Philosophical Exercises

In October 2025, I tried to commit philosophy handbooks to memory. Not academic handbooks, but collections of wise sayings produced by ancient philosophical schools so that students may memorize them. My curiosity got captured by the Sermon on the Mount (sayings spoken by Jesus, found in the Gospel of Matthew) because the scholar George B. Branch-Trevathan claimed that it counted as one of those philosophical handy books. I agree! Attempting to learn it by heart was an exercise in understanding faith and justice.           Claude Lorrain (1600 - 1682) The Sermon on the Mount (Of all paintings of the Sermon on the Mount , I picked this one because I find that it makes the scenery and sky both relatable and awe-inducing. It usually isn’t very relatable.) Keeping philosophy at hand In the conclusion of my last post , I stressed the importance of “putting pen to paper” when you read a philosophical text that seeks to improve your life. The pen in...

I am in the mood to celebrate the Universe! By which I mean reality itself, in all its mysteriousness. So, imitating the ancient catalogues of great architectural feats , I came up with a list of the Seven Wonders of Existence , just for a bit of fun. Rather than big artificial or natural objects, these wonders are deeply mysterious features of our existential situation. Things that never cease to boggle my mind. (pictured here: a wondrous comet giving off flames in every direction; it looks stylized rather than realistic to our modern eye ; Source  here   ) What follows is a list of metaphysically-flavoured things that  “fill the mind with ever new and increasing admiration and awe, the more often and steadily we reflect upon them”  as Kant says of  “the starry heavens above me and the moral law within me.” I say "metaphysically-flavoured", because the items of this list tend to be things where our sense of their necessity (“things could not be otherwise”) clas...

In September 2025, I strived to be virtuous in accordance with the principles of Stoicism. I journaled daily and, during an examination-of-conscience exercise, I went over my experience with a fine-tooth comb: one made out of forty-four virtues uncovered by stoicism scholarship. This exercise helped me become more courageous and this courage deepened my practice of Stoicism. Illustration from Richard Deakin, Flora of the Colosseum of Rome,  or, Illustrations and Descriptions of Four Hundred and Twenty Plants Growing Spontaneously upon the Ruins of the Colosseum of Rome (London: Groombridge, 1855) Getting excited about virtue My partner and I have gotten into the habit of talking about “getting excited about virtue”. When we use this phrase, we are referring to our unabashed acknowledgement that we are trying to be morally good; which involves nerding out about the details of such an endeavour, and openly expressing how cool we find this to be. This is set against a contrasting...

  In July and August 2025, I applied myself to achieve the next milestones on my jhana meditation journey. I made good progress and experienced unspeakable bliss (in the form of extreme joy and extreme calm). I will now attempt to speak it nonetheless! Well, I’m having the time of my life! And that’s because I took the time to enjoy myself. You see, for this blog, I try to practice a new philosophical exercise every month, so I am always hesitant to revisit an exercise that I have already talked about. I worry about having nothing new or interesting to say about it. I worry about it being “old news”. (I have many such not-so-smart thoughts I’m afraid.) Nevertheless, I reasoned that it would be wise to not chase novelty, and instead to really delve into Jhana practice again! The jhanas are a series of blissful altered states of consciousness, achieved in sequence. “Jhana meditation” is the type of meditation that allows you to hit those target experiences. It’s a bit tric...

I’m having a wonderful time with Jhana meditation these days, but since I decided to take my time with it (two months) I am not ready to tell you about my progress yet. For this month’s post, instead, I decided to share another wonderful occupation of mine: writing fiction. This post will focus on saying a few things about the hobby itself and how it might constitute a philosophical exercise . Then, at the end, I will share a fantasy short story that I wrote .     Fan-art created by my mother, depicting the looming mountains and summer haze of "How close the All-Divine", the short story that I wrote. She is an inspiration to me, as she always dares to be creative. Inspiration As a philosopher, busy with the writing of philosophical essays, I was reticent to devote any time to writing fiction, and even more reticent to share what I hypothetically would have written. But a few people inspired me to take the plunge. Among them, two philosophers: Helen de Cruz and Liam Ko...