The holiday season usually involves getting together with friends.
And we know that friendships are important for leading a longer, better life.
A couple of thousand years ago Aristotle listed friendship as the highest goal for mankind.
And at around about the same time, Epicurus had this to say, 'Of all the things that wisdom provides, the greatest by far is the possession of friendship'.
And, much further down (or is it 'up') the track, I have developed a life-quality pill with FRIENDSHIP being one of its key ingredients (the pill is made-up of 5Fs-Friendship, Food, Fitness, Fortune, and Future).
Good friends are hard to find, so when you find one (or some) those friendships need to be nurtured.
Epicurus, for example, advised sitting for hours in the company of friends, treating them as an end rather than a means to any other end.
Aristotle, too, advocated spending time with friends.
The height of true friendship, Epicurus claimed, was to be accepted and loved for who, not what, one was.
He reckoned that choosing who you ate dinner with was far more significant than what you ate.
The 16th Century French philosopher, Michel de Montaigne, wrote quite a bit about old age (and he was up-to-speed with Epicurus's and Aristotle's ideas).
He believed that complaining to friends about the infirmities of old age was good medicine.
He insisted that if we don't tell our friends how 'it' is, we're cheating ourselves out of one of a valuable source of feeling of wellness and healing.
And this is where 'organ recitals' come in.
These day recapitulation of complaints among friends goes under different tags.
Some of the more familiar are:
Culturally, we've been led to believe that organ recitals were a no-no-even among friends.
It's difficult to understand the source of this advice.
Perhaps it's because good friends are so hard to find that we take every safeguard possible, including avoiding organ recitals.
Or it could be that we didn't want to bore others as if the practice was akin to talking about one's last operation.
This reasoning seems to be in-line with Arthur Brisbane's observation: 'A good friend can tell you what is the matter with you in a minute.
He may not seem such a good friend after telling you'.
A challenge, therefore, is to be aware of the times and places when you can let it all hang out.
Good friends like to consider that they know you better than anyone else.
It's up to you to make sure that this remains so.
As Albert Camus said, 'Don't walk behind me: I may not lead.
Don't walk in front of me: I may not follow.
Just walk beside me and be my friend'.
Go on! Try organ recitals with friends this summer.
And we know that friendships are important for leading a longer, better life.
A couple of thousand years ago Aristotle listed friendship as the highest goal for mankind.
And at around about the same time, Epicurus had this to say, 'Of all the things that wisdom provides, the greatest by far is the possession of friendship'.
And, much further down (or is it 'up') the track, I have developed a life-quality pill with FRIENDSHIP being one of its key ingredients (the pill is made-up of 5Fs-Friendship, Food, Fitness, Fortune, and Future).
Good friends are hard to find, so when you find one (or some) those friendships need to be nurtured.
Epicurus, for example, advised sitting for hours in the company of friends, treating them as an end rather than a means to any other end.
Aristotle, too, advocated spending time with friends.
The height of true friendship, Epicurus claimed, was to be accepted and loved for who, not what, one was.
He reckoned that choosing who you ate dinner with was far more significant than what you ate.
The 16th Century French philosopher, Michel de Montaigne, wrote quite a bit about old age (and he was up-to-speed with Epicurus's and Aristotle's ideas).
He believed that complaining to friends about the infirmities of old age was good medicine.
He insisted that if we don't tell our friends how 'it' is, we're cheating ourselves out of one of a valuable source of feeling of wellness and healing.
And this is where 'organ recitals' come in.
These day recapitulation of complaints among friends goes under different tags.
Some of the more familiar are:
- letting it all hang out,
- telling it how it is, and of course
- organ recitals.
Culturally, we've been led to believe that organ recitals were a no-no-even among friends.
It's difficult to understand the source of this advice.
Perhaps it's because good friends are so hard to find that we take every safeguard possible, including avoiding organ recitals.
Or it could be that we didn't want to bore others as if the practice was akin to talking about one's last operation.
This reasoning seems to be in-line with Arthur Brisbane's observation: 'A good friend can tell you what is the matter with you in a minute.
He may not seem such a good friend after telling you'.
A challenge, therefore, is to be aware of the times and places when you can let it all hang out.
Good friends like to consider that they know you better than anyone else.
It's up to you to make sure that this remains so.
As Albert Camus said, 'Don't walk behind me: I may not lead.
Don't walk in front of me: I may not follow.
Just walk beside me and be my friend'.
Go on! Try organ recitals with friends this summer.