Philosophy as a project: descriptors of self-knowledge

Philosophy as a project is defined by us in practical terms, as a form of spiritual activity, spiritual practice aimed at posing, analyzing, and resolving various worldview issues related to the development of a holistic view of a person and his place in the world. The article presents the main characteristics of the philosophical project of self-knowledge, consisting in self-awareness in the present, in personal self-determination and selftransformation. These characteristics are also applicable to the educational process. The article summarizes the practical experience of building up the process of teaching philosophy based on scientific ignorance. The main factors of this process are personal interest, successful self-realization, the role of a mentor and a friendly environment. The main method is dialogue, clarifying the basic relationship of a person with being. In this context, philosophizing fulfills a therapeutic function, becoming a practice of “self-


Introduction
The essence of a philosophical project for any person is self-knowledge, and selfknowledge in the deepest forms. This problem, one way or another, is solved by a person throughout his life. It's just that a person does not always become a philosopher, he doesn't always make the necessary moves to solve this problem, because for the most part he hides behind various clichés, masks. All this entourage prevents him from understanding who he is, working with himself, realizing that with all the external gloss and successful realization in life, he remains unaware of who he is for himself [1]. And when one or another "borderline situation" casts him to itself, when the usual patterns (behavioral, speech, and mental automatisms) do not work, then he actually becomes a philosopher in an existential sense [2]. In these situations, he will need certain skills, ways of working with himself as an adequate response to the challenges that being poses to him. A person can answer this only with his authenticity, sincerity and honesty.
If I do not have experience with myself, I do not know who I am. Philosophy then becomes in demand in the sense that I would not want to think, but have to, because there is nothing else left, because I already have to deal with a situation that I cannot change [3].

Here and Now Situation and Depth
Performing a philosophical project, being in the process of realizing authenticity, a person always abides in the situation "here and now", he does not indulge in empty dreams of the future and does not "get stuck" in memories of the past. If he is, then, of course, he is "here and now", in the present [5]. Moreover, in the present in two senses of the word, as what is happening here and now, and as what is real. Constantly keeping oneself in this focus of the present is the first step. Here you need to be extremely honest with yourself in order to  prevent explicit or implicit deception or self-deception associated with the loss of  authenticity. If we are mistaken for someone else, if we are recommended or forced to do  what this other usually does, or, say, if we allow ourselves to be drawn into some social  games in which we would not like to participate, then, apparently, we should have the courage to honestly say "no" and thereby declare our humanity. Such honesty, maybe even naivety, lies in the fact that I uphold the right to be myself, which, of course, does not mean stubbornness or capricious egoism. We are talking about very subtle moments of selfknowledge, which, if I know myself, give me the opportunity to say "yes" or "no" to all questions or problem situations, simply and without cunning. And if I retain this selfawareness in myself in any situation, then it becomes for me the guiding thread leading to the solution of the tasks and problems that life poses for me. I have a guiding principle, an internal guide, "Damonion", which gives me tips, serves as a tuning fork for the soul. And through it I check my contact with reality and verify further paths [6]. It all depends on how deeply we "plunge" into ourselves. At a certain degree of depth, we begin to understand a lot of things intuitively [7]. Of course, this does not save us from mistakes, but a mistake is a great reason to learn something, to work on a mistake so that it will not be repeated later. This experience is very useful, you need to learn how to experience it, most importantly, you need not be afraid to be yourself, not be afraid to defend your position, listen to your inner voice and its prompts. Because if I don't know myself, then this is evidence that I conflict with myself, I have a deep contradiction in myself and do not attempt to resolve it. Of course, then it is difficult for me to work out some kind of "way of life", to see meaning in life. I am completely absorbed in this struggle with myself. It is necessary not only to realize this internal conflict, but also try to resolve it, to understand that this contradiction (evil, separation) is not in the world, not in a situation, not in bad weather or bad government, not in an unkind person, but the problem is in me, since my world is a projection of my state of mind. And if so, this can already be dealt with and much can be fixed. If I gathered at least some grains of the world in my soul, this can become for me those points that will give me the necessary support in life. If I understand how to control myself, my behavior, my thoughts, my speeches, I can control the world. It is amazing how people are "mesmerized" by these external images of their "I", how much they are accustomed to exist in the projection system, in this "Looking Glass", not noticing that everything is changeable, illusory, dissipates like smoke, not at all trying to figure out and comprehend the essence of the these projections source. And this is the most important thing, performing this work is the task of the philosopher, together with a person who is interested in philosophy, to clarify his guiding principle, to be aware of the clues he gives, and to be guided by them in life.

