All posts by Robert M Ellis

About Robert M Ellis

Robert M Ellis is the founder of the Middle Way Society, and author of a number of books on Middle Way Philosophy, including the introductory 'Migglism' and the new Middle Way Philosophy series published by Equinox. A former teacher, he now runs a retreat centre in Wales, Tirylan House, and is in the process of creating a forest garden there.

Network Stimulus 1: Practicality

Middle Way Philosophy, Network Stimulus

On 17th May at 7pm UK time will be our first full Network meeting over Zoom, consisting of a short stimulus talk followed by questions and regionalised breakout groups. About 40 people have already signed up for the Network, and if you want to know more, or to sign up, please see our Network events page.

Here are some brief details, stimulus questions and suggested reading for this session. The video of the talk and initial questions will also be posted here after the meeting.

Practicality

The Middle Way approach is defined by its practicality as a central value, but what does practicality mean? Robert M Ellis will suggest that our division between ‘theory’ and ‘practice’ is leaky. Some ‘theory’ is actually very practical, and some is not. The goals we have in our practical efforts, and how far ahead they are is also crucial. It will be suggested that Middle Way practicality is a matter of intermediate goals: neither so far ahead that they are merely abstract, nor so close that they don’t take enough into account.

Stimulus questions: these can be used in the group discussions if you wish

  1. Do you have any resistance to theory? What issues does it raise for you?
  2. What sorts of theories do you tend to refer to to justify your judgements (for instance, think about your professional life, your politics, or your personal relationships)? Are they practical theories?
  3. Do you tend to focus on near, intermediate, or final goals?
  4. How well do your ways of thinking about your goals tend to help you or hinder you, when seen from a wider perspective?

Suggested further reading

Introduction to Middle Way Practice (web page)

‘Migglism’ chapter 4: Practical Application (especially first subsection) – chapter 3 in ebook version

‘Middle Way Philosophy’ 1.3.e: Pragmatism and the Feedback Loop (more challenging)

Yogic meditation with Tony Wilmot

Meditation, Video, Yoga

A session of yogic meditation led by Tony Wilmot, yoga teacher, at the Virtual Festival of the Middle Way.

Tony Wilmot has been practising Yoga for 30 years and qualified as a British Wheel of Yoga teacher in 2000. Styles taught are Ashtanga Vinyasa & Hatha Yoga. His teaching is influenced by traditions of many to including Dru, Iyengar & Satyanada Yoga. His meditation is grounded in Zazen (silent sitting) and vipassana in the tradition of Goenka.

Because there was a technical problem with the first few minutes of the original recording, Tony has kindly recorded a separate introduction that forms the first three minutes of the video. The chair is Julian Adkins.

Philosophy, Prisons and the Middle Way – Andy West

Books, Crime, Education, Philosophy, Video

There’s something about the high walls and noise of prisons that inclines inmates to think in absolutes. Inside, you’re either innocent or guilty, manly or emasculated. The in-betweens count for little. So what’s it like when prisoners do philosophy, asks Andy West? Does thinking in more open ways make it easier or harder to survive their sentence?

Andy West has taught Philosophy in a range of prisons as well as in primary schools. He is now writing a book about teaching philosophy in prisons which draws on personal experience of having relatives in prison as well as philosophical reflection and his teaching experience.

This session took place over Zoom at the Virtual Festival of the Middle Way, on 18th April 2020. The chair is Robert M. Ellis.

Chat from the Zoom sessionDownload

Launching the Middle Way Network

Society events

The recent Virtual Festival of the Middle Way has galvanised interest in the Middle Way from a larger group of people than we have been in contact with before, and who have given overwhelmingly positive feedback about the event (which we’re very grateful for!). Many people have also expressed interest in follow-up either online or face-to-face.

To meet this need, we are intending to launch some new regular sessions for discussion and connection which we will call The Middle Way Network. These sessions will be based on Zoom, but are also intended to help foster the conditions that can eventually allow face-to-face groups to develop when the lockdown is over. We will have a preliminary Zoom meeting about this on Sun 3rd May 2020, and the first meeting proper on 17th May.

Please go to this page for more information

Science and the Middle Way – Jim Champion

Middle Way Philosophy, Science, Video

Middle Way Philosophy offers a radically different paradigm to mainstream scientific naturalism because of its crucially different attitudes to ethics, scepticism, meaning and objectivity. Jim Champion explores this further in this talk. Dr Jim Champion has been teaching physics at schools in the south of England since 2004. His PhD is in theoretical physics. He is also secretary of the Middle Way Society and contributor to After Buddhism: A Workbook.

This talk took place over Zoom at the Virtual Festival of the Middle Way, on 18th April 2020. It is followed by questions from the audience.