What is Practical Philosophy?

Dennis BlejerSchool of Practical Philosophy, Boston

5 April 2008

The School of Practical Philosophy

Non-profit, educational organization dedicated to the study and practice of philosophy as it applies to living a truly happy and harmonious life.

Affiliated with a world wide network of schools that began in London, circa, 1940s.

SPP Boston

Offer an introductory course in practical philosophy at the Boston Center for Adult Education, Boston, and the Theosophical Society, Arlington

www.PhilosophyWorks.org

Outline

The three aspects of man (male and female) Body, mind, and consciousness (spirit)

Identification A false belief in who or what one is

Liberation Becoming free of identification and

being oneself

The Body

Physical or gross Includes the brain Has size, weight, color, texture, odor, etc Appears to be alive and animated Speaks, moves, breathes, eats, excretes,

and procreates

Body - continued

Requires earth (food), water, fire (heat), air, and space

Includes the organs of sense: smell, taste, sight, touch, and hearing

Instrument by which we experience sensation and perception, which are interpreted as pleasurable and painful by the mind

Mind

Mental or subtle Thinks, reasons, decides, wills, feels,

dreams, and desires Includes the emotions

Brain Transducer between the mental and

physical; links the body and mind Example: a radio as a transducer

Mind - Thought

The most obvious feature of mind Thought is not physical

Does not have size, shape, weight, or location

How does thought arise? Strongly connected to language as we

generally think in words

Thought - continued

Thoughts can be coherent or incoherent, relevant or irrelevant (distracting) to the needs of the present moment

Example: If I am thinking about what I want for dinner instead of attending to what is going on in this meeting

Mind - Reason

Defined philosophically as: discrimination between the true and the untrue

The “aha” experience At some point in the thinking process the

rightness of the solution is recognized Proof in mathematics

Often the truth of the theorem is known before the proof is made

The proof serves to confirm what was known The proof can lead one to truth if not known

beforehand

Mind - Dreaming

Occurs during sleeping and waking states During the waking state it is known as

daydreaming Daydreaming is considered a state of

absent mindedness Can be very dangerous, as for example,

during driving

Consciousness

Attention is closely connected to consciousness

You must “pay” attention to be conscious of the present moment One pays to get something in return

Knowledge of what is happening and what needs to be done

Peace of mind Allows reason and memory to function

Consciousness - continued

How do we know what we think, feel, dream, etc? Observation by consciousness “As God is my witness”

We refer to ourselves as human beings Being means conscious existence The most basic aspect of ourselves is

that we are conscious – we are conscious all of the time

Consciousness - continued

Is the observer of mind, so lies beyond it As mind is to body, consciousness is to

mind Consciousness does not move or change

When mind is still the unmoving, unchanging nature of consciousness is known

“Be still and know that I am God” Meditation

Identification

The false belief in who or what one truly is You cannot be that which you observe

Not anything smelled, tasted, seen, touched, heard, thought, felt, or known

The five sheaths of Vedanta that conceal the Self (1) I am the physical body, (2) I am alive,

(3) I think, (4) I know, and (5) I am happy

Liberation

Being free of identification Self-realization “The thing that you seek is that

which is looking”, St Francis What is looking is referred to as

the witness

Liberation - Witness

Witness is from wit, which is from the Sanskrit root vid, meaning knowledge

A witness is full of wit, meaning funny and smart, or happy and intelligent

A witness in a court of law is someone who has observed something and can speak about it truthfully

Witness - continued

A witness has the following qualities: Observant Knowledgeable Happy Truthful

All the World’s a Stage

The world is a stage where we are actors An actor knows:

Who he is and is not deluded by his role He knows that the play is just a play and

isn’t real He knows what is real

How Do We Wake Up?

Let the mind acknowledge consciousness Do not believe in any limited identity “Not this, not this” Stillness –

“Be still and know that I am God” Meditation

“To Be or Not to Be, That is the Question”

Satchitaanada Knowledge, consciousness, and

happiness

There is only one Self Practice, practice, practice