Bham Introductory Practical Philosophy Course (Happiness) Wed 7 May 2025 (11-wks)

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How do we seek happiness?  True happiness and unity: ‘May all be happy’ as an intent.  Tolstoy: happiness through serving one’s neighbour.  Observation, the conscious perceiver and the present moment.

Is happiness natural?  Analogy of light bulbs.  Relationship between happiness and law.

Bentham, Mill. Gandhi’s criticism and an alternative view to utilitarianism.  The art of listening: practical exercise

Hedonism, Epicurus and Plato. Plato suggests two categories, necessary and unnecessary pleasures. Introduction to the Upanishads: finding satisfaction in oneself.

Divine goods: wisdom, self-control, justice and courage. Human goods: health, beauty, strength and wealth. Are these the way to happiness?

Introduction to Marsilio Ficino, renaissance philosopher.  Key phrases inscribed on academy walls. Rejoice in the present. Richard Jefferies

Introduction to Lao Tzu: Tao Te Ching. Tea ceremony.  Exploring effortless action. 

Introduction to Patanjali and the 8-fold system of yoga, meditation, contentment.  What about ambition? Finding happiness in work: 2 principles for finding happiness in work.

Two more principles for finding happiness in work. Practical exercise to discover more about the principles of work in action.

The connection between wisdom and happiness. Marcus Aurelius; you don’t need much to live happily. Review of the term.

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These opening sessions consider how philosophy can help us enjoy richer, less stressful lives.

What is practical philosophy?

‘What would a wise person do here?’

Philosophy means the love of wisdom. Our course is intended to show how philosophy can help us enjoy richer, less stressful and more useful lives. This opening two sessions consider these aims, and introduces simple exercises in mindfulness and the application of wisdom you can practise in daily life.

You can download or listen to the Awareness Exercise, introduced in week one here. To download, right-click, choose ‘Save link as…’ and save the MP3 wherever you want.

You can also download a PDF of the Awareness Exercise

Who or what am I?

What is my potential?

Who am I, really? My body? My emotions? My strongly held beliefs? My soul? Possibly all of these? Possibly none?

Such questions have preoccupied philosophers down the ages. We look at practical ways to explore who we really are and how to tap our true potential.

What is our state of awareness?

Why does it fluctuate during the day?

Often the most notable quality of wise people is their alertness to the subtleties of a situation. They are awake, perceptive and curious.

We look at deeper levels of awareness, and consider how we may become more awake to ourselves, our surroundings, and the events we meet.

Living in the now, mindfulness.

What is the potential of the present moment?

We review our own experience of attention through a model featuring attention centred, captured, open and scattered, and how these each relate to the past, present and future.

We examine the extraordinary brightness and freedom naturally available in the present moment. A straightforward practice is introduced.

Plato’s views on justice.

What does it mean to live justly?

According to Plato, justice and injustice do not start ‘out there’. They begin within us. For justice to prevail, Plato suggests that we must learn to avoid being ‘tyrannised’ by our passions and fears to the extent they overrule our reason.

We discuss the practicality of Plato’s ideas on justice in our daily lives.

The Vedic model of three fundamental energies.

Sometimes we seem not to have enough energy, or the wrong kind. A wise person can act consistently despite these varying conditions.

We consider how to recognise differing energies, how to gain and conserve them and how to use them wisely.

What is reason? How can it enrich our lives? We look at guidelines for Socratic dialogue and how to use them. Developing reason in decision-making and action are also discussed, with practical applications. Obstacles to reason are considered. Everyone has the faculty of reason and we can all use it and develop it. 

What is beauty?

Is there such a thing as absolute beauty?

Beauty has the capacity to open the heart and bring delight. In this session we discuss our direct experience of beauty in its different form: of the sensory world, of thought, of feelings, of the inner nature, and of conduct.

We consider Plato’s idea of there being ultimately one beauty – beauty absolute – ‘not knowing birth or death, growth or decay’.

Looking for the common thread in life.

What is the effect of finding unity?

When we look around, we see enormous diversity in nature. The wise person looks for the unifying factor: that which allows all this apparent diversity to be seen as part of a single whole.

Seen in this way, life then has the best chance of being led freshly and openly.

What is truth?

How does the desire for truth show itself?

Practical philosophy is about discovering the truth of things – not theoretically, but in our own experience.

In this final session we look back and ask ourselves how our search for truth has fared as the term has progressed. We discuss what has been discovered and how, in our own way, we may continue to develop it in our daily lives.