Wisdom And Wellbeing: Recent Episodes
Andre Smuts
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.
Why am I here? What is it all for? What does it all mean? What is the meaning of my life? Have I lived a meaningful life? Am I on the right path? Is this what I am meant to do?
When we look at how schemas of association create clusters of meaning around various specialised nodes in the brain, we may ask why some associations reside in those specific cortical structures. Why would certain thoughts or types of thoughts activate certain parts of the brain and not others
Around the 8th to 3rd centuries BC there was a very profound shift in thinking about the meaning of life. This shift was not something that happened in one place and then spread to other areas; rather it was a shift that was happening almost simultaneously around the world.
Life is full of choices and all choices have consequences; these consequences are either beneficial or baneful, and the outcomes of choices sometimes run contrary to our intent.
For the most part the Gita plays out just before and climaxes with the great Kurukshetra War. It is Sanjaya, the seer, who takes us to the great battlefield as he narrates the events thereon to the Kuru king Dhritarashtra.
The first of these yogas is the discipline of knowledge and is known as jnana yoga. This is about developing insight, seeking knowledge and gaining insight (accuracy) before acting
We move now from India to Greece to see if we can glean more on the meaning of life from Aristotle and his approach to forming habits of virtue.
It is this wellbeing that lies at the heart of Aristotlean ethics and the Greek word for it was eudaimonia, it is most often translated to mean “happiness”, but that does not capture the full import of the word. Happiness is a state that one has rather than a level one reaches whereas eudaimonia speaks more to a life that encompasses happiness in that it is a life that flourishes in deeds as well as outcomes.
Aristotle argued that the reason anything should be done is in pursuit of the end goal; that every action should be thought through to establish what the ultimate consequences of it would be.
One of the areas on which Aristotle believed we should concentrate our time was the cultivation of friendships, because the manner in which we do that and the degree to which we do so will have a massive effect on how much we really get to experience eudaimonia
As we explore the notion of fairness in the world and whether it even exists, we will travel to the land of Uz, home of the Biblical figure Job
For the sake of our analysis of the story of Job and its message about fairness in the world, we may take a more considered view of this angel of adversarialism as being a messenger that entreats us to question and test our assumptions
Although it would appear that Job has passed the second test, the Lord and Satan somehow want to see what will happen if he is left to stew in his horrendous misfortune on the ash heap outside of the city for a little while longer.
Job at this point is adamant; he demands to know the meaning of all of this. He is not convinced that what his friends are saying is true, and it appears he is not sure that he believes his own arguments either.
We will now take a look at a school of thinking that started in ancient Greece but really came to the fore and was highly regarded in Rome. The school of thinking was called Stoicism, and what made it so appealing is that it was a philosophy that embraced the lot of the rich and the poor alike
It appears that what the Stoics were driving at is that one should have a mind that is predetermined about its reactions to circumstances rather than one which will simply fall foul of whatever wells up in the moment.
Although nowadays many associate the word “epicure” with someone who is a type of connoisseur of the finer things in life, this definition is considerably removed from the teachings of Epicurus.
Another factor that the Epicureans felt deserved our full and clear appreciation was death. A well-lived life could not be achieved without giving at least some consideration to what happened afterwards.
A man whose writings showed a synthesis of both Stoic and Epicurean philosophy was the Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Augustus
In the following few chapters we will be exploring the philosophical systems of China in more detail. As with the occidental philosophies of the Greeks, Romans and Hebrews, eastern philosophies not only shaped the cultures within which they originated, but also have a massive impact today
Another concept that’s very similar to ren but is focused exclusively on the family is the concept of filial piety called xiao. This principle lays great emphasis on one’s parents, elders and forbearers including figures of authority.
In this chapter we will be exploring one of two foundational texts in both the spiritual and intellectual groundings of Daoism – also known as Taoism.
The Daodejing reminds us that things hold value for us depending on what we are comparing them to, and that these comparisons can and do very often lead us astray.
This chapter of the Daodejing reminds us that the universe has no favourites, and that whatever happens is neither good nor bad, it just is.
Zhuangzi is a text that is named after the person deemed to be its traditional author, Zhuang Zhou. The work is considered to be the second foundational text of Daoism along with Laozi’s Daodejing
As we explore the Eastern intellectual traditions and widen our view of the terrain, we may begin to have a sense that a major aspect that is being brought into question by them is the very nature and reality of the world and ourselves
After identifying the marks of existence, the Buddha then proceeded to clarify and distill the nature of existence into what has become known as “The four truths for one who would be noble”.
The Noble Eightfold Path, or “Middle Way” is a prescription for the cultivation of habits in thinking, feeling and doing that, when exercised, bring the individual to a state of worthiness, perfection and liberation
Your habitus is in essence your personality structure as it emerges via the constructive effects of the environments you have been part of. The way you reacted to those environments has shaped your brain.
Around the 8th to 3rd centuries BC there was a very profound shift in thinking about the meaning of life. This shift was not something that happened in one place and then spread to other areas; rather it was a shift that was happening almost simultaneously around the world.
Downsizing (or redundancy) is a toxic solution. Used sparingly and with planning it can be a. Organizational lifesaver, but when used repeatedly without a thoughtful strategy it can destroy an organizations effectiveness