Greek Philosophy, Spiritual Philosophy, Western Philosophy & Psychology

18th Dinner – The Western Stoic and the Hindu Sattva

Anna & Ben

Western Stoic Philosophy and the Sattvic Hindu Philosophy share similar aspirations. They motivate us to acquire a desirable harmonious mindset that is free from inner turbulence to achieve a more elevated and virtuous human experience. But it is not easy and there are some loopholes.

The Invited Philosophers Anna & Ben This was the 18th dinner, a vegetarian dinner at my house. Menu Appetizer: Boursin Garlic & Fine Herbs with Multigrain Bread from the Marie Blachère Bakery Main course: Sicilian Fettuccini with Zucchini, Mushroom, Tomatoes, and Beyond Meatballs Italian Style Plant-Based Meatballs Drinks: Apple Cider London Dry by Schilling Hard Cider The Philosophies Stoic Philosophy started in Greece in 300 BC with Philosopher Zeno but

it was the Romans during the Roman Empire who developed it into what it is known today. It emphasizes living virtuously and finding inner peace by accepting what is beyond our control. In another continent, the three guṇas, sattva, rajas, and tamas, are now a key concept in nearly all schools of Hindu philosophy and refer to the interplay of the guṇas in defining the character of someone and determining…

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Greek Philosophy

6th Dinner – Epicurus’ Philosophy of Pleasure & Pain

Rene

Epicurus argued that to achieve happiness, humans need to feel pleasure, which requires that they satisfy their desires, or have no desires. He also categorized desires into "necessary", "non-necessary" and "vain". In the dinner, we discussed if "non-necessary" desires like "reading books" can cause pain, and concluded that all activities, when done excessively, have negative effects or cause pain, except one.

The Invited Philosopher Rene The Menu Appetizer: Tom Kah Kung* Second Appetizer: Green Papaya salad* Main Course: Baja Barramundi with yellow rice and salsa fresca. Drink: « Epicurean » water *Courtesy of Rene The Philosophy The Greek Philosopher Epicurus’s argued for “Everything in Moderation”. But it is not as simple as that.  And our dinner discussion took us into many unexpected directions. Unexpected, because many I had not considered before. That is one big reason why I enjoy the philosophy dinners: To discover points of views my mind would not have considered.

My introduction to Epicurus was this French podcast. For Rene, I found 3 web sites with good summaries of the philosophy: Reading Epicurus: Pleasure & Pain, What is Epicurism?, The Philosophy of Epicurus. After the dinner I also enjoyed reading the 3 ingredients for happiness. The Summary Epicurus identified happiness with the pursuit of pleasure and the avoidance of pain. He claimed there are two ways to attain pleasure: (1) Meeting one’s desires (2) Having no desires (state of tranquility or ataraxia). He characterized three types of desires of which…

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Greek Philosophy

1st Dinner – Plato’s Cave & The Ego

Francesco

Consider the ego as a prison of our true inner being. The ego produces all our self-serving thoughts that are centered on finding satisfaction and pleasure. We are trapped in the cave's shadows game by an ego that judges what we like or don’t like about everything, all the time, often disregarding the needs of others.

The Invited Philosopher Francesco The Menu First Course: Italian seasoned turkey burgers with organic mixed greens salad in balsamic vinaigrette Second Course: Cauliflower gnocchi with three cheese tomato sauce Third course: 4 cheese plate with Norwegian crackers and Italian Sourdough bread Drinks: Italian Prosecco* and Wine *Courtesy of Francesco The Philosophy I invite you to read about Plato’s Allegory of the Cave here, here and here, and all over the Internet.  Different translations add a little to the essence of

the story or message. Consider also watching some of the movies that use Plato’s Cave as their main theme: The Matrix, The Truman Show, Dark City, Cube, The Comformist. You will find all movies in Amazon, Cube does not have good reviews, but The Comformist goes in my bucket list!           The story The story describes prisoners in a cave chained since birth in such a way that they only see shadows in the wall of the cave, shadows…

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