Welcome to the Perennial Meditations (Saturday Review) — A weekly recap and reflection of ancient lessons for modern life. Below you’ll find notable quotes, transcript summaries, and a Saturday Meditation.
1. The Philosopher’s Mean (Listen here)
This week’s Sundays with Seneca came from a letter titled On the Philosopher’s Mean. Seneca stressed to Luciulius:
“I commend you and rejoice in the fact that you are persistent in your studies and that, putting all else aside, you make it each day your endeavor to become a better man. I do not merely exhort you to keep at it; I actually beg you to do so. […]
Philosophy calls for plain living but not for penance; we may perfectly well be plain and neat at the same time. This is the mean by which I approve; our life should observe a happy medium between the ways of a sage and the ways of the world at large.” […]
2. The Art (and Wisdom) of Friendship (Read here)
In our Monday Meditation (The PATH), we reflected on the art of friendship. Specifically — insights from Aristotle, Seneca, and the Buddha.
Aristotle — For Aristotle, friendships are required to live a good life, “without friends, no one would want to live, even if he had all other goods.” Friends help us to walk the path, cultivate virtue, and overcome challenges in life.
Seneca — Seneca says, “Nothing will ever please me, no matter how excellent or beneficial, if I must keep the knowledge of it to myself… No good thing is pleasant to possess without friends to share it.”
The Buddha — Friendship is the entire spiritual path, according to the Buddha. He said, “When a monk has a good friend, a good companion, a good comrade, it is to be expected that he will develop and cultivate the Noble Eightfold Path.”
3. The Answer to Every Question (Read here)
Compassion and wisdom are inextricably linked. If we explore the various wisdom traditions, compassion is a central component.
For example, Albert Einstein wrote,
A human being is a part of the whole called by us universe, a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feeling as something separated from the rest, a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures...
4. Nasty, Brutish, and Short (Listen here)
This week on In Search of Wisdom, I connected with Scott Hershovitz, the author of Nasty, Brutish, and Short: Adventures in Philosophy with My Kids. Here are a few questions I posed to Scott on the podcast: Why are kids good philosophers? How should we explore some of the perennial questions? What are some practical strategies to help cultivate curiosity?
Why are kids good philosophers?
Hershovitz 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. Like they don't yet know what the standard explanations of things are. They don't know what adults take for granted. […]
5. How to Let Go — Like Lao Tzu (Read here)
The thirteenth-century poet Rumi once said, “Life is a balance of holding on and letting go.” It seems that universally we are much better at holding on than the letting go part. Letting go of our desires (or attachments, cravings) is a central tenet in Buddhism and many other wisdom traditions.
In a recent conversation with Kevin Griffin (a longtime meditation teacher and author of Living Kindness), we discussed the Buddha’s Four Noble Truths. Griffin explained that once the Buddha lays down the Truth of Suffering, he says its cause, the Second Noble Truth, is craving. […]
6. The Joy of Philosophy (Listen here)
Is the happiest person you know—the wisest person you know? According to the American philosopher William James, there is a direct connection between philosophy and joy. Similarly, Montaigne called cheerfulness the surest sign of wisdom.
In The Varieties of Religious Experience, James wrote,
Good humor is a philosophic state of mind; it seems to say to Nature that we take her no more seriously than she takes us. I maintain that one should always talk about philosophy with a smile. [...]
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