Perennial Meditations (Saturday Review)
Notes, Takeaways, and Saturday Meditation (30 Apr - 6 May)
Greetings Readers!
Welcome to another edition of our Perennial Meditations (Saturday Review) with a short contemplation and links to this week’s meditations.
Our 7-week Perennial Habits course continued this week with meditations on How to See the World — Like a Sage and a podcast on The Psychology of Behavior Change. As a reminder, the course is free for members (and anyone interested in becoming a member that cannot afford it can request a complimentary membership or utilize this discount link if you need a little help).
Here is your Saturday Review with a short meditation & contemplation!
Making Sense of Suffering
This week’s Saturday meditation comes from the nineteenth-century Danish philosopher Soren Kierkegaard who wrote extensively on suffering.
In Fear and Trembling, Kierkegaard wrote,
People unable to bear the martyrdom… unintelligently jump off the path, and choose instead, conveniently enough, the world’s admiration of their proficiency. The true knight of faith is a witness, never a teacher, and in this lies the deep humanity in him which is more worth than this foolish concern for others’ weal and woe which is honored under the name of sympathy, but which is really nothing but vanity.
My conversation with Meghan Sullivan and Paul Blaschko (authors of The Good Life Method) revealed insights into the nature of suffering. Blaschko explained, “All things pass away, and in this life, we can try to obscure the facts of pain, suffering, and evil, or we can rearrange our lives in response to this fact.” We can try to hide and ignore the pain or encounter it.
Contemplation Questions (Pick one or create your own!):
How do you think about (or make sense of) suffering?
What does it mean to encounter our suffering?
This Week’s Meditations…
Thank you for reading; I hope you found something useful this week.
Until next time, be wise and be well,
P.S. Feel free to comment, ask questions, or make suggestions!