Dear Fellow Traveler,
In one of Seneca’s letters to Lucilius, he concluded with the maxim, “As long as you live, never stop learning how to live.” Suggesting that it takes a lifetime (or possibly many lifetimes). Strangely, several of these ancient maxims are timeless advice for modern living.
According to the Greek writer Pausanias, three Delphic maxims were inscribed in the forecourt of the Temple of Apollo at Delphi: Know Thyself, Nothing to Excess, and Certainty Brings Ruins. Nothing to excess seems relatively straightforward. But this three-word maxim is a foundational insight across wisdom traditions.
Two thousand years ago, the philosopher Aristotle was tasked with tutoring a young Alexander the Great. One of the lessons Aristotle taught was on the golden mean. Which states, “virtue is the golden mean between two vices.” You have excess on one side of the mean and the other deficiency.
Similarly, the Buddha explained that the awakened one (or Tathāgata) has realized the middle way, giving rise to vision and knowledge and leading to peace, direct knowledge, enlightenment, and wisdom (or Nibbāna).
