Dear Friends,
A quick note before we begin:
I hope this finds you well! As many of you know, I have an interest in wisdom. Specifically, wisdom that helps us live happy and meaningful lives. One of the least talked about ideas (in my view) to help us realize the good life is the way of paradox. The philosopher Soren Kierkegaard observed, “The thinker without a paradox is like a lover without a feeling.”
Put another way, paradoxes are inevitable and everywhere.
Although they are often challenging to see (and difficult to understand). Paradoxes have a way of making us feel an internal tug of war (or “stuck”). To help clarify the notion of paradoxes, here is a short clip from my conversation with Dr. Wendy K. Smith (the author of Both/And Thinking):
If you enjoyed this short clip, consider subscribing to our Youtube Channel. I don’t update it often, but hope to do so more consistently moving forward!
Lastly, if you’re not already registered, I welcome you to sign up for the free 5-Week Wisdom 101 course starting next week. It’s going to be a casual exploration of timeless perspectives, principles, and practices. There will be a live meetup every Wednesday at Noon EST (over Zoom).
I hope to see you there!
Here is your Perennial Meditations (Saturday Review) — A weekly recap and reflection of meditations on the art of living. Below are links, notable quotes, and a Saturday Meditation.
On Discovering Wisdom
This week’s Saturday Meditation comes from Marcel Proust by way of The Little Book of Zen. What does it mean to search for wisdom?
We don’t receive wisdom, we must discover it for ourselves, after a journey through the wilderness which no one else can make for us, for our wisdom is the point of view from we come at last to regard the world.
— Marcel Proust
Similarly, the poet Goethe stressed, “All truly wise thoughts have been thought already thousands of times; but to make them truly ours, we must think them over again honestly, until they take root in our personal experience.”
Reflection Questions (Pick one or create your own):
How do we discover wisdom for ourselves?
What wisdom has taken root in your personal experience?
This Weeks Articles…
1. Seneca | On the Shortness of Life (Listen here)
In a letter known today as On the Shortness of Life, Seneca wrote,
Infinitely swift is the flight of time, as those see more clearly who are looking backwards. For when we are intent on the present, we do not notice it, so gentle is the passage of time’s headlong flight.
Do you ask the reason for this? All past time is in the same place; it all presents the same aspect to us, it lies together. Everything slips into the same abyss. Besides, an event which in its entirety is of brief compass cannot contain long intervals. The time which we spend in living is but a point, nay, even less than a point. But this point of time, infinitesimal as it is, nature has mocked by making it seem outwardly of longer duration; she has taken one portion thereof and made it infancy, another childhood, another youth, another the gradual slope, so to speak, from youth to old age, and old age itself is still another. How many steps for how short a climb! […]
2. Three Rules for Life — According to Nietzsche (Read here)
What can we learn about happiness from the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900)? A better question could be, should we explore Nietzsche’s writing for insights into happiness? I believe the short answer is — yes.
In the classic Beyond Good and Evil, Nietzsche wrote,
I want to learn more and more to see as beautiful what is necessary in things; then I shall be one of those who make things beautiful. Amor fati: let that be my love henceforth! I do not want to wage war against what is ugly. I do not want to accuse; I do not even want to accuse those who accuse. Looking away shall be my only negation. And all in all… I wish to be only a Yes-sayer. […]
3. How to Be Free — Like Epictetus (Read here)
In part I of How to Be Free — Like Epictetus, we discussed that “If you wish to have peace and contentment,” observed Epictetus, “release your attachment to all things outside your control. This is the path of freedom and happiness.”
Although knowing the path does not necessarily mean it’s easy.
The path to being free is one of radical acceptance. At the beginning of Discourses, Epictetus explains that the person getting an education ought to approach this process with the following aim: “How can I follow the gods in everything, how can I be content with the divine administration, and how can I become free?” […]
4. How to Lead (& Live) — Like a Stoic (Read here)
Would you want to be led by a Stoic?
How do Stoic principles influence the way we lead others?
In my conversation with Donald Robertson, I asked how we should think about the dichotomy of control and leadership influence. Here’s a short clip from the conversation on How to Lead — Like a Stoic:
5. Reading & the Good Life (Read here)
January’s theme is Stoic Meditations for Modern Living (Register here). Join the conversation as we explore select passages from Marcus Aurelius’s personal journal (known today as Meditations), called one of the greatest works of spiritual and ethical reflection ever written.
Here is one of the passages Marcus wrote to himself,
Forget everything else. Keep hold of this alone and remember it: Each of us lives only now, this brief instant. The rest has been lived already, or is impossible to see. The span we live is small—small as the corner of the earth in which we live it. Small as even the greatest renown, passed from mouth to mouth by short-lived stick figures, ignorant alike of themselves and those long dead.
— Meditations, 3.10
6. Mission: Joy — Finding Happiness in Troubled Times (Read here)
What if finding joy and meaning are on the same path?
The Dalai Lama and Desmond Tutu explain that we can find meaning (and joy) by serving others. “Joy is the reward,” explained the Dalai Lama, “of seeking to give joy to others.” When you show compassion in a caring way and love to others in a beautiful way, you have a deep joy that you can get in no other way.
The Dalai Lama stressed,
You can’t buy it with money. You can be the richest person on Earth, but if you care only about yourself, I can bet my bottom dollar you will not be happy and joyful. But when you are caring, compassionate, more concerned about the welfare of others than about your own, wonderfully, wonderfully, you suddenly feel a warm glow in your heart, because you have, in fact, wiped the tears from the eyes of another. […]
Thank you for reading and listening this week; I hope you found something useful for daily life.
Until next time, be wise and be well,
P.S. Feel free to comment, suggest future topics, or ask questions!