Purpose Recall
Recall your purpose through the Socratic method
You've been here before.
Children remembering their past lives1. Patients under hypnosis asked to remember their earliest memory routinely going further back2 than their physical birth. Retrocognitions3 under meditation, trance, or mystical experience whether assisted or unassisted by entheogens4. Reincarnation is only a theory for those who choose to overlook the evidence.
You're back for a reason.
Those who remember it can play the game they were meant to. Those who end up playing another’s fail to actualize themselves even if they win. Without a clear sense of purpose, even if you’re good at navigating reality, choosing optimally between the myriad of options that are available to you today becomes impossible. A compass can’t help you if you’re not sure where you’re going. Those who are, can get there. Those who are not, rarely will.
Life changes if you know.
Those who have a why in life can endure any how. Finally, every step feels like progress towards destiny rather than a detour away from it or a meaningless exercise. Doubts decrease and decisions become easier. Evolution becomes palpable, like a shoot that finally receives the sun and marshals its inner resources to move towards it, gradually transcending its old form and awakening to a new purpose that is now revealed to it from higher evolutionary heights.
You may need a different mirror to find your calling.
Your success can be your prison. When you’re good at something, people expect you to keep doing it. Changing course becomes harder when the whole crew of your life (colleagues, friends & family, and significant others) all signed up with one version of yourself. You worked so hard to build the identity that brought you some success & sense of belonging, but in the process you may feel important parts of you were forgotten or never explored.
What questions spark recall?
Some are trained in asking them.
Many people are unaware that the Socratic method, which is a key chapter in a philosopher’s education, aims to facilitate through dialectical dialogue the process of anamnesis (an ancient Greek word for recalling innate wisdom that is forgotten between incarnations) with the philosopher serving as a maia (the ancient Greek word for midwife) to their interlocutor’s birthing of their truths.
Purpose Recall is a modern application of the Socratic method where I use my formal philosophical training and everything I’ve learned from a life dedicated to the love of wisdom to facilitate recall of a soul’s purpose at any given point of its journey.
“As the soul is immortal, has been born often, and has seen all things here and in the underworld, there is nothing which it has not learned; so it is in no way surprising that it can recollect the things it knew before, both about virtue and other things.”
Socrates, in Plato’s Meno.
What are the benefits of Purpose Recall?
Self-actualization
Less FOMO more JOMO
Attract your tribe
Endure any how
Overcome nihilism
Recover wonder
What facilitates those benefits in Purpose Recall sessions?
Maieutics
The philosopher’s goal in applying the Socratic method, the art of cooperative dialogue and argumentation, is not to supply prefabricated information to their interlocutor about their purpose but to question them in a way that helps them bring forth any presuppositions around it and give birth to their own understanding5. This is why Socrates claimed he was an expert in maieutics, the art of being a philosophical midwife, which eventually came to be known as the Socratic method.
Resistance Detection
It may sound counter-intuitive but often people unconsciously resist becoming aware of their purpose because acknowledging it would bring disruption into their lives. Unawareness in being averse to seeking, acknowledging, and receiving information about our purpose that comes into conflict with our underlying biases and psychological defenses6 may unwittingly hinder our attempts to recall it7.
Anamnesis
The Socratic method wasn’t merely a novel way to engage in philosophical conversation. It was a way to recall innate knowledge residing in the soul forgotten between incarnations. To ignite this process, called anamnesis, the philosophers of antiquity, in addition to Socratic dialectics, engaged in spiritual exercises to purify the mind and make it more amenable to recall. Since many of these exercises have been lost, we’ll be doing a few based on historical records and others on educated guesses and modern experimentation of what best facilitates anamnesis of our purpose.
Amor Fati (Love of Fate)
It’s not enough to recall our purpose. We must learn how to love it, otherwise we’ll never fully live it. Just like with any new realization in our lives, sometimes recalling our purpose may produce a mix of dread and wonder. On the one hand, we’re thrilled to feel the call of destiny and have a clear sense of direction. On the other, we may dread the obstacles, changes, and sacrifices we’ll need to make in order to pursue it. During these times it’s helpful to have a guide who is familiar with the terrain. Someone who has paid a personal price in order to have the right to talk about their efforts towards their purpose. I’ve been paying that price for the last 23 years. But I didn’t always do it gladly. I’m here to help you learn to love your fate. To offer the lessons without getting the scars.
Ready to start?
Testimonials
"It takes skill and passion to connect with people. This is something that Alexandros carries with him with his philosophical insight and empathic intuition...he truly cares about people and what they have to say."
Danielle Siembieda, Managing Director, Leonardo/ISAST.
"I have never left a conversation with Alexandros without feeling like a better human being and having learned something new. This is what makes him special. This is his super power. This is why working with him is so worth it."
Mona Green, Life Coach & Artist.
"Alexandros is an extremely wise person that has been fundamental over the last 10 years in shifting my perspective...getting a download from Alexandros is like injecting truth serum into my veins..."
Tom Currier, Thiel Fellow, Inventor, Entrepreneur.
"Alexandros is a great thinker who always asks the smartest questions in the room. I have consistently been impressed with our debates about tech, trends, the society and the human condition..."
Niko Bonatsos, Managing Director, General Catalyst.
"You are unlikely to meet another human being with a comparable grasp of history, philosophy, and human nature...capable of exercising the faculties of intelligence & compassion to a higher degree."
Juan-Carlos Foust, Software Engineer, at Fluence.
"Alexandros has an incredible way of connecting quickly, engaging deeply, and in a very natural way having the types of conversations that lead to growth."
Melissa Ngan, Musician, CEO at Fifth House Ensemble.