Category: philosophical counseling

• February 16, 2011

  Clifford Saron on the positive effects associated with intensive meditative practice

  Last night I attended a talk given by Clifford Saron, Ph.D., an Associate Research Scientist at UC-Davis’s Center for Mind and Brain. The title of the talk was “Training the mind: A longitudinal investigation of intensive meditation, attention, emotion, and physiology.” Saron and his team of researchers have been studying the effects of deep contemplative practice…
• February 9, 2011

  On the business of busyness, part 1

  New Yorkers are busy. I know this because they tell me. Daily. Hourly. Over email. Via text. Subliminally. They tell me they’re a little busy at the moment, quite busy all day, too busy this year, stupid busy, insanely busy, really really fucking busy. That they’re overwhelmed, overworked, have too much going on, way too…
• February 8, 2011

  Chuck Close on resilience

  In the 3rd segment of “Seeing and Perceiving,” an episode that aired recently on the radio program To the Best of Our Knowledge, the painter Chuck Close discusses his life in painting. In the interview, Close speaks candidly and Stoically about the spinal artery collapse that, in 1988, left him almost completely paralyzed. Since then,…
• February 2, 2011

  On Gregory’s spiritual exercise

  In Letter 31, the 4th C. Archbishop of Constantinople Gregory Nazianzen writes, On the contrary, you must do philosophy in your suffering. Now more than ever, this is the moment to purify your thoughts, and to reveal yourself as superior to your bonds [which tie you to your body]. You must consider your illness a…
• January 30, 2011

  Stepping off the self-preoccupation machine

  As a child, the great Bertrand Russell was very unhappy. He remained unhappy until he hit upon a rather old idea: forget about the self. He realized that self-absorption was an obstacle to genuine happiness. As the years went by, Russell tells us, he seemed to be getting more and more happy for he had…