Journey of Becoming a Philosopher #1

Hey everyone, I hope you guys are all doing well!

Today I will be attempting to continue this blog and document my journey of becoming a philosopher. As some of you may know, I continually study, read and explore philosophy, however ever since I became a professional high school science teacher, philosophy has taken much less of my time. I will be trying to use this blog to continue my work in philosophy.

For this first post, I will be sharing some notes and ideas that I have run into while reading Marcus Aurelius' Meditations, which is a work of stoic philosophy that Aurelius the Roman Emperor had written for himself. It is important to mention that to stay true to Marcus' writing style found within Meditations, what I will be writing today will resemble personal notes. I hope you can find some wisdom in this post, or at least begin the process of asking better and better questions about the nature of Reality, of human nature and the Nature of Nature itself. Let's get started:

1) As Meditations begins with Marcus listing everyone who he is indebted to, I find it equally important to spend time reflecting on who are the individuals that have shaped our personalities. My mother taught me manners, simple things like saying please and thank you, or excuse me when passing gas or other less-than-appropriate-actions. Who else has affected me? How? and in what ways do I continue to influence others?

2) From book 1, section 7, Aurelius writes "To read attentively - not to be satisfied with just getting the gist of it". Here I believe that Marcus is thanking one of his teachers or tutors and how he was taught literacy. To be able to read with a critical eye goes above and beyond the ability to pronounce the letters, words and phrases placed one after the other.

3) From Book 1, section 8, Aurelius writes " to be the same in all circumstances - intense pain, the loss of a child, chronic illness...from his example, that a man can show both strength and flexibility". This seems to be a recurring theme in Stoicism, to be able to NOT be affected by external factors and to continue to act with logic, reasoning, and proper ethics.

4) "His searching questions at meetings. A kind of single mindedness, almost, never content with first impressions, or breaking off the discussion prematurely". Philosophy seems to find its utility during meetings. It seems like I should explore this deeper, as I feel as if I am only getting the gist of this.

5) From Book 1, section 16, Marcus states " how to enjoy and abstain from things that most people find it hard to abstain from and all too easy to enjoy". As of late, I have been noticing more and more criticism of Capitalism, yet most seem to come from folks taking the easy way out. In other words, a critique of capitalism without knowledge (which is information and ability to act properly) of capitalism. It seems to be much more difficult to have a certain skill and ability to thrive in a capitalist system AND THEN to critique (as all things that require improvement must be critiqued) the system. Again, this must be further explored.

All lessons, skills, mindsets, abilities and victories find their origins from someone who has influenced me, either through direct instruction or indirectly, through let's say modelling of how to act. Or better yet, how to be...

Thanks for reading today's notes. Take care and stay safe!

-PJH, Patrick Hilario aka Dasein the Philosopher