There is a book Musashi wrote in his late years, "the book of five rings（五輪書）". The book is a unique classic.
One phrase I particularly like from the book is, "Do not do useless things".
I admit, it is hard to define what is useless and what is useful in life.
But sometimes I feel my judgement in action. "Duh, this is useless". Remembering Musashi's phrase, I change the course.
We can categorize our actions into two; consuming and creating.
When I am watching TV, reading books, gaming and shopping, etc, I am consuming and acting as a consumer of time, energy, and/or money.
When I am working as a scientist, writing manuscripts, generating information, or doing something that produce results, I call the acts creating.
And I generally see creating is more useful to others (except for the money I pay) than my consuming. They are opposite direction; input and output of something useful.
It is easy to consume. Capitalistic culture encourages consumption and it's everywhere. In contrast, unless you actively learn how to create, creating something of value does not come naturally.
After many life or death duels, Musashi was pragmatic. It makes a good contrast to spiritualism and philosophies that swordsmanship and martial arts picked up later on.
When I remember Musashi's words, I am reminded of checking whether I am doing useless things or not.
[Musashi Miyamoto]
