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Upcoming events (4+)
See all- "KNOW THYSELF" Astrology Workshop Based on Plato's REPUBLICPier 57, New York, NY
A HOW TO workshop on deciphering your own astrology birth chart in order to investigate your strengths, weaknesses, soul-level yearnings, fears and obstacles. In his dialogues, Plato recommended following the ancient Greek advice to "Know Thyself" and he gave a vague sketch for using astrology for that purpose. Since then, Western Astrology has been developed in order to fulfill that need.
This is the first of 6+ events that will meet in the DAFFODIL classroom at Pier 57 on Friday nights between 5 & 8 pm. Through these sessions, successively, we will cover how to interpret the position of each planet, Sun and Moon in your own chart.
This workshop is entirely FREE but you must know your precise Birth Information, consisting of date, place AND TIME. The time should be listed on your birth certificate. Please print, or download onto a device, your personal birth chart from any of the many free websites available (astro.com is one of many) or download an astrology AP onto a device and enter your birth data there. You can also submit your birth chart for me to use anonymously as a demonstration in the workshop. IF SO, message me within this Meetup AP or just come a little early to the workshop so I can enter your data.
In both Plato's REPUBLIC and LAWS Socrates outlined a method that the philosopher-kings would use to come into full self-knowledge. The most advanced stage of the preliminary phase of that process rests on astrology as a means of boosting our capacity to see ourselves clearly; in other words, to use astrology as a mirror to examine ourselves. Each workshop session will include an instructional lecture on aspects of Socratic philosophy and astrological technique based upon the reading listed below.
If you are willing to volunteer in-person as A/V Zoom operator, comment your interest below. With a volunteer, this workshop will also be available online through Zoom but with limited participation opportunities. A separate listing will be added for the online event, if so.
Download this document HERE to follow along with during the lecture. You don't need to read it in advance. Reading Linda Goodman's SUN SIGNS in advance will add tremendously to your capacity to benefit from this workshop but is not required. The more familiar your are with the basic descriptions of the 12 zodiac signs the quicker you will be able to read your own chart. Particularly, research in advance, if you can, the zodiac signs of your Sun, Moon, Venus and Mars placement using a Google search or YouTube.
This classroom has 40 seats but the event will allow 50 RSVP's to take into account no-shows. Please edit your RSVP if you decide not to attend even at the last minute. You need to arrive late, simply message me or comment below, no problem. Thanks
- I and Thou by Martin Buber: Book Discussion (week 4)Pier 57, New York, NY
"I and Thou" is the centerpiece of Buber's groundbreaking philosophy. It lays out a view of the world in which human beings can enter into relationships using their innermost and whole being to form true partnerships. These deep forms of rapport contrast with those that spring from the Industrial Revolution, namely the common, but basically unethical, treatment of others as objects for our use and the incorrect view of the universe as merely the object of our senses. Buber goes on to demonstrate how these interhuman meetings are a reflection of the human meeting with God. For Buber, the essence of biblical religion consists in the fact that -- regardless of the infinite abyss between them -- a dialogue between man and God is possible.
Heavily influenced by the writings of Frederich Nietzsche, Martin Buber united the proto-Existentialists currents of modern German thought with the Judeo-Christian tradition, powerfully updating faith for modern times.Join us to discuss this classic book over the course of 4-weeks!
Week 4 Sat 4/3 12:30-2:30pm
Reading for Week 4
All of Part 3 (roughly 36 pages)*A couple notes about the reading:
- Translation
Feel free to read any translation of the book you like. I will be reading both the Walter Kaufman Translation free pdf here
and The Ronald Gregor Smith Translation free pdf here - Aphorisms
The Aphorisms are not numbered. They are just given bullet points or are separated by spaces depending on the version you're reading. - Supplementary Sources
Finally, though the reading is fairly short —it is quite dense. Therefore, I will be reading a few supplementary sources to help me understand the text. I'll link below to the ones I'm using, but feel free to use others and to share any good sources you come across in the comments! (:
- Martin Buber's I and Thou: Practicing Living Dialogue by Kenneth Paul Kramer (book) here
- I and Thou Sparknotes here
- Eric Dodson lectures (youtube) here
We follow a mindful conversation approach, details on this along with a general FAQ on how we run the meetup can be found here.
