Welcome to Perennial Meditations (Saturday Review) — A weekly recap and reflection of ancient lessons for modern life. Below you’ll find links, notable quotes, transcript summaries, and videos below.
1. Seneca | On Learning Maxims (Listen here)
On Sundays with Seneca this week, we explored a letter known today as, On the Futility of Learning Maxims. Seneca wrote,
You wish me to close these letters also, as I closed my former letters, with certain utterances taken from the chiefs of our school. But they did not interest themselves in choice extracts; the whole texture of their work is full of strength. There is unevenness, you know, when some objects rise conspicuous above others. A single tree is not remarkable if the whole forest rises to the same height. […]
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2. How to Lead Like a Roman Emperor (Read here)
Our Monday Meditation (The PATH) searched for ancient lessons on leading like a Roman Emperor (The Stoic Philosophy of Marcus Aurelius).
Change — On the topic of change, Marcus wrote, “Is someone afraid of change? Well, what can ever come to be without change?” […]
Connection — When Marcus premeditated on dealing with difficult people, he reminded himself that “we were born to work together, like feet or hands or eyelids, like the rows of upper and lower teeth.” […]
Common Good — To lead like a Roman Emperor is to see yourself as part of the greater whole. It is to realize that “what is good for the bee is good for the hive.” […]
3. The Art of Thinking Well (Read here)
One of the many paradoxes in life is that thinking is both a path to peace and suffering. The Buddha taught, “Whatever one frequently thinks and ponders upon, that will become the inclination of the mind.” An untrained mind ultimately leads to suffering. However, the Buddha was far from the only person to make this point. Seneca said, “Everything hangs on one’s thinking.” […]
4. Life is Hard (Listen here)
In this week’s episode of In Search of Wisdom, my guest was Kieran Setiya, the author of the new book Life is Hard: How Philosophy Can Help Us Find Our Way. Kieran teaches philosophy at MIT, working mainly in ethics, epistemology, and the philosophy of mind. He is also the author of Midlife: A Philosophical Guide and has a philosophy podcast, Five Questions.
Here’s a short clip from the conversation:
5. The Paradox of Self-Improvement (Read here)
In the new book, The Art of Self Improvement, author Anna Katharina Schaffner explains that in contrast to most modern self-help, improving ourselves is not achieved by exertion and determination but by yielding, accepting, and giving up resistance.
Schaffner writes,
It is unsurprising that suppleness is one of the most celebrated qualities in the Tao: “A man is supple and weak when alive, but hard and stiff when dead,” according to Lao-tzu. “The myriad creatures and grass and trees are pliant and fragile when alive, but dried and shrivelled when dead. Thus it is said, the hard and the strong are the comrades of death; the supple and the weak are the comrades of life”
Lao-tzu advises us to be a “ravine to the empire” and always seek to “return to being the uncarved block.” […]
6. All Roads Lead to Gratitude (Listen here)
The Benedictine Monk Brother David Steindl-Rast advises,
You think this is just another day in your life. It’s not just another day it’s the one day, it’s the one day that is given to you today. It’s a gift it’s the only gift you have right now — and the only appropriate response is gratefulness.
How might your life change by adopting a perspective of gratefulness?
7. Videos from this Week
Immanuel Kant on Maxims with Karen Stohr | In Search of Wisdom
How to Contemplate Like a Stoic with David Alexander | Perennial Meditations
Thank you for reading, listening, and watching this week; I hope you found something useful for daily life.
Until next time, be wise and be well,
P.S. Feel free to reach out if I can ever be of assistance!