Pierrick Simon
@pierricksimon.bsky.social
Philosopher. Working on philosophical exercises, philosophy as a way of life, and political disagreements. Enthusiastic about: #phenomenology, #mindfulness, #hermeneutics and the medical humanities.
https://philosophicalexercises.blogspot.com/
https://philosophicalexercises.blogspot.com/
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Pierrick Simon
@pierricksimon.bsky.social
· Oct 17
Philosophical Exercises
philosophicalexercises.blogspot.com
"A philosophical exercise every month!" That's what I do & review on my blog philosophicalexercises.blogspot.com . Whether it be Contemplation of death, Jhana meditation, Postural Yoga, Befriending the Ancients, etc. I identify cool philosophical practices, I try them & I tell you about it
#philsky
#philsky
Another one that became part of our vocabulary is the ironic phrase "He's a great guy, like Max Medina". Because at some point in the show the love interest Max Medina is described unanimously as a "Great Guy" even though he did NOTHING except have a good job, good banter, and great hair.
January 15, 2026 at 2:55 PM
Another one that became part of our vocabulary is the ironic phrase "He's a great guy, like Max Medina". Because at some point in the show the love interest Max Medina is described unanimously as a "Great Guy" even though he did NOTHING except have a good job, good banter, and great hair.
Reposted by Pierrick Simon
Meditation is indeed like that. At some point you turn into a sappy puddle of mush who finds everything beautiful and your friends think you're a hopeless romantic...
January 15, 2026 at 2:44 PM
Meditation is indeed like that. At some point you turn into a sappy puddle of mush who finds everything beautiful and your friends think you're a hopeless romantic...
I'm working on something where I describe how it's important to experience wonder for rare things AND common things. And how one helps with the other. First, you admire the four-leaf clover (rare, lucky, a curious mutation), afterwards, three-leaf clovers too! Meditation is like that! 🍀☘️ #philsky
Another way of putting this — increasingly for me mediation isn't as much about inculcating an altered state of experience — tho there is some of that — but more about uncovering an altered relationship to experiencing ... where, again, it's not about the content of an experience but the fact of it.
January 15, 2026 at 2:34 PM
I'm working on something where I describe how it's important to experience wonder for rare things AND common things. And how one helps with the other. First, you admire the four-leaf clover (rare, lucky, a curious mutation), afterwards, three-leaf clovers too! Meditation is like that! 🍀☘️ #philsky
Reposted by Pierrick Simon
In tonight's #meditation, I was reminded ... it can sound trite or trivial, but when it hits me it's like a hammer blow ... a really nice hammer blow 🙂 ... namely, that the most deeply and truly wondrous element of what is happening in any given moment ... is that it is happening.
January 14, 2026 at 4:18 AM
In tonight's #meditation, I was reminded ... it can sound trite or trivial, but when it hits me it's like a hammer blow ... a really nice hammer blow 🙂 ... namely, that the most deeply and truly wondrous element of what is happening in any given moment ... is that it is happening.
When we were watching the show with my partner, I pointed out to them that Luke "had this look in his eyes like he's a man who's quickly running out of options". That phrase stuck and it's now part of our vocabulary to describe these men, these husks trapped in Hetero-normative Hell.
January 15, 2026 at 2:19 PM
When we were watching the show with my partner, I pointed out to them that Luke "had this look in his eyes like he's a man who's quickly running out of options". That phrase stuck and it's now part of our vocabulary to describe these men, these husks trapped in Hetero-normative Hell.
I am not saying that straight men are failures when they fail to live up to certain objective standards. I am just saying that there is a particular straight Hell where they both bind themselves to certain standards AND have an adversarial relationship to those standards (and to their partners).
January 15, 2026 at 1:51 PM
I am not saying that straight men are failures when they fail to live up to certain objective standards. I am just saying that there is a particular straight Hell where they both bind themselves to certain standards AND have an adversarial relationship to those standards (and to their partners).
This episode where Luke fails to give a gift but gets away with it and it never gets addressed ever again, this is my Force Majeure. As in, the movie Force Majeure, in which during an avalanche a husband prioritizes his escape over the safety of his wife and children. It haunts me. And to be clear..
The true ending of Gilmore Girls is all of them realizing they were all dead this entire time & stuck in Hetero-normative Hell. Luke is caught in an infernal loop: he fails to give Lorelei a Valentine's Day gift FOREVER & Logan has to save him in an emasculating way. He never learns. Cycle repeats.
January 15, 2026 at 1:51 PM
This episode where Luke fails to give a gift but gets away with it and it never gets addressed ever again, this is my Force Majeure. As in, the movie Force Majeure, in which during an avalanche a husband prioritizes his escape over the safety of his wife and children. It haunts me. And to be clear..
The true ending of Gilmore Girls is all of them realizing they were all dead this entire time & stuck in Hetero-normative Hell. Luke is caught in an infernal loop: he fails to give Lorelei a Valentine's Day gift FOREVER & Logan has to save him in an emasculating way. He never learns. Cycle repeats.
January 15, 2026 at 12:31 PM
The true ending of Gilmore Girls is all of them realizing they were all dead this entire time & stuck in Hetero-normative Hell. Luke is caught in an infernal loop: he fails to give Lorelei a Valentine's Day gift FOREVER & Logan has to save him in an emasculating way. He never learns. Cycle repeats.
My favourite quote from Heated Rivalry is in the first sex scene when the guy was like "If he dies.. he dies".
January 15, 2026 at 9:49 AM
My favourite quote from Heated Rivalry is in the first sex scene when the guy was like "If he dies.. he dies".
