Should I highlight/underline while reading?

Jordan Peterson says no. About everybody else says yes, you should. So this is what I am struggling with currently.

So far, the reading methodology picked up from the internet (Farnam Street/ Derek Sivers/ Motimer Adler/ AoM) says you should:

1. Do an inspectional reading (30 minutes per book)
2. Do a superficial reading of the book, marking all the passages you want to remember or investigate further. 
3. Then come back to the book later to really study the marked passages. 

But JP says reading and note-taking should really be separate activities. While reading, your focus should be absorbing. And if you really feel like note-taking, you should read as much as you can absorb/internalise, and then note that down in your words. What you have taken away from the book. And then continue reading. Depending on the density of the book, this could be small or large. This I think is somewhat similar to what Ryan Holiday also suggested. Writing it down yourself, with pen on paper. That helps in committing to memory. And therefore promotes better learning.

But my investigation hasn't ended there. I would like to know what Barbara Oakley has to say about it.

How to start a business

Suleman Ahmer gave a talk on what you need, in what order if you wanna start a business.

I took notes of the speech. But infortunately, I have lost those notes. So I am just trying to jot down here what I remember, then I can build the rest of speech from there.

1. You need a Vision
2. You need Leadership, the Vision attracts leaders
3. You need a team who shares the Vision
4. You need resources i.e. Land
5. ?
6. ?

Feelings

Thoughts precede feelings.

And a thought is an action of the mind.

Hence, you create your feelings. You cause them to exist.

And you cause them to get destroyed.

You want to be a poem?
You will have to be a poet's.

You're the content, and the container

Don't brood or panic. Manage and compose. Contain.

The Greatest Treasure

The greatest treasure,
you could ever discover,
was to enjoy the weather,
all by yourself.

All you need is 20 seconds of courage.

Some stuff

Some random stuff that I like reading again and again and again. Somehow it feels meaninful, obviously can't go around sharing them again and again on facebook, people already think I am crazy.

Sorrow is too great to exist in small hearts.

Love is an act of faith, and whoever is of little faith is also of little love.

Whatever you hold in your mind, you will eventually hold in your hand.

The God Argument

The problem of evil:

"Is he [God] willing to prevent evil, but not able? then is he impotent. Is he able, but not willing? then is he malevolent. Is he both able and willing? whence then is evil?" - Hume, David. "Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion".

But. If God doesn't exist, how do you define evil and good? What is good then, and what is evil? If there is no God, there's no evil, and there's no good. It's true that we're all wired to be 'moral'; and from a religious perspective, that makes perfect sense. But outside of the context of religion, why would the murder be wrong? Why would curing cancer be wrong? Why would creating cancer-like virus be evil?

If we agree that outside the context of religion, there's no good, and no evil, then we know that the problem of evil necessitates the existence of God. 

Why then God enables us to evil? Didn't he foresee the problem that would come arise of it?

Well He could have made us automatons. But we couldn't have loved, if we couldn't have hated. And then, there wouldn't be any choice, and then there wouldn't be any evil.

Okay. But He could have at least stopped the nature's disasters from happening. Well He could have. But He didn't. He is God. The good thing about that you don't have to seek anyone's approval. 

-- This is a work in progress. Will complete as mood be --

Ask and you shall receive

Things just got serious. Like three hours ago.

Let's do this.

Step 1. Slice off the crap out of your life. Just focus on what's important. The detrimental and wasteful would distance itself from you automatically.

The smell of frying bread in butter, is the bread and butter, of the lonely chef.

Content?

Regarding the good amal that you're doing in an satisfied way, or not doing. You should not feel bad. But you should think of increasing it. Never feel bad. Always feel thankful and blessed to be able to as much as you're doing.

When a person raises his hands to pray for something, he should feel thankful for getting the blessing of getting the idea of praying to Allah for that thing. That itself is something one should feel thankful for.

And when you're with the lovers long enough,
The crazy becomes natural,
and the natural becomes lame.

Sleep Issues

Some tips I came across regarding sleeping better. Since I am having huge issues with sleep these days, here I am sharing these tips I learned in this video.

