Living the questions: The key to a meaningful life

Living the questions: The key to a meaningful life

“Be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves, like locked rooms and like books that are now written in a very foreign tongue. Do not now seek the answers, which cannot be given you because you would not be able to live...
Practicing perseverance and getting gritty

Practicing perseverance and getting gritty

“Itsy bitsy spider went up the water spout Down came the rain And washed the spider out Out came the sun and dried up all the rain And the itsy bitsy spider went up the spout again.” Grit is courage and resolve, or strength of character. Persistence means to...
What is the value of a human life?

What is the value of a human life?

What is the value and meaning of a human life? Does it lie in longevity? In achievement? Pleasure? Success? Does the value of our lives lie in the amount of happy or enjoyable moments we have? Does it lie in what we create or generate (Art, children, career)? Our...
Acts of care and compassionate contribution

Acts of care and compassionate contribution

One day a man was walking along the beach when he noticed a boy picking something up and gently throwing it into the ocean. Approaching the boy, he asked, “What are you doing?” The youth replied, “Throwing starfish back into the ocean. The surf is up and the tide is...
Cultivating hope and optimism

Cultivating hope and optimism

“Hope” is the thing with feathers – That perches in the soul – And sings the tune without the words – And never stops – at all –   And sweetest – in the Gale – is heard – And sore must be the storm – That...
Aristotle and eudaimonia: Unfolding from within

Aristotle and eudaimonia: Unfolding from within

‘‘If happiness is activity in accordance with virtue, it is reasonable that it should be in accordance with the highest virtue; and this will be that of the best thing in us.’’ – Aristotle Joar Vitterso writes that the exercise of virtues, or what is often termed...