🦉 In Search of Wisdom
In Search of Wisdom is a podcast for seekers and curious minds interested in tools for the art of living. Each episode attempts to introduce principles and practices to help us live our highest good. Join the search with J.W. Bertolotti and leading thinkers in philosophy, theology, and everything in between.
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The Wisdom to Know the Difference
In this episode of In Search of Wisdom, we discuss a practice I usually refer to as the wisdom to know the difference. Specifically, we revisit and reflect on a previous meditation (from the Letters to a Young Seeker series) titled Neither Good Nor Bad. You can expect to learn what it means to discern between what matters and what doesn’t (in everyday life).
Key Takeaways
The meaning of neither good nor bad
Why we are wired to categorize and label
How to get comfortable with ambiguity
The wisdom of questions and clarity
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Episode Transcript
Discerning between the “good” and “bad” is an essential task in life. The ancient Greek biographer Diogenes of Laërtius wrote that the Stoics defined wisdom as knowing what is good (virtue), bad (vice), and indifferent. Strangely, one of the most challenging things in life is to recognize that most things are actually neither good nor bad.
The Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius observed in Meditations (or notes to himself) that “if you are afraid of something, … you think that it is going to be bad for you, when in fact, since it is neither virtue nor vice, it is neither good nor bad.” Interestingly, neither good nor bad appears several times in Meditations (and across other wisdom traditions).
