Welcome to Perennial Meditations (Saturday Review) — A weekly recap and reflection of ancient lessons for modern life. Below you’ll find links, notable quotes, transcript summaries, and videos below.
1. Seneca on Old Age and Death (Listen here)
On Sundays with Seneca this week, we explored a letter known today as On Old Age and Death. Seneca wrote,
I was just lately telling you that I was within sight of old age. I am now afraid that I have left old age behind me. For some other word would now apply to my years, or at any rate to my body, since old age means a time of life that is weary rather than crushed. You may rate me in the worn-out class of those who are nearing the end.
Nevertheless, I offer thanks to myself, with you as a witness, for I feel that age has done no damage to my mind […]
2. The Tao of Rumi (Read here)
In our Monday Meditation (The PATH), we searched for ancient lessons for modern living within the poetic wisdom of Rumi (The Well, Fog, and The Sight of the Soul).
Who is Jalal ad-Din ar-Rumi (1207—1273)? He is known today simply as — Rumi (and regarded as one of the most well-known poets in history). According to Colman Barks, the author of A Year with Rumi, the story of Rumi’s life is well known. He was born in the early thirteenth century into a lineage of scholars and mystics in Balkh (then at the eastern edge of the Persian empire); he left as a boy with his family just ahead of the advancing armies of Genghis Khan. […]
3. Stoic Mindfulness for Modern Life (Read here)
Similar to many other wisdom traditions, Stoicism emphasizes focused attention or mindfulness. The psychotherapist and writer David Alexander (a recent podcast guest) writes in an article titled, Prososche: Stoic Mindfulness as a Modern Practice, “What is Prosoche? It is the ancient Greek word for “focused attention” used by the Stoics and considered the important initial step and skill to learn for a student of philosophy.” […]
4. A Kantian Guide to Life (Listen here)
Wisdom Notes this week shared three insights from my conversation with Karen Stohr, the author of Choosing Freedom: A Kantian Guide to Life. Prof. Stohr joined the philosophy department at Georgetown in 2002, where she is the Ryan Family Professor of Metaphysics and Moral Philosophy. In 2011, she also became a senior research scholar at Georgetown’s Kennedy Institute of Ethics.
5. The Seeds of Contemplation (Read here)
What type of seeds are you planting? The Buddha used this analogy to illustrate the importance of small acts, “Even by the falling of water drops, a water pot is filled; the wise person becomes full of good, even if they gather it little by little.” The truth is every action and moment matters.
In New Seeds of Contemplation, Thomas Merton wrote, “Every moment and every event of every man’s life on earth plants something in his soul.” […]
6. Life as a Work of Art (Listen here)
We don’t often consider creativity a prerequisite to living a good life. But one can reasonably view life as the ultimate creative pursuit. Existential thinking encourages living life as a work of art. Nietzsche wrote that creativity may be required to become who we are or who we may want to be.
The poet Goethe suggested,
Everyone holds his fortune in their own hands, like a sculptor the raw material he will fashion into a figure. But it’s the same with that type of artistic activity as with all others: We are merely born with the capability to do it. The skill to mold the material into what we want must be learned and attentively cultivated. […]
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VIDEOS FROM THIS WEEK:
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. As always, feel free to comment, ask questions, or make suggestions!