We all have our routines," he said softly."But they must have a purpose and provide an outcome that we can see and take some comfort from, or else they have no use at all. Without that, they are like the endless pacings of a caged animal. If they are not madness itself, then they are a prelude to it.
Interpretation
Routines are essential, but they must serve a purpose to be beneficial; otherwise, they lead to frustration.
John Connolly emphasizes the importance of having meaningful routines in our lives. He suggests that routines should not be mindless or aimless, as they can lead to a feeling of confinement similar to a caged animal. Instead, they should have a defined purpose that yields comfort and tangible outcomes, or they risk becoming a source of madness or despair.
In practice
During a motivational speech about the importance of having meaningful daily habits.
Without a human voice to read them aloud, or a pair of wide eyes following them by flashlight beneath a blanket, they had no real existence in our world. They were like seeds in the beak of a bird, waiting to fall to earth, or the notes of a song laid out on a sheet, yearning for an instrument to bring their music into being.
It was an overcast late November morning, the grass splintered by hoarfrost, and winter grinning through the gaps in the clouds like a bad clown peering through the curtains before the show begins.
For in every adult there dwells the child that was, and in every child there lies the adult that will be.
He would talk to them of stories and books, and explain to them how stories wanted to be told and books wanted to be read, and how everything that they ever needed to know about life and the land of which he wrote, or about any land or realm that they could imagine, was contained in books. And some of the children understood, and some did not.
These scars bear witness but whether to repair or to destruction I no longer know.
I will not be concerned at other men's not knowing me;I will be concerned at my own want of ability.
There is no end To what a living world Will demand of you.
The best athlete wants his opponent at his best. The best general enters the mind of his enemy. The best businessman serves the communal good. The best leader follows the will of the people. All of the embody the virtue of non-competition. Not that they don't love to compete, but they do it in the spirit of play. In this they are like children and in harmony with the Tao.
When Mister Safety Catch Is Not On, Mister Crossbow Is Not Your Friend.
My goal is this: always to put myself in the place in which I am best able to serve, wherever my gifts and qualities find the best soil to grow, the widest field of action. There is no other goal.
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