Scientific Ignorance
What else can lead a person? His doubt, if only doubt is understood philosophically, or, more precisely, his ignorance, namely, scientific ignorance, it is very important in terms of self-knowledge. It gives much more to this process for the reason that here I just gain a "new vision" when I start to question my projections (template designs of myself and the world), in fact, the shadows cast by my ego and obscuring reality. My learned ignorance makes them crumble. The less will there be me, my ego, the more I'll say, so much less (to the limit -to the level of nothing), the clearer I will see what remains, just being, the brighter it will appear. I will explain my point. My ignorance serves the moment when I can completely and completely "get distracted" from myself, from my convulsive "clinging" to the illusions that I have acquired in the world, and to open as much as possible to what is reality, to hear its "call". I get rid of my clichés (mental, verbal, perhaps scientific), all that has grown and stuck on me, and has prevented me from seeing the real picture. To break through to reality, I must free myself from all this. Knowledge of ignorance is the only knowledge in which you can be absolutely sure, therefore, it can serve as a guiding principle that guides and makes a person open to being [8]. But for this openness, I need to stop focusing on myself, on my projections, on my ego, which interferes with contact with being. The knowledge of ignorance sharpens my intuition, I become more attentive to those signals, signs, ciphers through which being, true reality, my humanity are revealed to me. In the limit -this is the only source of meaning, joy and happiness that fills my life. The only wisdom that is available to us and where we really will be wiser than everyone else is knowledge of ourselves.

Self-knowledge descriptors
At first this is the image of myself that I have formed. This image can be made up of several components, here I am, there I am different, etc., but I must understand that this is only an image -a projection of me genuine. This projection does not reveal me, but rather hides me. So, my ego is what hides my authenticity, myself. And when I sometimes say with confidence that I'm supposed to be this or that, and give some other definitions of myself, I thereby build the boundaries, protecting myself genuine from a potentially dangerous world. I create a sense of security for myself through my certainty. But in factthis is a trap from which you need to get out. Of course, this is easy to say, but very difficult to do. Imagine living without our usual self, but if we want authenticity, if we strive to know being and merge with it, it is necessary to free ourselves from our usual self [9].
Our mistake is not that we incorrectly define the phenomena, the error in the absolutization of these phenomena, but the essence is hidden behind them. To break through to the essence, you need to remove all obstacles. Life itself makes such "tricks" with us, and sooner or later we lose all our attachments, our masks are destroyed, habitual images disappear, but our mental organization, our self-image does not always keep pace with these changes. Instead, a person is a set of artificial, often caricatured images. There is a man, but there is no true humanity in him, he is completely absorbed in the struggle with his projections, and although he considers himself a normal person, he behaves like an obsessed person towards life. One has only to touch on some points of his worldview so that pain points are immediately revealed, which indicates that the usual protective images that he clings to have already "fallen away", and new ones have not yet "grown." This explains its vulnerability. Moreover, we are not talking about people with some mental disorder, we are not talking about them, we are talking about completely normal people, it's just that each of us is defenseless in some worldview issues. In order to strengthen himself, a person constantly makes excuses, gives out his wish for the reality. His speech is a heap of lies. Without the skills to work with oneself, a person is not able to unravel this tangle of contradictions [10]. Without such preliminary work, philosophizing cannot begin, because philosophical thoughts should become a fact of our consciousness, and not just a collection of borrowed sayings. Philosophizing needs fertile, well-prepared soil. It is not enough to understand philosophical thought, it must be fulfilled by the fact of one's own life. Philosophy is, first of all, a way of life.
The most essential in a philosophical project is a form. This is what shapes, and not what simply decorates. In the process of cognition, I begin to understand something, a lot is clarified for me. What does it mean? The fact that my world is reformatted is being reformed. It's just that the form that was before turned out to be distorted, imperfect, limited, because it was "cut" by the standards of my "I". My mistake is that my "guise" I decided to "dress up" the whole world. Of course, nothing good came of this other than ugliness, and nothing brought me but dissatisfaction. Therefore, we need a process of new design, formation, transformation. Form plays a decisive, leading role here. This is what will discipline our thinking, because if we do not formulate, draw up, describe, pronounce, define, then our thoughts and ideas will turn into throwing and wandering, moving in a vicious circle [11]. Form captures the thought and makes it possible to move on. The thought is gradually becoming clearer, and for its development there are ever new, more and more perfect forms. Only then the philosophical texts in which these precious forms are found will begin to convey to man their true meaning, since his mental efforts move in the same direction as the author's thoughts, like "puzzles" that fall into place, then the world around begins get a new look. Without such work, the world would seem chaotic. It is difficult to apply any philosophical text to such a picture of the world; it simply does not have a place there. Thus, personal transformation and the new design of the world are interconnected processes.
To perform a philosophical project, human transformation is imperative. If not as radical as Nietzsche figuratively describes, then it is close to this in meaning. Only then can the world take shape again, become more understandable, find its own concepts. Concepts in the Hegelian sense, and not in the formal logical. The condition of "comprehensibility" and "formality" of the world is a personal transformation. The condition for selftransformation is a gradual liberation from masks and ego-images that prevented me from this way. This guiding principle helps me to implement this work, I become more open to being, I got rid of all that is superfluous, leaving only the most important.

