Cassiopaea Forum Reading Workshops - Public

(CRW Am-EU) What temporary schedule is best for you?

  • Sunday 17:00-19:00 UTC (18:00-20:00 French time)

    Votes: 28 65.1%
  • Saturdays 17:00-19:00 UTC (18:00-20:00 French time)

    Votes: 15 34.9%

  • Total voters
    43
Hello Am-Eu group (and everyone else). I have a situation with a standing committment that conflicts with the reading workshop. I'll be absent for awhile, likely until spring. Everything is alright and no worries; looking forward to getting back to the group. I'll be following you on the Forum. DCM bless and keep you well and safe.
 
Here is a Beelzebub’s Tale on how and why Greek philosophers came to be. Your welcome. ;-D
"According to the investigations of our countryman, it seems that the earliest ancestors of the beings of the community that was later called 'Greece' were obliged, during the frequent storms at sea that hindered them in their 'marine occupations,' to seek refuge from the rams and winds in sheltered places, where they played various 'games' they had invented, to 'kill time.'
"As it later became clear, these ancient fishermen at first amused themselves with such games as children play there —but children, it must be remarked, who have not yet gone to school, for today those who go to school have so much homework to do, consisting chiefly of learning by rote the poetry composed by various candidate hasnamusses that the poor children never have time to play any games at all.
"In short, these poor bored fishermen first played ordinary children's games long since customary there, but later, when one of them invented a new game called 'pouring from the empty into the void,' they were all so pleased with it that from then on they amused themselves with that alone.
"This game consisted in formulating some question or other, always about some nonsense, that is to say, a question about some deliberate piece of absurdity, and the one to whom the question was addressed had to answer as plausibly as possible.
"Well, it was just this game that became the cause of everything that happened later.
"It turned out that among those ancient bored fishermen several were so clever and ingenious that, following the principle of that curious game, they became expert in inventing very long explanations.
"And when one of them discovered how to make what was afterward called 'parchment' from the skin of the fish called 'shark,' some of these skilful fellows, just to swagger before their companions, even began inscribing these long explanations of theirs on these fishskins, employing the conventional signs invented earlier for another game called 'mousetrap. '
"Still a little later, when these bored fishermen had been replaced by their descendants, the latter inherited these inscribed fishskins, as well as the craze for this peculiar game, and these various inventions, both their ancestors' and their own, were given for the first time the high-sounding name of 'science.'
"And from then on, as the craze for 'cooking up' these 'sciences' passed from generation to generation, the beings of that group whose ancestors had been simple Asiatic fishermen became 'specialists' in inventing sciences of every sort.
"These sciences, moreover, also passed from generation to generation and certain of them have reached contemporary beings of that planet almost unchanged.
"Hence it is that almost half of what are called the 'ego plastikoori' arising in the Reason of the contemporary beings of that ill-fated planet—from which, in general, what is called a 'world outlook' is formed in beings—are crystallized just from the 'truths' invented by those bored fishermen and their descendants.

"As regards the ancient shepherds who later founded the powerful community called 'Rome,' their ancestors also were often forced, on account of bad weather, to seek refuge for their flocks in sheltered places, and to pass the time together somehow or other.
"And so, since they were together, they did a lot of talking But when everything had been talked out and they felt bored, one of them suggested that as a relief they should take up the occupation which they were the first to call cinque contra uno—five against one—a pastime which has been preserved under the same name among their descendants down to the present time.
"As long as only the beings of the male sex engaged in that pastime everything went 'smoothly and peacefully,' but when a little later their 'passive halves,' that is to say, their women, joined in and, immediately appreciating it, soon became addicted to it, they gradually attained such 'finesses' in this occupation that if our arch-cunning Lucifer himself were to rack his honorable brains, he could not invent even a tithe of the 'turns' these erstwhile shepherds invented and prepared for the beings of succeeding generations of that ill-starred planet.

