Thoughts from the “Friendly Philosophers”

May 6th, 2016
Last night we welcomed more new members and the conversations were great. One member courageously shared his journey in remaking himself philosophically and got great feedback and engagement from the other folks, all who were pretty awed by the effectiveness of our group in bringing the questions of existence and meaning to the table. It feels like a great honor to think this humble idea of gathering to talk and to allow great minds and hearts to connect, can result in a sharing of such succulent and transcendental fruit. Another intense theme we hit on again this week is that today’s kids, while facing huge challenges, are supremely gifted and amazing in their self-confidence and determination. It’s a breathtaking day to be reaching out and grabbing hands with mortal friends as tomorrow can mean changes we never could have imagined.

 

April 24, 2016

We’ve recently established a Meet-Up site for our Philosopher’s Group and welcomed some new members this week. We enjoyed a wide-ranging discussion about spirituality and the history of religions back to the Middle Ages. We discussed how historically Christians and Eastern Religions have been dominated at times by sects that felt it necessary to attack one another, and how that’s not working today. There are many people now of good will from all of those backgrounds that are promoting brotherhood and respect for each other’s religions. We also talked about architecture and the ways that church and religious art has helped the worship experience and helped us bridge our differences. For example, the cathedrals built in the Middle Ages by the poor still stand as a tribute to God’s majesty and provide shelter for those of many faiths. This is true of all religions; there is art that pays tribute to God’s beauty, and we can appreciate each other through our art.

 

April 16, 2016

This week we talked about our sense of our own relevance in the world and how it is impacted by how much time we spend in face-to-face conversations like this. We agreed that our sense of self is not only impacted by our relationships with others, but when we are committed to intentionally relating to others as spiritual, faithful, compassionate people, our internal sense of self and positive feelings about ourselves continues to grow, and our gifts expand. Giving to our relationships intentionally allows us to expand and be more comfortable in the world.

The salvation of this human world lies nowhere else than in the human heart, in the human power to reflect, in human meekness and human responsibility.   Vaclav Havel.

The  Friendly Philosophers    

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