A MENTE: Conhecê-la e Dominá-la Reflexões Filosóficas | Prof. Lúcia Helena Galvão de Nova Acrópole

New Acropolis Song: Nocturne nº 12 - G major | Frederic Chopin Philosophical tips on how to deal with the mind Prof. Lucia Helena Galvao New Acropolis Brazil, 2015 Today, then, about the Mind. This is a subject that has been extensively explored, especially from a somewhat fanciful or utilitarian. We must be careful with this. There is no doubt: the human mind has unsuspected powers, that we could develop too much! But, as a philosopher, I don't really like a certain kind of approach to the mind. developing powers for you to have more concentration to possess more material

goods, to buy a new car, to get a spot at the mall. You know what I'm talking about... Even that has happened! I think that developing human potentials To make man even more selfish, better leave it alone! Develop your mind more to think more and more about yourself? In the eastern tradition, karma is spoken of, which is when man deviates from the law. The karma of selfishness is the worst! To be selfish, it's better to be selfish with fewer tools! A well-equipped egoist generates karma that is more difficult to reverse! We don't need more tools

to think about ourselves, to find a spot at the mall or buy the car of the year. We already have too much! It is essential that you understand the point of view of philosophy - people often make a certain confusion - Classical Philosophy, as we do, is Art of Living! Socrates said: "It is only useful knowledge that makes us better." It is, yes, an applied, practical philosophy, but it is not self-help, in the ordinary sense of the expression. We consider - and not just us - since the first philosophers who entered the history of mankind,

in the Greek world, already considered that the human condition is based on fraternity. If you want to grow as a human being - less self-help and more helping others. More altruism! Thinking a little less about yourself is a recipe that works for almost everything! You must have had that grandma that, whatever the illness, she gave eggnog and chicken soup! It had a thousand and one uses! So whatever your problem is - think less of yourself and more in humanity, it always helps! You can be sure! Philosophy is not self help! It's much more thinking about

the other! it is much more to feel responsible for humanity! In general, it is an effective antidote to all human problems! I'm not the one who speaks, Tibetan philosophy speaks it clearly! Behind any problem you have, there is selfishness! I challenge you to find a social problem human, historical, past, present and probably even future, where, behind. do not be hidden and selfishness. If you attack selfishness head on, you will probably - as the biblical tradition says - everything else will be given in addition! Let's not approach the mind in the sense of having superpowers, stop

serving our personal interests even more. Quite the contrary: to understand, from the point of view of traditional philosophy, What was understood as the purpose of the human mind. What defines man? What exactly defines the human mind? And when do we maximize its potential? When we are human! When we embody our role in the world. All human potentials arise when we humanize ourselves. Important: all human potential is maximized when you are willing to be human! If you want to take your place in the universe, if you want to behave like a human being, You will get

the best of love, imagination, will, the best of mind, best of emotions... Because, right now, what corresponds to us is being human! When we do that, we pull up, verticalize, our full potential. For goals and selfish, no matter how refined the human mind is, it is underutilized. For that - as Kant said - instincts are enough! For survival, instincts are enough! The mind just gets in the way! The mind begins to make sense when you are willing to be something more than an animal. who cares to survive comfortably! Think of a little animal as simple

as you can conceive, without there... a single-celled being... He wants to: survive and procreate! And the human being, on the other hand, with an organic complexity out of the ordinary! In general, what are you thinking about? Survive and breed! Just more comfortable, more technological, with more pleasure... What would that be? It would be a high tech amoeba! A "VIP" amoeba! That's not human! It is a being that has latent human potential! I don't know if you watched it... I didn't because I don't like that kind of movie... Those from Dinosaur Parks... There are a lot

of horror movies that use this element: catches an animal, very violent and aggressive, and put your mind into it! The damage it would do! Have you seen that this was worked a lot on movie themes? Imagine a wild lion chasing someone who climbs a tree. There you put your mind in the lion. He builds a ladder and climbs the tree!! The mind will make instinct even more effective! But he remains guided by instinct! That's the man when he uses his mind solely and exclusively on the basis of his selfishness! From instincts! That's not exactly a

human being! He's a potential human being! it's more scientifically called "rational animal"! That's right! An animal, with the purpose and aim of an animal, but having Reason as its means. So, especially in the case of the mind - which is where we are most damaged - that makes us the biggest predator on earth, be careful! We are not talking about using the mind well for any purpose! Philosophically, we speak of using the mind well when we want to find the good! When we are guided by goodwill! When we want to be human! It's complicated to

pass on a technique to a person without making it clear what she intends to do with it. Between us, a person with a bad character has bad intentions she better not have techniques! It is much better, for example, disorganized crime than organized crime The organization is good, but when you put it into crime it's terrible! Increases the effectiveness of what? Of crime! Look at the great psychopaths we've had in history. They had qualities! If they hadn't, they wouldn't have been great! Hitler's planning and organizational skills were a powerhouse! Otherwise he wouldn't have been a Hitler...

he would have been a street corner thug. It would have been a great profit for mankind! So human qualities as means are dangerous! (Trying to suggest extra places for people) If you promise to come to all the lectures, like that en masse, we'll rent a bigger room! So let's go! We'll deal with that! In the Platonic Academy, the citizen would not go there if Plato did not have a guarantee that he had a good moral frame. A good character! He did not ask for intellectual knowledge. He asked for moral basis! Intellectual knowledge, he gave! Now,

if the citizen had no moral basis, it was difficult to acquire. Today, to give knowledge to a person, what do you ask? Intellectual knowledge! nIn the entrance exam... Or have you ever seen the entrance exam probing someone's morals? There is no such thing! So, a person of dubious morals can be empowered by knowledge. It will enhance what it is. Knowledge becomes a means to very dubious ends. It generates much of the damage we have in today's world! Abstract: let's get to know the mind a little more to use it as human beings. Philosophy proposes this.

