147. How the Japanese classic Chōmei, Hōjōki, from 1200 teaches us how to live wisely today

Please enjoy my reflections on and reading of a classic essay of Japanese literature from 1200 that still speaks to us with compassion today. When the world around you is collapsing and you are gripped by fear of its demise, four responses are available to you, or at least so modern psychology says: fight, fawn, freeze, or flight. But the world has been collapsing for a long time now, and, despite our ingrained fears, we might yet recover, in the burning archive of world literature, some wiser responses to the suffering of the world. Kamo no Chōmei’s essay Hōjōki ("An Account of a Ten-Foot-Square Hut") is one such case. You may be surprised at the way this text from 800 years ago speaks to us compassionately today.

Please enjoy my reflections on and audiobook reading of Chōmei, Hōjōki. You can read more of my essay Chōmei, Hōjōki, or how to respond when the world is collapsing: Reflections on the classic of Japanese literature by subscribing to my free weekly email to receive insights from world history in a weekly essay on Saturday at https://jeffrich.substack.com You can support the Burning Archive by contributing at: Buy Me A Coffee https://www.buymeacoffee.com/burninga... ▼ ▽ MY BOOKS Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Bureaucrat: Writing on Governing https://amzn.to/3SaI4Ty From the Burning Archive: Essays and Fragments 2015-2022 https://amzn.to/4b7cyyw Gathering Flowers of the Mind: Collected Poems 1996-2020 https://amzn.to/3u2Yh56 #audiobook

#Japanese literature

#History of Japan