🖌️ Modern Elders, The Discipline of Desire, New Beginnings, and Guides to the Good Life
Monday Muse (Vol. 36)
Dear Friends,
Here is the latest Monday Muse with a perennial reminder, question, poem, and recommendation(s) to start your week. If you find something useful — please consider sharing it with a friend!
📌 Perennial Reminder
Have you ever heard the term Modern Elder? Chip Conley, a previous podcast guest and Founder of the Modern Elder Academy, has made it relatively popular in recent years. Chip explains,
Part of being a Modern Elder is recognizing the burgeoning wisdom in the young when we see it. … Being a Modern Elder is all about reciprocity. Giving and receiving. Teaching and learning. Speaking and listening. Everyone gets older, but not everyone gets elder. The first just happens (if you’re lucky and healthy). The other you have to earn. By investing your time in reading this book, you’ve taken the first step to earn—but also to embrace and celebrate—your role as a Modern Elder. […]
Source: Wisdom at Work by Chip Conley (Listen to my conversation on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts.)
💡 Perennial Question
Desire is unavoidable. “We are awash in desire at virtually every waking moment,” explains William B. Irvine (a previous podcast guest). The question, or perennial challenge, is whether or not you are in control of your desire. In Stoic philosophy, it is often called the discipline of desire (but it goes by many names across wisdom traditions).
Because we continually experience desire, we are oblivious to its presence in us. It is like the noise made by the fan of a computer. The noise is always there, a low whisper, and because it is always there, we stop noticing it. Similarly, we are usually oblivious to our desires—to their ebb and flow within us, to the role they play in our lives. It is only when our desires are intense (like when we fall in love) or when they come into conflict (like when we want a bowl of ice cream but, because we are on a diet, simultaneously want not to want it) that we pay attention to our desires, with a mixture of puzzlement and vexation. And because we are oblivious to the workings of desire within us, we are full of misconceptions about it. […]
Source: On Desire by William B. Irvine (Listen to my conversation on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts.)
📜 Perennial Poem
This week’s poem comes from the Irish poet and author John O’Donohue.
It’s titled, For A New Beginning,
In out-of-the-way places of the heart, Where your thoughts never think to wander, This beginning has been quietly forming, Waiting until you were ready to emerge. For a long time it has watched your desire, Feeling the emptiness growing inside you, Noticing how you willed yourself on, Still unable to leave what you had outgrown. It watched you play with the seduction of safety And the gray promises that sameness whispered, Heard the waves of turmoil rise and relent, Wondered would you always live like this. Then the delight, when your courage kindled, And out you stepped onto new ground, Your eyes young again with energy and dream, A path of plenitude opening before you. Though your destination is not yet clear You can trust the promise of this opening; Unfurl yourself into the grace of beginning That is at one with your life’s desire. Awaken your spirit to adventure; Hold nothing back, learn to find ease in risk; Soon you will be home in a new rhythm, For your soul senses the world that awaits you.
🔥 Recommendation(s)
This week's recommendation is the book series Guides to the Good Life by Oxford University Press. Many longtime listeners of In Search of Wisdom might be familiar with the series (I’ve been fortunate to have many of the authors on the show). Let me know what you think, or feel free to ask questions in the comments!
🎧 Recent Podcast(s)
—
Thank you for reading/listening; I hope you found something useful.
Until next time, be wise and be well,
J.W.
P.S. As always, if you’re interested in becoming a member but unable to afford it. Feel free to request a complimentary membership or use this discount link if you need a little help.