🖼️ Monday Muse | Desires, Needs, and Finding Wonder in Nature
Perennial Newsletter (June 26th, 2023)
Greetings, Readers!
Here is the latest Monday Muse (or Perennial newsletter) with a morning meditation, perennial reminder (and question), and recommendations to consider.
Be wise and be well this week!
📿 Morning Meditation
This week’s morning meditation is courtesy of The Wisdom School podcast (Apple or Spotify). These are short selected readings, clips from In Search of Wisdom, and teachings from philosophical and spiritual traditions.
📌 Perennial Reminder(s)
We often assume that if we get what we want, it will be good. Never assume that. Getting what we want can require sacrificing things of greater worth (personal integrity, time with children, relationships, the truth); it can leave us perpetually unsatisfied because we find ourselves wanting more; it can alienate us from our community. … We often believe that not getting what we want will diminish our prospects for happiness. That’s rarely the case.
Source: Living for Pleasure by Emily Austin (Listen to the conversation)
💡 Perennial Question(s)
Epicurus writes that “one should bring this question to bear on all one’s desires: what will happen to me if what is sought by desire is achieved, and what will happen if it is not?” But what do we need, again? While Epicurus thinks tranquility requires much less than we often think it does, it also requires more than we sometimes realize. Many of the things we need are psychological and social goods, not material goods.
Source: Living for Pleasure by Emily Austin (Listen to the conversation)
🔥 Recommendation(s)
This week’s recommendation is on How to Find Joy, Wisdom, and Wonder in Nature. It’s a recent episode of the One You Feed podcast with Eric Zimmer (a previous guest on In Search of Wisdom). His guest is Mark Coleman the author of A Field Guide to Nature Meditation.
Thank you for reading/listening; I hope you found something useful.
Until next time, be wise and be well,
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