Liberal Arts Blog — Ikigai, Lykke, Hygge, Sisu — Meaning, Focus, Purpose, Practice
Liberal Arts Blog — Tuesday is the Joy of Literature, Language, Religion, and Culture Day
Today’s Topic: Ikigai, Lykke, Hygge, Sisu — Meaning, Focus, Purpose, Practice
Last time, several quotes from George Orwell (born Eric Arthur Blair) and two book covers that blew my mind. Today, a little hopping around the world from Denmark and Finland to Japan in search of the meaning of life.
Two years ago, I had a a post on “Ikigai” (Japan) and “Sisu” (Finland) but realized this morning that I had forgotten what each means.
Ikigai is allegedly the secret to the longevity of the centenarians of Okinawa and is synonymous with “life purpose.”
Sisu — is the secret to the happiness of the happiest people in the world (perhaps) — the Finns and means roughly “grit and tenacity” of the sort exemplified by the Finns in their resistance to the Soviet invasion in November 1939.
Two other words that have been turned into best sellers in the United States are “Hygge” — a Danish word evoking the “coziness” of fireplaces and woolen sweaters and “Lykke” — the Danish for happiness and a cognate of the english word “luck” and the German “Gluck.”
How do you find focus? Purpose? Meaning? With what daily practices do you re-focus your mind, heart, body, and soul on what matters? Nightly and morning prayers? Grace at meals? Grace at other times throughout the day?
If there is one staple takeaway from the liberal arts tradition it is the message that it’s not the answers that matter, it’s the questions. But are all questions then created equal? Who is triaging the questions?
Today, three question packages that I believe should be etched into the memories of every child born on this beautiful planet. Do you have a favorite question package from any culture in the world?
Experts — please chime in. Correct, elaborate, elucidate.
QUESTION PACKAGE #1 (Ben Zoma) — All questions are not created equal. Nor are all answers. The best of both are distributed in bell curves. So what are your top four?
1. Who is strong? He who controls his own emotions.
2. Who is wise? He who learns from all people.
3. Who is wealthy? He who is happy with what he has.
4. Who is honored? He who honors all people.
QUESTION PACKAGE #2 (Hillel): how about these three questions?
1. If I am not for myself, who will be for me?
2. If I am only for myself, who am I?
3. If not now, when?
QUESTION PACKAGE #3 (Tolstoy) And do your remember these? 4+3+3 = 10.
What are your top ten? Don’t have your top ten list handy? Well, would be putting one together be a good use of your time? Is there a better use?
1. Who is the most important person in the world? The person you are with.
2. What is the most important moment? Now.
3. What is the most important thing to do? Help that person.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ikigai
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sisu
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simeon_ben_Zoma
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hillel_the_Elder
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Three_Questions
QUOTE OF THE MONTH
“Make your own Bible. Select and collect all the words and sentences that in all your readings have been to you like the blast of a trumpet.”
- Ralph Waldo Emerson
My spin — then periodically review, re-rank, and exchange your list with those you love. I call this the “Orion Exchange” because seven is about as many as any human can digest at a time. Game?
ATTACHMENTS BELOW:
#1 A graphic guide to justice (9 metaphors on one page).
#2 “39 Songs, Prayers, and Poems: the Keys to the Hearts of Seven Billion People” — Adams House Senior Common Room Presentation, (11/17/20)
NB: Palestine Orion (Decision) — let’s exchange Orions, let’s find Rumi’s field (“Beyond all ideas of right and wrong, there is a field. Meet me there” Rumi, 13 century Persian Sufi mystic)
THE LAST FOUR YEARS OF POSTS ORGANIZED THEMATICALLY INTO FOURTEEN BOOK-LENGTH PDFS:
PDF with headlines — Google Drive
Please share the coolest thing you learned this week related to words, language, literature, religion, culture.
Or, even better, the coolest or most important thing you learned in your life related to Words, Language, Literature (eg. quotes, poetry, vocabulary) that you have not yet shared.
This is your chance to make someone else’s day. Or to cement in your own mind something that you might otherwise forget. Or to think more deeply than otherwise about something dear to your heart. Continuity is key to depth of thought.
