Socrates speaks about the“lover of wisdom”(philosophos) and the“lover of beauty”(philokalos)as
equals alongside“one of a musical or loving nature”(mousikou tinos kai erotikou).^34 Aristotle
likewise speaks of the philosopher alongside the“lover of myth”(philomythos).^35 Clearly there are
as many routes toward wisdom as there are a myriad of things that might be“taken up”toward their
true Beginning (Arche).
Philosophy has neither Guru nor Disciple
When I contend above that philosophy is neither a subject having a teacher nor a method of inquiry,
this may suggest to some readers that I am saying philosophy is somehow exclusionary–perhaps
available only to a special, gifted, or at least predisposed few, and even then, only where an
appropriate spiritual guide or“guru”exists. And speaking honestly, I think that there is some truth
to this viewpoint. Experientially (and writing as a teacher), it rings true to me that only a few (maybe
up to half) of the students one meets are open to philosophizing. The rest are not, and they will
occasionally let you know rather aggressively about it.^36
Similarly, I suspect that those of us who have found some deep interest in and connection with
philosophizing or with the writings of philosophers do, in fact, relate to these philosophic men and
women, whether long dead or still alive, somehow as our spiritual guides. They occupy a special
place in our lives, in our hearts, and minds. Philosophy can draw us into closer relation with a
smaller cadre of spirits, although the pursuit of wisdom is not truly exclusionary. Indeed, philos-
ophy is the sacred birthright of all human beings by dint of our nature: we are all beings who, as
Aristotle tells us,“seek to know”what is.^37 Although we are mortal beings (thanatoi)or“creatures
of a day,”we also participate by nature in what is immortal (athanatoi). We therefore have some
share in the eternal that we might come to know during our precious time alive. One such route for
our“immortalizing”is philosophy.
I say that experientially it seems to those of us who have fallen in love with philosophy and
whoaredrawntowarditthattheguru–disciple relation has been a key part of our learning to live
andtopracticephilosophyinitsoriginal,ancientsenseasa“way of life,”for as Hadot has
adeptly shown, philosophy-proper is most certainly a“way of life.”^38 However, it also remains
true in a deeper sense that with philosophy and philosophizing, there is neither guru nor disciple.
In terms of our mortal, egoic, finite, and fluctuating nature, there is no one who philosophizes,
let alone one who achieves contemplative insights, or who brings about contemplative insights
into others.
The ego-self, in all cases, remains an obstacle. As the anonymous author ofThe Cloud of
Unknowingsays, it is the last impediment between you and your god,^39 the font of all the wisdom
for which you yearn; hence, the ego must be left behind wherever genuine philosophizing manifests
itself. This is because the“correct”(orthos) study of philosophy, being the manner of our
“immortalizing,”and following the words of Socrates in thePhaedo, one must simultaneously
always remain“nothing other than the practice of dying and being dead.”^40 In other words, the ego-
self that thinks, feels, and does is an illusory“I”–not the contemplative event wherein there can be
no distinction in that union between seer and seen. Here, the mortal aspect has died away, leaving
only whatever it is that is immortal, this being the locus point of philosophy-proper.
The strange fact of there being no guru, no student, no teacher, no teaching or subject, and no
method in genuine philosophizing obviously problematizes all our academic fixations with
assessment and school-as-usual, for how could even the best formative or summative assessment
practices be used to evaluate student“progress”in noetic cognition when, strictly speaking,
noesisonly arises to the extent that the self is allowed to disappear? When there is no one
who might receive either accolades or censure for attaining or for failing to attain to a knowledge
of what is? The pursuit of wisdom demands the cultivation of absolute humility, and leaving
behind all self-regard to know is what Pieper calls the“totality.”Indeed, Pieper has written
“No Guru, No Method, No Teacher” 119