 Dear Curious Souls,
If you're like me, summer is a time of creative energy, stacks of new books to read, and new perspectives about life. At Curious Soul, that means new ideas for upcoming workshops! I'm super excited to share with you our new workshop coming up in October on the search for meaning. The workshop revolves around Victor Frankl's famous work, Man's Search for Meaning, widely considered one of the most important books of our time. In his book, Frankl -- a psychiatrist, philosopher, and Holocaust survivor -- outlines his insight about the importance (and even necessity) for each individual to find meaning in their lives for survival and flourishing. Meaning, for Frankl, is far more important than pleasure or power for our overall well-being. He identifies meaninglessness -- or what existentialists call nihilism -- as the root of many forms of depression, addiction, aggression, and suicide. In the book, he develops his rather philosophical approach to mental health, in which he helps others to identify and amplify a sense of purpose that is unique to their own personality and life-situation. In the workshop, we'll be digging into Frankl's philosophy of human life and mental health, as well as his roots in existential philosophy. We'll also be finding ways to apply his insights so we can amplify a sense of meaning in our own lives, and help friends, family, students, clients, and mentees to do the same. The threat of meaninglessness looms rather heavily over our times. Frankl sees philosophical discussion about meaning and purpose to be an important therapeutic process. This is, among other things, preventative care! Come with us to:
Saturdays, October 5, 12, 19, 2019 1:00 - 3:30 World Cup Coffee, 1740 NW Glisan, Portland, OR. Learn more and register on our Search for Meaning webpage!
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 Dear Curious Souls,
A workshop on Democracy has been on the Curious Soul wish-list for some time, and it is finally here! As we struggle with the perennial crises of democracy, we are thrown back again and again onto some of the most difficult questions of political philosophy: What do we really mean by freedom and equality? How can we better recognize and remedy confused and degraded versions of these concepts? What are the benefits and dangers of "rule by the people"? How can we protect against the dangers? How exactly does "consent" work in our experiment of communal self-rule? Who counts as a citizen and how should they participate in communal self-rule? What does it mean to operate under a "general will"? What is the limit of political authority, and how much individual liberty should be preserved? What role does dialogue play in the democratic process, and what does it mean to engage in functioning discussion and deliberation together? We'll pursue these questions and others with help from some of the most influential philosophers in the history of democratic thinking: Plato, Aristotle, Locke, Rousseau, and Mill. Our discussions about these questions will act as a springboard for considering whether the groups in which we each participate (big and small) are in need of becoming more democratic, in what ways they could become so, and how we might do something to help. Come with us to:
Three Saturdays: March 30, April 6, 13, 2019 1:00-3:30 Learn more on our Roots of Democracy workshop page. Dear Curious Souls,
Do you ever feel like you're working against the grain? Trying to force things to fit into your mold? Fighting the world all the time and making yourself exhausted? What would it be like to "do without doing," and to learn to go with the flow of nature? Join us for our introductory Taoism workshop, led by Danielle LaSusa, and learn to find tranquility and simplicity in everyday life. Danielle LaSusa is a philosophical coach and co-creator of the philosophical podcast Think Hard. Danielle led two transformative Buddhism workshops at Curious Soul this year, and we are so grateful to have her as a guide to Eastern philosophical traditions of balance and harmony. We welcome newcomers to our Taoism workshop, as well as returning students. You do not need prior experience with Taoism to join us, just a curious soul! Sign up with a friend for a significant discount. Come with us to: Discover spontaneity, simplicity, and tranquility in everyday life Find your connection to the rest of nature and tap into its flow Unlock the wisdom of the Tao Te Ching Three Saturdays: January 12, 19, 26, 2019 1-3:30 p.m. Learn more on our Taoism workshop webpage. See you soon for this contemplative start to the new year! Monica Vilhauer, Founder of Curious Soul Dear Curious Souls,
I'm excited for our upcoming workshop on Michel Foucault's The History of Sexuality, Vol. 1 in November, 2018. The text analyzes the complicated workings of sex and power, and famously argues that sexual identities are not natural categories, but social constructions. It has become a classic in feminist theory, gender studies, and queer theory, and it is an essential text for understanding the workings of power in modern societies. I'm excited for what we might do with Foucualt's theory of power to help us understand current discussions surrounding the #MeToo movement, the Kavanaugh hearings, and movements to opt out of gender and sexuality binaries altogether. The deadline to register is Saturday, October 3. Time to order your book and save yourself a spot! Register with a friend for a significant discount. Come with us to:
Saturdays Oct. 10, 17, 24 1:00-3:30 at World Cup Coffee in NW Portland. Learn more on our History of Sexuality webpage.  Over the past 25 years, I have been asked with some frequency by students, parents, colleagues from other disciplines, friends, and strangers at parties what I think the value of philosophy is, why I devote myself to it, and why it matters.
