Meaning and Material

What is up? Yes, we are still going to be covering stuff I found interesting in Seneca’s letters. It’s good fun, and if you don’t like it then too bad.

A concept in self-development is not to chase after material things as the sole reason for your existence. The downside to this kind of mentality and lifestyle is that everything is only temporary satisfaction or amusement. Usually these kind of activities lose their feeling of novelty after a while. Before long we end up suffering from a lack of meaningfulness in our lives, which people tend to think they can fix by chasing new worldly things.

In our current era, I think many people know this phenomenon to be true but that doesn’t mean they’re immune to it. I’d say that all of us experience either some stage in our lives where we fall into that toxic mindset where everything becomes a comparison between what others have and what you’ve got.

It’s wild to think that even with that much time separating the present from Seneca’s time, there are lessons and pieces of wisdom that have been cultivated and nourished over thousands of years. What I sometimes feel, is that all of us are part of the chain that links human experience through time. And with enough effort in our respective lifetimes, we can make a significant positive impact on the ideas and values of later generations.

Someone please think of the children.

Sorry just felt in the mood to quote that from the The Simpsons. I don’t think that line is copyrighted, well I’m too lazy to look it up so let’s go with it’s not.

Back to Seneca, this first point I like very much is:

“The life of folly is empty of gratitude, full of anxiety and is focused wholly on the future”

It really speaks for what we were talking about at the start. Anything brought into our life which we fail to be grateful for, is a shackle on our psyche. Since once it has been consumed and processed, its value isn’t acknowledged or if only for a moment. Then after follows the hunt for new source of momentary bliss. A life like this can only be focused in the future, and if our thoughts are solely concentrated on the future then anxiety is the natural feeling. The reason being the human fear of the unknown.

The other Seneca thought I wanted to cover is this:

“What is the purpose of my labours going to be? See, this day’s my last – or maybe it isn’t, but it’s not so far away from it”

Of course if you have been following this blog for a while, you would immediately know why I like this thought. For those not as familiar, let me walk you through it. Firstly, what is the purpose of all your life’s effort? That is a question once tackled, will provide all the meaningfulness and direction that those material treasures could never match. The other point being that, life is uncertain. We all must at some point leave this world. However, we don’t exactly get to choose. So, the reason why that second point is relevant, is that if your life’s work is going to be your source of fulfilment. Then you’d better get to it, you might not have much time.

The truth is, we never have as much time as we think we do.

Big Love to all the Hedites, liking and sharing the work I do. Every bit helps and I greatly appreciate it.

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 Posted on August 5, 2022 by

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Running Away

Death and You

Welcome back, last week I covered some ideas discussed in Seneca’s letters to a friend of his. I’ve now finished the book which had several great letters that focused on interesting topics. Over the next coming weeks, I will go through the letters which I felt were worth talking about.

Thoughts about death aren’t regular in these letters but they do come up more than rarely. Letter 54, in its last page or so, does just that. It gives us insight into the stoic philosopher’s attitude towards this topic.

When I read it, I instantly clicked with what he was saying, mainly because I have seen it referred to in a similar way before. A great line which really encapsulates the core idea that he is touching on, goes as follows

“Death is just not being. What this is like I already know. It will be the same after me as it was before me.”

It says a lot doesn’t it, and that’s even with few words. In the letter he is detailing to his friend Lucilius, how he was recently ill and how he wasn’t too worried about dying. The main reason why he feels that us humans shouldn’t fear death is because we have done it before.

He classifies as death as not being, this is different from existence, which is about being. Before he was born, he was in a state of non being, then life happened and his death is just a return to non being. Having gone through it once already, and having no indication that the time spent in nonexistence, was tormenting. He concludes that death and the subsequent non being, isn’t something to be feared.

Seneca deploys a clever analogue to explore this belief further. He asks, whether a lamp is worse off from being put out, as opposed to before it was lit at all. He links humans to the allusion by saying, “we like lamps, are lit and then put out”. However, he does mention that during this period of life we are bound to suffer, but that’s much of what makes up the human experience.

I believe this is a powerful belief to hold, it isn’t meant to be taken as a depressing observation about life and death. It is meant to encourage the holder to make the most of their time, which is something regularly extolled by Seneca throughout his letters; and to do that, one must be unafraid of what follows when our time is up.

Lastly, it isn’t about trying to seek death out. Instead; knowing that at some point all of us will go, it is about shifting our attitudes towards an aligned acceptance of this fact.

Thanks again my gang of Hedites

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 Posted on July 31, 2022 by

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Advice Giving

Seneca’s Thoughts

I’ve recently been reading this book, which is a collection of a number of Seneca’s letters to his companions. In case you didn’t know, Seneca is a Roman Stoic philosopher.

I’m currently about half way through the book and what is amazing is the level of insight and thought, which seems to be well ahead of its time. So, I thought it would be worthwhile to work through some of those ideas he talks about. The reason being that, even though more than 2000 years have passed since he was alive. There is still much we can apply in the current age.

The first concept I want to raise with you, is about out there, but trust me, just run with it. Starting off, you need to think long and hard about someone who’s way of life, words and character have won your esteem and approval. Essentially, think of a life coach or mentor, this could be a real person or a fictional one.

Once you have made the choice as to which role model to use, the next part is to constantly imagine that this role model or life coach is observing what you’re doing and passing judgement on it. People don’t like judgement but we do it all day long, so I see no problem with it here.

