Hello there, I received a few messages appreciating the theme last week, so I will stick with another beast of philosophy for life Lau Tzu: “Do you have the patience to wait? Till your mud settles and the water is clear? Can you remain unmoving? Till the right action arises by itself?” Translation: Even the muddiest water will turn clear […]
Hello there, For this week’s exercise, I am looking for some motivation to focus on the present moment (this is a huge part of what we try and accomplish on a day to day). To that end, I will reach out outside our school for some inspiration (as our school encourages us to do). This is from Gautama Buddha’s teachings […]
Hello there, For this week’s exercise, let us look at some words from Marcus Aurelius’ meditations XI 1-2: “These are the characteristics of the rational soul: self-awareness, self-examination, and self-determination. It reaps its own harvest…It succeeds in its own purpose…” Today’s lesson can essentially be boiled down to this: To be rational right now, it takes only three things: Look […]
Hello there, Our school teaches us that wisdom is to be found everywhere and is the domain of everyone so let’s find some inspiration for this week’s exercise with one of my favourite philosophers of recent time, Jean-Paul Sartre. Although he was big on existentialism and phenomenology, I find he also had a keen sense for cutting through the BS […]
Hello there, If you’re reading this then you are trying to improve yourself. And if that’s the case, then this lesson is for you. Here are some words from Marcus Aurelius to himself (and us) in his Meditations VI 30: “Do everything as a disciple of Marcus. Remember his disregard of empty fame, and his efforts to understand things; and […]
Hello there, Following last week’s exercise, there was a great discussion on hierarchy and how we can reconcile the equality of all with the hierarchy we see as almost necessary around us (and throughout our history). Let’s get things started with Marcus Aurelius’ Meditations II 1: “My city and country, as Antoninus, is Rome; as a man, the world.” Let […]
Hello there, I don’t know where you live, but where I am the rules have been getting progressively looser and laxer. And as we emerge back into society after a year of isolation, we need to remind ourselves that we are living as PART of the world. The world is not an accessory that caters to our whims. Instead, the […]
Hello there, Our school is a pragmatic one that concerns itself with the “Here & Now”. As such, when it comes to the philosophical divide between Determinism and Free-Will, our school does not take a side. Instead, we use the logical reasoning of BOTH sides, and apply it to the present moment in our continued drive to live a purposeful […]
Hello there, From time to time I try to look outside our school for some inspiration (while looking to apply our school’s precepts) and I found one such occasion last weekend. One of my neighbours is Austrian and we got to chatting last Sunday. We spoke about all things primordial for life: What is the purpose of it all, how […]
Hello there, Work. Work. Work. Work. Work. Work. Work. Work. Work. Work All we do is work. We work at work to make a living. We work at home to make a nice living space for ourselves and our families. We work hard at school to get good grades as an investment in our future, we work hard at the […]