The Philosophy for Daily Living Podcast
The Philosophy for Daily Living podcast is produced monthly and is available through Apple Podcasts and others. Shows are from 25-40 minutes long and approach varied topics in philosophy such as karma, fear, joy, the Buddhist Pali Canon, the Bhagavad Gita of India and Stoicism. Philosophy is the best way to discover how to live.
A basic discernment, to know the difference between a wholesome thought and an unwholesome one, is a kind of prerequisite for choosing values, for choosing friends, and for exercising discernment in the world.
We need a renaissance of discernment, the result of a humble and more pure form of investigation, guided by truth.
Christine Provine speaks about her personal journey exploring the Japanese Tea Ceremony and the life lessons she imparts to attendees which the ceremony reveals.
Justice as an individual virtue, and as a governing principle for society, constitutes the very basis of individual and collective well-being.
One aspect of Justice that is often left out of the conversation is its interior nature and origin, that Justice is a virtue to be lived within ourselves, before it can be expected of societies.
This podcast aims to zoom in a bit on this interior aspect of Justice.
Consider the habits of temperance to be to be a gift to yourself, the greatest gift you COULD give yourself.
The gift of new healthy habits of temperance will engender new experiences, new opportunities for growth and for meeting new people - those who share those same healthy habits of temperance.
A philosophy of life, and in turn the development of a philosophical attitude might well be symbolized by the ancient Roman God Janus who, with his two heads, gazes into the past and future at the same moment.
But what if two-headed Janus only had one head.
Courage is essential for every meaningful step in life. Most importantly, courage is essential as we seek to live the life we want to live. Plato helped illuminate the conditions in which courage emerges in an individual and countless books including Steven Pressfield’s Gates of Fire reveals that courage and love are the closest of partners.
This is the chapter where the Bhagavad Gita introduces the idea that there appears to be two selves in the human being. There is a lower self of tends to look at everything through a very tiny and limited lens of "me", "I am happy", "I am sad", People love me", people are ignoring me" and the gravitational pull of "this small me" is quite powerful and so all that we experience passes into this gravitational pull and it is quite hard to see the world in any other way, through another person's eyes, another's perspective, but perhaps most tragically, it blinds us to ourselves, to our Higher authentic selves which tell a very different story about the world, a story which is much larger, with much greater perspective, one that allows us to love and feel compassionate in a much deeper way and to find wisdom.
Read MoreDave, Christine and Carolyn discuss karma as something that connects us to everything and everone in the universe, how to observe karmic phenomena, why karma is hinged to the teaching of reincarnation, the importance of equanimity development and the importance of philosophy in developing equanimity and learning how to use our understandings of karma.
Dave, Carolyn and Christine have a dialogue about the meaning of happiness as defined by the Roman Stoics.
David Hirschorn continues with Part 3 of the Bhagavad Gita and the importance of wisdom in action.
David Hirschorn continues with Part 2 of The Bhagavad Gita and introduces the philosophy of yoga. Krishna teaches his disciple Arjuna all about karma, dharma and reincarnation.
David Hirschorn discusses the origins of this ancient Indian text whose main characters represent different aspects of human nature. Arjuna, the warrior in the story is overcome by self-doubt and delusion and is unable to fight in an epic battle. Krishna, his teacher, give him masterly advice.
In today's episode David, Carolyn and Christine define and discuss self doubt and ways to overcome it through teachings found in the Bhagavad Gita, by The Buddha and more.
