Composing their very own three-lined poems stands out as one of the all-time favorite activities for philosophers of all ages and interests. Everybody has poetry within! Grab a pad and pencil. Go outside if you can, look out a window perhaps, or dig into memory’s treasure box. Take a deep breath, exhale, you know…. Rhyming words at line’s end—who cares?! Getting it right—who knows?! How? Your 3 lines present a snapshot, capturing a moment in time.
Read MoreOne of philosophy’s charms for me is the opportunity to think, as if for the first time, about the meaning of ideas essential to good living. What is good living? What is persistence? What is possibility? What is belonging? What is empathy? This constant reexamination widens our perspective and guards against our falling into the trap of stale assumptions and preconceptions. I can think of no idea that begs for rethinking more than the concept of success. What is it?
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Well-worth the time-travel hearing from 13th century Persian poet Rumi that “Your Laughter Turns the World to Paradise.” A budding flower cuddles in the ground and “its hidden smile opens to a laugh that / lasts a lifetime.” Like grateful athletes, we laugh whether winning or losing. Love and laughter sing a duet: “I have a heart of sunlight.”