What would be the potential of the mind as a human tool? You know that from a scientific point of view we are Homo Sapiens Sapiens. It is characterized exactly by the fact that we have the use of the mind. Etymology: I love etymology, it's amazing... Behind the words one discovers the intention with which they were created. Which has nothing to do with what we think of them today! It's impressive to see certain meanings of words... For example, a few days ago when we talked about will, about power: power comes from and power comes from "potis

est" possession of being. Power is being able to be, being able to do, being able to accomplish. It is not imposing yourself authoritatively on anyone, power over yourself. This is within the word! Isn't it wonderful? Knowing what her intention was when she was born? And that is distorted... today it no longer means any of that! Taking the origin of the word "mind", In Latin it is "mens", and before, in Indo-European, which is the root of Latin and Greek, comes from "men", which is probably the root of the word "man", mentalization, mention, of everything that refers

to thinking, reasoning, establish mental forms with logic. Throughout the studies of the human being, modern physical anthropology, cultural anthropology, was trying to define the limit between human and animal. This is controversial to this day! There has always been this doubt: where does the animal end and the human begin? Thales of Miletus, one of the oldest Greek philosophers, once got involved in such a controversy. There is a tendency to define the human being by very superficial attributes. It never worked! Once, they were discussing and the group came to the following conclusion: The human being is a

biped, whose body is covered neither with feathers nor with hair. Thales thought it was great! He went home and got a chicken, plucked it threw it in the middle of the group and said: - Here's a human being! Since then, this issue has never been satisfactorily resolved! We come to this: the domain of reason. But what is really the domain of reason What defines a human being? From where? What is the reason? This is still an open question! And the more we research the potential of animals, the more complicated the issue becomes. So, let's understand

a little more what this would be. I borrowed the coconut from I borrowed a cue from the movie "Inside Out" to explore the word. LOGIC MIND The word logic, which comes from "logoi", which is intelligence, it is one of the basic elements of reason. Logic is the art of the right thinker. Logic is that which concatenates mental forms correctly - like you concatenate terms of a mathematical equation: this, and that, and that, and you get a good solution. Come up with an answer to a problem. Sometimes an unusual problem that you are experiencing for the

first time! Logically, you can come up with a way out of it. Logic is the art of right thinking! Which is great and good art! I, personally, am a good advocate of studying logic, because it is fundamental to learn to think without distortions. In our historical moment, the biggest laziness we have is mental laziness! We accommodate ourselves to very devious thinking, and that makes us very easily manipulated. Logic allows you to concatenate premises and conclusions to a closure or final conclusion, which is a correct syllogism, even in the face of a new stimulus: - I've

never experienced this... and I solve! This has already been done with anthropoids: orangutans, gorillas... and chimpanzees above all! he has a very small genetic difference from the human being. Boxes are scattered around and the bunch of bananas is hung up there. And he never had that experience. He can, you know? put one box on top of the other reach the bunch of banana! He spends some time running around... after all, he can solve problems at this level of difficulty! That's a logical equation! Put one on top of the other, climb on top, reach the bunch

of bananas! That's logic: this, this, this, this and I'm done! That is, the art of correctly concatenating thought. F with which we come to conclusions in the face of situations even if unknown. Interesting: the moment man discovered that he believed in what appeared to be logical, he simultaneously found a way to make things seem logical when they aren't! And began to deceive others! The sophisms! Sophistry is one of the oldest things - the greek sophists... It was the development of a way of thinking where, between the lines, people were led astray. And we are very

good at it today, people! Very good! When you take a well-constructed speech, with the intention of manipulating, with a sheet of paper in front of you, a pen in your hand, It's hard to find where you got tricked! If it is well built! That is, when you discover how man thinks, you also discover how to make him not think. Or trick you into thinking the wrong way. We are full of inaccuracies in our concepts! Ever heard of the twelve classic fallacies? We use it all the time! "If I make an exception for you I'll have

to make it for everyone else." That is the "snowball" fallacy. Like this? I made an exception for you because you deserve it, the other maybe not. "Brazil love it or leave it!". Like this? Don't have an intermediate solution? Is there nothing in the way? We are tired of using fallacies! Logic manipulations. So, the art of thinking - which characterizes homo sapiens - is to get a bunch of bricks (like that little builder game), and concatenate them in a certain order. in such a way that it allows you to reach an enlightening conclusion Now, as I

told you, Many animals have this possibility. And especially these little animals! There is enormous pressure on that. There are surveys with other animals other than anthropoids, who have given very good response as well. Obviously the dogs, dolphins, and other species have given amazing answers! But these ones are pretty well known. They are able to come up with logical equations. From developing simple mathematical equations. Especially chimpanzees, there are many experiments. This little monkey is called WASHOE. Do you know Washoe? He died in 2009, aged 40, he was a prodigy. And this citizen is Roger Fouts, a

psychologist, Roger fouts had a very original idea. He took this newborn baby and took it home. He and his wife raised her like a baby. l In front of her they only communicated by the North American deaf-mute code. It was the ablest specimen, that I know of, found so far. She came to dominate close to 150 signs of the American ALS. 150 signs of the deaf-mute code. She asked for things through gestures. When she adopted a puppy, she taught him some of these signs. There was a WASHOE experiment in the US where they tried this

with several other specimens. It's hard to find someone as skilled as her. The animals are differentiated from each other. Two puppies from the same litter: one is smarter than the other. She was very, very smart! But anyway others have already developed too. If we go to see the communication between her and Fouts, - there are published works, there are loads of them on the internet, if you type that name - She would say things like "Washoe ride", "Washoe affection", "Washoe sleep", "Washoe street"... Analyzing a human being. Analyzing the communication we play in the atmosphere today,

Across the planet, what do you think most of humanity talked about? To have fun, to eat, to sleep, to go outside... comfort, isn't it? - Is different? Because it's different? Washoe said "Washoe food", and the guy says: - I'd like to go to a restaurant. Well, that's a monkey like exquisite syntax, right? A gift-wrapped monkey. Let's go and come... the content is exactly the same! Or not? The content, of course, would be reduced to the same set of symbols! It's the same thing! Gift packed, more cute! More "VIP"! Can you imagine, Fouts going to take

care of Washoe, Finding her thoughtful, with her hand on her chin... Washoe thinking! And he asking: - What was Washoe? E lea: - Washoe Sense of life... - Justice... - Where do I come from? Where am I going? What is death? - Universal fraternity... - Do I have a soul? Is there God? Puff! Fouts would die from the heart!! I don't even know if he asked these things himself! Washoe wouldn't ask! That's the obvious! She wouldn't ask! Do you realize that there is a metaphysical threshold? Where the animal conscience does not tread! Just step on

the human! And not all! It is not by chance that Mircea Eliade, a famous anthropologist of the last century, he said that man was not Homo Sapiens, he was more like Homo Religiosus. It was more what he was able to assume in the metaphysical, to think in ethical, aesthetic, than exactly what he was capable of making logical equations. For this is seen in animals! Washoe was very smart! This threshold, from the metaphysical to here, it's human! "By your works I will know you." Whoever is capable of penetrating this field is human. However, many human beings

