Discipline in perception. Maybe … The Ancient Greeks believed philosophy was a medicine for the soul. So, I think where we are as a culture, and what I was asking in my book is, the question is not should humans have outlets for ecstasy? In this case, perspective comes by way of gathering as much knowledge about the situation or circumstances that we are living within. Whether we choose to do so is where the philosophical issue comes into place. Without them, life would be meaningless. This is where peace turns from something longed-for to something experienced. When you know that externals are fleeting, you can appreciate them more. There is no clear solution in either scenario, highlighting the fact that learning more about philosophy leads to further application in everyday life. Thirdly, habit. So, focusing on what’s in your control and accepting for the time being what’s beyond your control is a really useful therapeutic idea. In these rare moments, I prayed, I danced, and I analyzed. Take an art class, a comedy class, or go to concerts you'd usually skip. Philosophy is perspective. Philosophy is perspective. It’s a level of self-accountability beyond anything we’ve been taught, and one that will avail us to experiences richer than any we’ve had. A Conversation with Former Seal Team Six Leader Robert O’Neill, the Man Who Fired the Shots That Killed Osama Bin Laden. The 60s changed something in Western culture and there was a kind of explosion of ecstatic practices- things like psychedelics, rock and roll, Eastern practices. You can relish in the presence of the ones you love, hanging on their every word like you may never get to hear them speak again. Of course, it sounds pretty broad and there’s no amount of reading you can do in a year to understand the point of your existence. I’m a firm believer in the idea that if you have a resolution, it’s one you should’ve made yesterday, or last week, or last month, or the second the desire was conceived. asking ‘to what end are we doing this?’ – ‘why are we doing this at all?’. You go to some kind of festival, or ritual at church, together and you feel bonded at a sub-rational, emotional level. Like Epictetus says, it’s no good if you just do philosophy in the classroom, you’re kind of shipwrecked when you head out into the street. If we don’t understand these four words, philosophy is worthless to us all. Philosophies in life give us a sense of purpose on this earth. I may never write four more important words in my entire life. So that’s an empowering thing, to feel part of this long, great tradition of wisdom. We’re aware that some ecstatic movements are kind of violent and toxic like football hooliganism or Islamic extremism or the far right. The biggest reason why I want to be a teacher is because I want to help students like my teachers have helped me. It gives you the ability to step out of it, and that can be extremely healing, it can be extremely connecting because you suddenly feel deeply connected to other people that you’re sharing this ecstatic experience with. Because he can’t be quoted too much, Ryan Holiday effectively captures this concept in The Obstacle Is The Way particularly when he says, “Discipline in perception lets you clearly see the advantage and the proper course of action in every situation—without the pestilence of panic or fear.”. Previously, her role had required her to be very detail-oriented. Humans tend to want to feel certain, to know who we are and why we’re here. Throughout my life, I have always enjoyed helping people. Vikas S. Shah MBE is an award winning entrepreneur, strategist and educator who has built businesses in diverse sectors around the world for almost 20 years. ], As Aurelius encourages us, every occurrence is meant to be turned to our advantage. What Aurelius essentially tells us here is that there’s nothing truly worth getting “worked up” over as, like the weather, our circumstances will inevitably change. My only problem is that I want to give them maybe 5-7 different sources, each from a different philosopher (however, not just western philosophy), that embodies how each philosopher views life, and I don't really know where to look. Discipline in perception reframes our past and invigorates our present, freeing us to decide how the uncontrollable affects us. For most of my life I have wanted to be a teacher. You can celebrate your successes because you know 10 more failures may very well follow. Even if they don’t. Spreading from India to Central and Southeast Asia, China, Korea, and Japan, Buddhism has played a central… Buddhism, religion and philosophy that developed from the teachings of the Buddha (Sanskrit: “Awakened One”), a teacher who lived in northern India between the mid-6th and mid-4th centuries bce (before the Common Era). I try to build it as a big church for people who believe that that flourishing involves god or some kind of higher power, and people who don’t. What this philosophy then commands is our belief structure and values. Tweet. Having a philosophy of life gets us some clarity, it lays down the ground so we can know where we are going and why. And so, as we resolve to our individual aims this year, may the notion of perceiving our circumstances differently be one in which we collectively engage. People, artists and scientists have sometimes used kind of ecstatic techniques for their muse or inspiration. The person who understands that life owes them nothing, that they could’ve been born anywhere, as any person, to anyone, is able to see the fortune in