A Philosophical Question

When we hear the word philosophy, for most people it calls to mind one of two ideas.  On the one hand, the word connotes a personal set of beliefs or opinions about the world.   A personal philosophy is really a set of assumptions about how the world works, about how humans world, an attitude (optimistic or pessimistic) about our prospects for the future. Even though this kind of philosophy is personal, it can be understood as dogmatic, in the sense that it consists of a set of propositions that don’t change much.  On the other hand, philosophy also refers to more or less academic tradition of formulating arguments.  This is almost the opposite of dogmatism, since it changes all the time. 

As I have been returning to Buddhist philosophy after a several-year sojourn through Daoism, Christianity, and paths unmarked, I am reminded of another ancient understanding of Philosophy, namely, philosophy as a spiritual discipline.  Philosophy in this sense is premised on the notion (familiar from Plato) that evil is the product of ignorance.  This is an unexpectedly radical idea, since it implies that evil, as a problem, is tractable.  If evil is the product of a lack of knowledge, then the attainment and application of the right kind of knowledge can overcome it.  This is the spiritual path of Buddhism in a nutshell. 

On the other hand, this model also indicates how philosophy is independent of the specific philosophical traditions it grows out of.  It is not as if the truths of chemistry and physics are in any sense competing.  Rather, new insights are emerging more and more from interdisciplinary research of various kinds.  In other words, philosophy and the sciences are all so many modalities of truth-work.  They are aimed at eliminating ignorance, and in so far as they succeed, they also serve to overcome the evils of this world: injustice, famine, poverty, prejudice and so on. 

Truth-work, remember, is not just an intention or goal, but a discipline.  'Discipline' should not be thought of as punishment or coercion, but rather method.  Discipline is what provides the traction; it means that the project is cumulative and progressive.  Different schools and modalities each have their distinctive methods, but in all cases, the method takes the form of some kind of inquiry.  It is about asking certain kinds of questions in certain kinds of ways. 

The Empyrean Deck is a systemic approach to asking questions.  The reader does not need to have any particular experience or expertise with tarot cards or divination practices.  Really, the reader just has to be a good listener.  Ask good questions as suggested by the cards drawn.  Help to clarify the querent’s responses. 

No tradition encompasses all the answers.  But it’s not the answers that are really important anyway, since the questions are continually changing.  Better to focus on the question.  Clarify the question.  This is the secret to all true philosophy.