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 Mason's
Meditations
If
you're looking for something to chew over, some thoughtful seeds
for mental cultivation, bookmark this page for Jeff Mason's monthly
meditations. To think in or take away...
Number
Seventeen: Perennial Philosophy
Philosophy
has a history. It is the history of questions with no easy answers,
no easy means of findings them, and perhaps no definite answers
at all. Whether it makes sense to ask such questions is itself a
philosophical question.
Perennial
philosophy is the pursuit of knowledge through the contemplation
of questions that have bothered human beings ever since they began
to think. One is how to live a truly human life, a life worthy of
our higher selves. By "higher self" I do not mean some
"soul" existing in its own separate world, but rather
the potential for a life that is more open and developed. These
questions have not changed over the centuries because the human
condition has not changed.
The
human world has always been extremely complicated, despite the fact
that ancient peoples seem to us to have lived simpler lives than
ourselves. These complications arise because our genetic programming
allows varying responses to the same situations. We have to integrate
thoughtful contemplation and self-consciousness into our lives.
This is no easy task, but it has been ours ever since we have needed
wisdom and good judgement to organize our perceptions, knowledge,
thoughts and actions into a coherent and flourishing life. Before
then, instincts were sufficient to our needs.
The
"self" that we have, such as it is, is a creation of our
lives, not a thing in its own right. Therefore, we can aim to develop
that self to the point where like a butterfly leaving its chrysalis,
we can leave the paths of our natural unthinking lives and take
to higher ground in thought and actions. If we did not have to think
about things, there would be no need for wisdom, no need for a "self"
at all, let alone a "higher self". The secret of the perennial
philosophy is that no matter how thoroughly we may plan for the
future, unforeseen events happen, and it is only our own attitudes
towards what happens that we can manage on our own. The love of
wisdom infuses our attitudes with reasonable beliefs and knowledge
and gives our judgements the best chance of being true.
Mason's
Meditations will next be updated late-December 2001
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Previous
Meditations
16. (15th October 2001)
15. (15th September
2001)
14.
(1st August 2001)
13.
(1st July 2001)
12. (1st
June 2001)
11.
(1st May 2001)
10.
(1st April 2001)
9. (16th March 2001)
8. (1st
March 2001)
7.
(15th February 2001)
6.
(1st February 2001)
5. (15th
January 2001)
4. (1st
January 2001)
3.
(15th December 2000)
2.
(1st December 2000)
1. (15th November
2000)
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