Reading is required to participate in the discussion, but not required to attend.Can't wait discuss these ideas with all of you!
-Zach - Translation
- Ride the Tiger - Julius Evola | Part 1, Reading & DiscussionAce Hotel New York, New York, NY
Hi to all,
I've been flirting with scheduling a reading of this for a while and now, having established a decent amount of interest in this spiritual series, I figured it was time to dive into the controversial self-proclaimed superfascista Julius Evola and his esoteric far-right philosophical survival manual for modernity, Ride the Tiger: A Survival Manual for the Aristocrats of the Soul. How better to lose my readership than this?
Heavily inspired by the Traditionalist philosophy of René Guénon - our first reading in this adventure - and Friedrich Nietzsche, Evola's final text is written against the backdrop of the Second World War, the failure of Fascism, the rise of materialism, secularism, and moral decline - all of which Evola swiftly describes as an age of dissolution. Somewhat similar to Simone Weil's self-emptying attention recently discussed in our reading of On the Abolition of All Political Parties, Evola advances in his twilight years a notion of apoliteia, an inner distance unassailable by society and its (as he perceives it) increasingly amoralistic and barbaric attitudes and values, a stance unaccepting of anything binding one to the present, etc. As with all of our thinkers, Evola is pursuing transcendence, via a defense of the world of being and dignity of those aristocrats who feel they belong to a different modality of humanity, wherein one might exist in full recognition of the desert that surrounds us, enabling us to "ride the tiger" so that we might supra-navigate the chaos and degeneration of the modern, technologically-saturated world that we're so unfortunate to inhabit. Or something like that, I don't know.
We will be reading through Part 4 (Dissolution of the Individual) for this meet-up so 18) The "Animal Ideal" - The Sentiment of Nature should be the last section read.
I will be reading Godwin and Fontana's translation published by Inner Traditions. It is available through this guy's website who recently lost like 12% of his net-worth as a result of tariffs (lol).
Also available for free here but please help Jeff get his money back up if you can.As always, if you're unable to complete the book prior to our meeting, no worries - it's lengthy so we're just happy to have you and welcome whatever insights, critiques, questions, etc. you may have based on what you were able to read.
We will be meeting in the Ace Hotel lobby on W 29th. It's cozy, there are couches, there is lunch, there is wine (thank god) and there is a Stumptown Coffee in the front. It's great. Message me the day of if you can't find us. I usually sit toward the back next to the bar.
It bears repeating, this group is open to newcomers to Evola (preferred in this case), novices of philosophy, ragamuffins, ne'er-do-wells, urchins of all sorts, etc. Purely biographically, Evola is fascinating and his recent resurgence and resonance with fringe fellas online is worth considering. Just be respectful and kind - it'll be great.
Alright, looking forward to it and reach out to me with any questions in the meantime.
See y'all then!
- Plutarch Parallel Lives: Tiberius and Caius GracchusLink visible for attendees
The Gracchi brothers were two brothers who lived during the beginning of the late Roman Republic. They have been received as well-born and eloquent advocates for social reform who were both killed by a reactionary political system; their terms in the tribunate precipitated a series of domestic crises which are viewed as unsettling the Roman Republic and contributing to its collapse. (From Wiki)
We will be following along this text but other versions are available as well
Life of Tiberius Gracchus
https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Plutarch/Lives/Tiberius_Gracchus*.html
Life of Caius Gracchus
https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Plutarch/Lives/Caius_Gracchus*.html
You can find these two lives also in Penguin edition called Rome in Crisis and Rome in MakingThis is a reading group in which we read from Plutarch's Parallel Lives about the virtues and faults of great leaders from ancient Greece and Rome. At the end of each life, we rate them for their leadership quality, virtues, entertaining reading, and legacy.
For our leader scoreboard, check out this Google doc:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1K66HPHPO_elctuHjCLAWnv5w_3HCY8YbxEK4SgCa_Gg/edit#gid=0For questions please send me a message or post to meetup.
Zita
