I was a philosophy major in college. Sometimes I look back at that and laugh: I was so hungry for meaning, and so starved for answers to the why's of the world, and my teenaged self innocently assumed she'd find the answers in logical axioms and the great minds of the past.
Bad assumption, that. ;)
I have no regrets about the major, even if all it did was give me an education in critical thinking skills, and not answers to life's deeper questions. There's nothing wrong with this... but it was a while before I stopped feeling a little betrayed by the field.
And so it was a treat to discover, a few weeks ago, that the living tradition of philosophy still exists.
Our latest sponsor (sometimes I have to pinch myself at Gaia's supporters),
The School of Practical Philosophy and Meditation , is different than your average institution. It's based in the workings of the Perennial Philosophy--that is, the belief that all great wisdom traditions have discovered the same thing, and that the source of love and happiness and wisdom and truth are not outside us, but to be discovered within.
The mission of The School of Practical Philosophy and Meditation is to help people gain access to the deep well within each of us. Its aim is not to give an academic overview of the great ideas of history, but to help put philosophy into practice, so that we might live compassionate and reasoned and more profoundly engaged lives. The proof of philosophy's effectiveness, the program holds, is in personal experience.
I wish my professors had been so enlightened. :)I might not have gotten this lesson when I was in school, but there's no reason for you to miss the chance to explore.
The School has branches worldwide, but if you're in
New York,
San Francisco, or
Boston, you're in luck: their next
10-week introductory courses will be starting in September. And of course, if you know of anyone else who might be interested in this school (especially if, like me, you're impressed that this sort of approach to education is an option!) please please please pass this story along.
In wisdom, and presence, and the ongoing search...
Siona PS. One of my favorite things about the
school's site is that they offer not just "wisdom from teachers" but from their students as well.
"I've learned to listen;" one of them writes, "and when I listen, I am present."
Exactly. :)
