Life issues and practical philosophy with Amin Bandali

2026-05-23

The other day I met with Amin Bandali to talk about life issues and practical philosophy. Amin asked me if he could record the meeting and write about it, which I agreed to. You can find the recording on Amin’s website, together with an overview of what we covered: https://kelar.org/~bandali/life/thinking-with-prot.html. The video is 2 hours long.

Going off of my recollection of the talk, we covered at length the broad theme of rhythm using everyday examples. There are ups and downs to what we do, moments of intensity and of rest. We must be aware of them so that we do not try to push ourselves to unsustainable extremes. We do this, for example, when we do not check our feelings from time to time and instead keep overworking ourselves.

It is important at all times to be mindful of the distinction between descriptive and prescriptive statements. It is easy to fall in the trap of feeling guilty for our state of affairs, even when that is not clearly justified. For example, “I procrastinate” usually comes with a tscit judgement call along the lines of “and this is bad”. The prescription, then, is “do not procrastinate”. Whereas I point out that it helps to be descriptive and to suspend prior judgement. Using procrastination as an example, we may be doing it as an effective way to cope with an otherwise difficult situation.

Another topic was about loss or death in the literal as well as the figurative sense. We discussed the relevant topics in light of how things flow and how something changes into something else. In the case of physical loss, such as a loved one that is no longer with us, there is a sense in which they stay around as a guiding star or guardian angel. This happens because we remember their deeds and underlying values, the philosophy embedded in their actions, which we try to replicate. There is another aspect to loss and death which is about how we change as we go and how we adapt as we go.

Part of what I do is serious at some level. Though I comment on how I approach it with a sense of lightheartedness and humour. I am easygoing. My style at all times is to do something, not to merely talk about it, so I exhibit as much through timely jokes and moments of laughter. Understanding that each person is not one-sided is essential. I can be profound, but I have the deep-seated confidence in my abilities to also joke around because I know that my remarks will not lose their value in the process.

In our social affairs we have to conform with the expectations of other people. It is thus critical to do what we must in order to survive. Though we have to remember that this is a role-playing game, so that we do not overdo it. Setting boundaries is key in this regard. I suggest that we treat certain things as sacrosanct, so that we give them the value they require. Doing so allows us to maintain a sustainable rhythm.

Towards the end of the video, Amin asks me about my approach to philosophy, which is about doing instead of merely reading or thinking. I describe it as “situational awareness”. The world is consistent, so if we have a deep understanding of a part of it, we can apply those findings to other areas. This is something I do throughout our talk by drawing connections between the various topics.

Thanks to Amin for this discussion! I had a good time.