Dear Friends,
I hope this finds you well! 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 (short reflection).
If you’re not already registered, please signup for the free 5-Week Wisdom 101 Course (for Perennial Meditations members). It will be an informal exploration of timeless perspectives, principles, and practices (based on a previous article called The Timeless Art of Leading a Life) to help us live our highest good.
***The course will consist of an email meditation every Monday (beginning on 16 Jan) and a live meetup every Wednesday at Noon EST (ending on 15 Feb).
On Understanding Life
This week’s Saturday Meditation comes from The Wisdom of Insecurity by Alan Watts (1915-1973). Watts was a prolific author and speaker, and one of the first to interpret Eastern wisdom for a Western audience.
But you cannot understand life and its mysteries as long as you try to grasp it. Indeed, you cannot grasp it, just as you cannot walk off with a river in a bucket. If you try to capture running water in a bucket, it is clear that you do not understand it and that you will always be disappointed, for in the bucket the water does not run. To “have” running water, you must let go of it and let it run.
— Alan Wilson Watts, The Wisdom of Insecurity
Similarly, the renowned Thai Monk Ajahn Chah observed, “If you let go a little, you will have a little happiness. If you let go a lot, you will have a lot of happiness. If you let go completely, you will be free.”
Reflection Questions (Pick one or create your own):
How do you make sense of life?
Why is grasping at understanding life problematic?
This Week’s Articles…
1. Actions Unworthy of a Philosopher (Listen here)
In a letter known today as On Quibbling as Unworthy of the Philosopher, Seneca wrote,
In answer to the letter you wrote me while traveling—a letter as long as the journey itself—I shall reply later. I ought to go into retirement and consider what sort of advice I should give you. For you yourself, who consult me, also reflected for a long time whether to do so; how much more, then, should I myself reflect, since more deliberation is necessary for settling than in propounding a problem! And this is particularly true when one thing is advantageous to you and another to me. Am I speaking again in the guise of an Epicurean? […]
2. Becoming Every Day (Read here)
If we are dying every day, we are also becoming every day. Every day is an opportunity—a chance to create. Existential philosophers like Simone de Beauvoir consistently stressed the notion of becoming.
My interview with Skye Cleary (author of How to Be Authentic) discussed existentialism, authenticity, and the quest to become who we are. For Beauvoir, there is no fixed essence to our being since we are always becoming something other than what we are today. For the Existentialists, “existence precedes essence,” meaning that we exist first and then spend the rest of our lives creating who we are (our essence).
Who are you becoming? What type of life are you creating? […]
3. The Art of Hope: A User’s Guide (Read here)
Two thousand years ago, the philosopher Aristotle was tasked with tutoring a young Alexander the Great. One of the lessons Aristotle taught was on the golden mean. Which states, “virtue is the golden mean between two vices.” On one side of the mean, you have excess and the other deficiency.
The golden mean is easy to understand in virtues like courage. The excess of courage is recklessness, and its deficiency is cowardice. But with virtues like hope—it is far less clear. Some philosophers (Nietzsche and the Stoics) criticize hope, and others (Diogenes and Aquinas) speak about hope as the most precious thing in life.
But when does hope become deficient and excessive? […]
4. Buddhist Wisdom for Modern Living (Listen here)
In this episode, I’m excited to share our first best-of compilation. Included are clips from some of my favorite conversations on Buddhist wisdom. The first portion of the episode comes from my conversation with Kevin Griffin (the author of Living Kindness), followed by my interview with Shaila Catherine (the author of Beyond Distraction). Then finally, the episode closes with a portion of my conversation with Nic Bommarito (the author of Seeing Clearly). I really enjoyed putting this episode together, and I think you’ll find it a wonderful exploration of Buddhist wisdom. […]
5. Reading & the Good Life (Read here)
For January, we meet every Friday (at Noon EST) to connect and discuss Stoic Meditations for Modern Living (Register here). Marcus Aurelius’s personal journal (known today as Meditations) has been called one of the greatest works of spiritual and ethical reflection ever written.
Selected passages for this week,
When you wake up in the morning, tell yourself: The people I deal with today will be meddling, ungrateful, arrogant, dishonest, jealous, and surly. They are like this because they can’t tell good from evil. But I have seen the beauty of good, and the ugliness of evil, and have recognized that the wrongdoer has a nature related to my own—not of the same blood or birth, but the same mind, and possessing a share of the divine. And so none of them can hurt me. No one can implicate me in ugliness. Nor can I feel angry at my relative, or hate him. We were born to work together like feet, hands, and eyes, like the two rows of teeth, upper and lower. To obstruct each other is unnatural. To feel anger at someone, to turn your back on him: these are obstructions.
— Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 2.1
6. The Timeless Art of Leading a Life (Listen here)
The Stoic philosopher Epictetus once asked, “How long are you going to wait before you demand the best for yourself?” But what does it actually mean to demand the best for yourself?
What is the path to peace, tranquility, or happiness? How does one become a better parent, leader, friend, or anything else? The answer to these types of questions generally points to wisdom.
In a Letter to Menoeceus, Epicurus wrote,
Let no one be slow to seek wisdom when he is young nor weary in the search thereof when he is grown old. For no age is too early or too late for the health of the soul. […]
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Thank you for reading and listening; I hope you found something useful.
Until next time, be wise and be well,
P.S. Feel free to comment, ask questions, or make suggestions.