Current Weight: 265 lbs.

Originally I had planned to post my weight at the beginning of every month, to keep track of how it fluctuates with my diet. Honestly, I am not just trying to boast about how much weight I have lost. Really.

What I enjoyed most about this month was the focus on reflection. Jainism does not ask you to accept anything unquestioningly, there is no central dogma. Rather it asks you to consider the vows and what is entailed by them. Jainism posits that, so long as you spend the time to sort out what principles seem right to you, you can be free to believe in whatever you like. All that they ask is that you remember to accord this same freedom to everyone else, and to remember to never say that something is an absolute certainty. So as long as you abstain from the world, and act well, you will be rewarded in your next reincarnation, or you will be removed from the cycle all together.

This way of living is strikingly similar to the philosopher’s life posited by Socrates and Plato, especially in the Apology and Phaedo dialogues. Each of them seems to have thought that one’s life should be spent in reason and reflection- considering the nature of the good life, and of metaphysics. This kind of philosophizing would allow you to detract yourself from those worldy desires that take up your time, and help you realize those desires more rationally than you did before. Plato even thought that since philosophers are so preoccupied with the intellect, that the best end a philosopher could hope for was death. For in death, the soul- the seat of the intellect, is released from the body that hampered it with all sorts of material concerns.

The philosopher’s life, like that of the Jain, is ideally one of strict contemplation in order to acheive the best possible actions, and to come to the fullest end, in this life or the next.

For the past few weeks I have felt relaxed, peaceful, and healthy. The vegetarian diet is something I am going to have to consider, as well as regular periods meditation. Jainism fit well with me, and I am sorry I did not have more time to study it.

But for now I am thankful that I can eat whatever I want, although it is only during the time before sunrise and after sunset. I am still not sure as to which set of prayers I will be performing. I don’t want to just take the easy way out and do the short one, but I also don’t want to perform the longer ones if I don’t have the motivation. Though, I am curious as to what it will be like to talk to God, instead of spending my time in contemplation, listening.