Speaker 1Hello, everybody. How you doing? Hope all is well. This is Perizopoulos. Welcome back to another episode of Shot of Philosophy. And today I want to discuss establishing a practice. So ultimately what I'm offering today is kind of like a challenge in a sense, right? To adopt some type of philosophical practice and actually execute it for seven days in a row at least. So before we get into some of the questions I think might be helpful in getting a practice going and understanding the practice that we should establish, I want to share a couple of quick quotes. So the first comes from Michel Foucault's hermeneutics of the subject. He describes philosophy in the following way. Philosophy is a set of principles and practices available to one or which one makes available to others for taking proper care of oneself or of others. So this is him, I think, likely referencing some ancient conceptions or ideas about philosophy. And what we want to take away from this is philosophy is a set of principles and practices available to one or which one makes available to one or which one makes available to others for taking proper care of oneself or of others. talking about establishing a practice, saying maybe how they've been delaying it or how, you know, maybe they're even making excuses. And Epictetus here, I think, in a nice way, sort of calling them out, right? And telling them what I think is really true. Because I know for myself, as I may have mentioned, right? When I, let's say, get a little bit lazy on my practice and I don't do my daily self-writing, even if only a couple of days go by, I notice it, right? So you need a spiritual program the same way I would say, you know, to develop the body, right? If you're an athlete, you have practices. There's a schedule of those practices. There's a reason for why the schedule is that way, right? At a job too, you have a schedule, right? You're developing yourself. So we have to take the development of our spirit. We have to take the care of our souls seriously, and having somewhat of a, let's say, a program or a programmatic view of it, having somewhat of a routine might be really helpful here. We've talked frequently about some of the wonderful connections, I believe, between different fields in philosophy, right? Psychology and religion, I think, have been two major ones that we've discussed, right? Well, religions have rituals. Religions have habits. There's a reason for that. So when he's saying, spiritual program, right? He needs you to sit and I think address at least some of the questions I'm going to present in a minute to figure out kind of from a bird's eye view, well, how should I do this? Why should I do this? What exactly are the goals? What exactly are the things, the physical things even, that will populate this practice for me? So I'm hoping this challenge of the seven days will help us to stop the excuses, stop the procrastination, and get going. Because as Epictetus is saying, this is necessary work, right? You're making yourself vulnerable to mediocrity as a result of not getting started on a spiritual program and as a result of not establishing a healthy spiritual program through examination. We can't just do anything. It can't just be random. It can't just be, or it shouldn't just be episodic, like one time here or there. We want to try to establish something that's frequent, something that works for us, and something that's not only just a habit, but something that's a dynamic habit. something that's open to flexibility and change where it needs to be and when it might be optimal or might be the best thing to change. But either way, we want to be at least a little bit programmatic about our spiritual development. And we want to make sure that we stick with what Foucault offered too and prioritize the care of the self, right? And again, the self meaning the soul. So let's look at some ideas here that I think will get us moving into a positive direction. So once again, I ask that you do it seven days in a row, right? And let's think about the following questions. General, of course, what is the practice? So what are the material elements involved? Do you want to do self-writing? Will it be a notebook and a pen? Get a notebook. Will it be paper and a pen? Make sure you have paper set up. Will you do it in a specific location? Maybe it's in your home. Maybe it's at work. Maybe it's in an outdoor spot. but think about this, right? What locations provoke philosophical meditation for you? How might you pair that location with a new practice? Maybe a certain genre of music encourages you to think philosophically, encourages you to do the thing that Foucault is telling us, right? Care for the self. So we want to have the physical set up a little bit in our minds. Maybe you need a little coffee, as is the case with this podcast, right? maybe this is a specific book you want to work with over the next seven days. Choose that book and make that a part of the habit, right? Maybe you read the book for five minutes or 10 minutes. I will have other episodes this week that I'll share, of course. I'm going to do a little research. I'm being a little deliberate with this week's podcasting on the other elements of what the practice might include and what I suggest it should include, but that's for another day. For now, let's think about these questions, right? Next one, of course, when does it happen? Why is this a good time? And this gets into, I think, making it more programmatic, right? Would you prefer to do it in the morning, in the middle of the day, at night, all three, two of the three, right? But think about this. Plan out a little bit the when. I think that's important as well. And also, why is then a good time for you? Is it because you have some free