A typical opening question on In Search of Wisdom is, “How did you discern your path in life?” Strangely, life delivers us all a seemingly infinite number of questions to discern. It’s often extremely challenging to know which path to take in life.
The Most Important Thing
The nineteenth-century philosopher Soren Kierkegaard explained,
The thing is to understand myself: the thing is to find a truth which is true for me, to find the idea for which I can live and die. That is what I now recognize as the most important thing.
To discern our path, we must know what truly matters. To quote Kierkegaard, “It is perhaps the misfortune of my life that I am interested in far too much but not decisively in any one thing; all my interests are not subordinated in one but stand on an equal footing.”
Similarly, Seneca urged Lucilius, “Adopt once and for all a single rule to live by, and make your whole life conform to it.” The wise person does not always take the same steps, but they walk a single road.
Contemplation Exercise:
How are you discerning your path in life?
Do you have a single rule that you live by?
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