“But after an entire lifetime of schooling, do [young people] have what they need to pursue a meaningful life? Aside from some professional skill or training – which is hardly a guarantee of a job these days, much less a lifetime of fulfillment – have they learned how to thrive, to tap their genius and joy? … The same can be said of the students I’ve taught at various levels, my clients in therapy, and many of us, for that matter, at whatever age – eighteen or eighty – with or without the luxury of plenty of schooling and especially in the face of today’s realities. ...
Deep down we search for our life, one packed with meaning and fulfillment, substance and satisfaction, love and liberty. … How do we lead the really Good Life? How do we find our way and help others find theirs? Maybe what is most remarkable is that we actually know something about this.
… the essentials are inner virtues or capacities that are activated – switched on and embodied. These inner powers open consciousness and thus enable us to contact and understand the world. The world opens and is revealed to us to the extent that we can open and receive it. This is a kind of physics of the unfolding mind.
The process of opening to the world requires both the psychological and spiritual; when viewed together, these can often seem odd and paradoxical. The psychological develops our will, and the spiritual asks us to be willing. The psychological strengthens our sense of self, and the spiritual asks us to be selfless. The former helps us differentiate and individuate, and the latter invites us to lose our self-separateness. We’ll see … just how the virtues work together and that without their integration we can have trouble getting out of our own way.
In the end, what is clear is that the most ancient and enduring depictions of the life well-lived – the Beautiful, the Good, and the True – are dependent largely on the quality of our consciousness, the inner life. For example, goodness moves always and only through the center of our hearts. As Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s Little Prince knew, ‘One sees clearly only with the heart. Anything that is essential is invisible to the eyes.’ Truth – revealed, discovered, and constructed – has to do with seeing from a greater height or seeing into the heart of something, which was Thomas Aquinas’s definition of wisdom. Beauty emerges through an opening within us. As naturalist John Muir understood, ‘The rivers flow not past, but through us.’ As we grow inward, we open consciousness to our deepest nature, our dearest neighbor, and to the mystery of this existence.
This approach is not about adopting certain beliefs or morals or naming the divine in one thing as opposed to another. Regardless of the particular origin story or theological debates on the nature of the divine, the underlying virtues or capacities and qualities are surprisingly universal, crossing and blending religious, cultural, and intellectual lines.”
Tobin Hart “The Four Virtues. Presence, Heart, Wisdom, Creation.” Atria, 2014. An IMPORTANT, PRACTICAL, ACCESSIBLE Book
Deep down we search for our life, one packed with meaning and fulfillment, substance and satisfaction, love and liberty. … How do we lead the really Good Life? How do we find our way and help others find theirs? Maybe what is most remarkable is that we actually know something about this.
… the essentials are inner virtues or capacities that are activated – switched on and embodied. These inner powers open consciousness and thus enable us to contact and understand the world. The world opens and is revealed to us to the extent that we can open and receive it. This is a kind of physics of the unfolding mind.
The process of opening to the world requires both the psychological and spiritual; when viewed together, these can often seem odd and paradoxical. The psychological develops our will, and the spiritual asks us to be willing. The psychological strengthens our sense of self, and the spiritual asks us to be selfless. The former helps us differentiate and individuate, and the latter invites us to lose our self-separateness. We’ll see … just how the virtues work together and that without their integration we can have trouble getting out of our own way.
In the end, what is clear is that the most ancient and enduring depictions of the life well-lived – the Beautiful, the Good, and the True – are dependent largely on the quality of our consciousness, the inner life. For example, goodness moves always and only through the center of our hearts. As Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s Little Prince knew, ‘One sees clearly only with the heart. Anything that is essential is invisible to the eyes.’ Truth – revealed, discovered, and constructed – has to do with seeing from a greater height or seeing into the heart of something, which was Thomas Aquinas’s definition of wisdom. Beauty emerges through an opening within us. As naturalist John Muir understood, ‘The rivers flow not past, but through us.’ As we grow inward, we open consciousness to our deepest nature, our dearest neighbor, and to the mystery of this existence.
This approach is not about adopting certain beliefs or morals or naming the divine in one thing as opposed to another. Regardless of the particular origin story or theological debates on the nature of the divine, the underlying virtues or capacities and qualities are surprisingly universal, crossing and blending religious, cultural, and intellectual lines.”
Tobin Hart “The Four Virtues. Presence, Heart, Wisdom, Creation.” Atria, 2014. An IMPORTANT, PRACTICAL, ACCESSIBLE Book
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