Perennial Meditations

📩 Want daily wisdom? Sign up for Perennial Meditations to receive ancient lessons for modern life: https://perennial.substack.com/subscribe Welcome to Sundays with Seneca on the Perennial Meditations podcast. Join the search for ancient lessons for modern living in the writing and Stoic philosophy of Lucius Annaeus Seneca. In a letter known today as On the Shortness of Life , Seneca wrote, " Infi...

📩 Want daily wisdom? Sign up for Perennial Meditations to receive ancient lessons for modern life: https://perennial.substack.com/subscribe The Stoic philosopher Epictetus once asked, “How long are you going to wait before you demand the best for yourself?” But what does it actually mean to demand the best for yourself? What is the path to peace, tranquility, or happiness? How does one become a b...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit perennial.substack.com 📩 Want daily wisdom? Sign up for Perennial Meditations to receive ancient lessons for modern life: https://perennial.substack.com/subscribe Welcome to Sundays with Seneca on the Perennial Meditations podcast. Join the search for ancient lessons for modern living in the writing and Stoic philosophy of Lucius Annae...

📩 Want daily wisdom? Sign up for Perennial Meditations to receive ancient lessons for modern life: https://perennial.substack.com/subscribe Welcome to Sundays with Seneca on the Perennial Meditations podcast. Join the search for ancient lessons for modern living in the writing and Stoic philosophy of Lucius Annaeus Seneca. In a letter known today as On Noble Aspirations , Seneca wrote, "I shall i...

📩 Want daily wisdom? Sign up for Perennial Meditations to receive ancient lessons for modern life: https://perennial.substack.com/subscribe Do you ever have trouble getting out of bed in the morning? If so, you’re in good company; the Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius did as well. In his personal journal, known as Meditations , he wrote, “At dawn, when you have trouble getting out of bed, tell yourse...

📩 Want daily wisdom? Sign up for Perennial Meditations to receive ancient lessons for modern life: https://perennial.substack.com/subscribe  How is your relationship with time? It might sound like a strange question, but it's essential. The American writer Ralph Waldo Emerson advised, “Guard well your spare moments. They are like uncut diamonds. Discard them, and their value will never be known....

📩 Want daily wisdom? Sign up for Perennial Meditations to receive ancient lessons for modern life: https://perennial.substack.com/subscribe Welcome to Sundays with Seneca on the Perennial Meditations podcast. Join the search for ancient lessons for modern living in the writing and Stoic philosophy of Lucius Annaeus Seneca. In a letter known today as On Allegiance to Virtue , Seneca wrote, "You ha...

📩 Want daily wisdom? Sign up for Perennial Meditations to receive ancient lessons for modern life: https://perennial.substack.com/subscribe One of the many universal truths across wisdom traditions is the emphasis on removing desire. Epictetus and the Buddha suggested that freedom is not secured by fulfilling one’s desires but by its removal. A curious question, then, is what is the opposite of d...

📩 Want daily wisdom? Sign up for Perennial Meditations to receive ancient lessons for modern life: https://perennial.substack.com/subscribe Welcome to Sundays with Seneca on the Perennial Meditations podcast. Join the search for ancient lessons for modern life in the writing and Stoic philosophy of Lucius Annaeus Seneca. In a letter known today as On the Futuility of Learning Maxims , Seneca wrot...

📩 Want daily wisdom? Sign up for Perennial Meditations to receive ancient lessons for modern life: https://perennial.substack.com/subscribe Welcome to Sundays with Seneca on the Perennial Meditations podcast. Join the search for ancient lessons for modern life in the writing and Stoic philosophy of Lucius Annaeus Seneca. In a letter known today as On Conquering the Conquerer , Seneca wrote, "Just...

📩 Want daily wisdom? Sign up for Perennial Meditations to receive ancient lessons for modern life: https://perennial.substack.com/subscribe We don’t often consider creativity a prerequisite to living a good life. But one can reasonably view life as the ultimate creative pursuit. Existential thinking encourages living life as a work of art. Nietzsche wrote that creativity may be required to become...

📩 Want daily wisdom? Sign up for Perennial Meditations to receive ancient lessons for modern life: https://perennial.substack.com/subscribe Welcome to Sundays with Seneca on the Perennial Meditations podcast. Join the search for ancient lessons for modern life in the writing and Stoic philosophy of Lucius Annaeus Seneca. In a letter known today as On Old Age and Death , Seneca wrote, "I was just...