Philosophical project in the educational process Personal interest and self-realization
Is it possible to implement a philosophical project through the educational process? This is possible if personal interest is considered the most important in this process, because without it, the person involved in this process, firstly, does not understand what to do, and secondly, it is not clear for what purpose. Personal interest is not a superficial interest from idleness in order to have fun and spend time thoughtlessly. Personal interest is the full inclusion of feelings, thoughts, memory, preoccupation, interest. In fact, the personal interest of a person is not difficult to determine. It is enough, with the help of leading questions, to give him the opportunity to speak freely about himself. It will be interesting to any person. This helps a person to self-determine, to feel in himself a certain emptiness that he wants to fill with something, in order to fully realize himself.
Another important point, in addition to personal interest, a person engaged in educational practice should feel successful in it. Everything that I think about, how I act, that I create, all this must completely coincide with my desires. Education should strengthen awareness of the integrity of the individual, and not lead to imbalance. I, in my authenticity, should not play any roles due to a false and objective assessment system. Personal interest and successful self-realization are the main factors in a genuine educational process [12].

Mentor and friendly environment
The main role in ensuring that all this works is played by the mentor, teacher (in the broad sense of the word). He demonstrates his personal interest and successful self-realization in what is important to him. That's all, because, as a rule, a person does not study according to the principle of "do as you are prescribed", but according to the principle of "do as I do." Educational relations are human relations that are built on the principle of "I-You." They cannot be detached and faceless. The teacher is guided by his own interest, he completely and completely realizes himself in the subject. It is this "personal component" that launches the genuine educational process, awakens reciprocal interest, resonance of interests. Learning takes place through the fact that the neophyte finds his or her personality in the subject under study [13]. Another condition for a successful educational process is a special friendly atmosphere. As an example, let's say a few words about philosophical retreats on "Deep philosophy" that are held in Italy twice a year under the guidance of the American philosopher Ran Lahav [14]. The tradition of such a philosophical partnership goes back to ancient times. Classes must be held in some picturesque place, away from city noise. A better place than alpine slopes is hard to find. The participants mainly work with philosophical texts, they are completely immersed in the educational process, the session after breakfast, the session after lunch, and during breaks there are various practices of reflection and discussion, which are held in the form of joint walks. This atmosphere makes each participant a part of the studied subject, provides complete immersion in the subject, but not in order to quickly and intensively "turn on", and then completely "turn off" in thoughtless rest or entertainment -no. Even rest does not interrupt the contemplative mood. For participants in a philosophical retreat, there are unspoken rules that create the conditions for a contemplative state even during rest (quiet conversations, preference for silence, the possibility of solitude, etc.) Each determines a comfortable pace and rhythm of educational practices, consistent with individual perception, depth of penetration, personal interest.

