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Featured Guest:
Melissa Andrade Costa Professor, New Acropolis USA and Brasil North Director, Nike Consultancy Published August 14, 2025 In this 7th interview for Wisdom for Wannabes, host Jackie Morreale interviews Professor Melissa Andrade Costa, a dedicated educator and philosopher, and professor of philosophy with New Acropolis USA and North Brasil. They discuss Melissa's journey into philosophy, her passion for teaching, and the importance of connecting high ideals to everyday life. The conversation explores the role of philosophy in personal growth, the significance of dialogue, and practical advice for integrating philosophical practices into daily routines. Melissa shares insights on the challenges of adulthood, the value of learning from experiences, and the importance of community in the pursuit of wisdom. |
Full Interview with Melissa Andrade Costa:
"If we do things with excellence, with care, with love, we want to do it the best we can, it gives us such a feeling of fulfillment. It warms up our heart by just doing well, whatever we do."
- Melissa Andrade Costa, New Acropolis (Wisdom for Wannabes podcast episode 16, 29:15)
More great quotes from the interview with Melissa Andrade Costa of New Acropolis USA and Brasil North:
(More great quotes throughout the transcript in blue below.)
- "We can learn from everyone."
- "It's a matter of attitude."
- "We need to belong as well."
(More great quotes throughout the transcript in blue below.)
Melissa Andrade Costa
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Key Takeaways:
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Interview Transcript:
Jackie Morreale (00:00): Hello, my name is Jackie Morreale and I am the host of Wisdom for Wannabes, a new podcast series that seeks to discover wise words in business, beauty and betterment. Today I am joined by a very special guest who I have had the pleasure of knowing and learning philosophy from for the past year as part of the class that she teaches as a volunteer for New Acropolis USA.
It is my pleasure to introduce Professor Melissa Andrade Costa, who is a professor at New Acropolis for over 20 years, teaching a variety of courses including ethics, sociopolitics, symbology, Eastern philosophy, and psychology with a philosophical approach. She currently serves as the National Secretary of Institutional Relations for New Acropolis in the Brazil North Sector and is also collaborating professor at New Acropolis in the USA.
Professionally, Melissa is a senior evaluator consultant with over 20 years of experience working with the United Nations agencies at the global, regional, and national levels. She has primarily worked in Latin America, Sub-Saharan Africa, and Southeast Asia, covering areas such as intellectual property, human rights, child protection, security, health, migration, and gender equality.
Professor Melissa is enthusiastic about exploring the inner mysteries of life, connecting with life's higher purpose and bringing timeless philosophy into today's world as a tool for improvement. She is dedicated to finding new ways to awaken and renew the human soul as a foundation for societal change.
It is my pleasure to provide a warm welcome for you Melissa. Thank you so much for joining today!
Melissa Andrade Costa (01:49): It's really a pleasure, Jackie. Thank you so much for the invitation. I'm happy about your project, Wisdom for Wannabes. I love the name.
Jackie Morreale (01:58): Thank you! Let's start with some background questions. Can you please tell us your hometown and your current location?
Melissa Andrade Costa (02:05): I'm currently based in Brasilia. I was born in Brazil, in Brasilia. I have lived here most of my life, but I have traveled to many countries. I have lived in the US, in Canada, and also in the UK, but I'm now based in Brasilia, the capital of Brazil.
Jackie Morreale (02:22): You are my first international guest on this podcast and I'm so excited to have you with us today. In a few words, what do you do and what is your passion?
Melissa Andrade Costa (02:29): Thank you. Jackie, on a volunteer basis, I'm a professor at New Acropolis, which is the International School of Philosophy, where we promote the arts and we also practice volunteerism. And what is my passion? My passion is really about understanding the big picture in life. It has always been since I was a child.
It's about serving and being a volunteer. All the work we do in New Acropolis is volunteer. It's really about connecting to high ideals and bringing those high ideals to everyday life and also public policy. That's something now that I'm aspiring to do more. It is to make those ancient traditions and old knowledge from the past to come back and inspire policymakers so that we can actually bring those ideals back into society because I think they're a little bit lost. I think we're a little bit lost in the way we run society today.
I think it's very timely that we can actually bring those old ideas and old knowledge to our society today and renew our soul. That's my purpose and my passion now.
Jackie Morreale (03:40): Love it. You are changing the world every day, Professor Melissa. I feel very inspired by you and thank you for all this work that you're doing.
Melissa Andrade Costa (03:49): It's my pleasure and it's an honor that you have joined us in New Acropolis.
Jackie Morreale (03:53): What is your favorite part of your job?
Melissa Andrade Costa (03:55): As a professor in New Acropolis, it's about preparing the class and connecting to these high ideas. As I practice my classes and talk about justice and talk about the good, I'm challenged to actually see those ideas in my daily life. I think it's a great joy to be able to connect to those high ideas, be inspired by them.
Try to make them alive in the way I lead my life so that I can share that with my students. I think a great part of the work is connecting to people like you. What we see, Jackie, I'm here in Brazil, you're there in the US, but we all have the same needs. We all want to be happy. We all want to find purpose. We all want to have harmonious relationships.
The answers I give to my life can be useful for you. The answers you give to your own life can be useful to me as well. I think that exchanging experiences, trying to live those ideas and connect to people like yourself and like people who might be watching us is a pleasure. We're all together in this endeavor of making life more purposeful and also serving in a better way. That's what I like the most, getting in touch with ideas, teaching them, and trying to live them in my everyday life in conversations like this one.
Jackie Morreale (05:11): You are doing that and so far beyond that. Let’s get to know you even better with some quick fire questions.
Professor Melissa, what is your favorite food?
Melissa Andrade Costa (05:21): Anything that feeds the body and the soul. I'm quite flexible on it.
Jackie Morreale (05:25): Love it. What is your favorite book to read?
Melissa Andrade Costa (05:28): It's difficult to talk about one single book, Jackie. There's just so many books. I can tell you about a book that I just went through last year for the second or third time, which is a book called Tao Te Ching, which is from the Chinese tradition. It helped me go through a period of change that I had last year. It was very helpful because it talks about the ever-changing life that we have. That was very insightful.
Jackie Morreale (05:56): Right at the top of my pile is Confucius and this collection in Lao Tzu. We're literally on the same page with that one. What is your favorite animal?
Melissa Andrade Costa (06:11): I have two cats at home. I really like cats. I think cats make us better human beings. We help with their evolvement, but they help us, bringing us a lot of care. I really like them.
Jackie Morreale (06:22): Your favorite two animals. That's fair. I agree having a pet has changed life and is wonderful. What is your favorite flower?
Melissa Andrade Costa (06:29): I like sunflowers, because they're always directed towards the sun and they shine and they bring joy and inspiration. Whenever I can, I have some flowers around. I like them a lot.
Jackie Morreale (06:31): Beautiful. What is your favorite place?
Melissa Andrade Costa (06:44): You know what my favorite place is, Jackie? My heart. In Chinese philosophy, the heart is where our home is. In acupuncture and all the Chinese medicine, they have the heart as our home. My favorite place is my heart because it doesn't matter where you are. You can live anywhere, you're going to be fine. You adapt. You're flexible. You adjust.
Jackie Morreale (07:03): I totally agree. I love that answer. Who is your favorite philosopher, if you can't pick yourself?
Melissa Andrade Costa (07:14): A philosopher that inspires me a lot, a thinker, that is Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, the Russian philosopher, who was responsible for bringing a lot of the Eastern tradition and knowledge to the West in the 19th Century. She was an example of a very brave woman who defied a lot of prejudice and ideas at her time.
I'm deeply grateful for her because what she brings to us is very enlightening in terms of answers. I pledge my homage to her because she's an inspiration, as a very dedicated person who opened doors so that we could have a grasp of that very profound knowledge that we have today in New Acropolis.
Jackie Morreale (08:01): I completely agree. Reading her book, the one that we read for the course, The Voice of Silence, I can only imagine her journey of going to Tibet and living among monks as a Russian woman and understanding their culture, way of life, language well enough to transcribe it into this book that spread these ideas from the East around the world.
