Maverick Philosopher

Footnotes to Plato from the foothills of the Superstition Mountains

Category: Spiritual Exercises

  • Contradiction and Koan

    What is a contradiction from one angle is a koan from another. In a contradiction, logical thought hits a dead end.  Discursive thought's road end, however, may well be the trail head of the Transdiscursive.

  • The Highest Mastery

    The highest mastery is self-mastery. The highest self-mastery is thought-mastery. To control one's thoughts is to control the seeds of one's words and deeds.

  • The Parable of the Leaky Cup

    There is no point in begging for water with a leaky cup.  Water thereby gained is immediately lost again.  First fix the cup, then beg for water. So also with the glimpses and gleanings and intimations from Elsewhere. They won't be retained in a perforated vessel.   And if they are not retained, then they…

  • A Partial Philosophical Defense of the Monastic Life

    The suggestion was made that I give a little talk to the monks of Christ in the Desert, a Benedictine monastery outside of Abiqui, New Mexico.  I thought I would offer a few words in defense of the monastic life, not that such an ancient and venerable tradition needs any defense from me, but just…

  • Incarnation Approached Subjectively: The Mystical Birth of God in the Soul

    I have been, and will continue,  discussing Trinity and Incarnation objectively, that is, in an objectifying manner.  Now what do I mean by that?  Well, with respect to the Trinity, the central conundrum, to put it in a very crude and quick way is this:  How can three things be one thing?  With respect to the…

  • Must an Atheist Eschew Religious Practice?

    David Benatar of anti-natalist fame argues in the negative.  (HT: London Karl)

  • Meditation is Hard

    Thoughts don't like to subside.  One leads to another, and another.  You would experience the thinker behind the thoughts, but instead you have thoughts about this thinker while knowing full well that the thinker is not just another thought. Or you lovingly elaborate your brilliant thoughts about meditation, its purpose, its methods, and its difficulty,…

  • Breathe Deeply and Slow Down

    Dave Bagwill referred me to this entry from Zen Habits: Breathe. If you feel overwhelmed, breathe. It will calm you and release the tensions. If you are worried about something coming up, or caught up in something that already happened, breathe. It will bring you back to the present. If you are moving too fast,…

  • A Part-Time Monk’s Solution to Suggestibility

    We are too open to social suggestions.  We uncritically imbibe dubious and outright wrong views and attitudes and valuations and habits of speech from our environment.  They don't appear wrong because they are in step with what most believe and say.  'Normal' beliefs and patterns of speech become normative for people.  This is the way…

  • Care of Soul and Body

    Care for your soul as if you will die tomorrow; care for your body as if it will last indefinitely.  (The thought is borrowed from Evagrios Pontikos.)

  • Soul Food

    People are generally aware of the importance of good nutrition, physical exercise, and all things health-related. They understand that what they put into their bodies affects their physical health.  Underappreciated is a truth just as, if not more important: that what one puts into one's mind affects one's mental and spiritual health. The soul has…

  • Pray to Pray Well

    And this in two senses.  Pray to become good at praying.  And pray for assistance in getting good at it.

  • Saying and Asserting are Not the Same

    To utter a declarative sentence is to say it.  But the saying of a declarative sentence need not be an asserting of it or its content.  Suppose I want to give an example of a declarative sentence in a language class.  I say, "The average temperature on Mars is the same as on Earth."  I…

  • How Much Time Should be Spent on Philosophy?

    Our Czech friend Vlastimil Vohanka writes, You blogged that doing philosophy has great value in itself; even if philosophy is aporetic. But how often, or how long per day or month, should one devote to it? Doing philosophy seems (to me at least) to have diminishing returns, if philosophy is aporetic. Or has your experience been different?…

  • The Discursive as Distraction

    The search for the Real takes us outside ourselves. We may seek the Real in experiences, possessions, distant lands, or other people. These soon enough reveal themselves as distractions. But what about ideas and theories? Are they simply a more lofty sort of distraction? “Travelling is a fool’s paradise” said Emerson. Among lands certainly, but…