What we’re about
We're a community fostering friendship and insights by engaging in thoughtful discussions on significant concepts discovered from reading books and intellectual consumption.
Read our FAQ
Upcoming events (4+)
See all- Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind- Shunryu Suzuki (Book Discussion) -week 1Pier 57, New York, NY
"In the beginner's mind there are many possibilities, but in the expert's there are few." So begins this most beloved of all American Zen books. In the fifty years since its original publication, Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind has become one of the great modern spiritual classics, much beloved, much reread, and much recommended as the best first book to read on Zen. Suzuki Roshi presents the basics--from the details of posture and breathing in zazen to the perception of nonduality--in a way that is not only remarkably clear, but that also resonates with the joy of insight from the first to the last page.
Join us to discuss this classic book over the course of 3-weeks!
Week 1 Sat 6/7 3-5pm
Week 2 Sat 6/14 3-5pm
Week 3 Sat 6/21 3-5pmReading for Week 1
Part 1 (roughly 30 pages)Physical copy available here
Free PDF available hereWe follow a mindful conversation approach, details on this along with a general FAQ on how we run the meetup can be found here.
Reading is required to participate in the discussion, but not required to attend.Can't wait discuss these ideas with all of you!
-Zach - Wittgenstein's Philosophical Investigations Week 4Pier 57, New York, NY
How do we come to learn the meaning of words in a language? Is language up to the task of asking and answering philosophical questions? How do we communicate about our personal experiences to someone who has completely different experiences than our own? If you are curious about how language and meaning are related then join us in exploring one of the most influential works of 20th-century philosophy: Ludwig Wittgenstein’s Philosophical Investigations. In this day and age where we seem to have such a hard time agreeing about facts, a careful study of language should help us to understand our miscommunications and perhaps even suggest a solution.
We will read this text in roughly 30 page increments, allowing for a close read and in depth discussion. The book is written as a series of numbered paragraphs which more or less follow each other in theme. You should take note of particular paragraphs of interest to focus our discussion together since we will not be able to discuss each paragraph individually. I will be reading from this version of the text and you can find a free copy here. For the fourth week we will read sections 216-360 (p. 91-121).
Participants should read the entire reading before attending this in person meeting. We follow a mindful conversation approach, details on this along with a general FAQ on how we run the meetup can be found here.
For questions please send me a message or post to meetup.
Best,
Brian
- Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind- Shunryu Suzuki (Book Discussion) -week 2Pier 57, New York, NY
"In the beginner's mind there are many possibilities, but in the expert's there are few." So begins this most beloved of all American Zen books. In the fifty years since its original publication, Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind has become one of the great modern spiritual classics, much beloved, much reread, and much recommended as the best first book to read on Zen. Suzuki Roshi presents the basics--from the details of posture and breathing in zazen to the perception of nonduality--in a way that is not only remarkably clear, but that also resonates with the joy of insight from the first to the last page.
Join us to discuss this classic book over the course of 3-weeks!
Week 1 Sat 6/7 3-5pm
Week 2 Sat 6/14 3-5pm
Week 3 Sat 6/21 3-5pmReading for Week 2
Part 2 (roughly 30 pages)Physical copy available here
Free PDF available hereWe follow a mindful conversation approach, details on this along with a general FAQ on how we run the meetup can be found here.
Reading is required to participate in the discussion, but not required to attend.Can't wait discuss these ideas with all of you!
-Zach - The Biocentric Worldview - Ludwig Klages | Reading & DiscussionAce Hotel New York, New York, NY
Hi all -
Since February, I've been joining with a wonderful few of you (aristocrats of the soul, might we say) every other Sunday to dig and crawl through a spectrum of spiritually-grounded anti-modern woo-woo and wackadoo texts that have ranged from the radically protestant to the supra-fascist, spoken by folks bearing the mark of everything from the theosophist to the traditionalist, advocating the abolition of all things from the political party to the school system. I appreciate you all and am most impressed that no one ever knocked over my dainty glass of morning wine at our cramped table.
This reading of Ludwig Klages' The Biocentric Worldview will mark the end of the first phase of this reactionary reading series, allowing me (and you) to temporarily move on to Nietzsche at Night and the new 5-part Sunday series that I intend to start in late July, which will be focused on art theory and aesthetics. More on this to come.
Like many of our thinkers in this series, German philosopher and neo-vitalist Ludwig Klages is concerned with and highly critical of modernity, technology, and the ding-dong legacy of the Enlightenment, specifically the cold rationalism (conceived by him as Geist - something that divides and differentiates, reducing all experience to base representation - brrr) contra what he perceives as the necessary, experiential, life-affirming, generative, cosmic force - Eros - and its peak in the "noblest form of ecstasy," Eros of the distance. Bear in mind, I haven't read this shit yet but Paralibrum has a great write up on Klages and On Cosmogonic Eros for the similarly ignorant.
This text is stellar because it meanders through many of Klages' essays, giving us a broad overview of his system of thought and his fierce critique of the lack of quality in our modern world.
I will be reading this edition, published by Arktos and translated by Joseph D. Pryce.
It is also available for free via this EPUB here (link triggers a download).We will be reading the book in its entirety because that's what we do here.
My copy is 130ish pages. That said, if you omit the introduction and the poetry at the end (both of which are fine), it'll be around 100ish pages. As always, if you're unable to complete the book prior to our meeting, no worries - we're just happy to have you and welcome whatever insights, critiques, questions, etc., you may have based on what you were able to read.
We will be meeting in the Ace Hotel lobby on W 29th. It's cozy, there are couches, there is lunch, there is wine (thank god) and there is a Stumptown Coffee in the front. It's great. Message me the day of if you can't find us. I usually sit toward the back next to the bar.
It bears repeating, this group is open to newcomers to Klages (who isn't?), novices of philosophy, ragamuffins, ne'er-do-wells, urchins of all sorts, etc. I'll be providing additional resources as we approach the date of the meeting.
Alright, looking forward to it and reach out to me with any questions in the meantime.