"Now, my boy, when these two independent groups of terrestrial beings multiplied and, in accordance with the usual aim of all communities there during all periods of their existence, acquired every variety of 'effective means' for reciprocal destruction, they began carrying out these processes with other independent communities—for the most part, of course, with less powerful communities—and occasionally between themselves.
"Here it is very interesting to note that during intervals of peace between these two communities—who were almost equal in the possession of efficient means for reciprocal destruction—the beings of both these groups, whose places of existence were close to each other, often came into contact and had friendly relations, with the result that little by little each picked up from the other those specialties that had originally been invented by their ancestors. In short, the result of the frequent contacts between these two communities was that the Greek beings, borrowing from the Romans all their refinements of 'sexual turns,' began organizing their what were called 'Athenian nights,' while the Roman beings, having learned from the Greeks how to cook up 'sciences,' composed their later very famous 'Roman law.'
 
Howdy folks,

The Am-EU group finishes the introduction and chapter 1 of William B. Irvine's A Guide to the Good Life on November 10th.

I've attached the mind map below in both PNG & PDF form. For readability, I've also printed the mind map in bulleted form here:

Introduction
  • A grand goal in living (as opposed to shallow goals that are often transient), is the first step to attaining a coherent philosophy of life (way of living).
    • This goal eventually helps one to set an aim--a deterrent towards influences that divert one from their potential to live the "good life".
    • The second step is creating an effective strategy to achieving this grand goal.
    • (Luis): A flexible goal may be better for some people.
  • There were many schools in ancient Rome and Greek times that were dedicated towards figuring out the philosophy of life. The book aims to elucidate this via Stoic philosophy.
    • Modern philosophers are primarily focused on theoretical and historical concepts, as opposed to the ancient schools, who sought to instead, actively put their theories into practice in daily life.
  • The Stoics viewed negative emotions (i.e. anger, anxiety, fear, etc.) are not productive towards living a good life, and thus worked on elucidating the machinations of the human mind.
    • Techniques include prophylactic measures to prevent negative emotions from taking over and methods for rooting them out when they do take over. A sort of presence of mind is needed; an active observer of life within and out marked by periods of reflection.
    • (Luis): To have a chance at a good life, we need to choose to align with higher principles. Need to get to the root of our programming, and do the Work.
    • (Luis): In Castaneda, one of the main enemies of the warrior is self-importance. The seers that removed self-importance are able to create things that are pragmatic for other seers.
  • Contrary to mainstream belief, this is done only for negative emotions--not all emotions like joy etc.
    • In fact, those who practice Stoicism carry a deep and constant cheerful optimism about them, regardless of external conditions (other folks, environment, etc.). They seek not primarily fame and fortune, but tranquility and virtue.
  • Christians will find that Stoic concepts that will resonate with them, such as Marcus Aurelius' call to "love mankind". Even agnostics may gravitate towards Stoicism.
  • (Mari): In The Daily Stoic, there are three disciplines: 1) discipline of perception, 2) discipline of action, and 3) discipline of will (how we deal with things we can't change, etc.). The first one reminds me of the Prayer of the Soul: "cleanse my eyes so I may see.."
    • (Luis): It's hard not to make assumptions due to stuff like pattern recognition running amok. Referencing Ian McGilchrist's work, we live in a left-brain dominated world, making it more difficult.
    • (cassandra): Stoics were aiming to become sages, which seems unrealistic and hard--but it gives them something to aim for. Sort of like aiming to become STO.
    • (Luis): Some branches of Christianity has this philosophy of becoming like Christ. It may take a lifetime or more to be able to achieve these lofty goals.
    • (Luis): Shares story about a master and pupil discussing transcendence.
  • (cassandra): Counting our blessings is good for ourselves, because things could always be worse.
  • (cassandra): What does he mean by enlightened hedonism?
    • (Luis): Enlightened hedonism may in part hold that the ultimate goal is pleasure, but individuals may also have a tendency to help family and others.

