Philosophy Café

Held online via Zoom. Facilitated by Peter Whitfield

Next Café - Friday 14 March 2025

Scroll down for topic information.

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A weekly get together of like minded people, who want to engage or recharge their interest in the practical benefits of studying philosophy.

Free drop-in sessions on Zoom, no need to attend every week. You will need to register, please click here to register.

Weekly topics taken from the philosophy courses with a focus on Practical Philosophy, and what works in ‘my’ life.
Breakout rooms are allocated to allow time to meet and discuss ideas in smaller groups
Participants are encouraged neither to accept nor reject ideas, but to keep an open mind to discover what might be useful.
We will use the four principles of platonic dialogue.

Platonic dialogue

Truth is the goal
Be willing to be refuted
Listen with full attention; give space to the other person, don’t monopolize the stage – everyone’s voice is important
Ask questions

Peter Whitfield has been teaching the introductory courses in Philosophy for over 30 years. His love of great stories and belief in an eternal wisdom that provides practical help to live life fully, truly and happily has helped thousands of students.

The Introductory Philosophy course has transformed so many lives and the Philosophy Café is an opportunity for anyone, current students, past students, family or friends to come along and be inspired.

With Peter’s facilitation, the Friday night Philosophy café promises to be a new, flourishing event. Come along, be a participant and Find Yourself, in good company.

Draft Schedule

Friday, 28 February 2025	Break	Topic
Friday, 07 March 2025	London Warwick Jessup/ Sydney Rowan Karrer	Sanskrit/ Ego
Friday, 14 March 2025	Malcolm Lennox	Snake and the Rope part 2
Friday, 21 March 2025	Mathew Walsh/Zac Levay	Practical Meditation
Friday, 28 March 2025	Patrick Wyatt	Introductory Philosophy

Session Times:

7pm London (Friday) / 6am Sydney (Saturday)
(Additional time zones below)

8am Auckland (Saturday)
2pm New York (Friday)
11am Los Angeles (Friday)

7pm Sydney (Friday) / 8am London (Friday)
(Additional time zones below)

9pm Auckland (Friday)
3am New York (Friday)
12am Los Angeles (Friday)

Topic - Friday 14 March 2025

The Snake in the Rope – with Malcolm Lennox - 7pm Sydney time (8am UK) and 7pm UK

This was the feedback from Malcolm Lennox’s last presentation:

Hi Peter,

"Just wondering - where do you find these geniuses?!

Totally enraptured, captivated, and inspired by Malcolm’s talk tonight!

Who would have thought there was so much depth in the simple statement: The cat sat on the mat!

I cannot thank you enough!"

Good news - Malcolm is back this week for Part 2 of Superimposition: The Snake in the Rope.

Last term, we were introduced to Adi Shankara’s teaching on superimposition, where he makes the extraordinary statement:

“This superimposition, which has neither beginning nor end but flows on eternally, appears as the manifest universe...”

This week, Malcolm will explore this idea further using Shankara’s famous analogy of the snake in the rope and his commentary on the first seven verses of the Mandukya Upanishad - all in just 30 minutes!

One last thing - it’s not recorded, so you have to be there!

There are two Philosophy Café sessions, each at 7pm local time:

Sydney Café – Friday 7pm (AEDT)
London Café – Friday 7pm (GMT)

Join whichever session suits your time zone best, or even join both!