Melissa Andrade Costa (08:02): She had her life dedicated towards bringing those ideas. So she's an example.
Jackie Morreale (08:25): And a pioneer! Do you have a hidden talent?
Melissa Andrade Costa (08:33): I think I have creativity, as a hidden talent in the sense that I love the arts, I like writing as well. I think imagination really connects us to higher grounds. That's one thing that Blavatsky would say, that our imagination is a door to our higher self.
I feel very connected to that, getting inspiration for my imagination and putting those ideas into practice. So creating, and writing.
Jackie Morreale (09:00): I can't wait to read more of your writing and see where that creativity takes you.
Being in your class and learning from you, I know able to use your imagination to create these analogies with different things in daily life and how they relate to centuries old philosophical ideas.
I've learned a lot from you in that way because you're able to make it relevant to me and to other people in what we're experiencing every day. You always pick the best pictures to illustrate whatever concept you're talking about, the most beautiful pictures that really resonate and give me a visual to understand a difficult complex concept. Thank you for applying your creativity in the classroom as well.
(Continued below)
It is my pleasure to introduce Professor Melissa Andrade Costa, who is a professor at New Acropolis for over 20 years, teaching a variety of courses including ethics, sociopolitics, symbology, Eastern philosophy, and psychology with a philosophical approach. She currently serves as the National Secretary of Institutional Relations for New Acropolis in the Brazil North Sector and is also collaborating professor at New Acropolis in the USA.
Professionally, Melissa is a senior evaluator consultant with over 20 years of experience working with the United Nations agencies at the global, regional, and national levels. She has primarily worked in Latin America, Sub-Saharan Africa, and Southeast Asia, covering areas such as intellectual property, human rights, child protection, security, health, migration, and gender equality.
Professor Melissa is enthusiastic about exploring the inner mysteries of life, connecting with life's higher purpose and bringing timeless philosophy into today's world as a tool for improvement. She is dedicated to finding new ways to awaken and renew the human soul as a foundation for societal change.
It is my pleasure to provide a warm welcome for you Melissa. Thank you so much for joining today!
Melissa Andrade Costa (01:49): It's really a pleasure, Jackie. Thank you so much for the invitation. I'm happy about your project, Wisdom for Wannabes. I love the name.
Jackie Morreale (01:58): Thank you! Let's start with some background questions. Can you please tell us your hometown and your current location?
Melissa Andrade Costa (02:05): I'm currently based in Brasilia. I was born in Brazil, in Brasilia. I have lived here most of my life, but I have traveled to many countries. I have lived in the US, in Canada, and also in the UK, but I'm now based in Brasilia, the capital of Brazil.
Jackie Morreale (02:22): You are my first international guest on this podcast and I'm so excited to have you with us today. In a few words, what do you do and what is your passion?
Melissa Andrade Costa (02:29): Thank you. Jackie, on a volunteer basis, I'm a professor at New Acropolis, which is the International School of Philosophy, where we promote the arts and we also practice volunteerism. And what is my passion? My passion is really about understanding the big picture in life. It has always been since I was a child.
It's about serving and being a volunteer. All the work we do in New Acropolis is volunteer. It's really about connecting to high ideals and bringing those high ideals to everyday life and also public policy. That's something now that I'm aspiring to do more. It is to make those ancient traditions and old knowledge from the past to come back and inspire policymakers so that we can actually bring those ideals back into society because I think they're a little bit lost. I think we're a little bit lost in the way we run society today.
I think it's very timely that we can actually bring those old ideas and old knowledge to our society today and renew our soul. That's my purpose and my passion now.
Jackie Morreale (03:40): Love it. You are changing the world every day, Professor Melissa. I feel very inspired by you and thank you for all this work that you're doing.
Melissa Andrade Costa (03:49): It's my pleasure and it's an honor that you have joined us in New Acropolis.
Jackie Morreale (03:53): What is your favorite part of your job?
Melissa Andrade Costa (03:55): As a professor in New Acropolis, it's about preparing the class and connecting to these high ideas. As I practice my classes and talk about justice and talk about the good, I'm challenged to actually see those ideas in my daily life. I think it's a great joy to be able to connect to those high ideas, be inspired by them.
Try to make them alive in the way I lead my life so that I can share that with my students. I think a great part of the work is connecting to people like you. What we see, Jackie, I'm here in Brazil, you're there in the US, but we all have the same needs. We all want to be happy. We all want to find purpose. We all want to have harmonious relationships.
The answers I give to my life can be useful for you. The answers you give to your own life can be useful to me as well. I think that exchanging experiences, trying to live those ideas and connect to people like yourself and like people who might be watching us is a pleasure. We're all together in this endeavor of making life more purposeful and also serving in a better way. That's what I like the most, getting in touch with ideas, teaching them, and trying to live them in my everyday life in conversations like this one.
Jackie Morreale (05:11): You are doing that and so far beyond that. Let’s get to know you even better with some quick fire questions.
Professor Melissa, what is your favorite food?
Melissa Andrade Costa (05:21): Anything that feeds the body and the soul. I'm quite flexible on it.
Jackie Morreale (05:25): Love it. What is your favorite book to read?
Melissa Andrade Costa (05:28): It's difficult to talk about one single book, Jackie. There's just so many books. I can tell you about a book that I just went through last year for the second or third time, which is a book called Tao Te Ching, which is from the Chinese tradition. It helped me go through a period of change that I had last year. It was very helpful because it talks about the ever-changing life that we have. That was very insightful.
Jackie Morreale (05:56): Right at the top of my pile is Confucius and this collection in Lao Tzu. We're literally on the same page with that one. What is your favorite animal?
Melissa Andrade Costa (06:11): I have two cats at home. I really like cats. I think cats make us better human beings. We help with their evolvement, but they help us, bringing us a lot of care. I really like them.
Jackie Morreale (06:22): Your favorite two animals. That's fair. I agree having a pet has changed life and is wonderful. What is your favorite flower?
Melissa Andrade Costa (06:29): I like sunflowers, because they're always directed towards the sun and they shine and they bring joy and inspiration. Whenever I can, I have some flowers around. I like them a lot.
Jackie Morreale (06:31): Beautiful. What is your favorite place?
Melissa Andrade Costa (06:44): You know what my favorite place is, Jackie? My heart. In Chinese philosophy, the heart is where our home is. In acupuncture and all the Chinese medicine, they have the heart as our home. My favorite place is my heart because it doesn't matter where you are. You can live anywhere, you're going to be fine. You adapt. You're flexible. You adjust.
Jackie Morreale (07:03): I totally agree. I love that answer. Who is your favorite philosopher, if you can't pick yourself?
Melissa Andrade Costa (07:14): A philosopher that inspires me a lot, a thinker, that is Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, the Russian philosopher, who was responsible for bringing a lot of the Eastern tradition and knowledge to the West in the 19th Century. She was an example of a very brave woman who defied a lot of prejudice and ideas at her time.
I'm deeply grateful for her because what she brings to us is very enlightening in terms of answers. I pledge my homage to her because she's an inspiration, as a very dedicated person who opened doors so that we could have a grasp of that very profound knowledge that we have today in New Acropolis.
Jackie Morreale (08:01): I completely agree. Reading her book, the one that we read for the course, The Voice of Silence, I can only imagine her journey of going to Tibet and living among monks as a Russian woman and understanding their culture, way of life, language well enough to transcribe it into this book that spread these ideas from the East around the world.
Melissa Andrade Costa (08:02): She had her life dedicated towards bringing those ideas. So she's an example.
Jackie Morreale (08:25): And a pioneer! Do you have a hidden talent?
Melissa Andrade Costa (08:33): I think I have creativity, as a hidden talent in the sense that I love the arts, I like writing as well. I think imagination really connects us to higher grounds. That's one thing that Blavatsky would say, that our imagination is a door to our higher self.
I feel very connected to that, getting inspiration for my imagination and putting those ideas into practice. So creating, and writing.
Jackie Morreale (09:00): I can't wait to read more of your writing and see where that creativity takes you.
Being in your class and learning from you, I know able to use your imagination to create these analogies with different things in daily life and how they relate to centuries old philosophical ideas.
