By Janae Jean and Spencer Schluter

For this month’s interview and podcast, we spoke with renowned author and lecturer, Edith Hall. Edith is a Professor in the Department of Classics and Centre for Hellenic Studies at King’s College in London, England. While she originally specialized in ancient Greek Literature, her work has expanded to include ancient Greek and Roman history, society and thought. She has published over 20 books. Her most recent book is Aristotle’s Way: How Ancient Wisdom Can Change Your Life, in which she explains how studying Aristotle’s ancient philosophy can help all of us live more fulfilling lives in the modern world.
When Edith is not writing or teaching, she frequently broadcasts on radio and television, consults with professional theaters and lectures internationally. She publishes in academic and mainstream magazines, publications and newspapers. You may follow or contact her via Twitter @EdithMayHall. Visit www.edithhall.co.uk.
The following is a brief excerpt of our in-depth conversation. To find out more about relationships, parenting, happiness, grit, and why it’s not too late to start achieving your dreams, listen to the entire interview at www.ConsciousCommunityMagazine.com or wherever you listen to podcasts. All 35 episodes of the Conscious Community Podcast are available on Apple Podcasts, Google Play Music, Stitcher, TuneIn, Player. FM, YouTube and other popular podcatchers.
Janae: How did you discover Aristotle? Was that at the university?
Edith: Yes. I was at Oxford studying classics and had to write a paper about making decisions in Greek tragedy. My great tutor told me to read the third book of Nicomachean Ethics series. It blew me away. For the first time in my life, I heard a voice that seemed to be describing exactly how I felt about moral dilemmas and my position in the world relative to other people, animals, ethics and everything. So, I got very excited and started to read the rest of this great mind. I was so amazed at how he developed a whole system of thinking; he’s actually the father of logic. It isn’t just about your personal life—your subjective self—everything interconnects. He’s very encouraging; the whole thing is written as if you apply this to your life, you will get happier. It’s a system of secular ethics. There is no god in it, but that doesn’t mean that he was an Atheist. He thought it was completely up to humans to create their own happiness. This spoke to me at that age in a very powerful way, because I had been very lost since I was about 13.
JJ: Your father was an Anglican priest, and growing up you were interested in astrology, Buddhism and Transcendental Meditation. How does Aristotle fit into all of that?
EH: For me, he was the non-mystical answer. He’s very modern. He doesn’t think you will ever be happy if you act out of accordance with your emotions. You’ve got to find a way for reason and emotion to go together at all times. It’s all part of the same system. He’s very holistic. This, for me, was extremely liberating.
JJ: In your writing, you talk about the importance of planning and how planning can lead us to happiness yet many people would think it’s the opposite.
SS: We have a very “instant gratification” society when it comes to self-improvement.
EH: It’s really about how you define “happiness.” Aristotelian happiness is not a passing mood that can be brought on by a “happy meal” or “happy hour.” It can only come from within yourself. It comes from that feeling of being able to look in the mirror and know that you have tried to do your best. If you’ve tried to be the best possible you, worked on your not-so-nice characteristics, recognized what you are really good at, and recognized your strong personal qualities and enhanced those further, then you get a really firm,