Not everyone needs 8.0 hours of sleep.

There's an epidemic of sleep deprivation going on. If you have trouble concentrating and feel sleepy all the time, that's a good sign you might be getting less sleep than you need.

1. Stop all caffeine consumption. Not even first thing in the morning. It has a long half-life, but it stays in your body. And even if you go to bed early, you will have trouble getting back to sleep if you happen to get up at sometime. 
2. You need to workout every day. 
3. No big meals before bed time. If you want a big dinner, have it 2-3 hours before bed time. Your last meal should be small. 
4. Avoid getting stressed before bed time. Stop thinking about things that mess you up. Don't think about things that you needed to do but couldn't. Just don't do the things that raise your blood pressue. 
5. Meditate before bedtime. Control your thoughts. Remember Allah. Most of us don't have control over what your brains do. But we can do murakba. 
6. Get rid of your alarm clock. If an alarm clock is waking you up, you're sleep deprived. If you wanna sleep better, you need to sleep longer. 
7. Avoid screen time before bed time. This is a tough one. 

Tragedy

The supreme tragedy of the intellectual is not that what he considers insightful enough to share, others find too abstract to appreciate; but that what he considers too obvious to state, others find too significant to overlook.

Lesson

We learn, we all do. Sooner or later we all learn. And when we don't learn sooner, we learn later.

And that is why regrets exist.

Faith

I don't listen to music. I don't recommend listening to them. I have many things against listening to music. But I like poetry. Often the poetry is sung, and sung with music. That doesn't make the poetry bad; the poetry is agreeable if it's not accompanied with music.

Here's some poetry that makes me tick:

So bittersweet
This tragedy
Won't ask for absolution 

This melody
Inside of me
Still searches for solution 

A twist of faith
A change of heart
Cures my infatuation

Not giving the source here.

Aku

Some things, you just can't get over. Some favorite childhood cartoons are one of those things. As a child, I absolutely loved cartoons. Loveddddddd them! And I still have a lingering taste for them. The thing is, some cartoons respect basic logic and psychology, and those are the ones you can watch and enjoy no matter how old you are, you can indulge in them, suspend some disbelief, and be in the story. With others that don't do that, and violate their own assumptions, have plot holes (Swat Cats, anyone?), the back of your mind stands up with its arms wide open and says with with a disappointing face "That's not even possible when, even in cartoons!" Anyway, so as a child, I used to watch this cartoon, and I simply Loved it. It's called Samurai Jack. I loved everything about it from the animation to graphics to the dialogues to the story to the characters to the soundtrack! Down to the time it was aired. One thing I really can't get out of my mind was the 'Back-to-Back' soundtrack of it, and the dialogue that's said by The Aku before the cartoon begins. Here it is:

Long ago in a distant land, I, Aku, the shape-shifting Master of Darkness, unleashed an unspeakable evil! But a foolish Samurai warrior wielding a magic sword stepped forth to oppose me. Before the final blow was struck, I tore open a portal in time and flung him into the future, where my evil is law! Now the fool seeks to return to the past, and undo the future that is Aku!

:)

Book

I like a book for the company it keeps.

Books keep you company, just like humans do. Sometimes it talks to you in an accent (Lolita), sometimes it talks in kind warm voice of wise old person (7 Habits), sometimes it's a smart and stubborn child telling you his tale (Alchemist), sometimes it's that uncle's friend who can always entertain you over the dinner with his awesome tales (Tarzan), sometimes it's  your cousin who is doing a doctorate in psychology and tells you about her research in a fascinated way and you get fascinated too (7 types of smart), sometimes it's that friend who's a little older, but has lived a hell of life and has so many experiences to share!(Daces with Wolves).

That's what books are to me. They keep you company. Some make you laugh, some make you angry, some irritate you with their dumbness, or worse, cunning. Some are downright fake. Some just talk, and bore you.

I like a book for the the company it keeps.

Friends

Friends of good times aren't really friends. If you've never seen bad times, you don't really know whether you have friends or not.