do not penetrate! How are we going to make a threshold? The animal that does complex mathematical operations, maybe do more complex logical development than some humans! Where to put this border? When the human being does not penetrate the human condition - which resides more in the metaphysical - it's like having the human condition in potency, but not realized! In practice, it is animal consciousness. And the human condition is dormant, not realised! Washoe doesn't come in because he can't. The human being does not enter because he does not want to. Because everyone has that need. To

fulfill oneself in ethics, aesthetics, spirituality, in understanding the riddles of life - which constitutes the true use of the human mind! Kant said that to simply survive, down there, instincts would be enough. The mind gets in the way more because it multiplies the potential of instincts. Man is no longer satisfied with anything to survive. Well understood so far? So nice to meet you! This is Washoe. There is a wealth of material on the internet. Well, India... - Why talk about India? Philosophy was not born in Greece? That's a feral assumption, which is a little funny...

Philosophy is love of wisdom... only the Greeks called it wisdom? What did the Egyptians love? Leaving the historic trail they left!! Doing what they did? What did the Egyptians love? Hindus, what did they love? The Zen tradition, Taoism, Confucianism... loved what? It is childish to think that philosophy was born in Greece... the name "philosophy", yes! It seems that he was born with Pythagoras. Now, the love of wisdom was born with man, probably! The human being was born with this potential, and at some point a first man externalized it. And from there a tradition was generated,

of man seeking to know himself. And to know the human potential in fullness. This has always existed in human civilization. And it will always exist, luckily! In India it was said that we have two minds. It's like a mirror, which can be turned up or down. The downward facing human mind was called KAMA MANAS. KAMA - in India there is even a god with that name - means desire. It is the mind that works for desires. Just work to make your body's desires - which is more rest... In general laziness, gluttony, lust... The desires of

your energies - to achieve riches more easily... The desires of emotions - to reach the object of your passions more easily... KAMA MANAS works to reinforce your desires. To make them more easily reached! Now, that same mind - not another one, that same one - when you turn that mirror up, it begins to reflect universal principles! It begins to reflect the plane of Plato's ideas. It begins to reflect the need for fraternity, justice, goodness, of love, of integrity... It begins to reflect universal principles! And see a way to bring them into the world! But it's

the same mental potential! If I saw, for example, you doing a mathematical equation - like in a cartoon smoke coming out of the head - if she had been doing a mathematical equation, smoke coming out of the head, and I asked her: what are you thinking about? - I'm thinking of a way to organize my savings to take a trip abroad (the dollar at this price, it's so hard!) - But I'll manage, I want to spend the holidays in such a place. The mind is being used for an interest, which is not bad, but is

absolutely personal. Absolutely in the service of a wish. Now, if she's doing this same equation, and I ask her: What is she doing? I'm making an account to try to distribute these refugees around the world so that everyone has a home... An equation to try to solve the problem of scarcity of resources, in such a place... Do you realize it's the same equation, but now isn't intention selfish? Is the mirror facing up? She is trying to mirror universal principles and bring them to the world: fraternity, justice, kindness... Then her mind starts to be human! This

is the threshold of the human mind! There it reaches its maximum refinement! It will reach its maximum elevation! Yesterday I was talking about Leonardo da Vinci. There is a keynote common to all geniuses of humanity, those who have used their minds to the fullest: They weren't just thinking of themselves! With such petty and selfish thinking, at most you can be a good trader! But an artist, a genius, a sage, no! The mind does not rise that high! Even a good businessman, a man who makes genius technological creations, in a world of such mentally inert people,

he stands out! The old saying: In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king! But if he had two eyes it would be fantastic, not only for him but for humanity! The mind's idea is that we not only have this gaze towards the earth, but also an eye that looks upwards. if you've heard I owe you the talk I don't know if anyone was here at the talk I said about I gave a lecture on the creation myth of Rome, which is Virgil's Aeneid. (It's on the channel.) Did anyone watch? The Aeneid is

a myth (not historical) about a hero, Aeneas, who was very strong, but did not know where to create Rome. He had a very wise father, but he couldn't take it anymore. Which was Anchises. He carries his father on his back. The father had good eyes, but he had no legs. Aeneas had good legs, but no eyes. Rome created with the eyes of wisdom and the legs of the practical mind! Guided by principles and mobilized by the practical mind! By the concrete mind! You need both to bridge heaven and earth! Only with eyes, or only with

legs, Rome could not be created! I would need two things. That is, to see these ideals and a practical mind shape them in the world, that would be natural! When you cut it out, all creations have a selfish purpose! There is something, sorry, monotonous! Any brilliant creation, with very few exceptions, what will be behind? An economic group that sponsored, bought the patent, and will use it only for their interest. Only their interest! One of these days a student sent me a theory of business administration, a novelty that is coming out on the market, about a

process of reengineering companies, to provide a fulfillment of all employees... it looked heavenly! But do you know what the end of the story was? They found that happy people produce more! The goal wasn't happiness, it was productivity! Oh! Lost grace! It's the same selfishness! If tomorrow, or the day after, comes a crazy ideologue and comes to the conclusion that unhappy people produce more, they drop all that and get a whip! The purpose is not happiness, it's productivity! This circular thinking around selfish interests is exhausting! Everyone too worried about themselves! Inside a body, a cell that

only thinks about itself and not about the body, what would that be? What is it called from a pathological point of view? A cancer! It is a thought that, from a systemic point of view, is cancerous! Selfishness is cancerous! While we don't break that bond, we don't look up, we don't get out of this! You don't climb a step of the stairs if you don't look up! It's hitting the wall in the same direction, you have to look up! So, the human mind would have these two possibilities: One captures ideas. Plato said that there is

a plane of ideas where everything is born, and a concrete plan, which is his shadow. That mind is capable of going up there and capturing ideas, and the other brings to the world and concretizes. One captures ideas and models emotions and body. the other models ideas to meet the desires of the emotions and the body. I will explain through what Kant said. What does it mean to capture ideas and model emotions and the body according to these ideas? I understand, for example, that such an act is just. Then I take my emotions, which come just

below the mind, and I will teach them to like this act, because it is fair! And I'm going to teach my body to be motivated by this act, because it's fair! It starts from the top to educate the whole personality to work for it! If I start from the bottom, I see what I like and make my mind work for it. Kant, is a brilliant thinker, the epoch of the great classical rationalism. As the name suggests, people make an ode to reason. He was a brilliant teacher, the students adored him! The room was much more

