Dear Readers,
Here is the latest Monday Muse with a perennial reminder, insight, and question to consider. To keep these brief, Iโve decided to make the Dying Every Day series a separate meditation (on Tuesdays).
Be wise and be well this week!
๐๏ธ Monday Muse
The Monday Muse is a weekly collection of reminders, insights, and maxims. The term โmuseโ has two meanings: (1) a state of deep thought; and (2) a source of inspiration. I hope these emails (in a small way) can be a source of contemplation, insight, and wisdom to live your highest good.
๐ Perennial Reminder(s)
The professor and distinguished author Peter Burke on ignorance:
Ignorance may also be described as either active or passive. โPassive ignoranceโ refers to the absence of knowledge, including the failure to mobilize it for the purpose of action. The term โactiveโ ignorance, in the sense of resistance to new knowledge or ideas, was coined by the Austrian philosopher Karl Popper and employed to describe the opposition of some physicists to the disturbing views of Albert Einstein. It may be extended to the habit of โignoringโ whatever we do not want to know, often with serious consequences. [โฆ]
Source: Ignorance: A Global History (via A History of Ignorance)
๐ก Perennial Insight(s)
The author and professor Victor Brombert on false values:
The crucial question for Tolstoy is how we face this revelation and what it tells us about the way we have lived. Ivan Ilych learnsโthe lesson may come too lateโthat emptiness, self-deception, and false values have been at the core of his life, that in the process of living, we all deny the truth of our human condition, that we lie to ourselves when we pretend to forget about death, and that this lie is intimately bound up with all the other lies that vitiate our moral being. It is a denunciation of a spiritual void. [โฆ]
Source: Musings on Mortality (via Think Like a Mortal)
๐ Perennial Maxim(s)
The German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer (1788โ1860) on good deeds:
๐ง Perennial Question(s)
The author and professor of psychology Kennon M. Sheldon on free will:
If free will is realโand even inescapableโthen why do we sometimes feel so unfree? That is, why do we so often feel pushed around by the stress of work, the press of relationships, the strain of discrimination, the mess of politics, and much more? โฆ Are all these problems due merely to our failure to believe that weโre free? [โฆ]
Source: Freely Determined (via In Search of Wisdom)
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Thank you for reading; I hope you found something useful.
Until next time, be wise and be well,
J.W.
P.S. If youโre interested in becoming a member but cannot afford it, feel free to request a complimentary membership or use this discount link.