Study: Beginner Level

Learn every day. A few pages, read with care, are the first stone of a mind that belongs to you.

Level: Beginner
Daily Practice: 15 minutes of careful reading
Each Evening: One sentence: what I learned today
First Books: The Ethics and the meditation teachings
Meditation: Attention, trained in the Dot Meditation
Outcome: The habit of daily study

Marcus Aurelius, Meditations V.16
Οἷα ἂν πολλάκις φαντασθῇς, τοιαύτη σοι ἔσται ἡ διάνοια· βάπτεται γὰρ ὑπὸ τῶν φαντασιῶν ἡ ψυχή.
“As are the things you often picture to yourself, such will your mind be; for the soul is dyed by its impressions.” (lit.)

I. Why You Must Study

The mind takes the colour of what fills it. Marcus Aurelius, emperor of Rome and a student of philosophy all his life, wrote it to himself in the line above: the soul is dyed by the impressions it receives most often.

If you do not choose what enters your mind, others choose for you: advertising, rumour, the opinions of the crowd and the doctrines built to deceive. Study is how you choose.

The Temple teaches that education is a sacred gift of the Gods, and that through it one turns from an Andrapod to a Human being (Education and Learning). Study is also the ground of the practice: the meditations ask you to understand the breath, the chakras, the soul and the Gods, and what you do not understand you cannot practise well.

II. What Study Gives You

Understanding. Your work, the world and your own mind begin to make sense, and less of life takes you by surprise.
A steady mind. Careful reading is a meditation of its own: it trains attention to stay on one thing.
A better memory. What you read with attention and recall at night stays with you.
Your own judgment. You stop borrowing your opinions and learn to weigh what you hear.
Protection from deception. A person who knows is hard to mislead.
Skill and livelihood. Every craft and profession is learned, and learning raises what you can do for yourself and your family.
A stronger practice. Each meditation goes deeper when you know what it works on.

III. The Daily Practice

15 minutes a day, at the same hour. The morning before work or the evening before sleep suits most people.

One book at a time. Finish it before you begin another.
Read slowly. A page understood is worth more than a chapter skimmed.
Pencil in hand. Mark the one line that matters most on each page.
Phone in another room. 15 minutes without interruption teach more than an hour of glancing.
One sentence at night. Before sleep, write in a notebook: what did I learn today?

Marcus learned this way of reading from his teacher Rusticus, and thanked him for it:

Marcus Aurelius, Meditations I.7
Παρὰ Ῥουστίκου … τὸ ἀκριβῶς ἀναγινώσκειν καὶ μὴ ἀρκεῖσθαι περινοοῦντα ὁλοσχερῶς μηδὲ τοῖς περιλαλοῦσι ταχέως συγκατατίθεσθαι.
“From Rusticus: … to read with care, and not to be content with a rough grasp of the whole, nor to agree quickly with those who talk too much.” (lit.)

IV. What to Read First

Begin with the foundation, then add one subject from your own life.

The Ethics of the Temple. The 36 Virtues and the Life Ethics.
The meditation teachings. Meditation Information and The Powers of Meditation: what the practice is and what it gives.
One subject of your own. Your work, your health, your family or a skill you want.
The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius. A book an emperor wrote to himself, a few lines at a time, and easy to begin.

V. Study and Meditation

Attention is one power used in two places. The Dot Meditation trains it on a point; study uses it on a page. Practise both and each improves the other.

Before you read, sit for 2 minutes and breathe slowly. After you read, close the book and recall what you read, as in the Recollection Meditation.

VI. Signs You're Ready for the Intermediate Level

Study has become daily. You have kept the 15 minutes for 4 weeks running.
You finish books. At least 1 book read from the first page to the last.
You can explain it. You can tell someone what you read, in your own words.
You want more. The 15 minutes feel short.

The Intermediate Level turns this habit into a method.

Read a little every day, and read it with care. The mind takes the colour of what you give it.