crowded than this one today, I don't know how he did it! On one occasion a student turned to him and said: - Professor, I'm glad we got over that medieval primitivism! - Today we use reason! And Kant asks: Who uses reason? Show me a person who uses reason... Do you know what it is to use reason? Let me explain: Let's say you had a fight with your neighbor. You are the A factor; its neighbor is factor B; develops a purely mental and mathematical equation, with these factors in interaction. Logic, without any influence of emotions. And

see where you're going. I messed up! On top of that logical deduction, you'll apologize for your neighbor! Is that what you do? No! You say to your mind: Find a way to prove I'm right! That is, we are not rational, we are sophists! We put our minds at the service of emotional interests, down there! Do you realize that people ask questions with answers already in hand? It's like ordering the history of Flamengo from a Basque man... He already has the solution: it's the worst team in the world! Just develop an equation to get where you

want to go! When we live according to whims and emotions we thought to get there, it's already defined! I once saw an accident happen where it was clearly a very young boy who had had a shave, nothing serious... What impressed me was the cinematic arrival of the father! The father arrived and said: I don't even want to know what happened, I'm on my son's side! My son is right! Does he think he's a good father? A good father would say: I don't even want to know what happened, I'm on the side of justice! Whichever side

you're on! The Incas, when they went to battle - our pre-Columbian America neighbors - invoked their gods and said: that your hand, lord Pachacuti, Viracocha, be in the service of the just, whether I am or not! Do you know that you are going to ask for something like that, which involves the risk of your life? They asked the gods to fight on the right side. If it weren't for them, let them fight with them! Because they would reinforce their mistake with victory. Can you imagine what that is? We don't have that notion. We work with

an emotional world... The "astral" of the Indians: I like it, so it's true! So my mind serves that. Everything is done from the bottom up! And worst of all - you must have already suspected - it's just that these tastes aren't even yours! Most of them are molded and formatted by society's inertia! I like a certain thing... if I was born in another culture, I would like another! This loose rice that all Brazilians love, for a japanese it's hell! Have you thought? eat with a toothpick grain by grain? Tasty Japanese rice is "united we will

win"! For us, "United we will win" is very fraternal but terrible in taste! That is, it is merely circumstantial! Most, if not all, of our tastes were not chosen by us! And even our thoughts, because they started from these tastes. Sometimes, when I teach an ethics class, I say: human behavior should be like this! There's always someone who says: but I don't like that! Like this? Learn to like it! Taste is not so hard! Model your taste! This is called character formation! Do you understand this as noble, just and good? I understand! Change the taste,

learn to like it! That's not possible? This goal was formatted by someone! Change! Format it yourself! Take the reins of your life! Or do you think your taste is too metaphysical? is it an attribute of your soul? Even the physical palate is moldable! You can learn to like something you didn't like! Much more subtle! Change! If you understand that it's good, learn to like it! This is built from the top down. For example: I don't like Syrian... I don't know why, I had a Freudian trauma... in early childhood... never mind the freudian trauma... bye! He

needs my help, he's a refugee, and a human being, learn to like it! As of today Syrians are the best in the world! And end of story! Why do I have to be a victim from the whims of an ill-bred emotion? Even the grossest taste, the palate, is changed, still more the subtle taste! To like people, situations... We miss many opportunities in life to do things that would have helped us grow. For this whim of "I don't like it". Your taste is not yours! Understand what is noble, just and good and learn to like it!

This is character building! Rebuild yourself from the top down. The Greek tradition said. I put this Centaur and this Minotaur... The Centaur: from the waist up human, and from the waist down, animal. What does this mythological character mean? The human dominates the animal! So much so that he is normally an archer: he manages to reach his target, his objectives. Human goals, because the human dominates the animal. The Minotaur is the opposite. The animal dominates the human, bull head and human body. A human package is not enough. To say that he is a human being, you

have to see what predominates within him. Remember the biblical principle: by your works I will know you. Socrates said: Act so that I can see you! Release the citizen in life and see if he goes after instincts or principles. It may have human packaging, but depending on what it does, it may not be human! I show you a bottle of coke and you ask: - Is it detergent or soda? - I don't know, what do you think? - Is it for cleaning the floor or for drinking? - To clean the floor. - It's detergent! Put

it in the world and see what it's for! See how they act, see what they are for. Just run after instincts? Only human packaging! I wouldn't buy a product at the supermarket because the packaging is cute! Things are not defined by the packaging, but by the content. This is obvious! Every housewife knows! Things are defined by their content. So when the mind works for human purposes, has the potential to create a Mozart "Requiem", "The Creation of Adam" by Michelangelo. creates magnificent dreams, creates geniuses, creates idealists! She creates human beings! She was made for this! It

wasn't made for you to focus on getting a spot at the mall!! Walk to the mall, go by bike! I'm not kidding... there was something fashionable a while back that said just that. Didn't you see? It amused me a lot... I would take a dollar bill and put several zeroes, into a million dollars, and stick it on your bedroom ceiling! When you opened your eyes, you kept looking and saying: I'm going to have a million dollars... Imagine, using your mind for that, my dear! Go to work! It is better ! If you don't get a

million, at least develop the virtue of service! It's more humane! existed! It was a tremendous success! That's a dishonor of the human condition, the mind wasn't made for that! Mind was made to look up, but it's not the ceiling of your house... it's something higher! Much nobler! Look at the stars, as the poets say! Well, moving on... platonic-mind This little friend of ours... (I preferred a caricature, to be more in the power point style) Raphael, paints at the "Academy of Athens", Plato pointing upwards to these ideas... There she is... The whole New Acropolis school has

one of these! Plato is in the middle... Interestingly, Rafael Sanzio, who did the painting, he painted the philosophers of Greece, but with the faces of Renaissance artists. Plato is Leonardo da Vinci! That genius who raised his consciousness to the highest essence of nature, to shape beauty, tried to create something that was how he imagined the manifested universe: without lines! "sfumato" is that, without divisions. There are no lines in the "Mona Lisa". It is a harmonious embrace between light and shadow, between spirit and matter. There are no divisions, it's all one. He shaped this idea in

