Ways of wisdom: Readings on the good life

by Steve Smith (Editor)

Images of living well of happiness, satisfaction, fulfillment, personal well-being) are the heart of this book. Drawn from classical and contemporary authors of both Eastern and Western traditions, they are organized around prominent motifs of the good Emptiness, Pleasure, Detachment, Becoming Human, Nature, God, Authentic Existence, and Universe. Most selections are brief, and are chosen not only for their quality, but also for their impact and accessibility. Philosophical writings by Plato, Epicurus, Epictetus, Shankara, Mill, Nietzsche, Dewey, Sartre and others are supplemented by selections from literature, psychology and religion, including excerpts from Tolstoy, Kafka, Freud, Maslow, Rogers, Fromm, Chuang Tzu, Suzuki, and scriptural sources. Each chapter begins with a brief editorial essay, sympathetically introducing the views of that chapter.

Genres: Philosophy

300 pages, Hardcover

First published August 15, 1983

About the author

Steve^^^^Smith

Reviews

[Joe McCluney · Rating 5 out of 5]

I wish I could summarize half as well as this author. He gets straight to the heart of the matter on a variety of topics, such as deep human emotions like emptiness, to the vast feeling of oneness with the universe. Each topic builds off the previous with a syncretic trajectory, allowing the reader to constantly consider what “the good life” is and what it means to “live well.”