I've learned a lot from you in that way because you're able to make it relevant to me and to other people in what we're experiencing every day. You always pick the best pictures to illustrate whatever concept you're talking about, the most beautiful pictures that really resonate and give me a visual to understand a difficult complex concept. Thank you for applying your creativity in the classroom as well.
(Continued below)
New Acropolis "Farm" in Goias, Brazil:
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Members of New Acropolis Brasil North at the "Farm" in Goias, Brazil.
Members of New Acropolis Brasil North at the "Farm" in Goias, Brazil, doing a philosophy "grounding" practice outside.
(Continued)
Jackie Morreale: Let's talk more about you and your educational background. You've studied in Brazil as well as in London. How has your educational background contributed to your career and your teaching now?
Melissa Andrade Costa (09:51): Jackie, I studied in Brazil, I studied in the UK, but for my role in New Acropolis, which is teaching philosophy, is pretty much what I learned in New Acropolis. I really liked all the schools I went to from a technical perspective and had a lot of insights in terms of the world as it is.
In New Acropolis, as I dove into Plato, for example, and I looked at the archetypes and a better world vision, when I came into my first political science class in university, I was very fortunate to bring in a different perspective, because the way we see politics today and political science, it's much more from a pragmatic, Machiavellic perspective as opposed to a Platonic perspective.
I was fortunate to make that clash within myself and see that there are other ways of looking at the world. The way the university has to present to you the world is only one possibility. What really made me the way I am today was the philosophical perspective that I had access to, because it helped me look at the world from a more idealistic perspective – not idealistic in the naive sense, but idealistic in the sense of looking at things as how they ought to be as an ideal and it is how it made sense to me.
What often happens is that we are presented in university to a world perspective that's only grounded on things as they are, but with no dreams attached to it. I think that's really a problem with university nowadays. What was important was the myriad of classes I had with Luis Carlos Marques Fonseca, with all the professors in the New Acropolis, that helped me open up my mind. When I was a child, I had a dream of learning how the world worked. Understanding how the world worked and navigating through it and helping change it.
What I was presented to was with perspectives of the beginning of the world with Blavatsky in Cosmogenesis, the dawn of mankind with a different perspective. It helped me go into the heart of the world, so it broadened my mind in a beautiful way that I really enjoy.
It helps me in my work. I do evaluation, I do the technical things, but with a philosophical perspective, and it makes a big difference. When you see the underlying patterns of life, you can understand the big picture and see what's behind in terms of human nature. In any organization, you work with marketing, you work with management of business, the dramas of organizations, they repeat themselves everywhere you go.
I went to Africa, Latin America and Southeast Asia, but human nature repeats itself. The same patterns come back and back again. It's about human connection and understanding human life wherever you go. It's not only technical, it's not only context specific, but it's universal. It really helped me in my own work. To connect to both worlds. The technical side, as you're doing now, you are going to do statistics.
With the underlying patterns of life, then it brings meaning to whatever you do. It brings more depth. It brings you a way of looking at the world that's more insightful and not only technical. I think that combination of both types of knowledge was very important to me.
Jackie Morreale (13:10): Tell us a little bit more about your work. I know that you're the director for Nike Consultancy in Brazil and you work all around the world from Africa to Southeast Asia, Brazil, US. How do your evaluations of international organizations affect the nonprofit world?
Melissa Andrade Costa (13:28): Jackie, evaluation is really about finding out what's going well and what's not going so well. You bring insights into reality. The experience I had in doing evaluations for the UN, say in Honduras, for example, or in other countries, is that it's really good for you to have an outside perspective who's not involved in daily life so that you bring new insights to whatever is taking place on the ground.
I help to do the dialogue between policymakers and NGOs and different types of people, and bring different types of people together so they can dialogue and it can from an outside perspective bring insights into what's happening. They can reflect upon their own practice and do it better in the future. That's actually what I do in class as well for you as students of philosophy, dialogue. I've learned that dialogue is really key.
Asking the right questions, so that you make people think and as they think, they have insights and realizations and that helps them evolve. That can be in an organizational setting, it can be at a philosophical class, it can be anywhere. It's about dialogue. I think philosophy has a lot to do with dialogue and evaluation as well, because it's about putting different people together and helping them think about how they can do better in the future. That's what I do in different countries and parts of the world.
(Continued below)
Jackie Morreale: Let's talk more about you and your educational background. You've studied in Brazil as well as in London. How has your educational background contributed to your career and your teaching now?
Melissa Andrade Costa (09:51): Jackie, I studied in Brazil, I studied in the UK, but for my role in New Acropolis, which is teaching philosophy, is pretty much what I learned in New Acropolis. I really liked all the schools I went to from a technical perspective and had a lot of insights in terms of the world as it is.
In New Acropolis, as I dove into Plato, for example, and I looked at the archetypes and a better world vision, when I came into my first political science class in university, I was very fortunate to bring in a different perspective, because the way we see politics today and political science, it's much more from a pragmatic, Machiavellic perspective as opposed to a Platonic perspective.
I was fortunate to make that clash within myself and see that there are other ways of looking at the world. The way the university has to present to you the world is only one possibility. What really made me the way I am today was the philosophical perspective that I had access to, because it helped me look at the world from a more idealistic perspective – not idealistic in the naive sense, but idealistic in the sense of looking at things as how they ought to be as an ideal and it is how it made sense to me.
What often happens is that we are presented in university to a world perspective that's only grounded on things as they are, but with no dreams attached to it. I think that's really a problem with university nowadays. What was important was the myriad of classes I had with Luis Carlos Marques Fonseca, with all the professors in the New Acropolis, that helped me open up my mind. When I was a child, I had a dream of learning how the world worked. Understanding how the world worked and navigating through it and helping change it.
What I was presented to was with perspectives of the beginning of the world with Blavatsky in Cosmogenesis, the dawn of mankind with a different perspective. It helped me go into the heart of the world, so it broadened my mind in a beautiful way that I really enjoy.
It helps me in my work. I do evaluation, I do the technical things, but with a philosophical perspective, and it makes a big difference. When you see the underlying patterns of life, you can understand the big picture and see what's behind in terms of human nature. In any organization, you work with marketing, you work with management of business, the dramas of organizations, they repeat themselves everywhere you go.
I went to Africa, Latin America and Southeast Asia, but human nature repeats itself. The same patterns come back and back again. It's about human connection and understanding human life wherever you go. It's not only technical, it's not only context specific, but it's universal. It really helped me in my own work. To connect to both worlds. The technical side, as you're doing now, you are going to do statistics.
With the underlying patterns of life, then it brings meaning to whatever you do. It brings more depth. It brings you a way of looking at the world that's more insightful and not only technical. I think that combination of both types of knowledge was very important to me.
Jackie Morreale (13:10): Tell us a little bit more about your work. I know that you're the director for Nike Consultancy in Brazil and you work all around the world from Africa to Southeast Asia, Brazil, US. How do your evaluations of international organizations affect the nonprofit world?
Melissa Andrade Costa (13:28): Jackie, evaluation is really about finding out what's going well and what's not going so well. You bring insights into reality. The experience I had in doing evaluations for the UN, say in Honduras, for example, or in other countries, is that it's really good for you to have an outside perspective who's not involved in daily life so that you bring new insights to whatever is taking place on the ground.
I help to do the dialogue between policymakers and NGOs and different types of people, and bring different types of people together so they can dialogue and it can from an outside perspective bring insights into what's happening. They can reflect upon their own practice and do it better in the future. That's actually what I do in class as well for you as students of philosophy, dialogue. I've learned that dialogue is really key.
Asking the right questions, so that you make people think and as they think, they have insights and realizations and that helps them evolve. That can be in an organizational setting, it can be at a philosophical class, it can be anywhere. It's about dialogue. I think philosophy has a lot to do with dialogue and evaluation as well, because it's about putting different people together and helping them think about how they can do better in the future. That's what I do in different countries and parts of the world.
(Continued below)
Watch more interviews with Professor Melissa Andrade Costa!
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(Continued)
Jackie Morreale (14:52): You have a real talent for communicating and for figuring out human nature and connecting with people. It's so interesting to me that despite different organizations, different situations, classroom versus career, you're able to find patterns that repeat. It's so interesting to me how you apply your philosophy for over 20 years of learning to your daily life.
