Philoso Tea
Philoso Tea - The Origin Party
In this blog edition we’ll be comparing and contrasting types of Philoso Teas, their origins and epistemological nature. You’ll be seeing a lot more of Philoso Tea on Dom U in the very near future. So let’s start at the denotation and then move on to several connotations you can incorporate into your reality.
Philoso Tea was started by yours truly, Dean Francesca J Rose, back in 2013, in Los Angeles, California. The first event was held at legendary Olystis Studios, back when it was in Mid City. Having been friends with the Olystis guys, most specifically legendary Gypsy Punk band Clepto, I was connected to a large community of talented artists, musicians, photographers, writers and more in the City of Angels. I decided to have a Philoso Tea with them.
Having studied Eckhart Tolle’s writings for many years, I have a soft spot for the importance of presence. Quality time and space for thinking or even not thinking, just witnessing your mind, was part of my path to sanity. I’ve also been highly influenced by the Seth Speaks - Nature of Personal Reality book, where examining thoughts and beliefs is crucial to the evolution of the human race. In the speed of modern living, I crave slowing things down. It’s so hard to catch up with myself some times, let alone people I respect, sometimes we can barely stay in the moment. What about deep thinking? The kind you might do around a camp fire when the technology is disabled. I wanted that.
I’ve always been a seeker but I already know what I know. Surrounded by all these brilliant people, I wanted to be able to pick their brains. I wanted to know what they thought, their spiritual journeys, how they interpret life’s lessons, challenges and blessings. Life lifted above the mere struggle for survival is a celebration. It is art. It has meaning and expression. Philoso Tea was born out of the desire to elevate.
In hosting the first Philoso Tea, I threw the Tea Party of the Century. How often do people have tea parties anymore? Not enough. With my love for Bone China and all things vintage, I channeled my inner Rock and Roll Mary Poppins and got to work. No body drinks out of cheap plastic at my Philoso Teas. The feminine expression of beauty and grace in domestic matters can be transcendent. The stage was set. Starting at 7pm, the wine was pouring just as hard as the tea. No liquor was provided however, nor beer. While I wasn’t opposed to anyone bringing it, I felt it was appropriate to make sure no body went to far into the deep end of the pool. I prefer buzzed philosophizing over drunken belligerent philosophizing, based on my previous experience with both. There was plenty of food. People know me well enough to know that when I say appetizers are provided, I mean that the spread is glorious enough to get a tip of the hat from Martha herself. I have a sense of dedication to feed people when I pour booze. Food grounds us. I am also the self proclaimed Queen of cheese; in more ways than one.
It’s extremely important to choose who you invite to your Philoso Teas. I prioritized the people whom I had had spiritual conversations with in the past. I wanted to make sure that no one was going through a current life situation which might cause them to project or get offended easily. No dogma junkies. It was important to make sure that anyone who came could be conscientious of other people, especially in regards to interruption. Now while most of us learned to not interrupt back in the day. Some of us, myself included, have a difficult time with that. Our minds go too fast for our own good sometimes. Often times the most gentle personalities have the greatest wisdom to share. I wanted to make sure those individuals had their platform. And even with that, it took a total group effort to make sure our emotions and excitement didn’t cause us to over step boundaries and speak over people, accidental or not. Philoso Tea looks seeks to even the playing field by facilitating time and space. It is recommended that you keep your Philoso Teas smaller in size. Thirteen is a great number, less is even more intimate. Once you get above 15 guests, you lose the efficiency of a round table discussion however.
Our primary mechanism for this event was the fish bowl. The fish bowl became our vortex. And in it, each of us threw our choice of philosophical topics, questions, statements, whatever we wanted, on paper. From there, each and every person is given the opportunity to draw from the bowl and MC. When it was your turn, you could do whatever you wanted. You could answer the question yourself. You could ask specific people or the group. You could lead a discussion. It was whatever you wanted. Respect was the only requirement.
The wine and tea poured, the discussions became deeper, and the first Philoso Tea finally ended some time after 7am, the next morning. That’s how big of a success it was. Keep in mind, no one was on mind altering drugs. The Clepto group is known for their Euro style hand rolled cigarettes, I believe that is the only thing that was being smoked though. I say this to emphasize the purity of this platform in regards to merely facilitating real conversations with real people. There was no need to shoot off to another world as we do with recreational drug use. We all wanted to be on the same page as each other. This is Philoso Tea. All you need is time, space, and the desire to explore your humanity. And a cup of tea is always nice. Rituals are grounding in their own right.
After two events at Olysis Studios, I took Philoso Tea to the streets of Hollywood Blvd. The world needs more Philoso Tea after all. With the help of my friend Sean Hart, who had been in attendance of the Olystis Philoso Teas, we brought Philoso Tea to the tourists and heathens of Hollywood. It was great! I also hosted Philoso Tea like a talk show at my home interviewing my most philosophical friends one by one. It’s amazing what brilliance comes through people when given a lil space. I knew my friends were talented but they continued to amaze me sip by sip.
Philoso Tea in the street interviews and talk show format was released on Youtube in 2015. It has recently come back alive with the help of Dom U office holder Sami A Saurus. My long time, philosophical buddy, I knew Sami was the perfect person to cohost with me. We had been trying to figure out how to bring Philoso Tea back or incorporate with Dom U but didn’t know where the time and energy would come from. Sami flew down from Seattle and cohosted a party at my house at the end of 2018. Sean Hart and most of the guys from Clepto came, Kathy from the Mermafia was there and a handful of Philoso Tea virgins. The collective experiences were very positive. Rarely do we get any time that compares to this in our lives. I flew out to Seattle just recently to co host a Philoso Tea with Sami up there. We also have footage we’re working with of Sami interviewing people in Hollywood and Beverly Hills and will be releasing soon.
Anyone can have a Philoso Tea. It’s a very rewarding time. You may enjoy meeting fascinating and brilliant people on the street, or you may enjoy simply getting to know more about the spiritual nature of the people in your life. Regardless of how you philosophize, I think it’s important to just do it! Just because we have cell phones that can burn hours of mental energy, doesn’t mean it’s a substitute for a good old fashioned silent mind. I’m not talking about a subdued mind. I’m talking about a mind that is beyond mental chatter and by just allowing, can download knowledge, wisdom, creativity, inspiration, spiritual meaning, personal understanding, and simply peace. Our minds are capable of some of the greatest things. But like all things in this world, they require time and space for the honing of our human abilities. We must examine our minds and weed out anything that gets in the way our personal evolution. As Socrates said, “the examined life is not worth living.”
The following are images from the second Philoso Tea. - Cheers, xoxo - F
