Hello Substack! My name is Meredith, and welcome to The Elder Sage. I thought it might be a good idea to put a face to the publication and tell you a little about who I am, what I’m doing here, and why I’ve chosen the name The Elder Sage.
First of all, this body turns sixty-two next week — and for more than three decades I’ve been studying, researching, reflecting on, teaching and living an ancient philosophy called Vedanta.1
Vedanta is the most ancient and most profound philosophy. It literally means “the end of knowledge.” Because once you know Vedanta, there is nothing more to be known. You have reached the ultimate realisation of your essential nature.
Everything in life changes. I’ve been a child, a teenager, a young woman, a mature woman, and now I’m entering the later stage of life. In the blink of an eye, I’ll be seventy-two.
That is why I called this publication The Elder Sage.
Everything I write here comes from sincere study, reflection, contemplation, and personal experience. I’m not here to tell you what to believe. Quite the opposite.
I encourage you to question. To apply your own intellect and ask, Is this true? Does this stand up to reason? Does it correspond with my own experience?
If it does, keep it. If it doesn’t, leave it.
Much of what I’ll be writing about centres on one distinction that I believe can transform our lives: the difference between the mind and the intellect.
The mind is the seat of our desires, impulses, emotions, feelings, likes and dislikes, fears, prejudices and reactions. It is constantly flowing, like water in a river.
The intellect, or buddhi in Sanskrit, is our faculty of clarity and discernment. The intellect is like the riverbanks. It observes the mind, reasons clearly, decides and acts wisely.
When the banks are strong, the river flows smoothly and safely towards its destination — the ocean. But when the banks are weak, the river floods its surroundings, destroying everything in its path.
Our lives work much the same way.
When our intellect is weak, the mind runs wherever it wants. It lives in the past and future, worrying and replaying regrets and anxiously creating unnecessary emotional turmoil.
When the intellect is strong, it guides the mind back to the present. It is like a loving parent caring for a child — not suppressing the mind, but guiding it with wisdom.
Hope you enjoyed watching my first video here on Substack. Along with the writing, this is the direction I'm taking The Elder Sage.
Thank you for being here.
Till next time, Be Well, Meredith ♾️ The Elder Sage