You're able to apply one to the other and make such an impact.
Melissa Andrade Costa (15:21): Very often people, we all do, we separate things in our minds in terms of, the spiritual life, high concepts and ideals, and our daily life. That's something that is moving me a lot: Trying to make the bridge and be one, in the things that we do.
That's something I'm learning with my professor as well, Luis Carlos Marques Fonseca, which is really about bringing presence in our heart and our soul into everything that we do in our daily life, from washing the dishes, having the car washed, doing business and grocery shopping, et cetera.
Because if we're in the supermarket and we're there and happy and present. We're spiritual beings going through the supermarket, making our shopping, and making the bridge. It's not a stop in meditating and then just going there and shopping. It's two different worlds that do not connect.
No, it's the opposite. I think that is the greatest challenge in legacy. We as human beings need to live for the world as it is now, and make the bridge. We came from an era of middle age, where it was all about religion, but in a shallow way. Now it's all about reason. But it's not religion versus reason. It's not spirituality versus reason and technical things. It's about us being very intuitive, and at the same time, very rational. It's about being very grounded and at the same time, very inspirational. We need to do and be both.
We have to build and lead for generations to come, but we need to be able to do it ourselves. That's why we're here, because it's not up to someone else to do it. It's up to us to live well in life and harmonize all the things we have to do with our soul and not being ashamed of talking about those things because they're a taboo today. We can't talk about God, about spiritual values, about self because it's a taboo. We have to be professional and serious. No, we have to be human beings! With our soul, with our heart and be serious about doing business, but with light, with joy.
In a natural and spiritual way. It's about both, being spiritual being in a mundane world and connecting both.
Jackie Morreale (17:42): Well, a very smart professor that I know told us one day in class that it is up to us to decide who we are, whether we're happy or not, whether we feel at home. It is a choice. I really appreciate that advice. And I choose to be happy.
I hope that I can just take some of your energy and bottle it up and sprinkle it on for those days when you don't quite feel the vibe of being yourself or happy or present or whatever.
I love your idea that there is a bridge and that we should be our authentic self no matter what the situation, the circumstance, that we are one person, one being trying to survive and be spiritual and be rational and be technical and everything.
Melissa Andrade Costa (18:09): It's enriching, to be living all of that, technical and inspirational and spiritual and artistic. Life is very rich, full of experiences. It's so good that we're able to do it all, it's part of being human.
Jackie Morreale (18:32): I totally agree. I need to know, how did you first encounter New Acropolis, Brazil, USA, and when?
Melissa Andrade Costa (18:46): Jackie, I was a teenager, I was 17, going to my last year of high school. I saw this poster up in a little shop and I joined. It was a branch that was opening close to where I lived at the time.
When I was 17, I did a lot of searching. I started going to a lot of different places, and New Acropolis was one of the first doors that I opened to look for answers. When I did my first level, 30 years ago, that was when I encountered Plotinus.
He explains where it all comes from, from the One, that we come back to this world, in search of experiences and learning, and it all goes back to the One again. It seems so simple, yet so profound. It made the whole sense in the world to me. I thinking about where we came from, where we are and where we need to go to. That's what life is all about. We came from the same source. We're here, living our experiences, and we're going back to the same source again. When I joined New Acropolis, and I read the Bhagavad Gita, this traditional Hindu book, I found it was so enlightening to see other ways of talking about God.
That was not the God from the Old Testament, very strict. I found that it was very enlightening. There are different paths, there are different ways, there are different languages that you connect to. I found that was very inspiring.
(Continued below)
Jackie Morreale (14:52): You have a real talent for communicating and for figuring out human nature and connecting with people. It's so interesting to me that despite different organizations, different situations, classroom versus career, you're able to find patterns that repeat. It's so interesting to me how you apply your philosophy for over 20 years of learning to your daily life.
You're able to apply one to the other and make such an impact.
Melissa Andrade Costa (15:21): Very often people, we all do, we separate things in our minds in terms of, the spiritual life, high concepts and ideals, and our daily life. That's something that is moving me a lot: Trying to make the bridge and be one, in the things that we do.
That's something I'm learning with my professor as well, Luis Carlos Marques Fonseca, which is really about bringing presence in our heart and our soul into everything that we do in our daily life, from washing the dishes, having the car washed, doing business and grocery shopping, et cetera.
Because if we're in the supermarket and we're there and happy and present. We're spiritual beings going through the supermarket, making our shopping, and making the bridge. It's not a stop in meditating and then just going there and shopping. It's two different worlds that do not connect.
No, it's the opposite. I think that is the greatest challenge in legacy. We as human beings need to live for the world as it is now, and make the bridge. We came from an era of middle age, where it was all about religion, but in a shallow way. Now it's all about reason. But it's not religion versus reason. It's not spirituality versus reason and technical things. It's about us being very intuitive, and at the same time, very rational. It's about being very grounded and at the same time, very inspirational. We need to do and be both.
We have to build and lead for generations to come, but we need to be able to do it ourselves. That's why we're here, because it's not up to someone else to do it. It's up to us to live well in life and harmonize all the things we have to do with our soul and not being ashamed of talking about those things because they're a taboo today. We can't talk about God, about spiritual values, about self because it's a taboo. We have to be professional and serious. No, we have to be human beings! With our soul, with our heart and be serious about doing business, but with light, with joy.
In a natural and spiritual way. It's about both, being spiritual being in a mundane world and connecting both.
Jackie Morreale (17:42): Well, a very smart professor that I know told us one day in class that it is up to us to decide who we are, whether we're happy or not, whether we feel at home. It is a choice. I really appreciate that advice. And I choose to be happy.
I hope that I can just take some of your energy and bottle it up and sprinkle it on for those days when you don't quite feel the vibe of being yourself or happy or present or whatever.
I love your idea that there is a bridge and that we should be our authentic self no matter what the situation, the circumstance, that we are one person, one being trying to survive and be spiritual and be rational and be technical and everything.
Melissa Andrade Costa (18:09): It's enriching, to be living all of that, technical and inspirational and spiritual and artistic. Life is very rich, full of experiences. It's so good that we're able to do it all, it's part of being human.
Jackie Morreale (18:32): I totally agree. I need to know, how did you first encounter New Acropolis, Brazil, USA, and when?
Melissa Andrade Costa (18:46): Jackie, I was a teenager, I was 17, going to my last year of high school. I saw this poster up in a little shop and I joined. It was a branch that was opening close to where I lived at the time.
When I was 17, I did a lot of searching. I started going to a lot of different places, and New Acropolis was one of the first doors that I opened to look for answers. When I did my first level, 30 years ago, that was when I encountered Plotinus.
He explains where it all comes from, from the One, that we come back to this world, in search of experiences and learning, and it all goes back to the One again. It seems so simple, yet so profound. It made the whole sense in the world to me. I thinking about where we came from, where we are and where we need to go to. That's what life is all about. We came from the same source. We're here, living our experiences, and we're going back to the same source again. When I joined New Acropolis, and I read the Bhagavad Gita, this traditional Hindu book, I found it was so enlightening to see other ways of talking about God.
That was not the God from the Old Testament, very strict. I found that it was very enlightening. There are different paths, there are different ways, there are different languages that you connect to. I found that was very inspiring.
(Continued below)
New Acropolis Brasil North members take their group shot for the Annual International Yearbook!
Members of New Acropolis Brasil North at the "Farm" in Goias, Brazil, doing a small group philosophy practice outside.
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Lúcia Helena Galvão Maya presenting a seminar on philosophy at New Acropolis National Museum Auditorium in Brasilia, Brazil.
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(Continued)
Jackie Morreale (20:08): I agree. The second book in my little book pile here. It was a very different look into spirituality than my own background. I appreciate it being on the list for your class, very interesting.
Melissa Andrade Costa (20:21): I think what's good about it, is that it is us exercising this spirit of eclecticism. It's not one specific way, but there are different ways of looking at the ultimate reality of life. I think us being respectful towards different beliefs and ways of looking at the world are essential.
