time reading this book! I first read this book 4 years ago and was not immediately aware of the insight that could be potentially mined from it. Though in retrospect I can see some of the ideas that may have developed ever so slightly because of it (my belief that nothing is constant so grasping to something is pointless). Michael, where did you first get the idea to teach a course on this subject at Harvard University, and why do you think that the course became so popular? What can Zhuangzi’s dream teach us about perspective and how to experience life more fully and spontaneously? How did his understanding of the Way differ from Laozi’s? What did Zhuangzi argue is the “one thing in the entire cosmos that does not spontaneously follow the Way” (144)? What is “trained spontaneity,” and how can it help us to become “true people” (158)?

The Path - Penguin Books UK The Path - Penguin Books UK

According to the Wuxing, each of us has five potential virtues that need to be cultivated: goodness, propriety, knowledge, ritual, and sagacity. (Location 1479) What did the Confucian scholar Xunzi believe about self-acceptance? What does the tale of the invention of agriculture reveal about humans’ relationship with the world? What is artifice, and why would Xunzi say it is important? Why should we avoid thinking that everything in the world needs to be natural?Although I loved the book with all its details about finance and how to invest for financial independence and the excellent addition of self-development chapters in it and the latest chapter about happiness, it is almost the same as the previous book of the series! It is the same as unshakeable!!

The Path | Book by Michael Puett, Christine Gross-Loh

From roughly 600 to 200 BC, an explosion of philosophical and religious movements throughout Eurasia gave rise to a wide variety of visions for human flourishing. During this period, which has come to be called the Axial Age, many of the ideas that developed in Greece also emerged in China and vice versa. In fact, in China, as we will see, certain beliefs arose that were very similar to those common in the West today. But in China, such views lost the day, while other ideas emerged in opposition, arguing for a very different path to a good life. The real estate investment chapter also provided some revealing insights, particularly on how a house is your home, and will not always translate to a high returning investment, particularly in comparison to a diversified portfolio. I want to share an analogy that’s useful for conceptualising how we make decisions and make lasting change. I become aware of it from the work of Dan and Chip Heath (it was in their book Switch ), but the originator of the analogy is Jonathan Haidt. It is the rider, the elephant, and the path. The Rider Although it could be challenging at times to coauthor a book, it was also helpful because we could run ideas by one another and discuss them before even committing them to words on paper. It was also helpful to have someone with whom to “divide and conquer” all the various tasks that go into the writing and publicizing of a book. The authors show that we live well not by "finding" ourselves and slavishly following a grand plan, as so much of Western thought would have us believe, but rather through a path of self-cultivation and engagement with the world. Believing in a "true self" only restricts what we can become - and tiny changes, from how we think about careers to how we talk with our family, can start to have powerful effects that will open up constellations of new possibilities.Finally, for what ever reason I had an indifference to Tony Robbins, im pleased to say his chapters in this book are so well put together, simple, impactful statements and thought provoking ideas. My opinion of Tony Robbins has completely flipped, and I loved that I garnered that from this book. For the first time an award-winning Harvard professor shares his wildly popular course on classical Chinese philosophy, showing you how these ancient ideas can guide you on the path to a good life today. The two final chapters round out this non-interventionist concept of change. The chapter on Zhuangzi is a variation on earlier reflections on epistemological flexibility and centres on our ability to adopt different worldviews in a world in perpetual transformation ("Am I a human being dreaming of being a butterfly or a butterfly dreaming I am a human being?"). Xunzi's plea for a wise practice of 'artifice' and 'putting pattern on our world' weaves a lot of the book's themes together.

Where the Salt Path led next - Penguin Books UK Where the Salt Path led next - Penguin Books UK

I enjoyed reading about some of the earlier philosophical ideas in Chinese thought and was immediately impressed by how I can slightly see some of it in many of my Chinese friends habits today (though I’m not sure if they are aware of it nor if I’m am just creating associations where none exist…). Bring nature into your home with t he inspiring true story of hope and the healing powers of the natural world, in one of the most talked about books of the decadeThis is a book that turns the notion of help—and the self, for that matter—on its head. Puett and Gross-Loh bring seemingly esoteric concepts down to Earth, where we can see them more clearly. The result is a philosophy book grounded in the here and now, and brimming with nuggets of insight. No fortune-cookie this, The Path serves up a buffet of meaty life lessons. I found myself reading and re-reading sections, letting the wisdom steep like a good cup of tea.”