Greetings Friends,
Welcome to Week 2 of our free Wisdom 101 Course. As a reminder, the course consists of an email meditation (every Monday) and a live meetup every Wednesday at Noon EST. For the first two weeks, I’m sharing the email meditation (and links) here on Substack — after that, it will only go to those who register for the course (sign up and learn more here).
This week’s meetup focuses on interconnectedness and the Beginner’s Mind (or Not Knowing). Here are the details:
When: 25 Jan at Noon EST (Wednesday)
What: Interconnectedness & Beginner’s Mind
Where: https://zoom.us/meeting/register/tJckc-mqpzkrEt11WIvXovye_ZFhsHaUoSli
The Wisdom (and Truth) of Connection
Pierre Hadot observed that philosophy deepens and transforms habitual perception, forcing us to become aware that we perceive the world. Therefore, one must ask themselves whether or not they are perceiving the world accurately. The notion of interconnectedness appears throughout many philosophical and spiritual traditions.
In his Meditations, Marcus Aurelius put it this way,
In a way, all things are interwoven and therefore have a family feeling for each other: one thing follows another in due order through the tension of movement, the common spirit inspiring them, and the unity of all beings.
Marcus Aurelius advised himself to “meditate often on the connection of all things.” And in many passages throughout Meditations, he utilizes the wisdom of connection to act with kindness and virtue. In a well-known passage on dealing with difficult people, he concluded, “None of them can harm me, …, nor can I become angry with someone who’s related to me, or hate him, because we were born to work together, like feet or hands or eyelids, like the rows of upper and lower teeth.”
Similarly, the idea of connection aids us in answering perennial questions. The late Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh suggested when we ask ourselves honestly the question — Who am I? If we have enough time and patience, it reveals some universal truths.
In his classic book Silence, Hanh wrote,
You may see that you’re made of elements, like water for example. If you remove the water from you, there’s no “you” left. You’re made of earth. If you remove the element earth from you, there’s no “you” left. You’re made of air. You need air desperately; without air, you cannot survive…
The Stoics utilized a visual known as Hierocles’ circles or oikeiôsis (see below) to practice the wisdom of connection. The objective is to draw further circles inward, treating our family as ourselves, friends as family, and so on, until ultimately, the entire human race.
According to Hierocles’ circles,
For, in short, each of us is, as it were, circumscribed by many circles; some of which are less, but others larger, and some comprehend, but others are comprehended, according to the different and unequal habitudes with respect to each other. For the first, indeed, and the most proximate circle is that which everyone describes his own mind as a center, in which circle the body, and whatever is assumed for the sake of the body, are comprehended. For this is nearly the smallest circle, and almost touches the center itself. The second from this, which is at a greater distance from the center, but comprehends the first circle, is how parents, brothers, wife, and children are arranged. […]
Ancient Circles for Modern Living
Across the more than one hundred interviews conducted on In Search of Wisdom, several guests have raised concerns about the epidemic of loneliness. But if wisdom traditions point to the truth of interconnectedness.
Why do so many of us experience loneliness?
In his book Together, Vivek H. Murthy (21st Surgeon General) described loneliness this way,
Loneliness is the subjective feeling that you’re lacking the social connections you need. It can feel like being stranded, abandoned, or cut off from the people with whom you belong — even if you’re surrounded by other people. What’s missing when you’re lonely is the feeling of closeness, trust, and the affection of genuine friends, loved ones, and community.
We have lost (or forgotten) the ancient wisdom of seeing ourselves as interconnected. I imagine (like me) many of you did not learn about Hierocles’ Circles or “meditating often on our interconnectedness.” As legend has it, when Diogenes the Cynic was asked where he came from, he responded with one word: kosmopolites, meaning “a citizen of the world.” The cosmopolitan view (by the Cynics and Stoics) urges us to recognize all human beings equal and unconditional worth, a worth grounded in moral choice capacity rather than on traits that depend on fortuitous natural or social arrangements.
Marcus Aurelius used the analogy of a branch to stress the need to remain connected to the whole community. Marcus wrote,
A branch cut from its neighboring branch is necessarily cut away from the whole tree. In the same way, a human being severed from just one other human has dropped from the whole community. Now the branch is cut off by someone else, but a man separates himself from his neighbor by his hatred or rejection, not realizing that he has thereby severed himself from the wider society of fellow citizens. […]
Final Thoughts
My interview with Nancy Sherman (author of Stoic Wisdom) revealed that the roots of interconnectedness in Stoicism run just as deep as those of self-reliance. We have much to learn from the ancients and mistakes to avoid, says Sherman. Wisdom can help unite us to face our individual and shared challenges. “But only when empathy and mercy course through the veins of reason.”
Contemporary life makes it easy to forget that we are connected. A certain degree of wisdom is required to see and experience our connection.
But as Seneca stressed, “No one ever became wise merely by chance.” The wisdom of connection must be sought after — even Marcus Aurelius had to embark on the search. He had to cultivate and “meditate on the connection of all things.” Marcus Aurelius worked to expand his circles; therefore, we are wise to work to expand (and realize) our circles of connection.
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Additional Resources:
How to Get Over Yourself (Listen here)
The Garden of Solitude (Listen here)
Love is the Practice (Read here)
Who Do You Think You Are (Read here)
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Thank you for reading; I hope you found something useful.
Until next time, be wise and be well,
P.S. As always, feel free to comment, ask questions, or make suggestions!