Course Outline
Living Philosophy is a journey from understanding ourselves to learning how to live meaningfully with others, and finally to recognising our place within the larger journey of humanity. Throughout the course, we draw on practical tools from Eastern and Western philosophy to develop greater self-knowledge, inner freedom, responsibility, and the capacity to put our values and ideals into action.
Part one
The individual – Build your inner compass
We begin with ourselves: learning to recognise our inner nature, understand what drives our choices, and develop greater mastery of our actions, attention and character. The aim is to build a clearer inner compass from which to live more consciously.
1 — Philosophy as a Way of Life: The Timeless and the Temporal
Learn to recognise the timeless and changing dimensions within yourself, and to organise your life around the values you want to embody.
– Timeless Ethics and Temporal Ethics
– The Higher Self and the Personality
– Know Thyself and the development of human values.
2 — Consciousness and the Art of Right Action
Learn to recognise where you are acting from and make choices that are more conscious, ethical and aligned with your inner development.
– The four levels of consciousness
– Dharma, Karma and the three Gunas
– Karma Yoga: acting rightly without attachment to results
3 — From Attachment to Freedom: The Path Beyond Suffering
Understand how attachment to what constantly changes creates suffering, and explore practical ways to free yourself from that identification.
– Impermanence, attachment and suffering
– The Four Noble Truths
– The Noble Eightfold Path as a path towards liberation
4 — Mastering the Mind: The Art of Concentration
Develop greater command of your attention so that the mind becomes a tool you can consciously direct rather than a source of distraction.
– Dharana: perfect concentration
– Introspection and Reflection
– The Voice of the Silence: learning to listen beyond the noise of the mind
5 — Creating Inner Order: The Path of the Junzi
Learn how to establish greater order within yourself so that your actions, relationships and responsibilities become more coherent.
– Li: the principle of right order and harmony
– The Junzi: the ideal of the noble human being
– Cultivating virtue and leading by example
Part two
The society – Unity through diversity
From knowing ourselves, we turn towards others. We explore how to live together more harmoniously, distinguish truth from opinion, become responsible citizens and transform inner development into meaningful participation and service.
6 — The Art of Living Together: Conviviality
Learn practical principles for living with differences, facing everyday relational challenges and contributing to a more harmonious shared environment.
– Conviviality: learning to live harmoniously with others
– Ethical values as the basis of human relationships
– Politics in its philosophical sense: creating conditions for a better society
7 — From Opinion to Truth: The Individual and Collective Path
Strengthen your ability to question assumptions, distinguish appearance from truth, and understand why personal and social transformation must go together.
– Maieutic and Elenchus: tools for questioning and examining our ideas
– Plato’s Allegory of the Cave: appearance, opinion and Truth
– The Philosophical and Sociopolitical paths: individual and collective transformation
8 — The Good Citizen: Education and the Idea of the Good
Explore how philosophical education can shape a conscious citizen, and how your priorities, character and sense of purpose influence the society you help create.
– The individual, society and the State in Plato’s Republic
– The Citizen: consciousness, participation and responsibility
– Philosophical education and the Idea of the Good
9 — The Path to Inner Freedom: Happiness, Independence and Responsibility
Develop a deeper understanding of freedom as inner independence, peace and responsibility, not simply freedom from external limitations.
– Aristotle: Autarky, happiness and the Supreme Good
– Stoic Ataraxia: inner peace beyond circumstances
– Maat and the Citizen of the World: justice, responsibility and service to humanity
10 — From Inner Development to Service: The Pythagorean Path
Connect inner growth with service to discover why philosophical development becomes meaningful when it is placed at the service of others.
– The Pythagorean path and the cultivation of virtue
– Initiation as a process of self-knowledge and transformation
– Uniting the Philosophical and Political paths through service
Part three
The world – Turn ideals into action
Finally, we widen our perspective to humanity and history. Through myth, symbols, time and historical cycles, we learn to recognise deeper patterns, understand where we stand within them, and develop the vision, freedom and will needed to participate consciously in building the future.
11 — Beyond History: Myth and the Language of Symbols
Learn to look beyond historical events and use myth and symbols to recognise enduring patterns that can help you understand life and humanity’s journey.
– History as the changing vehicle of enduring Myth
– Symbols as a universal language
– The Myth of Theseus as a practical exercise in symbolic understanding
12 — From Fragmentation to Harmony: Towards a New Renaissance
Learn to see civilisation as an interconnected whole and explore what happens when its different expressions are brought into harmony.
– Unity behind diversity: the vision of Plotinus
– Beauty, Justice, Goodness and Truth: Art, Politics, Religion and Science
– The Renaissance and the Meso-Cosmos: creating an integrated human environment
13 — Beyond Chronological Time: The Search for Objectivity
Learn to move beyond the limits of your immediate perspective and work with different dimensions of time in the search for greater objectivity.
– The limits of subjective and historical perception
– Chronological, Sacred and Mythological Time
– Moving beyond changing interpretations towards enduring meaning
14 — The Cycles of History: To Know Is to Remember
Learn to recognise the larger rhythms of history so you can better understand where humanity has come from, where it stands and where it may be going.
– The Hindu Yugas and Plato’s Great Year
– Cycles as patterns of human and historical development
– Plato’s Reminiscence: to know is to remember
15 — Freedom and Destiny: Becoming Conscious Builders of the Future
Bring together the tools developed so far to understand your freedom within a larger direction and become a more conscious participant in building the future.
– Freedom and Destiny: Choosing how we walk the path
– Odysseus and Ithaca: the journey towards our destination
– Memory, Objectivity, Symbols, Cycles, Freedom, Imagination and Will
16 — Closing the Cycle: The Journey Continues
Bring the whole course together, reflect on how its principles can become part of your life, and discover where the philosophical journey can lead next.
– Connecting the Individual, Society and the World
– Turning the course’s ideas and tools into a way of life
– Opening the path towards advanced philosophical study and practice
Continue your journey
The Living Philosophy Course is a complete experience in itself, and it can also be the beginning of something deeper.
After successfully completing the course, those who feel aligned with the School may choose to become members of New Acropolis and continue philosophy as an ongoing way of life. Through advanced studies, regular philosophical practice, community and opportunities to bring ideals into action.
Membership is a freely chosen next step for those who want to continue practising Living Philosophy as a way of life, together with others.