Welcome to Vol. 4 of our Perennial Habits course. Thank you to everyone who voted in our poll for the upcoming meetup. Based on the results, our first meetup will be on Monday (3 Jun) at 3:00 pm EST (Register here).
A quick review: our first meditation discussed How to Change When Change is Hard and the need for clarity, motivation, and shaping the path for change. Next, we talked about How to “Think” About Change, which discussed the stages of change and the notion of cognitive flexibility. Then, we explored The Paradox of Small Changes, which focused on thinking big and small. Today, we turn to one of my favorite ideas — Becoming Every Day or the art of creating a life.
Contemplation Question(s): Consider reflecting on one (or all) of the questions.
What are you hoping to learn in this course?
As you reflect on your life, who or what has had the greatest impact on your journey thus far?
What do you think is the driving aim of your life?
Becoming Every Day: A User’s Guide
Every day (and each moment) is an opportunity—a chance to create.
The pre-Socratic philosopher Heraclitus famously said, “No one ever steps in the same river twice, for it’s not the same river, and they are not the same person.” We are constantly changing, and so is everything else. Yes, some changes are more noticeable than others, but nevertheless, change is occurring.
In my conversation with Alva Noë (author of The Entanglement: How Art and Philosophy Make Us What We Are), we discussed the notion of creating a life and the connection between art and philosophy.
Here’s a short clip from the conversation:
We are questions, not answers; in this, we are like artworks.
“Art and philosophy require of us that we work ourselves over and make ourselves anew,” explains Noë, “individually and ensemble.” To understand and know ourselves, we need to undertake an aesthetic investigation of that work-in-progress that is the self we are.
Creativity and Change
The art of living is ultimately an artistic process.
The philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche called creativity required to become who we are or who we may want to be. In the short book Being and Becoming, author Jennifer Anna Gosetti-Ferencei explains,
In order to embrace our lives as our very own, to shake free from the inherited expectations, the pressures of the crowd, or mere habit, we need to exercise invention.
