I Tried René Descartes’ Meditation For A Week - Here's What I've Learned

A little experiment where I lived like René Descartes and replicated his six-day philosophical meditations + the importance of developing critical thinking

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Chapters:
The Experiment: 00:00
Sponsor: 02:30
Meditation 1: 04:25
Meditation 2: 07:18
Meditation 3: 09:22
Meditation 4: 11:58
Meditation 5: 14:23
Meditation 6: 16:49
Lessons from Descartes: 18:24

[rjwusher]

About a decade ago I used to work at the IT and communications department of a psychiatric hospital which was located on the grounds of Endegeest castle (Oegstgeest, The Netherlands), where Descartes lived from 1641 until 1643. The board of directors had its offices in the actual castle. Many times I had to go there and fix the computers. It was very, very cold, especially in the winter, even when the central heating system was pumping continuously. Considering the era Descartes lived in was at the end of a minor ice age and the only heat source of the castle was a fire place in the main hall the poor man had to have been freezing cold all the time.

[RobertGasperson]

I tried a few weeks ago to give myself a full hour of reading time. This is not just on a book of theology or philosophy but the science fiction books that I’m reading as well. I’ve found that I only read for 10 or 15 minutes at a time throughout my days. Giving myself this for our allows me to really fall into the story or to do research on words I don’t understand or look up meanings and commentaries about what I’m reading and really dive into it. So I like this idea of focusing on the information for a full hour every day. I’m going to try to make it more of a habit for my own life.

[blackstonefinn]

Hi Robin, great experiment and would love to hear more about your reflections or takeaways from reading Descartes. As for daily reading & reflecting time, I started my days in January with 30 minutes of reading and reflecting and I found it a great way to start my day. Then in Feb, I experimented with my first activity in the morning being a workout instead of quietly reading. For my little experiment, I certainly found reading to have a more serene energy whereas starting with a run or weights was more of a jumpstart to my day. Putting away all tech and reading before bed I find gets me into deeper sleep cycles.

[thehoodieguy]

Very very interesting indeed, throughout watching Robin, this is the second time I've heard him encourage the idea of embracing a little bit of solitude, a little bit of isolation. I believe there's a lot of reflection that can be done in that time, and when you go out into the world to meet people things are more refreshed and clear.

[sophiaisabelle]

Thank you for sharing your insights. We appreciate the fact that you took the time to reflect.

[strawbasket]

Robin's progression in his meditations was wonderful to see

[rattybabby]

I love these types of videos, really inspiring!

[ulaneii]

your videos are always so touching. it's make me feel warmth

[BlushnBlue]

Very good lesson to think about implementing. Thank you.

[Emilywilson]

I have super infinite coming in from the library and now I’m going to read it in this structure and see how it goes! Thanks!

[lindamalkas]

I read the mediations years ago. I’m inspired to go back. Thank you.

[angelinamatheson]

This was really fun to watch I love your videos. This last semester I did a class centred on Descartes so I read discourse on method and the meditations very slowly and thoroughly. I thought your interpretations were really fun! I hadn’t thought about using some of the words you did.

But. I am curious. I’m not sure you DID live like Descartes this week. It seems you reflected in HIS points of certainty and HIS doubts and reasonings. I feel a really big part of these two publications is about the method, and casting what YOU have found to be certain to doubt. I understand if those were private considerations though, just a wondering I had at the end when thinking about maybe doing it myself

[TheActiveMind]

Love this experiment! It reminds me how much I enjoyed reading Descartes' meditations the first time. Time to re-read it!

[SevenUnwokenDreams]

This year I started taking two hours to myself without my phone. I read for a while, journal, and then sit and just be with my thoughts. It's much better than the mindless scrolling I used to do.

[tortiedove]

I love that we can learn so much from the works of pre-existing thinkers.

[BrittanyBWrites]

I really like this experiment. I might try it out with Chaucer (I'm fighting with me every step of the way for class) to see if I can actually understand him before I throw up my hands and give up. I do some kind of meditation with my journal (I try and journal every single day) but maybe I need to try rgis and find out what I've learned.

[yonathanasefaw]

I have this book, and now you make me want to read this. I just started analysing it but forgot all about it. Let's see what insightfulness it will give me.

[alinktoana]

I’m really glad you changed the video’s title tbh. I dismissed it the first time I saw it bc I don’t give a damn about how Descartes lived lol but then when you wrote Meditations I was like, oh, there could be some cool journaling prompts there. And that’s exactly what it is!
So yeah, I haven’t read Descartes in over a decade but I’m actually gonna try it, thanks for the recommendation (: It’s gonna be interesting given that he’s so focused on god, and im becoming even more of an atheist as my family clings to the idea of ~jesus as we’re dealing with chronic illnesses and aging lol wish me luck!

[DeetasDiary]

I got drawn to Descartes once again, but dude, the six-day meditation made me ask: Isn't the act of meditation (and thinking) an experience in itself? I don't know how far Hume got into his empiricism and experience, but now I found myself reviewing that too, because of this video! P.S. Looking forward to Wittgenstein, maybe Heidegger and Derrida but, definitely Deleuze.

[liamjamestaylor]

I remember hearing David Lynch, when talking about ideas and inspiration, mention taking time just to daydream. There was a metaphor about throwing a fishing line in and waiting for something to bite etc. It’s so hilariously simple and obvious, but how often do we do it?