shape and color of naked squid resemble sargassum. They settle in sargassum, hide in it, and drift with the tide.
Occasionally, there will be some small fish and shrimp and other marine life to patronize the Sargasso algae, which is the only predation opportunity for the naked squid. Since the naked squid resembles sargassum, the small fish and shrimps have entered the dangerous area without realizing it, and continue to swim around carelessly. The naked squid is worthy of being a master of camouflage. It stares at the approaching prey and pretends to ignore it without moving. When these small fish and shrimp came to their mouths, they opened their big mouths and suddenly swooped in place.
Success or not, only in an instant. When the prey is caught, it is eaten on the spot. If it is not caught, it does not chase, and it returns to a static state.
This is the case with naked squid, every hunt is not guaranteed to be 100% successful, and many times the prey escapes. Once they miss, they have no other choice but to continue to wait until the prey arrives again.
In many cases, it may take a week or more to have a chance. Nonetheless, the naked squid is never in a hurry, because, although it does not have the ability to hunt, it has enough patience.
Patience is especially important when the initiative is not in your own hands.
