Brian Johnson explores four Latin phrases and how they apply to modern life: percussus resurgo, salvatur ambulando, esse quam videre, and a seafaring saying about rowing when the wind fails. He draws on Harvey Dorfman, Alex Pang, and Stephen Covey to show how walking philosophers, Darwin, and Kant used these ideas.
Chapters
Hi, this is Brian. Welcome back to another heroic plus one. In our last plus one we flipped the switch and took to the oars following the inspiration of one of my new favorite Latin phrases, translated as if the wind will not serve, take to the oars. Today we're going to have some fun mining our collection of notes featuring a few of my other favorite old school Latin wisdom gems. Let's start by cracking open our notes on Harvey Dorfman's great book Coaching the Mental Game. As we've discussed, Dorfman was a legendary mental toughness coach. He reminds me of Phil Stutz. See this plus one on Dorfman and Stutz linked in this one. Now Dorfman tells us about the Latin phrase percussus resurgo. What's that mean? Struck down, I rise again. Insert exploding head emoji. Next up. This one is from our notes on Alex Pang's the Distraction Addiction. He tells us, and I quote, the idea that walking helps thinking and can be a form of contemplation has been around since antiquity. The Latin phrase salvator ambulando it is solved by walking is attributed to ancient philosophers as diverse as Diogenes, Ambrose, Jerome, and Augustine. Buddhists and Christians share a tradition of walking meditation in which walks along short paths or labyrinths stimulate spiritual reflection and renewal. Walking was an essential tool for 18th and 19th century philosophers. Emmanuel Kant and Sren Kierkegaard were all famous regular walkers. Kierkegaard declared, I have walked myself into my best thoughts and was drawn to walking for both its physical and mental stimulation benefits that have been documented by modern scientists. So popular was the image of the walking philosopher that Friedrich Nietzsche famously stated, toward the end of the 19th century, all truly great thoughts, including Nietzsche's own, are conceived by walking. End quote. Salvatur ambulando. It is solved by walking. Amen. That's why Charles Darwin leased land from his neighbor to create his thinking trail. It's also why I created a little half mile walking trail on our land when we moved to the country outside Austin. Here's one more Latin phrase. Let's crack open our notes on Stephen Covey's book Primary Greatness. Covey tells us, and I quote, when I was working in North Carolina, I was given a shirt and imprinted with the state motto in Latin, esse quam videre, which means to be rather than to seem. He says this should be the motto of every person seeking primary greatness. Unfortunately, too often seeming to be substitutes for real integrity. It's seeming as opposed to being esse quam videre. To be rather than to seem. That is where it's at. Insert that exploding head emoji one more time. And that, my heroic friend, is today's plus one. Remember this old school wisdom. Destitis ventus remos adibe percussus risurgo esse quam videre and salvatur ambulando. Translated into our modern lives. As if the wind will not serve, take to the oars. Struck down, I rise again. To be rather than to seem. It is solved by walking. Is today a good day to take to the oars, rise again, solve by walking, and be rather than seem. Day one all in, as always. Let's go.
