What is Practical Philosophy? Dennis Blejer School 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

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