Category: philosophical counseling

• November 14, 2014

  ‘The unexamined life is not worth living for man’ (II)

  ‘[For Socrates,] A successful life of reason and philosophy will therefore also be a life of moral virtue at its highest. The truest philosopher will also be the most morally, socially virtuous person—precisely because only a philosopher can have achieved the reasoned, argued understanding of just why those (or rather, some philosophically improved version of…
• November 13, 2014

  ‘The unexamined life is not worth living for man’ (I)

  I At Apology 38a, Socrates states, ‘The unexamined life is not worth living for man.’ It can be ascertained from his story about his life being spent in the pursuit of wisdom that the examined life just is the search for wisdom. The argument seems to be: if one spends one’s life in the pursuit of wisdom, then that person’s life…
• November 8, 2014

  ‘Living with the Gazelle’s Mind’

  Walpola Rahula relates in his slender book on the Buddha’s teachings a story about the King of Kosala. The king praised the Buddha, telling him that, upon comparing his disciples with those of other religions, he could see that the former were ‘living with the gazelle’s mind, i.e., lighthearted.’ Such a mind, should we can surmise, would be swift and…
• November 4, 2014

  Open, open, open

  Stubbornness. Stubbornness. ‘No further.’ ‘Not that way.’ ‘Only if mine.’ These are stubbornness’s words. Clinging to what is? Tightly gripping a calcified notion? Preempting any possible wending? Like a wall of resistance. ‘Must.’ ‘Has to.’ ‘Is preferable that.’ ‘Better had we.’ These, and more, are stubbornness’s pleas. O, the anger masked and the ill will and the hatred…
• November 3, 2014

  Examining the Buddha’s fourth way of answering questions

  In Walpola Rahula’s short introduction to Buddha’s teaching, What the Buddha Taught, one reads that the Buddha evidently replied to questions in one of four ways: 1.) He answered some questions directly. 2.) He analyzed some questions to determine what they meant. 3.) He answered some questions by replying with counter-questions. 4.) He put some questions…