That's why philosophy helps us dialogue, see the differences and find commonalities. That's precious in a world that's very much divided. I think that's very needed, being able to talk different languages, different philosophies and different perspectives about the same ultimate reality. I think that's very enriching. It's not one way of looking at things. The world is much bigger than we think it is, and we need to expand.
Jackie Morreale (21:02): I totally agree. Well, thank you for sharing your stories. I'm trying to picture 17-year-old Professor Melissa finding a poster in a cafe and finding her way into the world of philosophy.
I think it was just meant to be.
I guess that brings us to our next set of questions. Now I know how you got into the study of philosophy. How did you become a teacher with New Acropolis?
Melissa Andrade Costa (21:16): It was something that I aspired to because it made sense to me. I was inspired by my own teachers. Conveying this beautiful knowledge and beautiful words was always inspiring to me, and I liked it. I attended this preparation course for professors in New Acropolis in Brasilia many years ago.
I did monitoring in other classes and then I became a professor. That all came very naturally because I think, as you said, it's meant to be in terms of nature. I think who we are, we are Jackie, we need to express in some format. Who we are needs to be expressed, like you now, in your path towards creativity and doing new things and starting new dreams and goals for yourself. We need to go after what we have in our hearts. If we deny who we are, we deny our nature, that gets us sick. We need to express our nature, we are in our hearts.
There is one course in New Acropolis that you're going to start studying now. We have a chapter on psychology, but it's psychology with a practical approach. It is psychology rooted in ancient classical traditions that talks about self-improvement, self-knowledge and self-mastery. I find that course very enlightening in terms of the view inside on how to develop imagination, attention, and developing and mastering our emotions. I really like teaching that class. It's full of insights.
Jackie Morreale (23:03): I look forward to that course. Your practices that you introduce your teaching with, asking us to close our eyes and walk us through a meditation or kind of practice is such an interesting and relaxing practice to bring us back to who we are.
That's got to be my favorite part of class. Not that I'm picking and choosing favorites because I love it all, but I love the daily practices. They're really helpful.
Melissa Andrade Costa (23:29): I think, Jackie, what we need to do as we teach and experience philosophy is how people, as you mentioned, experience themselves. I think we very often are disconnected to whom we are. As we connect with ourselves, with our hearts, it all falls into place, and it all makes sense. It helps us decide whatever we have to decide.
When you go to your heart, you have more clarity, you have more vision, you have more peace inside that can help you move the life in a better direction. It's not about what we teach in New Acropolis, it's not about specific answers or solutions for specific problems, but helping people put themselves in an inner position where they can have a better vision. You see the difference? It's not as specific solutions, but you inside yourself.
Looking for what's higher, being there at home so that you can see better and decide better and do it better. You're the one who knows best. You're inside. You have the context. You're connected to the people you are. You know best. But you have to know best from in here. Not from anywhere outside. But you have to know best from inside. You have to connect and experience your heart and your insight.
You have the power to do whatever you need. That's the key that we're trying to pass on, connect yourself to your heart. Then doors will open in the direction they have to because you're just being yourself and that's what matters.
Jackie Morreale (24:54): Exactly. I don't know what happens to us from childhood to adulthood, where we kind of lose that sense of who we are. We lose some of our clarity maybe, some of our imagination. I really appreciate all your practices and your teachings to bring us back to that because it's valuable and it's our one life and we have to live it to its fullest. Being connected to ourselves is so important.
Melissa Andrade Costa (25:05): It's the world. It's the world that puts us on the outside and pressures us. The thing is, it's easy to be inspired and joyful when you're a child. It's not as easy when you're growing to adulthood. That's where our mastery of life comes in. You have to be an expert in life to master your own life to be able to keep up with joy and lightness in your heart.
That's where merit and evolution comes in because we have to conquer it. We have to master it. It's not free. It doesn't come out of chance. It's something that you have to work hard for and that's where we grow. That's part of evolvement and life as it is.
Jackie Morreale (25:58): While we're talking about adulting, is there anything that we can bring in terms of philosophy learnings to our daily lives, especially in the workplace?
Melissa Andrade Costa (26:11): There are four things I'd like to mention here. The first thing is being aware. It might sound simple, but it is very difficult and very profound. Just simply being aware, watch, be present, because very often we're doing something.
We're thinking about something else. Our mind is just elsewhere. So being aware, a lot of people have been talking about lately, about being present and aware and sensitive towards whatever is happening. It's being attentive. We miss a lot of things from our partners, from our kids, from our family, from our colleagues, by not being aware. We lose a lot from life by not being aware. The second thing is learning with everything and everyone. There is a sentence, a quote from Confucius, he says, we should learn from the intelligent, from the wise, and also from the fools.
From the wise and the intelligent, we learned how we should do things. And from the fools, we learned how we shouldn't do things. We learn from both.
Jackie Morreale (27:17): Totally agree. That's the concept of this podcast, right? Well, not necessarily the fools, but, learning comes in all forms and from anyone and every interaction, there's always something to be learned if we are aware and listen, right?
Melissa Andrade Costa (27:32): Exactly, we can learn from everyone.
It's better if we learn from other people's mistakes than by committing our own mistakes because then it makes our evolvement much slower. We don't have to experiment all the drugs to know it's not good for you. We don't need to get into all the problems to know we shouldn't go there.
It's a matter of choice, to learn from others, people's mistakes and experiences.
In New Acropolis, we bring back the idea of having someone who can help us in a way, a master in a philosophical perspective. All human beings can be our master in a sense as well. We can learn from everyone. And the third, I would say, is humility.
Founder of New Acropolis, Professor Jorge Angel Livraga, would say that humility is the pillar, the basic jewel that we need to have in our crown of jewels. Because it's the basic. If you think you know everything, how are you going to be able to learn?
You have to open yourself and listen carefully and learn with everyone. That's humility. The attitude of the seeker, the one who wants to learn. In Chinese philosophy, they have that bow that I find very respectful and beautiful, in traditional terms. Bowing to life, to other people's wisdom and learning from them. I like that attitude of being humble. And fourth, and that applies to life and work settings, is the concept we talked in Aristotle and in Greek philosophy, the concept of excellence. It's expressing the best you have in whatever you do.
It can be anything. If we do things with excellence, with care, with love, we want to do it the best we can, it gives us such a feeling of fulfillment. It warms up our heart by just doing well, whatever we do. It might be a meal, it might be anything.
But do it with love, do it with care, do it well. Do not rush and just do it because you have to do it in a mechanical way, but do it with your heart. If you do it with your heart, Blavatsky says, what it is for us is to do the best we can. That's it. The rest is with life. There is nothing guaranteeing that we are going to have all the results that we want. What is it that is up to us to do the best we can? The rest is with life.
We need to take it and accept it. We're going to be happy that we did the best we could.
Jackie Morreale (29:58): I think those four things can apply to the office, to daily life, to anyone. We have awareness, learning with everyone, humility and excellence. I do agree that everything you do, you should put yourself into.
We are what we do repeatedly. Right? So expressing yourself and having that excellence in everything that you do is so important.
I'm going to remind myself of that the next time I fold the mountains of clean clothing that remain unfolded.
(Continued)
Jackie Morreale (20:08): I agree. The second book in my little book pile here. It was a very different look into spirituality than my own background. I appreciate it being on the list for your class, very interesting.
Melissa Andrade Costa (20:21): I think what's good about it, is that it is us exercising this spirit of eclecticism. It's not one specific way, but there are different ways of looking at the ultimate reality of life. I think us being respectful towards different beliefs and ways of looking at the world are essential.
That's why philosophy helps us dialogue, see the differences and find commonalities. That's precious in a world that's very much divided. I think that's very needed, being able to talk different languages, different philosophies and different perspectives about the same ultimate reality. I think that's very enriching. It's not one way of looking at things. The world is much bigger than we think it is, and we need to expand.
Jackie Morreale (21:02): I totally agree. Well, thank you for sharing your stories. I'm trying to picture 17-year-old Professor Melissa finding a poster in a cafe and finding her way into the world of philosophy.
I think it was just meant to be.
