Secular Sangha: A Secular Buddhist Group discussion

Use this thread to discuss non-Buddhist philosophy that you have an interest in.

As I said in my in another thread, I like a wide rang of philosophy. But right now I am on a bit of a Germanic Age of Enlightenment and Post-Age of Enlightenment phase. I'm am really starting to like the writings of Immanuel Kant, Arthur Schopenhauer, Friedrich Nietzsche, and Martin Heidegger.

While I still have some interest in political philosophy (one of the first texts I read was The Communist Manifesto and I had an attempt at reading Leviathan), at this point, I'm more interested in the Stoics and Ralph Waldo Emerson's writings. They seem to present some attitudes to take towards life in order to make it to the end without sabotaging yourself, and to live life with verve, enthusiasm, and confidence.

But, I'm finding philosophy so wide-ranging and enjoyable that I couldn't possibly try to limit my reading.

Edit: I think that I can say that I'm also searching for answers to those typically middle life questions: what does all this mean? is this all there is? why am I doing this?

I guess I'm hoping somewhere in philosophy I'll find something that gives a bit of light so I can find my answers.

John wrote: "While I still have some interest in political philosophy (one of the first texts I read was The Communist Manifesto and I had an attempt at reading Leviathan), at this poi..."

If you like the Stoics (for the record, I like them as well) you may like the group book Wisdom of the Buddha: The Unabridged Dhammapada. I think that there are a lot of parallels.

For example, I think that there are parallels between Of Anger by Seneca and the chapter on anger in the Dhammapada.

Here are two online translations of the chapter:

https://www.dhammatalks.org/suttas/KN...

http://www.buddhanet.net/dhammapada/d...

This will probably sound as non-academic as it is... lol. For me life is all about how we treat others. So the Golden Rule is it for me. When I read fiction I find that if it triggers emotion then I will like it. I am all about character development and the human emotions they bring into my life.

Kelly wrote: "This will probably sound as non-academic as it is... lol. For me life is all about how we treat others. So the Golden Rule is it for me. When I read fiction I find that if it triggers emotion then ..."

I think that you may like the book The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined by Steven Pinker, particularly Chapter 4 - The Humanitarian Revolution.

I say this because Pinker argued in chapter 4 that "The growth of writing and literacy strikes me as the best candidate of an exogenous change that helped set off the Humanitarian Revolution." He went on to argue that an increase in people reading novels may have contributed to an increase in empathy among the general population in Western Europe, which then led to a decrease in violence in Western Europe.

I'm interested in eastern philosophy in general, particularly yoga (which is basically where some of Siddhartha Gautama's ideas stem from). I'm also interested in pantheism (the universe is God). Dawkins actually called Pantheism "sexed up atheism."