1.1
Buddhism as a technology of mind
Not a religion so much as a two-and-a-half-millennium research programme into attention. The Four Noble Truths as a diagnosis and a protocol.
do
Ten minutes of anapanasati — attention on the breath — daily. Start absurdly small and don't miss twice.
done when you have sat ten minutes a day for two weeks, including the days you didn't want to.
1.2
Taoism, and not pushing
Wu wei — action without forcing. The most un-Western idea available: that effort is often the problem, and that water beats rock by yielding.
read
- anchorTao Te Ching — Le Guin or D.C. Lau rendition
- Zhuangzi — trans. Burton Watson
- The Tao of Pooh — Benjamin Hoff
do
Pick one thing you are currently forcing. Stop pushing it for a week. Watch what happens without helping.
done when you have let one struggle alone long enough to see what it does on its own.
1.3
Advaita and the non-dual
The claim that the separation between you and everything else is a perception, not a fact. The most radical position on the page, and the hardest to argue with once glimpsed.
read
- anchorI Am That — Nisargadatta Maharaj, trans. Frydman
- Be As You Are — Ramana Maharshi, ed. Godman
- freeRupert Spira (talks)
do
Self-enquiry: when something arises, ask 'to whom does this arise?' Don't answer it. Just ask, and look.
done when the question has stopped being rhetorical for you.
1.4
Stoicism
The dichotomy of control, and a technology for wanting what you already have. Practical, unmystical, and the tradition most immediately usable on a bad Tuesday.
read
- anchorMeditations — Marcus Aurelius, Hays translation
- Enchiridion & Discourses — Epictetus, trans. Dobbin
- Philosophy as a Way of Life — Pierre Hadot
- A Guide to the Good Life — William Irvine
do
Morning: sort the day into what is and isn't up to you. Evening: review the day without excusing or flagellating. Two weeks.
done when you catch yourself spending effort on the not-up-to-you column, in the moment, and stop.
1.5
Existentialism
Existence precedes essence — you are what you do, and the freedom is the burden. Bad faith as the everyday move of pretending you had no choice.
read
- anchorExistentialism Is a Humanism — Jean-Paul Sartre
- The Ethics of Ambiguity — Simone de Beauvoir
- At the Existentialist Café — Sarah Bakewell
do
Name one place you tell yourself you have no choice. Rewrite the sentence as a choice you are making. Sit with how it reads.
done when you can catch one piece of your own bad faith without needing someone else to point at it.
1.6
The Christian and mystical, via negativa
The apophatic tradition: approaching what matters by saying what it is not. Contemplative practice that predates and rhymes with everything on the Eastern arc.
read
- anchorThe Cloud of Unknowing — anonymous, 14th c.
- New Seeds of Contemplation — Thomas Merton
- Interior Castle — Teresa of Ávila
- freeCentering Prayer (Keating)
do
Twenty minutes of Centering Prayer with a single sacred word. When you notice you've left, return, without commentary.
done when you can return without the commentary about having left.