I guess that brings us to our next set of questions. Now I know how you got into the study of philosophy. How did you become a teacher with New Acropolis?
Melissa Andrade Costa (21:16): It was something that I aspired to because it made sense to me. I was inspired by my own teachers. Conveying this beautiful knowledge and beautiful words was always inspiring to me, and I liked it. I attended this preparation course for professors in New Acropolis in Brasilia many years ago.
I did monitoring in other classes and then I became a professor. That all came very naturally because I think, as you said, it's meant to be in terms of nature. I think who we are, we are Jackie, we need to express in some format. Who we are needs to be expressed, like you now, in your path towards creativity and doing new things and starting new dreams and goals for yourself. We need to go after what we have in our hearts. If we deny who we are, we deny our nature, that gets us sick. We need to express our nature, we are in our hearts.
There is one course in New Acropolis that you're going to start studying now. We have a chapter on psychology, but it's psychology with a practical approach. It is psychology rooted in ancient classical traditions that talks about self-improvement, self-knowledge and self-mastery. I find that course very enlightening in terms of the view inside on how to develop imagination, attention, and developing and mastering our emotions. I really like teaching that class. It's full of insights.
Jackie Morreale (23:03): I look forward to that course. Your practices that you introduce your teaching with, asking us to close our eyes and walk us through a meditation or kind of practice is such an interesting and relaxing practice to bring us back to who we are.
That's got to be my favorite part of class. Not that I'm picking and choosing favorites because I love it all, but I love the daily practices. They're really helpful.
Melissa Andrade Costa (23:29): I think, Jackie, what we need to do as we teach and experience philosophy is how people, as you mentioned, experience themselves. I think we very often are disconnected to whom we are. As we connect with ourselves, with our hearts, it all falls into place, and it all makes sense. It helps us decide whatever we have to decide.
When you go to your heart, you have more clarity, you have more vision, you have more peace inside that can help you move the life in a better direction. It's not about what we teach in New Acropolis, it's not about specific answers or solutions for specific problems, but helping people put themselves in an inner position where they can have a better vision. You see the difference? It's not as specific solutions, but you inside yourself.
Looking for what's higher, being there at home so that you can see better and decide better and do it better. You're the one who knows best. You're inside. You have the context. You're connected to the people you are. You know best. But you have to know best from in here. Not from anywhere outside. But you have to know best from inside. You have to connect and experience your heart and your insight.
You have the power to do whatever you need. That's the key that we're trying to pass on, connect yourself to your heart. Then doors will open in the direction they have to because you're just being yourself and that's what matters.
Jackie Morreale (24:54): Exactly. I don't know what happens to us from childhood to adulthood, where we kind of lose that sense of who we are. We lose some of our clarity maybe, some of our imagination. I really appreciate all your practices and your teachings to bring us back to that because it's valuable and it's our one life and we have to live it to its fullest. Being connected to ourselves is so important.
Melissa Andrade Costa (25:05): It's the world. It's the world that puts us on the outside and pressures us. The thing is, it's easy to be inspired and joyful when you're a child. It's not as easy when you're growing to adulthood. That's where our mastery of life comes in. You have to be an expert in life to master your own life to be able to keep up with joy and lightness in your heart.
That's where merit and evolution comes in because we have to conquer it. We have to master it. It's not free. It doesn't come out of chance. It's something that you have to work hard for and that's where we grow. That's part of evolvement and life as it is.
Jackie Morreale (25:58): While we're talking about adulting, is there anything that we can bring in terms of philosophy learnings to our daily lives, especially in the workplace?
Melissa Andrade Costa (26:11): There are four things I'd like to mention here. The first thing is being aware. It might sound simple, but it is very difficult and very profound. Just simply being aware, watch, be present, because very often we're doing something.
We're thinking about something else. Our mind is just elsewhere. So being aware, a lot of people have been talking about lately, about being present and aware and sensitive towards whatever is happening. It's being attentive. We miss a lot of things from our partners, from our kids, from our family, from our colleagues, by not being aware. We lose a lot from life by not being aware. The second thing is learning with everything and everyone. There is a sentence, a quote from Confucius, he says, we should learn from the intelligent, from the wise, and also from the fools.
From the wise and the intelligent, we learned how we should do things. And from the fools, we learned how we shouldn't do things. We learn from both.
Jackie Morreale (27:17): Totally agree. That's the concept of this podcast, right? Well, not necessarily the fools, but, learning comes in all forms and from anyone and every interaction, there's always something to be learned if we are aware and listen, right?
Melissa Andrade Costa (27:32): Exactly, we can learn from everyone.
It's better if we learn from other people's mistakes than by committing our own mistakes because then it makes our evolvement much slower. We don't have to experiment all the drugs to know it's not good for you. We don't need to get into all the problems to know we shouldn't go there.
It's a matter of choice, to learn from others, people's mistakes and experiences.
In New Acropolis, we bring back the idea of having someone who can help us in a way, a master in a philosophical perspective. All human beings can be our master in a sense as well. We can learn from everyone. And the third, I would say, is humility.
Founder of New Acropolis, Professor Jorge Angel Livraga, would say that humility is the pillar, the basic jewel that we need to have in our crown of jewels. Because it's the basic. If you think you know everything, how are you going to be able to learn?
You have to open yourself and listen carefully and learn with everyone. That's humility. The attitude of the seeker, the one who wants to learn. In Chinese philosophy, they have that bow that I find very respectful and beautiful, in traditional terms. Bowing to life, to other people's wisdom and learning from them. I like that attitude of being humble. And fourth, and that applies to life and work settings, is the concept we talked in Aristotle and in Greek philosophy, the concept of excellence. It's expressing the best you have in whatever you do.
It can be anything. If we do things with excellence, with care, with love, we want to do it the best we can, it gives us such a feeling of fulfillment. It warms up our heart by just doing well, whatever we do. It might be a meal, it might be anything.
But do it with love, do it with care, do it well. Do not rush and just do it because you have to do it in a mechanical way, but do it with your heart. If you do it with your heart, Blavatsky says, what it is for us is to do the best we can. That's it. The rest is with life. There is nothing guaranteeing that we are going to have all the results that we want. What is it that is up to us to do the best we can? The rest is with life.
We need to take it and accept it. We're going to be happy that we did the best we could.
Jackie Morreale (29:58): I think those four things can apply to the office, to daily life, to anyone. We have awareness, learning with everyone, humility and excellence. I do agree that everything you do, you should put yourself into.
We are what we do repeatedly. Right? So expressing yourself and having that excellence in everything that you do is so important.
I'm going to remind myself of that the next time I fold the mountains of clean clothing that remain unfolded.
(Continued)
Lúcia Helena Galvão Maya is an integral philosopher and philosophy teacher with the New Acropolis organization in Brazil and beyond.
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Seminar on Philosophy at New Acropolis North Brazil.
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Philosophy programs for children at New Acropolis North Brazil.
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Musical programs for adolescents at New Acropolis North Brazil.
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(Continued)
Melissa Andrade Costa (30:28): Do it with love, do not rush.
Jackie Morreale (30:31): Exactly – the best folding that I've ever done in my life with such love and dedication. I am going to remind myself of that the next time I fill the dishwasher.
Melissa Andrade Costa (30:33): Talking about folding your clothing and all of that, there is art in organization. There is a whole lot of organization issues and it's pleasant to organize your drawer and do it well when nicely in need.
Jackie Morreale (30:49): Agree in terms of bowing and the Eastern culture and Feng Shui. There's something to it. There really is joy in having that organization. It's just the journey that takes a long time to get there. I will remind myself to keep my excellence during the daily journey.
You really have a gift with words. Let's hear some advice for all of us seekers. What is a simple philosophy practice or technique that we can all do to feel better and gain clarity every day?
Melissa Andrade Costa (31:27): I'm going to give you three practices.
First of all, it's one practice that we encourage a lot in our classes. You've heard that a number of times and that is to keep a journal. It's 'Pitágoric' advice. It's old advice.
1.Look at yourself daily, reflect upon who you are, what you did that was valuable, what is it that you have to improve.