beauty. In other words, Plato's ethics and Leonardo's aesthetics fit perfectly together, they speak of the same thing. A harmonious world where light and shadow harmoniously embrace each other. - I look and see no lines! I want to create a work of art like that! Plato said that there is a world of ideas. Everything that will be created in the world at some point, pre-existed in the world of ideas. The things that exist here are shadows. Imagine a carpenter thinking about a chair. he thought! It exists on the plane of ideas. Take the wood to try

to build. Depending on your skill, the chair will look more or less like your idea. If it's not like that now, he's learning carpentry. Ee keeps creating better and better chairs. This is evolution. Evolution is the running of material things after the dream that created them. Behind the idea that created them. But here in the manifested world, things will break down, nothing is eternal. In terms of ideas it is. An idea will never die. A chair yes. A chair has a very interesting structure. She is totally stable in relation to the material world, and totally

receptive to those who pass through it. She has the idea of ??stability to serve, give a moment of rest to the one who passes by. and for this she balances well in the world. It's a service idea. Generosity, shaped in a material object. As an idea it will never cease to exist. As an object, no chair is eternal. Plato spoke of this world of ideas and the human mind as a bridge between this world and the concrete world. When you put a short man to build things, from a spiritual point of view, - no spirituality,

no dreams - his head doesn't touch the plane of ideas! he looks up and sees nothing. It will build faulty things. It takes a huge amount of time for the story to fix these flawed things. For example, a politician (one of the most serious things) who has no spiritual altitude for his mind to touch the fraternity, and have your feet on the ground and bring this fraternity to the world, it will generate a bunch of distortions. This is suffering for mankind for centuries! To correct these distortions that the wrong person generated! Applying the Indian concept

of karma - which is cause and effect - this causes not only karma for the person, but for all mankind! A long time of suffering because of someone who was not a bridge! All humanity suffers when a human being is not a bridge. It does not bring divine ideas to earth! Make it up! Distort! Manipulates out of selfishness! Man was born to be a bridge and his mind is for that! The formation and purification of taste according to one's own ideas. Be objective with our desires. One of the most annoying questions to ask yourself, but

necessary: Which of my ideas are mine? What does it mean for the idea to be mine? I saw something, I developed a logical thinking process, I came to a conclusion, without anyone making a guess or influencing me. I created this idea. Most of what exists in your mind plane is software that you bought off the shelf! They are cloned ideas from the collective. For the most part... very few of our ideas! And if we don't really have our own ideas, we cannot be objective with our desires. With our emotional. We cannot format it. Knowing what

is excess, what is caprice, debugging our taste. Learn to like what's good. You need to know what's good to then debug the taste. We were talking, a while ago, about the Egyptian maxims, the Kybalion. Where it is said that we have to take seriously the things we like. The things we like generate a vibration pattern of consciousness, and we get along with them. It's not unpunished for you to like coarse things, vulgar things, of vulgar conversations and company. Because it pulls consciousness into that vibration pattern! Get you stuck there. Liking coarse things is not just

a hobby, it's just fun, it's unpunished! This has serious consequences in people's lives. There is a philosopher of the last century, Sri Ram, who said that evolution is nothing more than the purification of taste. Do you understand how deep and complex this is? And the mind would work for that: it takes the model up there, and says to tastes: like that which is good; this is bad... Because she saw it! If you haven't seen anything, how are you going to debug the taste? What is good? What is evil? For those who have no spirituality, no

idea of ??their own, no vision of this plane of ideas? He will have to copy these standards from the collective. Such a thing is fair. Why? Because everyone thinks so! 'Why do you think so? - I don't know, but the "voice of the people is the voice of God". Everyone thinks... must be right! In the Middle Ages everyone thought the earth was flat! They were wrong! That theory of yours didn't always work, my dear! Those who came to the right conclusions thought for themselves, they didn't go with the wave! See in History! Only Galileo Galilei

thought the Earth was round! And only he was right! It wasn't the dough! The voice of the people is not the voice of God! It is the voice of the people! The saying is wrong! Simply! The voice of God is the voice of intelligence in those who dare to use it! This saying is a bore! Things don't work like that! Be objective with the desires from the models you realized! But for that you have to understand them! And have the ability to think! How many times, in our daily lives, do we stop to look at

the things around us, and thinks: if there were a just law, would what I see be allowed? Would it be normal? It would be good? Just yesterday, I stopped at a traffic light, and I realized that automatically, for fear of violence, everyone closes the window. And there was a seller. Looking at that person's face, there was a degree of pain, of exhaustion, of suffering... How do we become cruel out of fear? Standing at a traffic light, you ask yourself: How could I solve this? I want to help, but I'm alone in the car, I can't

expose myself to so much risk... How to be fraternal without being alienated by society's mentality of fear? That is, in a signalman you learn something, and you can get out of there better. Realize? At the next traffic light I'll be so cruel. I will have found some solution... Even small! But I will not follow the collective, I will find a way out! You grow with everything that life gives you. Go looking for ways and outputs to humanize yourself! Little Facts! What happens to us are small facts! But, on top of them, we find a way

out! That's a philosopher! Where does he go to get wisdom? In your life, in everyday life, in these little facts! And with that, he refines his sensibility, his taste, your perception of other people's pain, you think less about yourself, you see the world around you. We are not Da Vinci, nor did we come to build the Mona Lisa... We are not geniuses but we have the ability to build ourselves. It is our obligation, we should do it. And that's what the mind is for. To build ourselves as human beings So, the man who has an

inner source that generates his thought becomes something like a genius. Because he who constructs himself as a man of morals, a really human being, it is already brilliant in a historical moment where selfishness and banality are preached. When everything you think and feel comes from the collective, you are a banal person. He doesn't know himself, buy a "life script". He pressed play and the "life software" started to run. He doesn't know who he is! A stranger to himself! It's a very under-used mind. Washoe mind. Utilitarian and not really human mind. Today I kept imagining: a

lecture where we talk about the power of the mind - I even joked a little while ago - do they think we're going to talk about levitating chairs, reading minds? A 19th century philosophy, Helena Blavatsky, said that a good deed is one that meets some need in the world or in us. Does levitating a chair make anyone suffer less in the world? If I read your mind, will anyone suffer less in the world because of this? On the contrary, you will suffer more because I will break your privacy. What does the world gain if I

do these things? If I use my mind to become one drop less selfish, humanity gains from it, I gain from it! That's the power of the mind! A good deed is one that meets a need in the world or in us! I don't see anyone in need of chair levitation. That kind of power caters to vanity! Using your mind as a tool to become more selfish! To further highlight your personality over that of others! This is not power! Good! Continuing... ORDERED MIND Don't think you need to have a lot of ideas. Need few! Sometimes I