time in the morning? Maybe at night, you like to relax and reflect. You have a couple of minutes at night have a good reason for choosing the time and a description of the time as well and try to stick to it. Of course, we have the large question of why bother choosing this specific practice? Why bother choosing these specific tools or this specific book? We want to justify these things. Of course, we want to stick with that idea of justification when we think about the aims of the practice. What are the major aims? And we want to put this, I think in spiritual terms, right? I want to become more patient. I want to focus on that this week. I want to create a greater sense of inner peace this week. I want to cultivate more confidence this week. I want to get a little more wisdom on this topic this week. I want to be a little more disciplined in this way of, or this way in my life this week. We want to set out clear aims. And again, justify the aims. Why bother with those specific ones? Now, that's the planning section, right? And a little bit of the execution section as well. At the end of the seven days, at the end of the week, we have to ask ourselves, well, how did I actually perform the practice? Did I stick to my time? Did I forget my book? Did I really focus in my writing and thinking on patience, on discipline? We want to give ourselves a little bit of a review there. Then, of course, well, how did it impact me? Did it work at all? After these seven days, do I feel like I know myself a little bit better? Do I feel like I understand maybe why I'm so impatient or why I'm lacking discipline? And, of course, was it helpful? Why and why not? Then I think the key part, I love this part too, don't leave it there. Because even if you totally, you know, didn't like the practice or you weren't able to execute it, don't quit. How might it be improved? What might make the practice better? And then I ask also maybe to create a plan of action, right? A plan of action should kind of be similar to what we just had. Think for a minute or a few minutes, right? All right, this didn't work out great. So when can I maybe do it that would improve it? Maybe a new location. How else might I change this to improve it? Because we want to return to Epictetus. We all should be thinking about creating and sticking to a spiritual program that works for us. So, on that note, I hope those questions were helpful. Let's get into a couple potential examples. Here, we've talked about some of these in the past, but I like sort of having them condensed here into like two or three suggestions. So we might grab this from Pierre Hadot's philosophy as a way of life, talking about Epictetus. First thing in the morning, we should go over in advance what we have to do during the course of the day and decide on the ideas which will guide and inspire our actions. Again, we've talked about this recently. I love this idea. I'm not just going to go to work today. I'm going to go to work. I'm going to be confident in that meaning. There's a, there's now an idea that's going to guide me and encourage me. And sit with that. Well, what does that mean to me? Maybe it doesn't mean you get up in front of the room for 20 minutes. Maybe it does mean though, that you raise your hand and you say something. Maybe it does mean that you're able to engage in the conversation in a more meaningful way. So define it for yourself. Don't have your day be hollow. Don't think only about the tasks. The tasks need values to pursue and the tasks need values to embody. That's really important. I think that's what he's getting at here. The second part of this in the evening, we should examine ourselves again, so as to be aware of the false we have committed or the process. We have made. So this is like two practices in one that you could, of course, do together as he's suggesting. But I even think just doing one of these things, if done well, can be really helpful. Right? To examine ourselves. You might do that in writing. You might do that while you're brushing your teeth. How did I make progress? How did I fail? And again, put this in spiritual terms. Was I courageous today? As per my own definition of courage? Did I move forward into a more courageous self today? How? How not? So this could be a daily self-writing practice. That's how I suggest approaching this. Although, again, it doesn't have to be. Second practice here is inspired by Thich Nhat Hanh. There are four kinds of food that we consume every day. They are edible food, what we put into our mouths to nourish our bodies. Sensory food, what we smell, hear, taste, feel, and touch. Volition, the motivation and intention that fuels us. And consciousness. This includes our individual consciousness. The collective consciousness. And our environment. So what I would suggest for this, let's first of all analyze for ourselves how we engage with these four different types of consumption that Thich Nhat Hanh presents. That in and of itself is a great day one practice for the seven days, I would say. Then focus on one or two of these things. I like the idea of focusing on sensory food. Especially with what we hear, I think that's a great way to start. How can you fill your day? And this is a great idea to go with if you're a music lover or if you like podcasts like this one maybe, or others, or you go on YouTube, how can you change what you listen to, how could you change what you read? These are both two great types of sensory food that we could sort of easily, let's say, work to control. And back to what I suggested a little bit earlier, maybe you have a physical book that will accompany you during these seven days of a new practice. That's a great idea to go with if you're a music lover, or if you like podcasts like this one