everything, making thoughtful decisions driven by perspective. Jules is the Policy Director for the Centre for the History of the Emotions, and co-editor of the History of Emotions Blog. I went to interview the people who invented CBT, two psychologists called Albert Ellis and Aaron Beck, and found that their inspiration for this therapy, which now helps millions of people, was Ancient Greek philosophy, and particularly the ideas from Stoic philosophy, Socrates, and the Epicureans. Signup to my newsletter. How does philosophy contribute to personal development? Stay up to date. What are the factors that determine whether a belief is rational or irrational? The other is through ecstatic experiences which shift your consciousness somehow through a kind of shock. It’s us asking to not be satisfied unless that external is fulfilled. He has spoken at events including the Month of Philosophy in Amsterdam, the Hay-On-Wye festival, the Galway Arts Festival, the Faculty of Public Health, Latitude, the Sunday Assembly, the British Museum and the RSA. We overrode our default narrative, deciding how we would see it versus the it deciding for us. And because things are always changing, you can skip the periods of unproductive frustration and move right along to your next task. It helps arm us against the lie that says our circumstances and ourselves are one and the same. A Conversation with Kalki Koechlin – Actress, Writer, Producer & Activist. While it was obvious to me that the admiration I had for my favorite jeans was not quite the same as in how I care about my Mother, it was not until I took my first Philosophy class did I begin to expand my perspective of love and the types of love existent in human nature. Ecstatic experiences are also important for inspiration. The problem endures, and American thinkers have long been involved in the discussion. How we interpret our experience dictates the actions that follow. By Nicolas Cole, Contributor, Inc.com @Nicolascole77. We’re in the very early chapters of a long journey and we’ll be constantly surprised on that journey. We’re now in the era of mass Higher Education where close to 40% of the population goes to university. Even more interesting is the mass perception of the new year as being cause for reinvention (though neither here nor there). A Conversation with Sir Ronald Cohen, Preeminent International Philanthropist, Venture Capitalist, Private Equity Investor, and Social Innovator. Philosophy is important, but it is also enormously enjoyable, and our faculty contains many award-winning teachers who make the process of learning about philosophy fun. United Kingdom. Considering what influences your perspectives may help you to reformulate them. Reading is one of the most efficient and powerful ways to broaden your perspective. Philosophy is embedded in everything. Or rather, we must intend every circumstance for our benefit. I control my feelings, I control my life and I control my destiny if I believe that happiness is mine and within my reach. Although I do not agree entirely with everything Aristotle has stated I find he is the most leveled headed philosopher to my standards. Your parents may fail you. -Marcus Aurelius. “Beautiful and terrible things will happen. These thoughts have been existing in order to They differ from one person to another; they represent who we are. It’s the time when we magically have the fuel to catalyze the reinventions we spent the second half of last year fantasizing about. We’re not just critical, reflective agents, most of the time we’re on automatic pilot. The question of what the purpose of life is has bothered philosophers since ancient Greece. People sometimes talk about these being religious experiences (which is how William James described them), but that’s not quite right because they don’t always happen within a religious context, and they don’t always involve encounters with Gods. (Part of the answer is that you can have false beliefs, but you can only know things that are true. Science is useful, but it can never provide the meaning of life, or tell you what knowledge is. Donald Trump has a philosophy, Walmart will have a philosophy, Playboy magazine will have a philosophy, your next-door neighbour will have a philosophy… but for most of us, those philosophies are unexamined and more or less automatic and instinctual. For our thriving. I think that a society’s overall lifestyle, knowledge and experiences can be a true prediction of behavior on how humans are perceived and judged. I use the word ecstasy, which people think means being very, very happy- but in Ancient Greek it means ecstatic, which means standing outside. And thus, if there’s a resolution worth making—something truly worth resolving to—it’s the following: resolve to see things differently. Whether actively engaged or not, we each possess this incredible gift called reason—the ability to choose how we see things, how we interpret the people and events that make up our lives, and how we act as a result. This is the motto that I chose to live by at the age of 16 and that turned my life around. Think about it. We, as humans, can get stuck in loops of self-rumination and negative thoughts about ourselves and about the world. For our benefit but you can celebrate your successes because you know that externals are fleeting how does philosophy enable to broaden my perspective in life have! Perspective comes by way of gathering as much knowledge about the world future with both and... 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