see wonderful texts, I like chronicles, by Rubem Braga - a sensational chronicler... He writes beautiful things with two or three ideas! On top of that, it develops something fantastic! Sometimes it's just one! I remember a chronicle about a rose that bloomed in his garden, and made a wonderful chronicle! One or two lucid human ideas, well put! And a dignified human life is already structured around that. But a paraphernalia of information, and no commitment, no depth... That is, a lot of extension, no depth. Great men didn't have so many ideas! They had few, but they were

deeply committed to them. Hermes Trismegistus, from the Kybalion - of the 7 laws... I only had those seven ideas, only seven! And he was considered the greatest sage in all of Egypt. Plato practically only spoke of the theory of ideas! Everything comes from there. Clear, lucid, and commitment to them. Vertical, which bring light to the world: therefore lucid! And so you will build your identity. Do you know why? It's a clear mathematical equation, that. If I want to use a swimming pool, a club, They're going to do an exam on my skin. Because when I

get into the pool, what I have on my skin goes to everyone's skin, I can contaminate people. Therefore, my physical body shares the same plane with the physical body of humanity, and can contaminate them. My mind too! Imagine a big mental pool, which is the mental plane of nature. And all human minds plunged in there. So, as we have a very low degree of individuality, any thought, of any human being of those almost 8 billion that are out there, can pop into your mind at any time! Doesn't it happen to you? From sometimes bizarre thoughts

appear and say: where did I get this? It didn't! At any moment, thoughts come and go... How will I know if it's mine or not? If you don't know, you'll think: Why am I thinking this? Did something happen? In a little while you take possession of her: it must be because she treated me badly that day... A little more, you create a history and take ownership of an idea that was not yours! In other words, it was contaminated! Low immunity, got the virus! Of course it! - How do I protect myself from this? - How

do I not let other people's ideas in? You won't make it! We do not see the mental plane, to prevent the ideas of mankind from entering our minds! At our level, there's only one way! A sage can filter what enters his mind. At our level, no! At our level we should make a little list: by definition, what are my thoughts? L�cia: believes in this, in this, practices this principle, lives this. Anything outside that menu is not Lucia. I build myself by definition, as an act of will. Any thought that comes out of that menu is

not Lucia. So: - Hi, thought! - Bye, thought! Go find its owner... He entered because he found the door open and left for the same reason! - You're not mine! By definition, thoughts that have to do with this backbone of values ??are mine. Those who don't, aren't mine! Goodbye! Go find its owner! Knowing this, you might even realize where that thought came from. Who is the person in the group who dumped that on you. With the absolute certainty that it is not yours! And it doesn't get contaminated. And that is the power of the mind!

The power of the mind is identity! I know what is my mind's own, and anything else I don't identify. Relational ability is also a fantastic power of the mind. Of that open, luminous mind, (I know it's hot! We're almost done! That's life!) The ability to relate, people, is one of the deepest senses of intelligence. Plato said that from something that worked, that worked, if you can extract a universal law that works in any other situation! And the philosopher is capable of it! You see something that works, go there and find out which universal law was

used, and applies in other totally differentiated situations. Intelligence, ability to relate. I always tell a silly story, which most of you already know, but I still haven't found a better one than this one...you'll have to listen to it again, sorry! That's when we built our North Lake headquarters. We are volunteers, we had two real bricklayers, and we were the "fictitious bricklayers"... We kept learning, making mistakes, getting it right... some things were easier... The big problem for me was the plaster on the wall, which was crazy! Anyone who has tried it knows that it is a

mathematically impossible business! You throw it at the wall... poof, poof, poof... a thousand times! The mason laughed at me! It was worth it! He had fun at my expense! I looked at him and saw the amount of dough he took, the distance from the wall, the strength he applied, he did exactly the same and... poof on the ground! Until after trying a thousand times - it was already a matter of honor - I achieved! The correct distance, the correct force, the correct amount of mass... Poof! It stuck!! I went for a champagne toast and gave

up on it! Interesting! Because that excellent mason - he still works with it today - you're better than me at plastering the wall! But that life experience, he doesn't know how much I used it! And he only uses it for that: wall and mass. It is technical knowledge: it knows only one application of the principle. The philosopher abstracts a general law. Years later, I was talking to someone, with a relatively serious emotional problem, - I was willing to listen to her say something - I figured she needed to vent a little... but if she said

too much she would get so emotional that she wouldn't listen anymore. I would have to cut at the right point. I had to say something that had intensity to convince her, but it couldn't be too strong, otherwise she would be shocked and was going to start making drama! I couldn't say everything that was true... but he had to say enough to make her see it! Then I thought: right intensity, right distance... poof! It stuck! What do you think I remembered? From the dough! In this and several other situations in my life, I remembered pasta! In

that situation, the mason will always be better than me! But you don't know how much this pasta served me! That's a philosopher, you see? From anything abstract a universal principle that serves for several others! Relational capacity is intelligence. An academic who knows everything about the gravitation of electrons around the atom of such an isotope, but he doesn't know how to make the kids revolve around him in the house, he's a technician! He is not a philosopher! Our knowledge informs, not forms! Does not develop intelligence! It does not develop the ability to relate. This is one

of the deepest things the mind can offer you. In something that worked, I would evaluate all sectors of your life in the light of that principle! I would line everything up and it would be sensational! Sensational! Once a teacher of ours commented on the human being, with a student... - are usually young people, teenagers, that are clean of these obstacles that we carry through life, and are, at times, geniuses - Inside the classroom, he taught this student that our physical body is slower, emotions have another speed, the mind has another speed... that within us there

are several bodies, each with a different speed. A student said: Professor, today I understood that you said... I went to ride the escalator, and the steps walked at one speed and the banister at another. And I fell! In my personality it must be like that too... I fall because each body is at a different speed, and I can't harmonize! How brilliant! He took the principle of personality and applied it to the treadmill! Children can do amazing things! We get older and get blocked! No longer related... It's as if our culture teaches us to be unintelligent

(if there is such a word...) This capacity for vision and brilliant relationships is hindered - sometimes a child has that. A lot of information to make money he gets, but this he loses! A very expensive price! very expensive! Lose human potential! constructively I loved this little game! You had? Totally original ideas are difficult. In general, geniuses have many! In our case they are difficult! Can you get inspiration from people? He can! I can take Plato's theory of ideas, but I have to reflect on it! Make it mine! Decorating Plato has no value! Can I take

