Recommended Reading

Resonant “Meditations” from Marcus Aurelius

by robertrosenkranz on November 15, 2018

Perhaps the most philosophically grounded leader of all time lived nearly 1900 years ago. He was Marcus Aurelius, the Emperor of Rome from 161 to 180 A.D. Known as the philosopher king, the period of his reign was, in the words of Edward Gibbon from Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, “the period in the history of the world, during which the condition of the human race was most happy and prosperous.”

I just had the pleasure of reading Marcus Aurelius’ Meditations. These are short entries in a sort of diary that Marcus wrote while he was Emperor. But they were not records of daily events, or intended to be read by others. Rather, Marcus was talking to himself about his philosophy of the well-lived life and about the responsibilities of leadership. Here are some of the meditations I found most resonant.

  • “Everything is just an impression.”1
  • You take things you don’t control and define them as “good” or “bad.” And so of course when the “bad” things happen, or the “good” ones don’t, you blame the gods and feel hatred for the people responsible – or those you decide to make responsible. Much of our bad behavior stems from trying to apply those criteria. If we limited “good” and “bad” to our own actions, we’d have no call to challenge God, or to treat other people as enemies.2
  • Concentrate every minute like a Roman – like a man – on doing what’s in front of you with precise and genuine seriousness, tenderly, willingly, with justice. And on freeing yourself from all other distractions. Yes, you can – if you do everything as if it were the last thing you were doing in your life, and stop being aimless, stop letting your emotions override what your mind tells you, stop being hypocritical, self-centered, irritable. You see how few things you have to do to live a satisfying and reverent life? If you can manage this, that’s all even the gods can ask of you.3
  • Do external things distract you? Then make time for yourself to learn something worthwhile; stop letting yourself be pulled in all directions. But make sure you guard against the other kind of confusion. People who labor all their lives but have no purpose to direct every thought and impulse toward are wasting their time – even when hard at work.4
  • Your ability to control your thoughts – treat it with respect. It’s all that protects your mind from false perceptions – false to your nature, and that of all rational beings. It’s what makes thoughtfulness possible, and affection for other people, and submission to the divine.5
  • If you do the job in a principled way, with diligence, energy and patience, if you keep yourself free of distractions, and keep the spirit inside you undamaged, as if you might have to give it back at any moment –
    • If you can embrace this without fear or expectation – can find fulfillment in what you’re doing now, as Nature intended, and in superhuman truthfulness (every word, every utterance) – then your life will be happy.
    • No one can prevent that.6
  • In a sense, people are our proper occupation. Our actions may be impeded by them, but there can be no impeding our intentions or our dispositions. Because we can accommodate and adapt. The mind adapts and converts to its own purposes the obstacle to our acting.
    • The impediment to action advances action.
    • What stands in the way becomes the way.7
  • Frightened of change? But what can exist without it? What’s closer to nature’s heart? Can you take a hot bath and leave the firewood as it was? Eat food without transforming it? Can any vital process take place without something being changed?
    • Can’t you see? It’s just the same with you – and just as vital to nature.8
  • “If you seek tranquility, do less.” Or (more accurately) do what’s essential – what the logos of a social being requires, and in the requisite way. Which brings a double satisfaction: to do less, better.
    • Because most of what we say and do is not essential. If you can eliminate it, you’ll have more time, and more tranquility. Ask yourself at every moment, “Is this necessary?”
    • But we need to eliminate unnecessary assumptions as well. To eliminate the unnecessary actions that follow.9
  • “If you don’t have a consistent goal in life, you can’t live it in a consistent way.”
    • Unhelpful, unless you specify a goal.
    • There is no common benchmark for all the things that people think are good – except for a few, the ones that affect us all. So the goal should be a common one – a civic one. If you direct all your energies toward that, your actions will be consistent. And so will you.10
  • Have I done something for the common good? Then I share in the benefits.
    • To stay centered on that.11

If you want to delve deeper into Marcus’ thinking in Meditations, I recommend the translation by Gregory Hays.

1 Aurelius, Meditations, 22.
2 Aurelius, Meditations, 78.

3 Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, ed. Gregory Hays (New York: Modern Library, 2002), 18.
4 Aurelius, Meditations, 19.
5 Aurelius, Meditations, 32.
6 Aurelius, Meditations, 33.
7 Aurelius, Meditations, 60.
8 Aurelius, Meditations, 88.

9 Aurelius, Meditations, 42-43.
10 Aurelius, Meditations, 156.
11 Aurelius, Meditations, 148.

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robertrosenkranzResonant “Meditations” from Marcus Aurelius

Recommended Reading: Steven Pinker’s Enlightenment Now

by robertrosenkranz on August 30, 2018

Robert Rosenkranz’s  Enlightenment Now by Steven Pinker

In an age of increasingly pessimistic and bleak world views, Steven Pinker’s new book, Enlightenment Now, couldn’t come at a better time. It’s a sort of balm from the recent surge in authoritarian populism and the general hopelessness that stems from it. Through the lens of Pinker’s optimistic philosophy, Enlightenment Now expands on his seminal book, The Better Angels of Our Nature, and creates a cohesive overview of the liberal Enlightenment values that are currently under attack from both extremes of the political spectrum. While he paints a rose-colored picture of humanity right now, he also explains the media biases that cause most people to feel much worse about human progress than they ought to feel.