Reposted by Pierrick Simon
Here we go:
To say that straight men are heterosexual is only to say that they engage in sex (fucking exclusively with the other sex, i.e., women). All or almost all of that which pertains to love, most straight men reserve exclusively for other men. 1/
To say that straight men are heterosexual is only to say that they engage in sex (fucking exclusively with the other sex, i.e., women). All or almost all of that which pertains to love, most straight men reserve exclusively for other men. 1/
January 15, 2026 at 2:24 AM
Here we go:
To say that straight men are heterosexual is only to say that they engage in sex (fucking exclusively with the other sex, i.e., women). All or almost all of that which pertains to love, most straight men reserve exclusively for other men. 1/
To say that straight men are heterosexual is only to say that they engage in sex (fucking exclusively with the other sex, i.e., women). All or almost all of that which pertains to love, most straight men reserve exclusively for other men. 1/
Non-overlapping magisteria but for universal love and moral judgment
January 15, 2026 at 9:37 AM
Non-overlapping magisteria but for universal love and moral judgment
100% agreed. A lot of people go trope-hunting to try to explain why certain works of art are bad. They think that tropes are bad writing. They don't realize that tropes are only egregious when they are the decontextualized stolen bits of better stories. If they are structurally sound, no problem!
In general I doubt there are unforgivable sins in this sense. The only real rule is write a good story, and anything can be forgiven if it doesn't prevent that.
January 13, 2026 at 7:13 PM
100% agreed. A lot of people go trope-hunting to try to explain why certain works of art are bad. They think that tropes are bad writing. They don't realize that tropes are only egregious when they are the decontextualized stolen bits of better stories. If they are structurally sound, no problem!
Men will literally undergo psychoanalysis instead of going to therapy!
I'm saddened to hear about Oliver Sacks' scientific fraud and self-absorption (can't we have nice things?). He literally wrote in his diary as if he was a villain in a video game leaving logs left and right about his hybristic misdeeds! Just don't do that, people!
January 13, 2026 at 4:49 PM
Men will literally undergo psychoanalysis instead of going to therapy!
Very beautiful. And the post that goes with it is very sweet encouragement. :)
January 13, 2026 at 4:19 PM
Very beautiful. And the post that goes with it is very sweet encouragement. :)
Reposted by Pierrick Simon
One bird at a time: https://davoh.org/2026/01/13/one-bird-at-a-time.html
January 13, 2026 at 4:14 PM
One bird at a time: https://davoh.org/2026/01/13/one-bird-at-a-time.html
I'm saddened to hear about Oliver Sacks' scientific fraud and self-absorption (can't we have nice things?). He literally wrote in his diary as if he was a villain in a video game leaving logs left and right about his hybristic misdeeds! Just don't do that, people!
January 13, 2026 at 4:05 PM
I'm saddened to hear about Oliver Sacks' scientific fraud and self-absorption (can't we have nice things?). He literally wrote in his diary as if he was a villain in a video game leaving logs left and right about his hybristic misdeeds! Just don't do that, people!
That's so nice :) ! Well deserved.
January 13, 2026 at 3:50 PM
That's so nice :) ! Well deserved.
Humans are very smart. A bit like ravens.
January 13, 2026 at 3:07 PM
Humans are very smart. A bit like ravens.
Reposted by Pierrick Simon
OK: I have a new favorite topic to teach in intro philosophy classes: lottocracy. Literally half my class followed me back to my office because they *couldn't stop talking about it.*
Lottocracy is the argument that elections don't work, and that the best way democracy is through lottery.
Lottocracy is the argument that elections don't work, and that the best way democracy is through lottery.
January 12, 2026 at 11:45 PM
OK: I have a new favorite topic to teach in intro philosophy classes: lottocracy. Literally half my class followed me back to my office because they *couldn't stop talking about it.*
Lottocracy is the argument that elections don't work, and that the best way democracy is through lottery.
Lottocracy is the argument that elections don't work, and that the best way democracy is through lottery.
Now you watch the first episode to feel the vibes. If you like the vibes, you watch two more episodes to see if the TV show is good and can deliver on what the vibes seem to promise. What gives you patience is if people you trust/wisdom of the crowd tells you that the show is worth it. Not great!
January 12, 2026 at 3:25 PM
Now you watch the first episode to feel the vibes. If you like the vibes, you watch two more episodes to see if the TV show is good and can deliver on what the vibes seem to promise. What gives you patience is if people you trust/wisdom of the crowd tells you that the show is worth it. Not great!
I have such nostalgia for pilot episodes of TV shows. I don't think it's a thing anymore. Now I have to watch three episodes of a TV show for the story to *really start*/get good. It used to be that the first episode would pitch to you the type of stories the season would tell. It was a great format
January 12, 2026 at 3:22 PM
I have such nostalgia for pilot episodes of TV shows. I don't think it's a thing anymore. Now I have to watch three episodes of a TV show for the story to *really start*/get good. It used to be that the first episode would pitch to you the type of stories the season would tell. It was a great format
Amazing quote "I don't feel the least humble before the vastness of the heavens. The stars may be large, but they cannot think or love; and these are qualities which impress me far more than size does..." In future work, I'll have to describe how this is compatible with the View from Above exercise.
Ramsey: “I don't feel the least humble before the vastness of the heavens. … My picture of the world is drawn in perspective, and not like a model to scale. The foreground is occupied by human beings and the stars are all as small as threepenny bits.”
January 12, 2026 at 7:57 AM
Amazing quote "I don't feel the least humble before the vastness of the heavens. The stars may be large, but they cannot think or love; and these are qualities which impress me far more than size does..." In future work, I'll have to describe how this is compatible with the View from Above exercise.
It's where I'll go when I die
January 10, 2026 at 11:42 AM
It's where I'll go when I die