Process steps and methods used
We start with an attempt to determine that for everyone there is his basic state of existence, so that everyone understands how his authenticity manifests itself, his living "sensory", when he most clearly feels himself. This is best understood against the background of such facts, which are death, freedom, loneliness, meaninglessness. Existential psychology works with exactly such a circle of existential problems, given facts [15]. For me, as a teacher of philosophy, it is important for everyone to turn their attention to themselves, but not so that we begin to discuss some private life problems, but so that we discover the origins of philosophy. Here, feedback is necessary for me, the personal reflection of my listeners. I, as they say, "show on myself" how I myself take care of myself in the face of these realities. The listener's reflection is his own attempt to determine his basic state, his authenticity.
After a person has decided on this, he already begins to imbue himself with an object, realizing his personal interest, begins to understand that everything that I say and offer him is not done for the sake of informing about philosophy, as a certain subject area, but as advice or spiritual exercises for his own self-care practice. This makes it possible to perceive philosophical knowledge personally, personally, opens the way to self-knowledge. There should be constant feedback, for someone it is easier to speak out during the dialogue in the audience, someone prefers to be silent, but for them there is a chance to speak in writing. As a rule, this is a very balanced, well-thought-out position, which was formed during an active hearing, silent participation in the dialogue.
When the circle of basic problems is determined, the sources of philosophy are discovered, you can begin to dive into the historical and philosophical problems. This material is not important in itself, and it is not structured by me in chronological order. Still, most of those who come to me will not study philosophy professionally, for them the idea of philosophy as a knowledge system is not so important, but for them it is important to practice philosophizing, for this you need to get acquainted with at least some the basics of philosophical tradition. Therefore, historical and philosophical material is built into my consideration and development of a particular problem. The path to the problem goes through those or other that have left a mark in culture, for example, in literature or art, philosophical subjects, philosophical statements and philosophical allegories or metaphors. All this serves as the beginning of a conversation, a "gateway" to philosophical problems. How deeply we plunge into it depends on how widely personal interest is involved and how feedback will work effectively. Of course, this does not always work out, but I believe that my profession as a teacher requires going from the public. Each lesson is devoted either to some main topic, or a problematic issue, or to some plot from the history of philosophy. A dialogue or workshop unfolds around this, it may be a short lecture. 10-15 minutes before the end of the lesson, participants are offered time for personal reflection on a key topic, problem or plot. This reflection can be carried out in various forms. It can be just a statement of thoughts, ideas; for the third or fourth lesson, I ask them to formulate their thoughts as briefly as possible 2-3 judgments, which succinctly and at the same time express the main idea as deeply as possible, where every word is worth its weight in gold. Perhaps this will be presented in a figurative, poetic form. It is necessary to carry out the maximum "contraction" of the presentation of thought and convey the whole quintessence of meaning. Oddly enough, how then the participants themselves share, writing short is much more difficult than writing in length, but it gives this very important ability to value words, to appreciate the semantic and mental capacity of words. If the "precious judgment" succeeds, it no longer needs to be fussily explained. There is a special philosophical aesthetic in this.
The main method is dialogue. Dialogue is necessary, if not external, then internal, because it just clarifies the basic relationship of man with being. There is "something important between," which is the center of gravity for dialogue. Such a philosophical attitude towards being can only be established in dialogue. The dialogue takes from different forms of objectification, isolation, alienation (either fixation on oneself or on the object) into the sphere of "I-You" relations.

Concluding observations
Of course, the modern educational system is very different from all this. This system is a cast of the industrial model of mass society. The fact that the teaching of philosophy is somehow built into this system is rather a minus than a plus for us. This is a discredit of philosophy, because in such a system it cannot exist, there is simply no place or conditions for philosophy. It's really interesting for me to discuss something in the group, but for the birth of some thoughts and ideas I need privacy. For a successful educational process such conditions are necessary. Of course, this does not mean that philosophy as an educational subject is impossible, but special conditions are necessary for engaging in philosophy. Nothing prevents us from creating such conditions: setting the necessary mood, preparatory exercises, so that people understand that this is real practice, searching for oneself, taking care of oneself, and not just a set of template knowledge for general erudition. The educational process seems to us just such, especially since everything related to the study of philosophy is very individual, personal and even intimate.
Philosophizing requires individual work. Of course, in academic terms, this means "working overtime," but I'm satisfied. So, feedback has been established. It is clear that such feedback cannot be established in droves. This does not need to be done. But when a personal interest arises, then my advice on what can be read and discussed, for a deeper understanding, makes sense. The most important thing is that a person understands that philosophizing is his own work with himself, no one will carry out this work for him, work that can bring him personal liberation, the ability to be authentic. If I notice these moments of self-transformation, communicating with my listeners, I feel useful, my activity makes sense. Philosophy as a subject of study fulfills this unique function. It's hard for me to imagine any other subject that would be so suitable for this function. Unlike other academic subjects, philosophy is specific not only by some invariantly rigid subject area, but by its own method, the way of working with its subject content.
The article was prepared as part of assignment No. 35.5758.2017/BS "Philosophical practice as a new paradigm of modern socio-humanitarian research" of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation on government work in the field of scientific activity and the RFBR project No. 17-33-00021-OGN "Theory and the practice of philosophical counseling: a comparative approach."