Aristotle's ideas? Can I! But I'm going to unfold them, apply them to my life, see how it works... That is, I make these ideas my own! I take these great men as inspiration! But, it's not memorizing what others have said! It is a reconstruction of these ideas within your life! Starting from scratch is like building a plane from scratch... I can and must take what has already been done, but from then on I have to make it mine! I can't memorize how to swim, and never throw myself in the pool! I have to make this

knowledge mine, otherwise I'll drown! I can memorize all theories about fear and, in practice, live in panic! I have to apply them in my life and see how it works! Shankaracharya - oriental sage - said that the intellectual is like a man who thinks it's enough to memorize the name of a medicine for it to take effect! Imagine how interesting: Headache! I say: AAS! AAS! If I don't bring it inside myself, it doesn't work! It's not about knowing the name, or even the entire leaflet! A "good intellectual" would know the whole leaflet! It does not

solve! The headache doesn't go away! We have to bring knowledge to life! you have to live! This is also a mental potential: reflection! Knowing how to take ideas and reflect them in your life, and see if it works! Test ideas in life! That's the reflection! Immerse your ideas at length - Plato recommended a daily moment for this, even a small one. Every day an appointment with our soul! The "Divine Idles" (Plato). A moment to evaluate the ideas, the life, the directions you've taken - TODAY! Another interesting question regarding the mind: WANT TO KNOW! Very good!

A curiosity can be healthy or not. It could be a mere intellectual curiosity... But, knowing how to know to be able to practice the ideas, well! But, above all, KNOW HOW TO WANT! When I find true ideas, I have to change my tastes and align my whole personality in one direction. It's the symbol of the archer! Align your will on a single target! Knowing how to want! Take the things I've discovered and honor the truths with practice! Align your whole life with them. This is also an equation of good mental use, above and below. How

cute is this photo! Do not you think? Mind-contagious. See something funny: Bad ideas are contagious; not good ideas! The good ones only stick consciously. I do not become virtuous by contagion! By contagion I get chickenpox! Honesty, no! Isn't it curious? Mental addictions, laziness, bad habits... just by belonging to a group, unconsciously, sometimes you get it! Language addictions posture... that passes that it's a beauty! Now, virtue can only be acquired consciously! Up takes work! Remember the popular saying? "Down every saint helps!" The law of gravity is terrible there... Up only with conscious effort. When we have

qualities we can inspire others through example! Now, addictions, just a sliver of inattention, and we are all the same! "Poverty is misery everywhere. Riches are different." A little philosophy even in popular music... Positive ideas form an invisible shield that blocks harmful influences. This is not a metaphysical thing... abstract... It's obvious! Think of a person who has level, a certain refinement, noble feelings, elevated thoughts. In a work environment, when someone wants to say something silly, look for a corner where "so-and-so" is not! His presence is intimidating! When you vibrate with higher things, just by entering the

environment, the subject improves! In fact, when you want to talk nonsense, you hope not to go! Break the "climate"! Have you seen that only these people enter the environment, everyone settles in the chair? - In front of that person you don't do anything! And you never said anything... Never demanded anything! Just being what you are creates a "climate" that pulls people up! Everyone shows their best because you are there! "They are hypocrites! They want to show what they are not..." No, my dear! Everyone is dual! Everyone has something light and dark. If you bring out

the best in them, Excellent! You are giving them a chance! To live this, even if it is for a minute! Two! It's an opportunity! In your presence, they are better! Believe it! And bet on it! It's not that she's a hypocrite, and that she's something else. She would like to be that all the time. It might help you to be a little more! Ally yourself with it. Be an accomplice of her best! Fight the shadow! She's trying and she can't do it alone! Dual everyone is! Sometimes it's not hypocrisy, fragility, it's weakness... I would like

to be that longer and I can't. If you help... who knows? By example we create an aura around us and transmit that element! But consciously! Vice happens unconsciously, virtue does not! This is an interesting curiosity! Spiritually: (almost finished) Y ' all know we have two memories? Associated with those two minds? There, entering a slightly more metaphysical field. Eastern traditions (which speak more of this), - and even in the west, Egypt, a part of Greek philosophy too - they say that when we die, all that's left is what we store in that superior mind. Imagine this

classic example: you are walking down a street, distractedly, thinking - as my grandmother used to say - about the calf's death... Someone explain to me the root of this expression, which I never understood... I didn't even know it was a calf, but I already said that... You were walking down the street, thinking about the calf's death, you stick your foot in a hole and twist your foot. What is the concrete and fleeting memory of this fact? You broke a heel of that brand new shoe you had just bought... What day was that... What a damn

administrator from Brasilia who didn't cover this hole... Glad I didn't vote for him... And I don't know what... And blah blah blah... all the circumstances surrounding that fact. Soon you don't remember it anymore! Two years from now I ask you: What shoes were you wearing that day? - Is playing! I do not remember! Banal memory, fleeting! This one tends to die! No one remembers these banalities! What profound thing could I extract from this event? Inattention causes an accident! Inattention is negative, it causes pain! It's like extracting the juice from an orange! Orange juice is what

experience can make you grow! It is ascorbic acid that will protect against the flu, it will compose your body. The shell goes to the trash! The shell is that fleeting memory! And the juice essence of the orange is what it allowed you to grow. It is said that of all our lives, only the "juice" of experiences remains. Which is stored up there in that higher mind. Plato called it Reminiscences! They are golden seeds! Because he believed in reincarnation. One day a child will be born more attentive than another! From so many experiences that she accumulated

and from which she extracted the essences. If you don't reflect, you don't extract any essence from events, will have to fall again (symbolically, something equivalent). Until you come to that conclusion. Life needs to give you this message. It will generate externally different facts, but symbolically identical. Sometimes we see, around us, people living repetitive experiences. But in ourselves, we don't see it. Isn't it curious? A little cruel, right? Jokingly I say: do you want to know what your grossest defects are? Ask the doorman of your building! He must know! A student told me: I'm going to

disguise myself and talk to the doorman of my building. I'll ask him what he thinks of me... He's going to give me my complete psych sheet! It's like this: we see it in others, we don't see it in ourselves! The essence of experiences is stored in this higher mind. What I learned from the facts. The circumstances of the fact are lost. That would be the growth process. The amount of Gold Seeds you have collected throughout your life. How much walked! Tightly It is the fundamental principle of the Egyptian Kybalion: the universe is mental! It was

