How to Hold Two Perspectives - Like Heraclitus
Saturday Review | Notes, Takeaways, and Reflection (11-17 Sep)
Welcome to the Perennial Meditations (Saturday Review) — A weekly recap and reflection of ancient lessons for modern life. Below you’ll find notable quotes, transcript summaries, and a Saturday Meditation.
1. The Philosopher’s Seclusion (Listen here)
For our Sundays with Seneca episode this week, I connected with my good friend Simon Drew from the Walled Garden Philosophical Society. Simon is a poet, musician, and philosopher, and he deeply appreciates Seneca’s wisdom and writing. I recently started doing video podcasts; if you’d prefer to watch on Youtube, you can do so below:
In On the Philosopher’s Seclusion, Seneca stressed to Lucilius,
“I have withdrawn not only from men but from affairs, especially from my own affairs; I am working for later generations, writing down some ideas that may be of assistance to them.
I point other men to the right path, which I have found late in life, when wearied with wandering. I cry out to them: “Avoid whatever pleases the throng: avoid the gifts of Chance!” […]
2. The Timeless Art of Leading a Life (Read here)
In our Monday Meditation (The PATH), we searched for ancient lessons on the timeless art of leading a life (Perspectives, Principles, and Practices).
Perspectives — When it comes to navigating life — our perspectives (or views and beliefs) shape the principles we put into practice. For example, understanding the nature of impermanence helps us realize that tomorrow is not promised. Or, as Seneca put it, “The future lies in uncertainty; live immediately.”
Principles — Our principles help us to navigate life; one could think of them as points on a compass. The nineteenth-century philosopher Soren Kierkegaard believed the most important thing was to find a truth to live by. Seneca advised, “Adopt a single rule to live by.”
Practices — When it comes to practices (or exercises), there are many to choose from across wisdom traditions. Think of practices like meditation, journaling, prayer, memento mori, and many others.
3. Never Stop Learning - How to Live (Read here)
The Stoic philosopher Musonius Rufus taught his students: “The person who claims to be studying philosophy must practice it even more diligently than the person who aspires to the art of medicine or some similar skill since philosophy is more important and harder to grasp than any other pursuit.”
The lesson here — we must realize the difficulty of leading a life just as no one learns to play a musical instrument without deliberate and consistent effort. No one learns how to live merely by chance. […]
4. Taking Back Philosophy (Listen here)
In this episode, my guest is Bryan Van Norden, the author of Taking Back Philosophy: A Multicultural Manifesto. Prof. Van Norden is the James Monroe Taylor Chair in Philosophy at Vassar College and Chair Professor in Philosophy in the School of Philosophy at Wuhan University (China). He has published numerous books on Chinese and comparative philosophy. You can learn more about his work at BryanVanNorden.com.
In the conversation, Bryan and I discuss:
The meaning behind the title Taking Back Philosophy
How we should define philosophy
The benefits of comparative philosophy
The role of rituals and much more
5. What Are Good Problems (Read here)
In a recent conversation with Vitaliy Katsenelson (author of Soul in the Game), we discussed the art of having good problems. Katsenelson explains, “There is a difference between suffering and struggling.”
Things that are worthy, the ones that have the why usually come with some amount of discomfort: Writing, kids, exercise, relationships, etc. “Once you figure out why you are doing something, and that why is important to you — suffering turns into struggle and thus becomes more tolerable,” writes Katsenelson. […]
6. How to Be Invincible (Listen here)
Why does criticism impact us? Even feedback from someone we don’t know can affect us. This episode explores what wisdom traditions (like Stoicism and Buddhism) can teach us about responding to criticism.
Strangely, many great thinkers and traditions offer detailed advice on dealing with difficult people and how to respond wisely to criticism. […]
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