Becoming Antifragile 029: How To Kill Your Ego - The Desert Hermits
Lessons from 'The Wisdom of the Desert' compiled by Thomas Merton.
Merton compiled 'The Wisdom of the Desert' from the Verba Seniorum or Sayings of the Elders. The Elders refer to the early Christian hermits who lived in solitude in the Egyptian desert. This book contains timeless aphorisms, advice, dialogues, and stories of the experiences of early Christian hermits.
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Show notes
00:00 - Reflections from spending time at a Benedictine Monastery & meeting B and C
09:05 - Excerpt from ‘The Wisdom of the Desert’, who is Thomas Merton
13:10 - The primacy of Love and abandoning the Ego
19:00 - Finding Ultimate Reality in the Silence
21:00 - Why you need to control your tongue and belly
22:40 - Humility is the path to wisdom
25:30 - Apply yourself to silence, and make your life a meditation
27:45 - Embracing death by laughing at it
29:50 - Don’t ask that your struggle be removed, but as for strength
32:15 - What is better, focusing on asceticism or interior life?
34:25 - “Go, sit in your cell, and your cell will teach you everything”
36:20 - Those who speak, should do; and only those who do, should speak
39:50 - How to love properly
41:15 - Challenge