Befriending the Ancients (starting with Zhuangzi)
This month (September 2024), I practiced imaginative and creative exercises in order to foster a parasocial relationship with a dead philosopher. I sometimes tell people that I am in “the honeymoon phase” when I read the works of a philosopher for the first time. By this I mean: a period of time where I am charitable towards the philosophy of an author like I would be towards that of a loved one. During this phase, what I am interested in is to understand every aspect of their philosophical system (understood broadly; theoretical system or way of life). I try, as much as I can, to side with this system against all possible objections, and I try, at all time s , to see the world through the lens of that philosophy. It is a kind of infatuation. When this happens, I am provided with a kind of companionship that is very precious to me, since the philosophy in question stays by my side in the course of my daily life. I would wager that this is not a rare phenomenon among philosophy ent...