It can be in the morning, can be in the evening, but do it daily. It's a precious practice, very enlightening, and helps you to see where you are and what you need to evolve. It sets the mood for the day as well. What is it that I could do better? What is it that I'm working on? It's really helpful. That's number one.
Number two, and it's a practice we do in our classes.
2.Have a practice of imagination every day.
It sets the mood, you get connected, see the purpose in life.
The third practice or technique is:
3.Have a proposal of a virtue you have to develop or look for every day.
Because we have tasks that we need to accomplish every day. But we need to add also an inner goal for the day. You want to set a tone for a presence or discipline. Today I'm going to be very disciplined, but with presence. I'm going to evolve.
We're having issues with conflicts with people, today I'm going to have a harmonious day. Whatever it is that you might need, but have that inner statement of what you're going to go through in that day, that makes a whole difference.
Or anything you're going to observe. I'm going to try to see justice in my life, I'm try to see unity today, I'm going to take responsibility for everything that I do. It has to be something that's suited for you as an individual. It's something that you in yourself realize it's relevant for you in your own path. Then it's something that's good for you in your own journey. And that's very helpful.
Jackie Morreale (33:34): One of the hardest things that I've come to realize is that whenever you feel struggle with whatever it is, like you just mentioned some of those virtues, there's growth as you try to get through it and you can't avoid it, you have to face it and you have to work your way through it. Whether it's patience or justice or feeling harmonious or joyous or just being present. The three-pronged advice with the journaling, imagination, looking for practical ways that you can apply virtues during your everyday struggles.
If all of us practice those three things every day, I would imagine that the world would be a better place to live in.
Melissa Andrade Costa (34:10): I couldn't agree more. Because we just be more self-aware and more righteous. Absolutely.
Something you said that I found was relevant. Not fighting with things that happen in your life, fighting in the sense that, I'm rejecting everything. But it's about taking in whatever life brings and taking it in the best way you can. What exhausts us is to be fighting with life all the time. I don't want this. I don't want to live this. That's not right. That's out of place. No.
What does life have for you today? Take it, experience it and experience it and do the best you can.
In an active way in the sense of I'm going to do the best I can with the situation this life is bringing to me. I think that's very helpful.
Jackie Morreale (34:55): You're so inspirational to me. My goodness. I'm feeling emotional.
Melissa Andrade Costa (35:00): It touches our heart.
Jackie Morreale (35:02): It does. It's not always going to be highs. There's going to be peaks. There's going to be valleys. And we have to learn how to be authentically ourselves and aware and joyous through all of it and willing to learn.
Melissa Andrade Costa (35:13): Experiencing sad and pain is fine as well. The thing is not sticking to it. It's not staying there. But it is saying what life brings and seeing what it teaches you. There is a teaching behind sadness as well. There is a teaching behind pain that's valuable.
There is a beautiful song by an Argentinean singer that says, Thanks to life for everything that I have gone through, through the joy and also the pain, and thank you life for everything that you have given to me.
All of it, it's dark side and it's light side. Thank you for everything. I think that's a great attitude to have.
We learn more in moments of distress. Let's face it. When we grow more, we need to be creative. That's why we have to put our armor on in terms of being a warrior and going out there and making things happen.
It's about showing our courage and our strength and our virtues.
I think it's a matter of attitude. When life falls apart, I'm there. No matter what happens, I stand still. I stand there.
That's the attitude. But it's going to come. Life is struggles. It's natural. It's part of the game. Let's take it.
Jackie Morreale (36:36): Let's take it and let's see who we are, right? Let's see who we are and let's practice those strategies and be our strong selves and get through it and learn. I need to know who the singer of that song is from Argentina or the name of the song so I can look it up and listen to it.
Melissa Andrade Costa (36:42): Absolutely. It's in Spanish. It's a singer called Mercedes Sosa. It's beautiful. In Spanish, would be, Gracias a la vida, que me ha dado tanto.
It gave me reasons for crying and reasons for joy. Thank you for everything.
Melissa Andrade Costa (30:28): Do it with love, do not rush.
Jackie Morreale (30:31): Exactly – the best folding that I've ever done in my life with such love and dedication. I am going to remind myself of that the next time I fill the dishwasher.
Melissa Andrade Costa (30:33): Talking about folding your clothing and all of that, there is art in organization. There is a whole lot of organization issues and it's pleasant to organize your drawer and do it well when nicely in need.
Jackie Morreale (30:49): Agree in terms of bowing and the Eastern culture and Feng Shui. There's something to it. There really is joy in having that organization. It's just the journey that takes a long time to get there. I will remind myself to keep my excellence during the daily journey.
You really have a gift with words. Let's hear some advice for all of us seekers. What is a simple philosophy practice or technique that we can all do to feel better and gain clarity every day?
Melissa Andrade Costa (31:27): I'm going to give you three practices.
First of all, it's one practice that we encourage a lot in our classes. You've heard that a number of times and that is to keep a journal. It's 'Pitágoric' advice. It's old advice.
1.Look at yourself daily, reflect upon who you are, what you did that was valuable, what is it that you have to improve.
It can be in the morning, can be in the evening, but do it daily. It's a precious practice, very enlightening, and helps you to see where you are and what you need to evolve. It sets the mood for the day as well. What is it that I could do better? What is it that I'm working on? It's really helpful. That's number one.
Number two, and it's a practice we do in our classes.
2.Have a practice of imagination every day.
It sets the mood, you get connected, see the purpose in life.
The third practice or technique is:
3.Have a proposal of a virtue you have to develop or look for every day.
Because we have tasks that we need to accomplish every day. But we need to add also an inner goal for the day. You want to set a tone for a presence or discipline. Today I'm going to be very disciplined, but with presence. I'm going to evolve.
We're having issues with conflicts with people, today I'm going to have a harmonious day. Whatever it is that you might need, but have that inner statement of what you're going to go through in that day, that makes a whole difference.
Or anything you're going to observe. I'm going to try to see justice in my life, I'm try to see unity today, I'm going to take responsibility for everything that I do. It has to be something that's suited for you as an individual. It's something that you in yourself realize it's relevant for you in your own path. Then it's something that's good for you in your own journey. And that's very helpful.
Jackie Morreale (33:34): One of the hardest things that I've come to realize is that whenever you feel struggle with whatever it is, like you just mentioned some of those virtues, there's growth as you try to get through it and you can't avoid it, you have to face it and you have to work your way through it. Whether it's patience or justice or feeling harmonious or joyous or just being present. The three-pronged advice with the journaling, imagination, looking for practical ways that you can apply virtues during your everyday struggles.
If all of us practice those three things every day, I would imagine that the world would be a better place to live in.
Melissa Andrade Costa (34:10): I couldn't agree more. Because we just be more self-aware and more righteous. Absolutely.
Something you said that I found was relevant. Not fighting with things that happen in your life, fighting in the sense that, I'm rejecting everything. But it's about taking in whatever life brings and taking it in the best way you can. What exhausts us is to be fighting with life all the time. I don't want this. I don't want to live this. That's not right. That's out of place. No.
What does life have for you today? Take it, experience it and experience it and do the best you can.
In an active way in the sense of I'm going to do the best I can with the situation this life is bringing to me. I think that's very helpful.
Jackie Morreale (34:55): You're so inspirational to me. My goodness. I'm feeling emotional.
Melissa Andrade Costa (35:00): It touches our heart.
Jackie Morreale (35:02): It does. It's not always going to be highs. There's going to be peaks. There's going to be valleys. And we have to learn how to be authentically ourselves and aware and joyous through all of it and willing to learn.
Melissa Andrade Costa (35:13): Experiencing sad and pain is fine as well. The thing is not sticking to it. It's not staying there. But it is saying what life brings and seeing what it teaches you. There is a teaching behind sadness as well. There is a teaching behind pain that's valuable.
There is a beautiful song by an Argentinean singer that says, Thanks to life for everything that I have gone through, through the joy and also the pain, and thank you life for everything that you have given to me.
All of it, it's dark side and it's light side. Thank you for everything. I think that's a great attitude to have.
We learn more in moments of distress. Let's face it. When we grow more, we need to be creative. That's why we have to put our armor on in terms of being a warrior and going out there and making things happen.
It's about showing our courage and our strength and our virtues.
