Donald Robertson

So I try to become clearer about the differentiation between what I'm thinking voluntarily. I normally just say the number one thought.

So I try to become clearer about the differentiation between what I'm thinking voluntarily. I normally just say the number one thought.

So I try to become clearer about the differentiation between what I'm thinking voluntarily. I normally just say the number one thought.

or i count down from 10 to 0 over and over again on each out breath like one number one number like 10 9 8 and then start again like because then if you're counting in your mind what attention wonders you're more likely to notice it because you've broken the sequence right And I'll observe, I'll think I'm doing this voluntarily. I'm counting voluntarily.

or i count down from 10 to 0 over and over again on each out breath like one number one number like 10 9 8 and then start again like because then if you're counting in your mind what attention wonders you're more likely to notice it because you've broken the sequence right And I'll observe, I'll think I'm doing this voluntarily. I'm counting voluntarily.

or i count down from 10 to 0 over and over again on each out breath like one number one number like 10 9 8 and then start again like because then if you're counting in your mind what attention wonders you're more likely to notice it because you've broken the sequence right And I'll observe, I'll think I'm doing this voluntarily. I'm counting voluntarily.

But if I suddenly think about paying my taxes or something, I'll go, that's an automatic thought. And I choose to think that I just popped into my mind. So I kind of train myself to become more aware of that distinction. Then for 10 minutes, I would imagine that I'm in Academia Platanos in Greece, like I wrote about at the beginning of the book. And imagine I'm talking to Socrates, right?

But if I suddenly think about paying my taxes or something, I'll go, that's an automatic thought. And I choose to think that I just popped into my mind. So I kind of train myself to become more aware of that distinction. Then for 10 minutes, I would imagine that I'm in Academia Platanos in Greece, like I wrote about at the beginning of the book. And imagine I'm talking to Socrates, right?

But if I suddenly think about paying my taxes or something, I'll go, that's an automatic thought. And I choose to think that I just popped into my mind. So I kind of train myself to become more aware of that distinction. Then for 10 minutes, I would imagine that I'm in Academia Platanos in Greece, like I wrote about at the beginning of the book. And imagine I'm talking to Socrates, right?

And the first thing I would always do, Chris, is shake his hand, right? And it took a surprisingly long time for him to get used to that. I always remember my imaginary Socrates, in my mind, I insisted on shaking his hand, but he thought it was a bit weird at first. And I would say to him, I'd ask him lots of questions about anything that I was struggling with in the book.

And the first thing I would always do, Chris, is shake his hand, right? And it took a surprisingly long time for him to get used to that. I always remember my imaginary Socrates, in my mind, I insisted on shaking his hand, but he thought it was a bit weird at first. And I would say to him, I'd ask him lots of questions about anything that I was struggling with in the book.

And the first thing I would always do, Chris, is shake his hand, right? And it took a surprisingly long time for him to get used to that. I always remember my imaginary Socrates, in my mind, I insisted on shaking his hand, but he thought it was a bit weird at first. And I would say to him, I'd ask him lots of questions about anything that I was struggling with in the book.

And what I generally found, any of the history stuff, His opinion, well, you know, I'd be like trying to think, we need to kind of eye on this and get it accurate and stuff. And he would always, my imaginary Socrates anyway, would always be like, who cares? You know, it's like, I don't even know why, you know, he seemed to place surprisingly little importance on getting it historically accurate.

And what I generally found, any of the history stuff, His opinion, well, you know, I'd be like trying to think, we need to kind of eye on this and get it accurate and stuff. And he would always, my imaginary Socrates anyway, would always be like, who cares? You know, it's like, I don't even know why, you know, he seemed to place surprisingly little importance on getting it historically accurate.

And what I generally found, any of the history stuff, His opinion, well, you know, I'd be like trying to think, we need to kind of eye on this and get it accurate and stuff. And he would always, my imaginary Socrates anyway, would always be like, who cares? You know, it's like, I don't even know why, you know, he seemed to place surprisingly little importance on getting it historically accurate.

and he said no there's just focus on telling the story of the literary character of socrates in a way that gets people interested in the philosophy that's what actually matters right you know there are other books that you can go and read where people try and argue through the evidence and you know yeah try to get to truth i've been thinking about something not too dissimilar a little bit more generalized but i think what you're getting at as well which is

and he said no there's just focus on telling the story of the literary character of socrates in a way that gets people interested in the philosophy that's what actually matters right you know there are other books that you can go and read where people try and argue through the evidence and you know yeah try to get to truth i've been thinking about something not too dissimilar a little bit more generalized but i think what you're getting at as well which is

and he said no there's just focus on telling the story of the literary character of socrates in a way that gets people interested in the philosophy that's what actually matters right you know there are other books that you can go and read where people try and argue through the evidence and you know yeah try to get to truth i've been thinking about something not too dissimilar a little bit more generalized but i think what you're getting at as well which is

See, you are thinking about it in a more Socratic way. So the very fact you're going, well, can I see it from more than one perspective? So the role that you always have to be qualified, well, maybe there's some exceptions to that, right? And you can easily think of examples of great thinkers in the past that...

See, you are thinking about it in a more Socratic way. So the very fact you're going, well, can I see it from more than one perspective? So the role that you always have to be qualified, well, maybe there's some exceptions to that, right? And you can easily think of examples of great thinkers in the past that...