Dear Friends,
Quick Note: Thank you for reading and listening this week! I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas (and Holiday Season). If you have not done so already, please take a moment and register for our upcoming course, Wisdom is the Way: The Timeless Art of Leading a Life. Lastly, below is a short contemplation on living day by day and links to this week’s meditations. Be wise and be well!
📿 On Living Day by Day
This week’s contemplation comes from the Meditations (or Notes to Himself) of the Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius. Marcus wrote to himself,
We must take into our reckoning not only that life is expended day by day and the remaining balance diminishes, but also this further consideration: if we live longer, there is no guarantee that our mind will likewise retain that power to comprehend and study the world which contributes to our experience of things divine and human. If dementia sets in, there will be no failure of such faculties as breathing, feeding, imagination, desire: before these go, the earlier extinction is of one’s proper use of oneself, one’s accurate assessment of the gradations of duty, one’s ability to analyse impressions, one’s understanding of whether the time has come to leave this life – these and all other matters which wholly depend on trained calculation. So we must have a sense of urgency, not only for the ever closer approach of death, but also because our comprehension of the world and our ability to pay proper attention will fade before we do. — Meditations, 3.1
***Listen to this week’s contemplation courtesy of The Wisdom School podcast (Apple or Spotify).
Contemplation Questions (Pick one or create your own!):
How do you know if you are actually living day by day?
In what ways can you begin (or continue) to appreciate your life?
This Week’s Meditations…
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Thank you for reading/listening this week; I hope you found something useful.
Until next time, be wise and be well,
J.W.
P.S. Feel free to comment, ask questions, or make suggestions!
Wow! Fantastic! It’s hard to believe this was written 2000 years ago! Did he really use words such as dementia? Or was it something else? You’ve outdone yourself, Josh! Thank you so much for all that you do for us with these essays and podcasts. Have a wonderful Christmas and a very healthy and happy New Year’s!