I've been asked to defend it against charges that it amounts to narcissistic navel-gazing, and is a waste of time. I've been told that it is just competitive sparring about nothing, fueled by ego-trips and attempts to overpower others. I’ve heard that it is too abstract, too exclusive, too disconnected from real world problems, and overly intellectual BS. When I hear these charges, I usually have to say: “Yeah, I’ve met that guy too.” Philosophy can turn into any one of those things, and I also get frustrated when I see self-proclaimed philosophers behaving in these ways. But at its best – actually, with even a moderate amount of experience with it – philosophy can become an indispensable process for finding direction on the uncharted waters of our lives. It can help us to navigate the struggles, confusions, and suffering we inevitably face as we grapple with the human condition. Philosophy’s Practical Relevance First of all, philosophy is far more than some abstract, intellectual exercise. In fact, it is about far more than just thinking. Our ways of thinking affect our ways of feeling, choosing, doing, creating, relating, and being in the world. Philosophy has the power to examine and transform all of these things. Consider, for instance, how your feelings change when you understand the world to be a place of abundance versus a place of scarcity. Consider how these different perspectives might affect your desires, your core pursuits, your actions, and your relationships with others. Or, consider the changes that happen in you when you shift from seeing, say, an employee as a tool that will help you fulfill your projects, to seeing them as another subject with their own projects, struggles, family life, and wisdom beyond what the job asks. How do your attitudes and actions change when this shift occurs? Different ways of thinking can set off profound chain reactions that rock our world. It seems pretty important that we examine our perspectives, worldviews, first premises, or claims to truth with care, and see what support they have on their side. So, I see philosophy’s relevance for our practical lives to be quite broad. We can think of philosophy itself as a way of life or an art of living. Socrates called it “the examined life.” Thoreau called it “living deliberately.” Existentialists use the language of “authenticity.” Communities around the world refer to their philosophical experiments as “intentional living.” All these phrases indicate that the philosophical life is one that is reflective, critical, creative, and empowering. So, what can the process of philosophy do for us? 10 Benefits of Philosophy 1. Philosophy teaches us to ask good questions and examine popular opinions, core beliefs, and values. It helps us to consider alternative points of view, expand the horizons of our understanding, and think critically about what’s true. 2. Philosophy trains us to think with clarity, consistency, subtlety, and depth. It teaches us to recognize fallacious thinking, assertions without support, and contradictions. It trains us to be skeptical of claims without reasons and evidence, and it encourages us to withhold judgment until we have the reasons and evidence necessary to make a well-grounded judgment. 3. Philosophy leads us to examine what is really good for us. It encourages us to align our desires, pursuits, and creations with what we understand to be good, and to let go of our attachments to ideas, identities, habits, and things that are unhealthy and do not serve our well-being. 4. Philosophy helps us to learn to communicate effectively with others, to listen and learn from others, to ask and answer questions, to give support for our assertions, to problem solve together, to find common ground, and to respect difference. 5. Philosophy leads us to choose deliberately, rather than haphazardly, and line up our actions with our core truths and values. Philosophy teaches us to notice when we are at cross-purposes with ourselves, and encourages us to walk our talk. 6. Philosophy helps us to consider the relationship between reason and passion, manage our emotional life, and moderate those feelings that cause us suffering – like anxiety, fear, anger, hate, excessive desire, greed, jealousy, resentment, and guilt. 7. Philosophy teaches us how to handle open-ended inquiries and experiments, adapt, and navigate uncertainty. Philosophy leads us to explore new ideas and experiment with new practices when our old ones no longer seem coherent or cause us problems. Philosophy helps us to search for meaning when we face the void. 8. Philosophy leads us to examine social structures and power relations, and it teaches us how to pursue justice. Philosophy also helps us to consider our human relationship to non-human beings, and figure out how to improve it. 9. Philosophy empowers us to direct our own lives, and to take responsibility for ourselves and our world. It encourages us to create a way of existing that we can call our own. 10. Philosophy activates the powers that human beings already have within them – for inquiry, rational thought, imagination, desire, empathy, self-determination, and creativity – and puts them to work to improve understanding, ease suffering, create justice, and develop freedom. Philosophy is educative, therapeutic, and empowering. Perhaps I will be criticized for making philosophy sound like a series of self-help books, rather than the mother of the sciences. Certainly not all self-help strategies are philosophic. But nothing has allowed me to help myself and others more than the tools developed through a long engagement with philosophy. Author: Monica Vilhauer, Ph.D., philosophy teacher, writer, and founder of Curious Soul Philosophy in Portland, OR. Dear Curious Souls,