maybe, or others, or you go on YouTube, right? How can you change what you listen to, how could you change what you read? This is a great example of a piece of sensory nourishment, a piece of sensory food. So change your consumption habits, try to execute them for seven days, and write throughout the process. So maybe, right, you could spend more time listening to a specific thing. Maybe this podcast, who knows? See what this podcast has to offer, check the titles, maybe listen to one 15-minute podcast every day. Who knows? Maybe read Marcus Aurelius' Meditations for seven days. Maybe grab another text online. Maybe grab something that is even outside, of course, of this class. As long as it's therapeutic for you, that's the point. So change your consumption once we come to understand how our consumption might be affecting us. Seven days in a row, try it out. So another one, I love this one. This is a practice from Dorotheus of Gaza. Every day, but also every season, every month, and every week, and ask ourselves, what stage am I at now with regards to the passion by which I was overcome last week? Are you still getting angry over the same things, with the same intensity, with the same frequency? Similarly, every year, we might say, last year I was overcome by such and such a passion. How about now? The fathers of philosophy have told us how useful it is for each of us to purify themselves in turn by examining every evening. How we have spent the day, and every morning, how we have spent the night. And here's the new practice, maybe, right? Because the last line kind of sounds like what Epictetus offered, okay? Truly, however, we who sin so much, and by sin let's define that as who miss our aims, right? And are so forgetful, really need to examine ourselves every six hours, so that we may know how we have spent these hours, and in what way we have sinned, or again, missed our aims. Every six hours that you're awake is a great motivation, or is a great practice, motivated by the idea that these little check-ins might really keep us moving, let's say, more effectively in the direction of the spiritual growth we're seeking, right? So you wake up at six, okay, have a little reflection. You know, you're awake, 12 o'clock, middle of the day, go ahead, 6 o'clock, around dinner time, another reflection. I love this idea, I've done this, I think it's great. I do this mostly in regard, or like, let's say, I don't really time it, like, every six hours on the dot, but I've gone through periods where I'd wake up and do one, like, around lunch, I'd do one, then at night, let's see, when I'm brushing my teeth, again, I'd have a similar thing. And this is a great idea for seven days, I think it's very trackable, and it's something you can write about, I think, really nicely. Right, something that you could pair, once again, with a self-writing, or a thinking practice, or both. And again, later in this week, starting tomorrow, I'm going to introduce. I'm going to introduce some elements that I think will really make this set of suggestions and these questions seem a little more tangible, right? Give you a little bit of an overview of that, we're going to talk about the importance and the power of silence, Socratic questioning, self-writing, and what we'll call primitive reading. All of these ideas work really nicely with these questions, these suggestions, in regards to establishing a practice. Right, so another quick suggestion I want to make. I think this could be also really helpful, a little different than the seven-day practice, although this definitely could connect to the seven-day practice. One mode of therapy that the ancient philosophers suggested was what they called research. Now, I think when I use the word research now, a lot may come to mind. Here's how I want to interpret research. It's any time you deliberately, consciously, and let's even say programmatically or methodically, make time to learn about something. So, we've talked a lot about a lot of different philosophers on the podcast so far, so what I'll suggest is grab a book, buy it on Amazon, whatever, or online, there's a lot of great ancient texts available for free, Marx's Religious Meditations, Epictetus, The Art of Living, Epictetus, The Incaridian, all are available with a quick Google search. Make time on a daily basis, choose one to three topics that interest you, right? Maybe you want to do a little bit of a research, maybe you want to do a little bit of a research, maybe you want to do a little bit of a research, maybe you want to do a little bit of a research. Maybe again, you want to develop confidence, maybe you want to develop peace, or a greater sense of inner peace. Think about what you've gotten from the podcast so far, or whatever other reading you might be doing. Try to choose a philosopher and actually engage with them in a prolonged dialogue. Go find a text or buy one. Focus, and this is also I think a part of research, by making it like having a method, right, having some type of discernible direction, that is also for me. Making it research, because it's deliberate, right? So you want to cultivate inner peace, I recommend Marcus Aurelius' meditations. I recommend the pocket Pemetro drone by Pemetro drone. You want to learn how to be a little bit happier, I think the Incaridian is a great place to start there. So find a resource, find a philosopher, and engage in an extended dialogue with them, through your own reading, and once again, I would say self-writing is great here as well. Collect quotes from the philosopher. That are helpful in your own development. So hopefully suggestions are helpful. I'll be in touch soon with a little more detail on this idea, but thank you for listening and I'll talk to you soon.
PodcastTranscript AI