5 Big Ideas #14: Transformation, Perennial Philosophy, Slow Down, Exposure and Allies, Which Comes First — Privilege or Virtue?
I.
Transformation (The New You)
When you embrace your calling, simplicity prevails. Your days align with your purpose, transcending past fears that once paralyzed you. Instead of seeking refuge in distractions and numbing activities, you confront and conquer your fears. Your daily agenda revolves around achieving your specific aim, and you summon the courage to stay resolute.
This transformation — from the Old You (crippled by fear) to the New You (fear-defying) — alters your days entirely, ultimately reshaping your life. The New You changes when you rise in the morning and sleep at night. The New You consciously decides how to spend your time, opting for activities that fuel the spirit, and approaches each opportunity with a fresh mindset. The New You changes your reading choices and dietary habits, transforming from the inside out.
The Old You thrived on melodrama, contradiction, and diversion, planning days overflowing with activity yet devoid of true purpose and meaning.
But the New You stands apart, and everyone sees it.
II.
Perennial Philosophy
Throughout history, humans have sought to fathom and reconcile the origin of life and creation. A persistent notion throughout time asserts that the origin of everything is a non-physical, intelligent, and benevolent spirit or entity, and that we share a connection with this spirit. In 1945, Aldous Huxley termed this concept the Perennial Philosophy. Despite the diverse ways individuals have perceived this higher intelligence across ages, cultures, and religions, the belief in its existence endures.
Huxley’s perennial philosophy aligns well with the modern spirituality movement. Across history, humans have sought connection with a transcendent presence, whether labeled God, Infinite, or, more recently, The Universe. Encounters with this essence evoke feelings of ecstasy, joy, clarity, bliss, inner peace, wholeness, and love, with even brief moments carrying transformative potential.
But how exactly does one connect with this metaphysical presence?
Huxley presents three approaches (he uses the label “God” in his book, so I kept it here, but feel free to replace with your preferred term):
1. Inner Contemplation
- Commence by turning inward.
- Engage in a process of “dying to self,” releasing the “self” in all reasoning, willing, and feeling.
- Attain knowledge of the self, the kingdom within, and the kingdom of God.
2. External Meditation
- Begin by recognizing the spirit in natural objects and beings outside oneself.
- Strive to realize their essential unity with God.
- Experience the essence of one’s own being by understanding the interconnectedness with God.
3. Combination of Both
- Opt for an approach that combines both inner contemplation and external meditation.
- Seek to comprehend the ultimate, realizing God as the principle of one’s own spirit and all other animate and inanimate spirits.
- (Huxley suggests that this combined approach is the most effective way to approach the metaphysical.)
III.
Slow Down
The following excerpt comes from a speech titled Solitude and Leadership, delivered by William Deresiewicz:
“Thomas Mann said that a writer is someone for whom writing is more difficult than it is for other people. The best writers write much more slowly than everyone else, and the better they are, the slower they write. James Joyce wrote Ulysses, the greatest novel of the 20th century, at the rate of about a hundred words a day … for seven years. T. S. Eliot, one of the greatest poets our country has ever produced, wrote about 150 pages of poetry over the course of his entire 25-year career. That’s half a page a month. So it is with any other form of thought. You do your best thinking by slowing down and concentrating.”
Optimal ideas come forth when you decelerate and concentrate.
(𝕏 quote)
IV.
Exposure and Allies
In The Archer, Paulo Coehlo writes,
“The archer allows many arrows to go far beyond the target, because he knows that he will learn the importance of bow, posture, string, and target only by repeating his gestures thousands of times and by not being afraid of making mistakes.”
We all know that practice is required to achieve any aim in life. To succeed, one must persist, regardless of how many failures will inevitably occur along the way. Despite this understanding, one of the greatest fears we succumb to is the perception of others as they see our failures pile up. In other words, we fear exposure.
But one’s true allies know that it takes immense courage to try. They know that practice is necessary for any endeavor and have undergone heaps of failed attempts themselves.
When you put yourself out there — risking exposure — not only will you learn how to refine your aim, but you’ll also find out who your real allies are. And by showing the world what you’re made of — successes and failures alike — you allow your allies to know the authentic you.
V.
Which Comes First — Privilege or Virtue?
Contemporary society would have us believe that virtue arises from privilege. Essentially, among the unfortunate majority of adults living paycheck-to-paycheck in America, the prevailing belief is that one is entitled to be lacking in virtue due to life’s unfair circumstances. This mindset, akin to a pervasive mind-virus, is afflicting our world, leading to an unnoticed and underreported pandemic. The lack of attention to this mind-virus is detrimental, particularly to those who succumb to its influence.
Contrary to popular belief, virtue doesn’t follow privilege; instead, the privileges we yearn for emerge from virtue. Only by cultivating inner morality can one attain the external benefits they desire.
As Socrates wisely put it,
“I tell you that virtue is not given by money, but that from virtue comes money and every other good of man.”
Opting for virtue over victimization contributes to a happier, more fulfilling, and just world.
(𝕏 quote)
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