Chapter 1: Philosophy Takes an Interest in Life
  • According to Diogenes, western philosophy developed on two branches: 1) the Italian branch (Pythagoras, Epicurus, etc.) and 2) the Ionian branch (Anaximander, Socrates, etc.).
  • (Mari): Laura's series on the philosophers spoke about how Socrates was killed because he knew cycles of destruction regarding nature and comets. Pythagoras apparently had the same knowledge. Plato feared to speak out after seeing Socrates' destiny.
    • (cassandra): In those days they used to pass knowledge down from the times of Atlantis. Plato met a man from Egypt who had knowledge dating back many years ago in the era of Atlantis.
      • (Mari): It's a shame they burned down the library of Alexander.
      • (cassandra): Graham Hancock got these maps and documents (i.e. Piri Reis map), so maybe some may have lived on?
  • Socrates breathed new life into philosophy. Before him, philosophy was primarily focused on explaining the world and its phenomena. He ditches this scientific approach in favor of focusing on the human condition.
    • MacDonald Cornford states that "Pre-Socratic philosophy begins...with the discovery of Nature; Socratic philosophy begins with the discovery of man's soul.
    • Socrates' renown throughout history and modern times was enhanced in part due to his ability to not only theorize, but to also act in accordance with them so that others may follow.
  • The ideas of Socrates lived on through his students. Plato embodied more of Socrates' theoretical ideas, while Asthenes gravitated more towards the practicality of his theories (i.e. how to live the good life).
    • The theoretical side continued to grow, while the practical side didn't.
  • It is rare for schools and universities to offer classes that imbue students with a philosophy of life that is practical. The author suggests for people to create a sort of virtual philosophical school for themselves where they read various works of philosophers who created the ancient schools.
  • The ancient schools did teach a philosophy of life. The ideas of the Stoics lies somewhere between the Cyrenaics, who thought that the goal in life was to experience pleasure, and the Cynics, who thought that to live a good life was to live an ascetic life of not wanting.
    • The Stoics thought people should enjoy things that life brings like friendship and wealth while not clinging to these things.
General Notes
  • (Luis): Floods in Valencia other areas in European region.
    • (Bluefyre): There are deserts that are turning green now!
  • (mari): They did a good job on the new Ancient Apocalypse season. It has Keanu Reeves in it.
    • (mari): Keanu Reeves seems like a decent and good person. He carries a deep sorrow about him.
    • (Anya112003): He lost his child and his wife, among other traumas.

For Next Meeting - November 17th, 2024

We'll be looking to cover the following two chapters for our next meeting:
  • Chapter 2: The First Stoics
  • Chapter 3: Roman Stoicism

See y'alls soon!
 

Attachments

Hi everyone,
Here’s the meeting ID for the Au-Asia-Am meeting. We will start in an hour. :-)
Sorry Arwenn, apparently I needed some downtime this weekend. I didn't even realise I'd missed the meeting until this morning! Will catch up on the recording when it's posted.

I might not be able to attend next weekend's meeting either; will let you know.
 
Hi everyone,

Here are the links for the recent Aus-Asia-Am group discussion on Live Not by Lies: A Manual for Christian Dissidents by Rod Dreher.

Here's the video of the last meeting
The audio
And the folder
And the slide show


This concludes Live Not by Lies: A Manual for Christian Dissidents, for next week we will discuss our final thoughts on it and also read Stalking or Precis on The Good and The Evil article by Laura, for our next workshop on Saturday at 7 pm Sydney AEDST time (GMT+11).

See you all then!

___________________________________________________________________________________________
Below are the links to what we discussed:

Katie Hopkins' Batsh!t Bonkers Britain- an update
Allison Pearson, a journalist in the UK, is being investigated for a social media post. They won't tell her which one & who the accuser is.
Dogs are now racist with calls for dog-free areas in Wales.
Cafe Locked Out interviews a Romanian lady talking about her experience with communism
A grandmother would happily support her grandkids transitioning but not getting a tattoo as that is too permanent. :rolleyes:

And to rinse out the crazy, we looked at:
Civita di Bagnoregio a town in Italy built on top of a cliff & only accessible by a pedestrian drawbridge, thought to have been founded by Etruscans 2,500 years ago. Only 16 people live there as it is danger of collapse.
And finally, some gorgeous cafes that are breathtakingly beautiful.
 

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