Dear Perennial Meditations Reader,
I hope you all have a happy and safe New Year! Here is your Perennial Meditations (Saturday Review) — A weekly recap of meditations on the art of living. Below are links, notable quotes, and a Saturday Meditation (short reflection).
***Feel free to comment, ask questions, or suggest future topics.
Spending Quality Time By Yourself
This week’s Saturday Meditation comes from the Notebooks of the French philosopher Albert Camus (1913-1960). Camus was awarded the 1957 Nobel Prize in Literature at the age of 44, the second-youngest recipient in history.
“Find meaning. Distinguish melancholy from sadness. Go out for a walk. It doesn’t have to be a romantic walk in the park, spring at its most spectacular moment, flowers and smells, and outstanding poetical imagery smoothly transferring you into another world. It doesn’t have to be a walk during which you’ll have multiple life epiphanies and discover meanings no other brain ever managed to encounter. Do not be afraid of spending quality time by yourself. Find meaning or don’t find meaning but 'steal' some time and give it freely and exclusively to your own self. Opt for privacy and solitude. That doesn’t make you antisocial or cause you to reject the rest of the world. But you need to breathe. And you need to be.” […]
— Albert Camus, Notebooks 1951-1959
Reflection Questions (Pick one or create your own):
How can you find meaning in the mundane activities of life?
Where can you find opportunities to spend quality time alone?
This Week’s Articles…
1. Love is the Practice (Read here)
This week’s The PATH (Monday Meditation) searches for ancient lessons on thinking about traditional goals and perennial habits.
Love (for Yourself) — Loving yourself does not connect with everyone. But the question largely depends on how we think about love. The Jesuit order founder, St. Ignatius of Loyola, wisely suggested, “Love ought to manifest itself in deeds.” […]
Love (for Others) — In the classic, No Man is an Island, Thomas Merton wrote, “If we are to love sincerely and with simplicity, we must overcome the fear of not being loved.” […]
Love (for the World) — How do we love life amidst the challenges and suffering that exist? Surprisingly the philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche contemplated this very question. Nietzsche ultimately came to the notion of Amor Fati (translated from Latin as the love of one’s fate). […]
2. The Way of Emptiness (Read here)
The notion of emptiness reveals itself across philosophical and spiritual traditions. For example, the Stoic philosopher Epictetus and the Buddha advised freedom is not achieved by satisfying desire but by removing it.
In The Dark Night of the Soul, John of the Cross wrote,
He who will walk in the way of perfection must not only enter through the narrow gate. They must empty themselves of everything that relates to sense and renounce all they possess. Laying a constraint upon themselves and releasing themselves entirely from all attachment, even spiritual things.
3. On Progress (Read here)
If we assume that we are all heading down a particular path, moving forward feels like the only suitable option. Although sometimes making progress includes choosing another way altogether.
As the writer and theologian C.S. Lewis tells us,
Progress means getting nearer to the place you want to be. And if you have taken a wrong turn, then to go forward does not get you any nearer. If you are on the wrong road, progress means doing an about-turn and walking back to the right road; and in that case, the person who turns back soonest is the most progressive.
Are you on the right path? It is difficult (and humbling) to accept the need to turn around or change your course. […]
4. Reading & the Good Life (Read here)
For the month of December, we’ve been exploring selected passages from No Mud, No Lotus by the late Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh. In our final meetup this month, we discussed the role of our communities in transforming suffering.
A Selected Passage for this Week:
“We may think we are only responsible for our own suffering and happiness, but our happiness increases the world’s happiness and our suffering is the world’s suffering.” — Thich Nhat Hanh (Ch. 6, No Mud, No Lotus) […]
5. The Wisdom of Wonder (Read here)
Have you ever seen a toddler look at ants? My four-year-old son squats down to look closely at ants, flowers, and everything in between. He is far more curious about the world than I am on most days. Although regardless of our age, we can (and should) continue cultivating our curiosity.
My conversation with Scott Hershovitz (author of Nasty, Brutish, and Short) discussed why kids are naturally good philosophers. Herschovitz explained,
“I think there are two reasons kids make good philosophers. The first is they're just new to the world. And they're constantly confused by it. So they're asking questions, and they're questioning everything. […]
Thank you for reading this week; I hope you found something useful for daily life.
Until next time, be wise and be well,
P.S. As always, feel free to reach out if I can ever be of assistance!