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What are the most valuable parts of our transient lives and how does our appraisal of them change as we age?

This week, Shadi Hamid and Damir Marusic take a step back from larger questions around current events to visit a recurring theme at Wisdom of Crowds around meaning. The episode centers around Damir’s recent Monday Note, “A Lost Sense of Wonder”, where he reflects on the pursuit of enchantment including in close relationships but also after witnessing a wondrous meteor shower in the Shenandoah Valley. The guys discuss how to think about the failure to recreate precious memories just as people they know move away and cities they remember visiting change. Should we feel melancholy in our nostalgia or continue finding comfort in the things that bring us happiness now? Meanwhile, Shadi dwells on judgement in the afterlife. He observes how the relationships that make life valuable are not enough for some, including those at ease with their own mortality — a disposition to which Shadi cannot quite relate.

In the full episode (for paying subscribers only) the two discuss the balance between pursuing virtue for potential rewards in the afterlife and doing right by people in the present. Shadi, a believer, admits to genuine fear about what happens after death. After all, if there is a heaven, there is also a hell. Damir, a non-believer, places more emphasis on finding purpose in oneself rather than adhering to otherworldly incentives. Is a balance between these two paths possible?

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Required Reading:

* “A Lost Sense of Wonder”, by Damir Marusic (Wisdom of Crowds).

* “The Virtue Politics of Mitt Romney” (Wisdom of Crowds).

* “The Watusi bull riding shotgun is what makes America great” by David Von Drehle (The Washington Post).

* “This Really Is Europe” with Ben Judah, podcast episode (Wisdom of Crowds).

* “An Extremely Online Existence” podcast episode (Wisdom of Crowds).

* Shadi’s conversation with Sam Harris about meditation and being Muslim on Sam’s podcast, Waking Up.

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