231011 What I learned in my studies this morning 3*

That's two days in three
Marking nils on the scoresheet.
Welp. Gotta catch up....

Today's Meditation(s):

Writing in 1902, using notes compiled between the mid-1880s to the early 1900s, Tolstoy created his Calendar of Wisdom (aka A Wise Thought for Every Day and Thoughts of Wise Men).  All based on a diary entry from March of 1884:

I have to create a circle of reading for myself: Epictetus, Marcus Aurelius, Lao-Tzu, Buddha, Pascal, The New Testament.

Never a shy thinker, Tolstoy included many of his own insights in his collection, including the quote above.  Many are wonderful and worthy of reflection, but some reflect the morality of the day and reinforce such stereotypes as a lower social role for women vis a vis men.

I have three versions* by different translators, different selections of sayings for each day, etc. and I'm on my third read through, having first picked up a copy near the beginning of My Morning Studies, drawing quotes from them most days as I have over (most of) the past two years.

They've been wonderously inspirational, bringing hundreds of thoughts to mind and many thousands words to this daily exercise. And they've inspired me to read further into some of the sources Tolstoy used, particularly Montaigne and Emerson.

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* By Peter Sekirin, Roger Cockrell. and a different version by Sekirin which tends to focus much more on the explicitly religious quotes Tolstoy included and, quite oddly, leaves out almost all of the quotes included in the other two.