📩 Want daily wisdom? Sign up for Perennial Meditations to receive ancient lessons for modern life: https://perennial.substack.com/subscribe How practical is your philosophy of life? The Zen Master D.T. Suzuki wrote that there is nothing extraordinary or mysterious about Zen. The idea of Zen is to catch life as it flows. When it comes to Zen — the whole point is to be practical. [...] P.S. If you’...

Welcome to Sundays with Seneca on the Perennial Meditations podcast. Join the search for ancient lessons for modern life in the writing and Stoic philosophy of Lucius Annaeus Seneca. In a letter known today as On the True Joy Which Comes from Philosophy , Seneca wrote to Lucilius, "Do you suppose that I shall write you how kindly the winter season has dealt with us—a short season and a mild one—or...

📩 Want daily wisdom? Sign up for Perennial Meditations to receive ancient lessons for modern life: https://perennial.substack.com/subscribe In the Enchiridion (or Handbook), the philosopher Epictetus asks: “How long are you going to wait before you demand the best for yourself?” If you’re listening to Perennial Meditations — one can reasonably assume you’re interested in improving yourself. Howev...

📩 Want daily wisdom? Sign up for Perennial Meditations to receive ancient lessons for modern life right to your inbox: https://perennial.substack.com/subscribe On today’s episode, I’m grateful to share a conversation with my good friend Simon Drew from the Walled Garden Philosophical Society and the Soul Searching with Seneca podcast. Simon is a poet, musician, philosopher, and someone with a dee...

📩 Want daily wisdom? Sign up for Perennial Meditations to receive ancient lessons for modern life right to your inbox: https://perennial.substack.com/subscribe In a letter known today as On Groundless Fears , Seneca wrote, "I know that you have plenty of spirit; for even before you began to equip yourself with maxims which were wholesome and potent to overcome obstacles, you were taking pride in...

📩 Want ancient lessons for modern life delivered to your inbox daily? Sign up for the Perennial Meditations newsletter: https://perennial.substack.com/ Does anyone actually understand you? It seems that, universally, we all have parts of us that are unknown to others (and often even to ourselves). The American essayist Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote, “Speak what you think now in hard words, and tomorr...

In this episode, I share a short clip from my conversation with Jonathan Robinson , the author of The Enlightenment Project . The full conversation will release next week on In Search of Wisdom . Jonathan is a psychotherapist and best-selling author of ten books. He has studied the most practical and powerful personal and professional development methods for the last thirty years. He’s interviewed...

📩 Want ancient lessons for modern life delivered to your inbox daily? Sign up for the Perennial Meditations newsletter. Follow us: Instagram | Twitter | Youtube | Website Welcome to Sundays with Seneca on the Perennial Meditations podcast. Join the search for ancient lessons for modern life in the writing and Stoic philosophy of Lucius Annaeus Seneca. In a letter known today as On Practicing What...

📩 Want ancient lessons for modern life delivered to your inbox daily? Sign up for the Perennial Meditations newsletter. Follow us: Instagram | Twitter | Youtube | Website The opening passage of the Enchiridion , by Epictetus, reads as follows: “There are things that are within our power, and there are things that are beyond our power. Within our power are opinion, aim, desire, aversion, and, in a...

📩 Want ancient lessons for modern life delivered to your inbox daily? Sign up for the Perennial Meditations newsletter. In this episode, I share a short clip from my conversation with Stephen Angle, the author of Growing Moral: A Confucian Guide to Life . The full conversation will release next week on In Search of Wisdom . In Growing Moral , Angle quotes the Confucian philosopher Mengzi , “Suppo...

📩 Want ancient lessons for modern life delivered to your inbox daily? Sign up for the Perennial Meditations newsletter. Welcome to Sundays with Seneca on the Perennial Meditations podcast. Join us as we search for ancient lessons for modern life in the writings and Stoic philosophy of Lucius Annaeus Seneca. In a letter known today as On Philosophy, the Guide of Life , Seneca wrote, "It is cl...

📩 Want ancient lessons for modern life delivered to your inbox daily? Sign up for the Perennial Meditations newsletter. Follow us: Instagram | Twitter | Youtube | Website Why do spiritual and philosophical traditions all stress the notion of the shortness of life? It seems it would be in the category of self-evident. Although the notion of impermanence (or nothing lasts) is straightforward, deepe...

📩 Want ancient lessons for modern life delivered to your inbox daily? Sign up for the Perennial Meditations newsletter. Welcome to Sundays with Seneca on the Perennial Meditations podcast. Join us as we search for ancient lessons for modern life in the writings and Stoic philosophy of Lucius Annaeus Seneca. In a letter known today as On Brawn and Brains , Seneca wrote, "The old Romans had a...