where Plato was inspired to create his "Theory of Ideas". Everything is born on the mental plane and is reflected in the world, it generates shadows. That is, what we think with the superior mind, can generate constructions that transform us into better beings, that will change ourselves and the world. Now watch out! It also works for the negative. The negative ideas we feed will also find a way to come into the world! In the slightest inattention, they will generate facts. If he generated the mold, sooner or later he will want to generate the body! You want

to incarnate! You know that person you don't like? Keep the idea in mind, but don't tell anyone, it won't generate any facts... Go! When you are more distracted, stressed, you will pass by, say hello to everyone but that person! Or you'll be rude to her! Because your mind will take advantage of this inattention to play that world! That is straining to generate reality! If you feed on the mental plane, accept it! You will live with it on the physical plane! sooner or later! What exists as a mold, one day will be an object! In a

sliver of inattention, this generates fact. If you don't want these facts, clean the molds! Change your way of thinking. Or take responsibility for the consequences, when they come! Both for good and for bad. everything is born on the mental plane! This said the Egyptian tradition, and reinforced Plato. dedicated-mind What does that mean? This exercise is called TRATAK. This exercise was used a lot in Buddhist schools, monasteries, as a concentration. Extremely helpful, guys! You don't need a circle as perfect as this one. Fits even a dot on the wall. The idea is to try to concentrate...

- I'm not going to do this exercise now, try it later on your own - concentrate in such a way that for a second see only the point, not the circumference. Add the circumference. Concentration such that they only saw the point. The circumference disappears. From so much practice, one hour you can do it! Can be done anywhere with a dot on the wall... add it all up! You won't always have this drawing to look at. But that famous and disastrous anteroom of the doctor, or the dentist, there will be a little dot on the wall...

you can do this with anything. You will say: - What a tremendous waste of time! Why keep looking at a point?? But when you try to contain your thoughts to study, to reflect on a question, you will see how useful it was! It's a "musculature" training for you to master the mental plane! These ancient monasteries and schools were experts in this kind of simple practices, to have some command over your mental plane Being able to banish invasive ideas and focus on one. It's simple but effective. But, look carefully: it's dominating the mind and not paralyzing

it! Misunderstanding of these Eastern principles leads to think that we have to stop the mind. If we stop the mind, we fall below the level of the mind, not above! The mind is an unknown territory that we have to master. You have to enforce laws. It has to become ours! Beware of misunderstanding these eastern traditions! Stopping the mind means falling to the lowest level, not knowing how to use it. We have to master the mind! And another thing that is very important... these are means, they are tools! For you to focus on something, you have

to have ends, motivations. After dominating the mind, what am I going to do with it? - I will do such work! - Such a cause! - I won't do anything! So let it go! Too much work for nothing! Why dominate the mind without a life goal? A sense of mission? A work you want to do? I work for nothing! It's as if musculature, a fit body were not considered beautiful... Why do gymnastics? It probably wouldn't! Unless you had a lot of individuality, and did it for yourself... Most people wouldn't! Do it because you have a

goal! Health, or aesthetics... That is, those who aim at the ends, aim at the means! If I don't want to build anything in my life there is no technique that makes me have more concentration! I want to sharpen my tools because I want to build such a thing! Then you will have motivations and these techniques will start to have purpose! I have a meaning of life, an ideal, I have a dream! I want to work for something, so I need to improve my mind power! If not, give up! There is no technique that will give

that to you. It is a conscious, lucid reflection. And it's a decision. My identity: where I want to go with all this! Then the techniques start to work. No meaning of life, no! When we know where we want to go... it's the fairy tale I always quote... Fairy tales are also symbolic, you know? The King speaks to the prince: A dragon has imprisoned my daughter! A boy! The prince didn't even have a beard yet! And it was a dragon! But the prince thinks: it's fair, it's noble, it's good! I'm going there! I went! Ride the

horse and go face the dragon!! And the cause so noble, so just, so good, that halfway through... At first, he didn't have a chance, but along the way, doesn't he find magic weapons? He gives water to an old man and gets a cape that makes him invisible... He finds a sword... A bird tells him a secret... When he gets there, he's armed to the teeth and able to take on that dragon! That is, when man commits himself to something noble, just and good, your latent powers are emerging in the middle of the way! He has

more and more mastery of himself. Only when he commits himself to something noble, just and good! If you are going to tell a fairy tale with a child where the King speaks: - Save my daughter, prisoner of a dragon? And the prince crosses his arms and says: What's in it for me? - How much do you pay? The child says stop: - I won't listen to a stupid story like that! What a beast prince! No pure, really childlike child (that treasure, childlike purity) No one would hear such a story! The goal has to be noble,

just, good, human! And then yes, you develop latent powers. That's natural! Any exercise works when you have a human goal! "He who aims at the ends, aims at the means": a dignified and fraternal human dream, will make me extract the best from my tools. Mind, emotions, body... everything you have! Who can build big dreams you can also build the tools to make them possible. And finally: HAPPY. Philosophy as an art of living helps us a lot to conduct this process, because she was born for that! What we seek in the philosophy course at New Acropolis

is to recover this idea from Socrates: "Only the knowledge that makes us better is useful!" This other is a verse by a poet named Pindar: "Be who you are, knowing!". - Who are you? - A human being! - Be that, knowing!. Knowing everything inside you, and what Nature expects from you. Bring out your identity! Be who you are, knowing! Know yourself! And this is what I would like to expose to you. This is part of our philosophy course. Right at the beginning of the second level, we have a handout that Psychology, - because knowing a

man is also part of the quest for wisdom - and one of the chapters deals with this aspect of the mind. What we transmit in our lectures are pieces of what we teach in the philosophy course. I always think it's fantastic in a world like this, friday night, at this time, in such heat, so many things to do... if you're here it's because you have a vocation for philosophy! Therefore, if you come to see what we have to offer, you have everything to like! So take a chance! Come and meet! We have open classes... In

all branches we usually have open classes... Two hours a week! An apprenticeship in the art of living as human beings! Learning to use all the tools that the human condition offers. You're all invited! New Acropolis is an international, independent, non-profit philosophical movement based on Culture, Philosophy and Volunteering. There are hundreds of schools of applied philosophy throughout the world. Look for the one closest to you! We'll be waiting for your visit!