Wisdom And Wellbeing

Drawing on insights gleaned from many years of research as well as teaching, consulting and counselling to individuals and multinational corporations Andre Smuts has brought together some vital insights into what constitutes a life filled with positive and purposive meaning. In this work on Wisdom and Wellbeing the reader is invited to Journey through the ancient worlds of the sages and the modern realms of the sciences to finally centre themselves around the perennial principles that have guided millions of people around the world from ancient times till now towards a more prosperous and fulfilling life. Wisdom and Wellbeing places the reader in an audience with Ideas from the world’s greatest intellectual traditions along with concepts from cutting edge science so that with the pioneers in both these fields the fog of confusion and misdirection can be lifted for the reader. Firstly, by appreciating the insights gleaned from The Bhagavad Gita, Aristotle, Job, Marcus Aurelius, Zeno, Epictetus, Seneca, Lucretius, Epicurus, Confucius, The Daodejing, Zhuangzi, The Buddha and others the reader is reminded again and again of what the qualities of probity are that bring about flourishing for the individual, for relationships, for families, organisations and cultures as a whole. Secondly, Wisdom and Wellbeing grapples with the issues of fulfilling our deep seated human needs of finding meaning, having purpose and attaining happiness in context to modernity too. By peering into the thoughts and findings of our current science through the pioneering revelations of research teams and individuals like Daniel Wolpert, Alex Huth, Richard Dawkins, Susan J Blackmore, V.S Ramachandran, Karl Jaspers, Eric Voegelin, Victor Frankel and many, many more, we start discerning the empirical grounding that some of these ancient ideas on the human condition may have presciently if unwittingly been based on and how come they worked so well. Finally, Wisdom and Wellbeing brings the reader to a space of empowered insight that allows them to redefine success in more practical, compassionate and realistic terms. The reader is at once elevated from the myopia of ‘commercially induced meaning’ and the self-defeating definitions of the ‘success culture’ whilst gaining a real sense of the value inherent in bringing forth the abundance of ‘personal excellence’. By harnessing the ‘Wisdom’ of the ancients and the gifts of ‘Wellbeing’ furnished by our ardent and dedicated scientists, we may in our own small way bring about a world for ourselves and others wherein mastery trumps mediocrity and misery is banished in the light of self-instantiated purpose and meaning.