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What is Practical Philosophy? |
Intro Course - Part 1 |
Parts 2 and 3 |
Advanced Classes
What is Practical Philosophy?
Practical Philosophy explores the great philosophical teachings of both east and west as they apply to our daily lives.
Drawing on the wisdom of Plato, The Bible, Shakespeare, Einstein, Wordsworth, Zen, Sufi, and the Vedantic tradition of the East, the School of Philosophy is dedicated to a transformative, rather than an academic, approach to the study of philosophy.
Through the exploration of wisdom, truth and consciousness, and the practice of simple, daily exercises, students of Practical Philosophy learn to drop the ideas and habits that inhibit their development in order that they may achieve a greater clarity of mind.
Introductory Course Curriculum (Part 1)
The Introductory Course is divided into 10 weekly topics. The same material is presented each day the class is offered during the week so you may vary your day of attendance from week to week if you see fit.
Running for approximately two hours, classes are led by a tutor with readings drawn from the great teachings of east and west, followed by group discussions lively with the spirit of inquiry. Each week students are offered practices to take home in order that they may test for themselves the ideas and principles presented in class.
There are no academic pre-requisites, texts, required readings or written assignments.
Week 1: Philosophy – The Love of Wisdom
What is philosophy? What is wisdom? What does it mean to love wisdom? Is wisdom something that can be acquired, and if so, how? What are the qualities of a wise man or woman?
Students will explore these questions through readings and class discussion. A simple practice is given as a tool to help students draw out and nourish their own inner wisdom.
Week 2: Self-Knowledge
What is self-knowledge? What is the ‘self’ of which these words speak?
Students will discuss the importance of self-knowledge in the pursuit of wisdom, truth and happiness. Students are asked to neither accept nor reject the ideas presented in class, but to test them in practice.
Week 3: Levels of Awareness
What is the difference between knowledge and information? What does it mean to be fully awake? How can one connect with one’s higher consciousness?
Students will discuss five levels of awareness: deep sleep, dream, waking sleep, fully awake and higher consciousness. Then they are shown how the practice given in Week 1 can be used to first bring them into the state of being fully awake, and then to strengthen their connection with their higher consciousness.
Week 4: Fulfilling Potential, Transcending Fear
What does it mean to be in the grip of fear, anger, jealousy or desire? How can one let go of these emotions?
This week students will learn how to avoid being tyrannized by anger and fear, pleasure and pain, jealousy and desire, and thus gain greater access to their potential for wisdom.
Week 5: Reason, Justice and Injustice
What is reason? How may it be best employed?
Through an exploration of the concept of unity, students will discuss how their actions affect the people and the world around them. The levels of reason from individual, family, society, humanity and universal will be introduced. Students will be asked to direct their reason to a higher level in order to explore what is true and right in the situations they encounter during week.
Week 6: Higher Consciousness and The Nature of Beauty
What is beauty? How do we perceive beauty? Is it universal, or particular? What happens when we contemplate beauty?
Students will be asked to consider the four forms of beauty: beauty of the senses, beauty of the mind, beauty of inner qualities and beauty of conduct. The week’s exercise is to consider beauty with respect to the levels of awareness discussed in Week 3, in order that students may discover its universal nature.
Week 7: What am ‘I’?
What am ‘I’? Am ‘I’ this physical body? Am ‘I’ this mind? Am ‘I’ this heart?
Students will explore the three aspects of self (body, mind and heart) while learning to recognize their transient natures. Students are asked to observe the changing aspects of their selves, and to focus their attention on that which is unchanging within them.
Week 8: The Three Fundamental Forces
Sattwa, Rajas, Tamas
Students are introduced to a system of creation described in the Vedic tradition. Three qualities or forces in creation will be introduced using their Sanskrit names - Sattwa, Rajas and Tamas, and the importance of keeping them in balance. These terms will be explained and students are asked to observe these three fundamental forces in action.
Week 9: The Self Beyond the Universal Forces
What happens when the Universal Forces are out of balance? How does the mind react? How does the body react? How does the heart react?
Students will explore the fundamental forces of Sattwa, Rajas and Tamas in greater depth by discussing how the aspects of self (body, mind and heart) react to imbalance of force. Students will practice connecting with their unchanging self as a means of keeping their attention focused regardless of the imbalance that exists around them.
Week 10: The Nature of Truth and Goodness
What is the nature of Truth? What is the nature of Goodness? Are truth and goodness universal?
In this final week, students will explore the nature of truth and discuss the harm that can come when a person or society holds a monopoly on it. This class is also an opportunity to review the materials covered in the Introductory Course and share with others those principles and tools that have been most valuable.
Foundation Year Curriculum (Parts 2 and 3)
For those wishing to pursue their studies beyond the Introductory Course, additional courses are offered each year. A meditation practice is also offered during the second year of study.
Each course explores a different theme, and follows the same format as the Introductory Course.
Part 2: Happiness
What is happiness? Is it natural? How is it experienced and how is it lost? Is it permanent or transient?
Students will explore these questions as they begin to understand happiness not as a fleeting state but as a natural condition of humankind.
Part 3: Love
What is love? What effect does it have in motivating people’s actions? Is love universal or limited? How is love lost? Can it be rediscovered?
As students increase their understanding and their experience of love in all its fullness, they will begin to recognize that love is within themselves and all others.
Parts 1 to 3 comprise the foundation year of study.
Advanced Classes
Students who have completed each of the three parts of the foundation year are invited to join our advanced classes. More senior students pursue their study through coursework, meditation, retreats and volunteer service at the School.
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