I'm excited to welcome back Danielle LaSusa to lead us in another Buddhism workshop in September, 2018. Danielle is a philosophy professor, a philosophical coach, and co-creator of the philosophical podcast Think Hard. In May, we immersed ourselves in the central principles of Buddhist wisdom with Danielle. For three fantastic weeks, we grappled with the notion that all the entities of the world (including ourselves) are ever-changing and interconnected. We investigated the causes of human suffering. We worked to find ways to overcome ego-attachment and accept all the different aspects of life. We experimented with meditation, and quieted the "monkey mind." This time around, we will focus on the way Buddhist wisdom relates to our interpersonal relationships, and our dealings with the social-political context in which we live. We are excited to introduce a new format to our workshops at Curious Soul. We have always emphasized the practical value of philosophy, but this time we will be extending our sessions to add a component called "the Lab." The Lab will allow us to set aside time to (a) reflect individually on how Buddhism can aid us in our personal struggles, (b) devise experiments for the week, and (c) discuss our experiences in a supportive environment. We welcome newcomers as well as returning students to this workshop. September will come around fast. Register early to save yourself a spot! Come with us to:
Learn more and register on our Buddhism in Action webpage. Dear Curious Souls,
I'm thrilled to announce our upcoming Buddhism workshop, and to welcome our guest workshop leader, Danielle LaSusa. Danielle is a philosophy professor, a philosophical coach, and co-creator of the philosophical podcast Think Hard. Danielle will be offering an exciting opportunity for us to introduce Eastern wisdom into our practice of philosophy as a way of life at Curious Soul. Our journey into Buddhism will help us to consider the complex nature of human suffering, the interconnectendess of all beings, and paths for achieving inner peace. Come with us to:
We'll meet three Saturday afternoons: May 5, 12, 19, 2018, at World Cup Coffee. Learn more and register here. Dear Curious Souls,
We are wrapping up a great season of existentialism workshops and moving on to a topic both timely and closely connected to our recent studies: the existentialist feminism of Simone de Beauvoir. Simone de Beauvoir's The Second Sex famously declared that "one is not born, but rather becomes, a woman," and showed in painstaking detail how women are trained from early childhood to accept and perform their role as the inferior "other" in society. By reading sections of The Second Sex in light of the current #metoo movement, we'll consider the ongoing challenges of liberation, and creatively experiment with practices in which we might assert and claim subject-hood for women. Come with us to:
We'll meet three Saturday afternoons at World Cup Coffee, on NW Glisan in Portland, OR March 31, April 7, and 14, 2018. Learn more and register for our feminism workshop. Dear Curious Souls,
I’m excitedly preparing for our third existentialism workshop on Martin Heidegger, which begins January 13th, 2018. Heidegger is one of the most original and important thinkers of the 20th Century. He is also one of the most difficult philosophers to read, as he creates his own vocabulary to articulate his new view of the human condition. Heidegger does something quite radical in the history of philosophy. He critiques the tradition of Western metaphysics, and overcomes the dualistic (mind-body, subject-object) view of reality which is so central to the way we, in the West, understand ourselves as minds and the world as an aggregate of intrinsically meaningless objects, existing independent of us. Heidegger encourages us to see this dominant view as rather one-sided, concealing the way in which we are originally connected to the things and people of the world in our everyday, practical activities. He uses a description of these practical activities, as they are situated in social-cultural contexts, as a point of departure for revealing how it is that meaning arises in the world, how our own freedom is at work in the projects we select, and how it is that we shape who we are through our own actions. He, furthermore, illuminates how we can take ownership of the lives we are creating for ourselves, and exist with authenticity. Come with us to:
Saturdays, January 13, 20, 27, 2018, 1:00-3:00 p.m. World Cup Coffee, 1740 NW Glisan, Portland, OR Learn more and register for our third existentialism workshop on Heidegger. Dear Curious Souls,
We're gearing up for our second Existentialism workshop, where we'll dive deeper into the thought of Friedrich Nietzsche. We'll be reading from his Genealogy of Morals, and investigating where different moral values come from and what kinds of life they support. In his Genealogy, the great unmasker interprets what he calls "noble" and "slave" moralities, tracing back the physiological and psychological energies that motivate them. The text gets us to ask ourselves, perhaps for the first time: What is the value of my values? Are they encouraging me to become stronger and overcome my weaknesses? Do they pave a path of creativity? Do they help me to love life? Or might they be an expression of my fatigue? Do I use them as a kind of crutch to compensate for my weaknesses? Are they a sign of my jealousy or resentment? We will also follow Nietzsche in unpacking the origin of responsibility, the experience of guilt, and the function of punishment. Get ready for a radical new perspective! I hope to see you at our next workshop! Come with us to:
Three Saturday afternoons, November 4, 11, 18, 2017 2:30-4:30 p.m. at World Cup Coffee, 1740 NW Glisan, Portland, OR Learn more and register for our second existentialism workshop on Nietzsche. |
AuthorMonica Vilhauer, Ph.D. is the founder of Curious Soul Philosophy. She designs and leads workshops and retreats that approach philosophy as a way of life. She also offers one-on-one philosophical counseling for adults. Archives
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