You might be thinking, what is the purpose of that? Well, think about it like this. Having someone you greatly admire acting as your moral tutor can do a lot of good for you; it creates a standard from which to evaluate your own actions, that’s why it’s very important to pick the right mentor for you…

Guardians, that’s another way to look at them. Not only will this technique encourage you to do the right things, it will also help to diminish any desire to do the wrong things. Since you wouldn’t want to do the wrong thing and let your mentor down, right? Right.

I like this idea a lot, maybe that’s why Christianity taught its followers that, God is always watching. Regardless, this is a great technique, and best of all it is adaptable. In other words, you don’t have to keep the same mentor forever, but as you change as a person, you might want to pick a newer mentor as you could have outgrown the old one.

Well my Hedites, please like and follow, then give it a go.

Peace.

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 Posted on July 23, 2022 by

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Blissful Thoughts

Crisis

A little late on this one but don’t worry I’m still here.

So, this week I want to cover with you my thoughts about the current and emerging difficulties that the world seems to be facing.

If you have taken a look around, recently it seems that a lot is going sideways for humanity. Global supply chain shortages/delays, the lasting impact of COVID, rising inflation and interest rates, the ongoing war in Ukraine, Sri Lanka’s government collapsing, climate change.

These are just some of the many issues that our world is facing, many have complex interactions and relationships which can multiply the impact that is felt. What I came here to say today is, although things might look bleak at times. There doesn’t mean there isn’t opportunity.

I guess that’s what COVID taught me best. Unexpected events might cause major disarray in society but that doesn’t mean that you have to fall apart. From my own experience, COVID gave me the most enjoyable job I have ever had. Without the pandemic, I would have never worked in Close Contact Tracing, which might have meant I wouldn’t be where I am today.

Always remember that the Mandarin word for crisis is the same as the word opportunity. This mindset is very much about seeing the good in the bad, but it also contains the insight that when everyone else around you is falling down, don’t think you have to fall too. Never let bad external circumstances prevent you from actively achieving in your life.

I know it’s easier said than done, but if it was easy, everybody would be doing it.

Peace for now.

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 Posted on July 16, 2022 by

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Beliefs Personified

Word Threads

Okay we are back again for another week. Thanks for coming, let’s get down to it.

We spend much of our lives thinking over our experiences and what they mean to us. Some are good and others not so much, but all of them are there something and form the story that makes us as people.

Reading over my quote book today, I found one that I think says a lot about how we interpret and think about our past. It is a quote form Aldous Huxley and it goes as follows.

“Words form the thread on which we string our experiences”

I really like this view and what it means. When I hear it, I think of a necklace with beads on it. Each bead represents a memory or an experience from our lives. While the words that we use to describe those memories are the threads that link one another.

Continuing with the necklace analogy, I imagine that just like how we could take the beads off the necklace and put them on a new one. So too, can we change our feelings toward our experiences by changing our words that we use to remember those past moments. The memories themselves stay much the same, because we can’t change what happened in the past, but that doesn’t mean we have to wear them on a thread that doesn’t suit us well.

I think by doing that, changing the words we use to describe our life, we can change how we feel about them. To take it further, if you can do that for the past, why not do it for the present as well. Getting real crazy here, imagine if you tried to do it for the future.

I’m not sure exactly what would happen, but it’s something I’ve thought about after reading that quote.

I guess choose your words wisely, and find the thread that works best for you and your beads.

Deuces.

Thanks to all the Hedites.

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 Posted on July 8, 2022 by

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Goals Revisited

Generations of Minds

This week’s post is a little later than usual. Whoops but here it is anyway.

At my work I work within a rotational program and the current placement I am in is at Environmental Health. It is what you think it is, and it also isn’t what you might think it is. But I not going to go into that because that’s not what this post is about.

What this post is about is meetings of the mind. So, at in my placement I am working on an analysis of a 20-year program ran by NSW Health. One of the programs founders who at this point in his life is semi-retired, sticks around to offer his advice and support.

A meeting is held weekly where I give an update on the progress of the work. It usually goes for an hour, but I tend to stay on the call with that mentor that I mentioned; we chat about a range of different things in our conversations after the main meeting.

Recently, he asked if we could have lunch at some point, seeing as we have only ever interacted via group video calls. I saw no problem with that, so I scheduled our lunch for last Friday.

We had spoken quite a bit before, so I was confident in my assessment of his character. But over the course of the lunch, especially since it was a casual informal meeting, we kinda just got to talk shit about anything we wanted.

At one point during the meal, which was at this great Vietnamese restaurant; he asked me “why do you think we are here?”. Me not thinking, just replied “To get food”. He agreed but added, it is always rare to find a someone with a mind.

That’s when it me, this was about a coming together of two people’s values and beliefs and each one strengthening the other. He is much older and has experienced more in life than I have, that means he can offer great insight into things, both personal and work related. Having that kind of friendship is important in life I believe. Finding people, ideally someone older than yourself, who has experienced much and learned plenty, can be a great teacher and mentor even if it is not structured within a lesson format.

Thinking through many of the friendships I have made in the past years on my own journey, most of them fit that mould. These quality people and minds are something that have helped to shape and sharpen me as a person.

So, I guess my message for this week would be, if you come across a sage, have lunch with them, you might learn a lot about yourself in the process.

Thank you to all my Hedites, constantly supporting the work I do here, you’re all amazing.

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 Posted on July 3, 2022 by

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Elvis Presley

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