The Ancient Greeks emphasized the importance of temperance, but they were extreme in everything, in pure thought, in war, and in sin. Their Prototype was Prometheus who brought fire from heaven, and was rewarded with eternal torment. Pythagoras The nature of mathematical truths is different than those from other sciences, which were derived from false ideas about the world. Astronomy … Read more
In The Master and His Emissary, Iain McGilchrist explains our reality through the perspective of brain lateralization. He includes in his study neurology, mythology, art, science, literature, and psychology – to explain how the hemispheres of the brain are different, and how this explains why experience contradictions in our own thinking, such as the mismatch … Read more
The Tao Te Ching was written by Lao Tzu, and according to legend, he wrote the book for a stranger who asked him to help him become wise. Lao Tzu communicated what he had learned when he left society to live by himself, and the result is an illuminating text that continues to be relevant … Read more
One of the most difficult things is to recognize that fear is a result of your own expectations. When you learn to have no goal, to embrace nothing, you will have no fear. CHAPTER 38: No Expectations The Master doesn’t try to be powerful;thus he is truly powerful.The ordinary man keeps reaching for power;thus he … Read more
This idea is about nothingness, particularly emptying the mind of its preconceptions about the world. Zen Master Seung Sahn, when commenting on the mud reference in the below excerpt said, Our mind is like a glass of clear water. If we put salt into the water, it becomes saltwater; sugar, it becomes sugar water; shit, … Read more
A central theme in the Tao Te Ching is to be soft, fluid, changeable. To be fluid means to be like a child, who has not yet developed self-awareness. Because the child is not self-aware, he does not question his movements and does not lose presence. The more self-conscious you become, the less fluid you … Read more
We are used to classifying behavior as good or evil, but Lao Tzu urges us to reconsider this tendency. Since change is inevitable, so it is impossible for evil to remain evil and for good to remain good. People are capable of amazing transformation in either direction. The Tao, being the natural order of things, … Read more
“The Nature of Things” by Lucretius is an epic masterpiece of philosophical poetry, exploring the vast expanse of Epicurean philosophy against the backdrop of a universe in constant motion. It unfolds the principles of atomism, the infinity of the universe, the nature of the mind and soul, and human perception, as well as the role … Read more
The Enchridon by Epictetus is a short book about Stoicism. We are warned of the excesses of wealth and of succumbing to pleasure. Epictetus prized reason above all else, since it is a gift from the Gods, and it is what separates us from animals, but the use of reason does not come without a … Read more
A Guide to The Good Life is about the practice of Stoicism from a more academic lens. The author, Irvine, is a philosophy professor who was not exposed to Stoicism until much later in his academic career. That it is because academic philosophy at this university had many sub-specializations including the philosophy of mind, political … Read more