Cultivating a Living Wisdom for Our Time
Mediaeval monks in search of wisdom and the good life.
Madrid, Biblioteca de San Lorenzo de El Escorial (14th century)/Erik Kwakkel
“How Much Is Enough? What is money and wealth for? Why do we as individuals and societies go on wanting more? What is economic growth for? Can we/ should we carry on just growing, creating, producing, consuming,…, more and more, for ever more? Do we need to satisfy our needs or our wants? Should we be a “maximiser” or “satisfier” and choose the path of “enoughness”? Then, what is the good life? What are the main ingredients of a good, happy and peaceful life? Should we move away from Gross National Product (GDP) to Gross National Happiness? Why and what are we here for? What is the purpose of this journey we call life?”...Continue to read
There is, indeed, a beauty on earth, our sacred home, that is beyond comprehension. Since Aristotle first spoke of “the good life” almost 2,500 years ago, it seems everyone has been on a quest to experience it. Can the Good Enough Life be the path of discovery and finding meaning to This Journey We Call Life?
'We are an integral part of Nature, which we cherish, revere and preserve in all its magnificent beauty and diversity. We strive to live in harmony with Nature locally and globally. We acknowledge the inherent value of all life, human and non-human, and treat all living beings with compassion and respect.'
Photo credit:Pinterest
Amidst the global challenges we face today, personal and professional, ecological and humanitarian, the Good Enough Life, when we abandon our desire of greatness and perfectionism in favour of more attainable goals and vision is the path to create a society in which everyone flourishes. By moving beyond competition to more cooperation with each other, each one of us can find renewed meaning and purpose in our lives, have our material and emotional needs fulfilled and met, and begin to lead a more peaceful and happier way of life. This is not a utopia, there are places across the world that can bear witness to the successes of this philosophy of life and living.
Related: World in Chaos and Despair: The Healing Power of the Simple Things in Life
Has an Irish town found the secret to the good life?
Can the secret to the good life be found in Skerries?
And moreover, can the secret be ‘The Good Enough Life’ rather than ‘The Good Life’ which has eluded us all along?
Gulls Over The Skerries, a painting by Julia Crossland
Yes, this is Skerries, where there is a big emphasis on community, family and friendhip, where everyone looks out for one another,where everything is interconnected, and where the Goodness itself is fully embraced with the acts of love, kindness, gratitude, compassion, and generosity, towards fellow citizens, the mother nature and the environment.
‘This town of 11,000 people on Ireland’s east coast does not look remarkable. There is a high street, a harbour, a library, a community centre, a SuperValu supermarket, cafes, pubs, sports pitches. Residents walk their dogs, play bingo, and sit on benches. Yet amid the ordinariness there is, apparently, an answer to a riddle pondered by Aristotle, Kant and Hegel: the good life? It’s right here. Or at least the good enough life.’
‘The model of more is failing both environmentally and socially, and practically everyone is still cheering it on… it almost makes you want to climb to the top of the highest building and shout, “ENOUGH!”
Related: Economic Growth: The Index of Misery
Skerries: The Home of the Good Enough Life
‘This book is a highly original exploration of what life could and should be. It juxtaposes a philosophical enquiry into the nature of the good life with an ethnography of people living in a small Irish town.
Attending carefully to the everyday lives of these people, the ethnographic chapters examine topics ranging from freedom and inequality to the creation of community and the purpose of life. These chapters alternate with discussions of similar topics by a wide range of philosophers in the Western tradition, from Socrates and the Stoics through Kant, Hegel and Heidegger to Adorno, Rawls, MacIntyre and Nussbaum.
As an ethnography, this is a book of praise that reveals just how much we can learn from a respectful acknowledgment of what ordinary modest people have achieved. By creating community as a deliberate and social project that provides the foundation for a more fulfilling life, where affluence has not led to an increase in individualism, the people in this town have found a way to live the good enough life. The book also shows how anthropology and philosophy can complement and enrich one another in an inquiry into what we might accomplish in our lives.’-The Good Enough Life
In the Good Enough Life: ‘Miller set out to compare the writings of philosophers on virtue and happiness with ethnographic fieldwork and ended up stumbling into what he considers an exemplary community.
“I get to this place and everyone goes on and on about what an amazingly wonderful place it is,” said Miller. “You have to unpack that and see if this is a reasonable claim. I didn’t have a car and virtually never left. Over the 16 months I kind of got it: not only did they have this extraordinarily positive view of the town, they had created this community … and it gave back to them this sense of achievement and happiness and moral value.”
It was a fluke, said Miller, a professor at University College London who has done fieldwork in Asia, the Caribbean and Britain. “I lucked out because I really love the place, as you can tell. But I didn’t know that when I chose it.”
The book, which includes index entries on Plato, pilates and pubs, calls the town Cuan, a pseudonym in keeping with research rules on anonymity.
Irish media needed to do little sleuthing to identify Skerries, though the Irish Times stopped short of fully outing it, saying only that it rhymed with “fairies”. Miller declined to confirm the location but was sanguine about the semi-outing. “In as much as this is a book of praise I don’t think they’ll be upset.”
There are caveats to Skerries’ anointment: Miller does not compare it to other towns in Ireland or elsewhere; his research skewed towards middle-class, older residents; interviewees cited binge-drinking, cocaine use, petty crime and other problems; others lamented the lack of a cinema, hotel or swimming pool.
The overall portrait is of a prosperous, forward-looking community humming with a love of sport – Gaelic football, hurling, rugby, cricket, bowling, sailing, karate, hockey, kitesurfing, sea swimming – plus arts, drama, bridge, bingo and environmental activism. According to Miller, it is a society freed by feminism and no longer beholden to theocracy.
He found residents asserted a “conspicuously civilised” status by contrasting themselves with Brexit and Donald Trump. Clothing is unpretentious and egalitarian. People join committees not for status but duty. “The main values in this town are not consumption – it’s the opposite. By far the most important value in terms of status is environmentalism.”
This may sound like a Guardian-esque nirvana, and there is a sense of Skerries being a place apart. It is 25 miles (40km) from central Dublin with roads that narrow after you pass under a railway bridge…’- Continue to read
The GCGI and the Good Enough Life: A pick from our archive
World in Chaos and Despair: The Healing Power of Ancient Wisdom
How to find inner peace and calmness in a world of Chaos, fear, self-doubt and Anxiety?
What is the essence of a good life?
The Good Enough Life and the Virtue of Enoughness
The beauty of living simply: the forgotten wisdom of William Morris
Small is Beautiful: The Wisdom of E.F. Schumacher
How Much is Enough? Money and the Good Life
Wouldn’t the world be a better place with a bit more kindness? Harnessing the Economics of Kindness
The Beauty and Wisdom of being Ordinary
In these troubled times let us be ordinary and enjoy the simple pleasures of life
Simpler life and simpler times: A Journey in Life
Journey to Healing: Let Me Know What is Essential
There is, indeed, a beauty on earth that is beyond comprehension. The Good Enough Life is the Path to Discover the Meaning of this Journey We Call Life
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