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robertrosenkranzRecommended Reading: Steven Pinker’s Enlightenment Now

Recommended Reading- One Nation Undecided by Peter Schuck

by robertrosenkranz on October 9, 2017

Robert Rosenkranz’s  One Nation Undecided by Peter Schuck

In an age of “fake news,” radical opinions and seemingly never-ending controversies, Peter Schuck’s “One Nation Undecided” does what so many have struggled to do as of late – give careful thought and consideration to some of the nation’s most polarizing issues, and respectfully analyze the opinions and arguments of both sides in doing so.

Page by page, Schuck delves into five of today’s most controversial topics, exploring immigration, campaign finance, poverty, affirmative action, and gay marriage and transgender rights while explaining key concepts and providing thoughtful commentary along the way. Rather than take a strong stance on most of these hot-button issues, however, he instead takes an often-unbiased perspective, encouraging readers not so much to take one side over the other, but to think through the arguments of both sides rationally and precisely while abandoning hot tempers and strong emotions in doing so.

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robertrosenkranzRecommended Reading- One Nation Undecided by Peter Schuck

The Neuroscience of Open-Mindedness Related to Political Views

by robertrosenkranz on February 9, 2017

Sourced from iq2us.org and Scientific Reports

Most people like to think of themselves as open-minded and rational, but a new and fascinating study reveals that the brain is neurologically hard-wired to defend political beliefs – and feels severely threatened when opposed.

In this USC-led study, neuroscientists have determined that when people’s political beliefs are challenged, our brains respond in a similar manner to personal threats. Basically, it cues the “fight or flight” survival instinct: the brain’s areas involved in personal identity and emotion senses activate in a similar manner to an attack on a deeply personal and emotional level.  How did they measure participant responses?

“In this study, we performed functional MRI to measure the brain activity of 40 individuals with strong political views as they encountered arguments against their beliefs. All the subjects were self-identified as political liberals of deep conviction. Inside the fMRI scanner, participants saw a series of statements they previously indicated strongly believing, followed by several challenging counterarguments. After participants read all five counterarguments, the original statement was shown again and they reported their post-challenge belief strength. The difference between pre-scan and post-challenge ratings was used as a measure of belief change. In order to compare high belief persistence to low belief persistence, in one condition we challenged strongly held political beliefs, and in another condition we challenged strongly-held non-political beliefs. While the non-political beliefs were just as strongly held according to the participants who held them, we did not expect these beliefs to be defended with the same vigor.”

When challenged, participants often shut down, disregarding any rational evidence that is contrary to their beliefs. Political beliefs are often so entrenched that they become unmovable, or as lead author of the study Jonas Kaplan puts it, “to consider an alternative view, you would have to consider an alternative version of yourself.”

As the study’s authors note, this shutdown of dialogue poses a serious problem for our shared future.

“The inability to change another person’s mind through evidence and argument, or to have one’s own mind changed in turn, stands out as a problem of great societal importance,” the researchers wrote. “Both human knowledge and human cooperation depend upon such feats of cognitive and emotional flexibility.”

Just look at the data from the MRI scans of brain activity:

Nueroscience Post Robert Rosenkranz

Understanding the root causes of the growing hyper-partisanship in the U.S. is the first step towards a more conscientious, participatory, and effective political discourse. In order to combat a predilection towards bickering and misunderstanding, we have to actively fight against that, keeping lines of communication open, and always focusing on civility and respect.

Thankfully, there are more than 130 debates in the Intelligence Squared U.S. Debate archive that are designed to challenge your point of view – in a way your brain will welcome. Hear both sides engage in a thoughtful, considerate and open-minded dialogue on even the most polarizing topics. We know the debate format works: more than 50% of our listeners change their minds when exposed to the other side.  Get started here.

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robertrosenkranzThe Neuroscience of Open-Mindedness Related to Political Views

Recommended Reading: Fractured Republic by Yuval Levin

by robertrosenkranz on November 4, 2016

Given the near-constant wave of controversy, name-calling and finger-pointing surrounding the upcoming presidential election, the polarization of the nation’s two primary political parties has perhaps never been more evident. Yuval Levin’s “Fractured Republic: Renewing America’s Social Contract in the Age of Individualism” looks to examine the root causes of the nation’s notable division, and it does so by discussing, at length, one of those root causes he believes is especially significant: nostalgia.

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robertrosenkranzRecommended Reading: Fractured Republic by Yuval Levin