Freedom from Suffering
I want to talk about philosophy as a practice and to see if I can get across what I understand that to mean, and how yoga and meditation are a part of that practice, at least for me. The best way I think I can get the idea of philosophy as a practice across is to describe my own experience, where philosophy went from being an intellectual pursuit to something that shapes all aspects of how I live.
I studied Philosophy and English Literature, and I also practised yoga, while I was an undergraduate. Even before I started at university, I’d wondered about fairness, and justice. By the time I’d finished my degree, I wanted to put what I was learning into practice. I thought it was pointless to learn about the theory of ethics, and then to go off and work in a merchant bank. So I became a volunteer for VSO, first of all in Sudan and later in Indonesia and in a refugee camp.
But before I get into all that, let’s have a look at the etymology of the word, philosophy. The word is an amalgam of two Greek words, one for love (the affectionate kind that exists between friends) and wisdom. Looking at that meaning, we can see that the practice of philosophy involves becoming friends with, or getting to know, wisdom, and the exploration of how to live that emerges from a regular practice of meditation, is involved in roughly the same search. Giri means live the right way — that’s the tattoo I…
