I came across an interesting quote recently from Seneca, “We like to say that we don’t get to choose our parents, but they were given by chance. Yet, we can truly choose whose children we’d like to be.” Initially, this seems like a complete rejection of our parents, and for some that may be a necessary step towards healing if it was a particularly toxic relationship. However, I think that for the majority of us, it is possible to fully honor our parents and yet embrace additional sources of mentorship.
Most parents are capable of providing their children with basic personal and social skills in order to live reasonably normal lives; however, we are only able to guide others to the same level we have achieved. I think most responsible parents would acknowledge their limitations and the hope that their children would be able to exceed them financially and, more importantly, in attaining a greater sense of wellbeing. This will mean that our offspring will need to seek additional guidance with wholehearted parental support.
Humans have been blessed with symbolic consciousness. It is what has enabled us to develop language and written communication. Other animals can teach one another when they are both present. However, human communication methods allow thoughts, images and sounds to be transmitted over distances and time. Even musical composers from hundreds of years ago were able to preserve their inspirations in ways that allow them to be played by musicians in our current age.
The greatest barrier to our intellectual, emotional, psychological and/or spiritual growth is the belief that we have already learned everything we need to know. This lack of humility and curiosity can prevent us from reaching our highest level of existence. Greater joy, sense of accomplishment, total contentment or professional development may lie within the pages of that book we didn’t read, the documentary we didn’t watch, the weekend retreat we didn’t attend or the comments of a friend we didn’t really listen to.
The problem is that we can never know what we don’t know. It has been said that ignorance is bliss. There may be some truth to that, but willing ignorance is often a choice to live below our full potential.
If we are completely content with our lives, then there is nothing to do but continue on our current path. If, however, we have a sense that there is always something new lying just beyond the horizon, we will need to develop an openness to new ideas and concepts. There is no way to predict the source of our next awakening, but it is essential to maintain a willingness to have our beliefs, knowledge, values and more, challenged.
As we encounter new ideas, it does not automatically mean that changes must occur. It does mean that we will develop a deeper understanding of ourselves and, hopefully, a greater confidence in who we are becoming. When we discover mentors, whether alive or long deceased, it would be prudent to proceed cautiously as we consider incorporating their guidance into our journey.
Below are a few books that I have personally found beneficial because they present a wide range of thoughts to consider.
“A Calendar of Wisdom: Daily Thoughts to Nourish the Soul, Written and Selected from the World's Sacred Texts by Leo Tolstoy”
“Breakfast with Seneca: A Stoic Guide to the Art of Living” by David Fiddler
“Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents” by Isabel Wilkerson
“How to Think Like Socrates: Ancient Philosophy as a Way of Life in the Modern World” by Donald J. Robertson
“Meditations” by Marcus Aurelius
“The Daily Stoic | Stoic Wisdom for Everyday Life” by Ryan Holiday
“As A Man Thinketh” by James Allen
No comments:
Post a Comment