Welcome to Perennial Meditations (Saturday Review) — A weekly recap and reflection of ancient lessons on the art of living. Below you’ll find links, notable quotes, and a Saturday Meditation.
Greetings Friends,
Here is a quick announcement before we begin:
My mission at the Perennial Leader Project is “To introduce timeless wisdom and practices to help us live our highest good.” Some of the ways I’m attempting to fulfill that mission are through daily email meditations, podcasts, Reading & the Good Life (weekly meetups), and courses on the art of living.
Our first course, Wisdom 101: The Timeless Art of Leading a Life, finishes this Wednesday (15 Feb). To make these types of courses available and more convenient for everyone. I recently started a private podcast called The Wisdom School (for Perennial Meditations members) to deliver curated audio courses and selected readings on the art of living.
Why a Private Podcast?
The Wisdom School (a private podcast) is an additional benefit for Perennial Meditations members. My goal is always to provide as much value as possible and to honor your generous support! Please let me know if you have ideas (or suggestions) on how to provide greater opportunities for connection and contemplation.
***If you are interested in becoming a Perennial Meditations member but cannot afford it, feel free to request a complimentary membership (no questions asked).
The audio courses, selected readings, and live meetups will be delivered more structured and systematic than our usual approach. The hope is that it provides an opportunity for readers to explore specific concepts, ideas, and wisdom traditions and, most importantly, help us integrate wisdom into our daily lives.
The Wisdom School (Upcoming Schedule — Tentative):
Season 1: Wisdom 101 | The Timeless Art of Leading a Life
16 Jan — 15 Feb (Virtual Meetups)
Season 2: Stoic Wisdom | A Guide to the Good Life
Mar — Apr (Audio Only)
Season 3: Perennial Habits | Ancient Practices for Daily Life
May — Jun (Virtual Meetups)
Season 4: The Spiritual Path | Sacred Wisdom for Modern Living
Aug — Sep (Audio Only)
Season 5: Happiness and the Meaning of Life
Oct — Nov (Virtual Meetups)
Where Do You Feel Alive?
This week’s Saturday Meditation comes from William James (1842-1910), often referred to as the Father of American psychology. In The Principles of Psychology, James advised,
Seek out that particular mental attribute that makes you feel most deeply and vitally alive, along with which comes the inner voice which says, 'This is the real me,' and when you have found that attitude, follow it.
— William James, The Principles of Psychology
Similarly, the seventeenth-century theologian Saint Ignatius of Loyola suggested, “Whatever you are doing, that which makes you feel the most alive...that is where God is.”
Reflection Questions (Pick one or create your own):
Where do you feel most alive?
How can you start doing more of what lights you up?
1. On Pleasure and Joy (Read here)
In a letter known today as On Pleasure and Joy, Seneca wrote,
I received great pleasure from your letter; kindly allow me to use these words in their everyday meaning without insisting upon their Stoic import. For we Stoics hold that pleasure is a vice. Very likely, it is a vice; but we are accustomed to using the word when we wish to indicate a happy state of mind.
I am aware that if we test words by our formula, even pleasure is a thing of ill repute, and joy can be attained only by the wise. For “joy” is an elation of spirit, of a spirit which trusts in the goodness and truth of its own possessions. The common usage, however, is that we derive great “joy” from a friend’s position as consul, or from his marriage, or from the birth of his child; but these events, so far from being matters of joy, are more often the beginnings of sorrow to come. No, it is a characteristic of real joy that it never ceases and never changes into its opposite. […]
2. The Paradox of Love (Read here)
What is love? Is there anything more important than love? Honestly, take a moment to consider how you define or think about — love. It’s challenging to capture its meaning in words (at least for me, it is).
Action
The Jesuit order founder, St. Ignatius of Loyola, wisely suggested, “Love ought to manifest itself in deeds.” The thirteenth-century philosopher and theologian St. Thomas Aquinas described love as “willing the good of another.” Similarly, the Stoics (and others) urge us to think about virtue (and philosophy) as action.
But is defining love as deeds (or actions) complete?
In The Art of Loving (an upcoming book for Reading & the Good Life), the psychologist and humanist philosopher Erich Fromm asked, “Is love an art?” If love is an art, then it requires knowledge and effort. […]
3. The Courage to Love (Read here)
What stands in the way of love?
In his short book The Way to Love, the psychologist and Jesuit priest Anthony de Mello explained,
What is love? Take a look at a rose. Is it possible for the rose to say, “I shall offer my fragrance to good people and withhold it from bad people?” Or can you imagine a lamp that withholds its rays from a wicked person who seeks to walk in its light? It could only do that by ceasing to be a lamp. And observe how helplessly and indiscriminately a tree gives its shade to everyone, good and bad, young and old, high and low; to animals and humans and every living creature—even to the one who seeks to cut it down.
De Mello calls the first quality of love: an indiscriminate character. What gets in the way of loving the world? If one defines love as “willing the good” of others, as St Thomas Aquinas put it. Can or should we focus on loving everyone? […]
4. Stoicism and Sustainability (Listen here)
In this episode, I welcome back to the show Dr. Kai Whiting the co-author of Being Better: Stoicism for a World Worth Living In. Kai Whiting is a researcher and lecturer in sustainability and Stoicism. His main research interests are how to better account for resource use and the practical application of Stoic philosophy to the challenges of the 21st century.
In the conversation, Kai and I discuss,
The meaning of sustainability and why it matters.
The connection between wisdom and thinking sustainably.
Why we need to change our language around sustainability.
What Stoicism can teach us about changing the world, and much more.
5. Reading & the Good Life (Read here)
Join the conversation; February’s theme is The Art of a Meaningful Life (Register here). We are exploring the classic Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl this Friday (10 Feb at Noon EST).
Reading & the Good Life is a space for connection, contemplation, and conversations on the art of living.
This Week’s Selected passages:
We who lived in concentration camps can remember the men who walked through the huts comforting others, giving away their last piece of bread. They may have been few in number, but they offer sufficient proof that everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way. […]
— Viktor Frankl, Man’s Search for Meaning
6. On Not Being Someone Else (Listen here)
To live is to choose. As humans, we all encounter a seemingly infinite number of forks on the road of life. From education to careers, relationships to kids, virtues to vices, vacations to finances, and so on. Have you ever reflected on your unled lives? The paths you did not embark on.
Instead of asking: “Who am I?” Who are you not?
In his famous poem, The Road Not Taken, Robert Frost wrote,
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth; […]
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Thank you for listening and reading this week; I hope you found something useful for daily life.
Until next time, be wise and be well,
P.S. If you find paradoxes interesting — I encourage you to check out a new joint venture with my good friend Brandon Tumblin. It’s called, Paradoxically Speaking. We’ve recorded around a dozen episodes thus far on human nature, paradoxes, and the art of living. Listen to the first episode, What is Paradoxically Speaking?