I think it's a matter of attitude. When life falls apart, I'm there. No matter what happens, I stand still. I stand there.
That's the attitude. But it's going to come. Life is struggles. It's natural. It's part of the game. Let's take it.
Jackie Morreale (36:36): Let's take it and let's see who we are, right? Let's see who we are and let's practice those strategies and be our strong selves and get through it and learn. I need to know who the singer of that song is from Argentina or the name of the song so I can look it up and listen to it.
Melissa Andrade Costa (36:42): Absolutely. It's in Spanish. It's a singer called Mercedes Sosa. It's beautiful. In Spanish, would be, Gracias a la vida, que me ha dado tanto.
It gave me reasons for crying and reasons for joy. Thank you for everything.
Jackie Morreale (37:03): Exactly. I love music like that, that makes you feel inspired.
Melissa Andrade Costa (37:12): Absolutely. It's like poetry, but it's poetry and song.
Jackie Morreale (37:14): Yes, set to song. What advice would you give to someone looking to get started learning philosophy?
Melissa Andrade Costa (37:21): This is an easy one. Come to New Acropolis, join us for our courses and come and be with us.
The thing is, it's difficult to do it only on your own. You can do it. Stoics is a great start if you want to start it at some point. But it's good to have a method.
It's good to have that discipline of having a weekly class and being with people who are like-minded and have some type of guidance. It helps us speed up our path. That's why we come together.
It's not only about reading a book, it is about connecting to a culture of self-improvement, as you said, of betterment, of beauty. And we connect with other people who have that in mind. It makes us stronger as a community.
We need to belong as well. We're social beings. We're not alone, isolated, living our own story. We are together. We need to be together with people so that we can join efforts to build a better world, to be stronger, to inspire one another, so that we can just get stronger.
Jackie Morreale (38:25): I completely agree. I signed up in support of a friend and to have something to talk with her about. I had no idea I was going to love this topic. I just went in with an open mind and really have learned so much and connected with amazing people like you and my colleagues in class.
It's really a wonderful organization that has made it very easy to immerse myself in a completely new way of thinking. I find it interesting that you would suggest if someone wanted to just start reading for their own good, just to dip their foot in the water, that Stoics would be an interesting place to start.
Melissa Andrade Costa (38:49): Yeah, it's easy. It's not like the Voice of the Silence from Blavatsky or the Bhagavad Gita. It requires more teaching in order for us to grasp those very high ideas. But stoics, On the Shortness of Life, Seneca, that you have mentioned. Life is short and be focused and be strong.
Melissa Andrade Costa (37:12): Absolutely. It's like poetry, but it's poetry and song.
Jackie Morreale (37:14): Yes, set to song. What advice would you give to someone looking to get started learning philosophy?
Melissa Andrade Costa (37:21): This is an easy one. Come to New Acropolis, join us for our courses and come and be with us.
The thing is, it's difficult to do it only on your own. You can do it. Stoics is a great start if you want to start it at some point. But it's good to have a method.
It's good to have that discipline of having a weekly class and being with people who are like-minded and have some type of guidance. It helps us speed up our path. That's why we come together.
It's not only about reading a book, it is about connecting to a culture of self-improvement, as you said, of betterment, of beauty. And we connect with other people who have that in mind. It makes us stronger as a community.
We need to belong as well. We're social beings. We're not alone, isolated, living our own story. We are together. We need to be together with people so that we can join efforts to build a better world, to be stronger, to inspire one another, so that we can just get stronger.
Jackie Morreale (38:25): I completely agree. I signed up in support of a friend and to have something to talk with her about. I had no idea I was going to love this topic. I just went in with an open mind and really have learned so much and connected with amazing people like you and my colleagues in class.
It's really a wonderful organization that has made it very easy to immerse myself in a completely new way of thinking. I find it interesting that you would suggest if someone wanted to just start reading for their own good, just to dip their foot in the water, that Stoics would be an interesting place to start.
Melissa Andrade Costa (38:49): Yeah, it's easy. It's not like the Voice of the Silence from Blavatsky or the Bhagavad Gita. It requires more teaching in order for us to grasp those very high ideas. But stoics, On the Shortness of Life, Seneca, that you have mentioned. Life is short and be focused and be strong.
As Marcus Aurellius would say:
Expect that every day you're going to be challenged by a fool, by someone who comes to you.
So just be strong to face it all.
It's simple and very practical. It's a very good way of starting.
Jackie Morreale (39:35): The reading is powerful but the connections are meaningful.
This organization does a good job at bringing the two together.
Melissa Andrade Costa (39:41): Philosophy has a path that goes through reason, but it also has a path that goes through intuition. I think it's good to combine both types of teaching and reading. One thing is Blavatsky, The Voice of Silence. It's very intuitive because it's so high up and touching.
Marcus Aurelius and Seneca are very objective and rational, and we need both. We need the world principles. We need that inner awakening and call. There is something that touches us inside that we don't know exactly what it is, but it is there and we need both. I was just reading something the other day that was just talking about that, that reading with the spirit has to do with reading to satisfy our hunger, the hunger of our soul.
One thing is just reading out of enjoyment and pleasure. The other thing is reading for satisfying our hunger. We need to be able to read in a way that it feeds our spirit.
We want more, we want true answers that satisfy our lives and our souls, our hearts.
I think that's the way to go. I was reading a quote by an Eastern master the other day that said that it was difficult for them to teach the Westerners because of the way their mind worked.
They said what is left for them is just reading and meditation. What they meant was that we need to open up our minds and our hearts in a way that we purify them and have more clarity. So we're able to grasp those higher concepts because grasping those higher concepts do not have to do only with reading, or listening to classes. It has to do with us being in a state of mind that is open enough to be able to capture it and grasp it. That's why it's so individual. It's not a matter of attending a course, it's a matter of getting ready to be able to grasp whatever is out there. Of working on ourselves, being aware and purifying ourselves, having a path to be able to get deeper into life's mystery.
You're here, honoring her work.
Jackie Morreale (41:50): So there's hope. There's hope for us Westerners. We're here, exactly. Baby steps.
Any shout outs to people who have made it all possible along the way?
Melissa Andrade Costa (42:05): Of course. I always need to have a very big space for gratitude for our National Director in New Acropolis, Professor Luis Carlos Marques Fonseca, who has devoted most of his life for New Acropolis for over 40 years in Brazil.
He's now helping to do New Acropolis in the United States as well. He's a great source of inspiration, strength, of wisdom.
Jackie Morreale (42:30): Agree and say, muito obrigado, Professor Luis Carlos. The two words I know in Portuguese. I had the pleasure of seeing him speak in Deerfield Beach, and he’s an inspirational human being.
Melissa Andrade Costa (42:34): Yes, he has a powerful presence and a beautiful life story that inspires us all.
Jackie Morreale (42:48): Yes. And still very humble and wears that jewel in his crown very well. Very easy to talk to even in different languages.
Melissa Andrade Costa (42:59): I'm glad you met him. You have to come and visit us in Brazil, whenever you want to come.
Jackie Morreale (43:02): Me too! I'm working on it and I'm ready.
Melissa Andrade Costa (43:08): We'll have the pleasure of taking you to our farm, so that you know the premises that we have here. It's a good structure.
Jackie Morreale (43:17): The farm looks amazing in photos. It's such amazing work that's being done in Brazil.
Are there any new projects or opportunities that you're looking to promote? What's next for you, Professor Melissa Andrade Costa?
Melissa Andrade Costa (43:23): First of all, an invitation for our upcoming course of New Acropolis in the US. We have a class starting on September, so please come and join us. And also one thing that's coming to me more intensely, because I'm Institutional Relations in Brazil North, where I'm based at, and that has to do with forging partnerships, with other institutions who might want to promote philosophy in different ways.
We're doing, for example, partnership with an institution here to promote values in schools in Brazil, in the city where live. My goal is for institutions out there, people who want to promote a new way of looking at the world in their work settings, in their institutions, in their public policies, to join efforts so that we can help with insights of doing a new type of education, new type of arts, new type of science, new type of different ways of being in society that is actually inspired by high ideals. We're ready to do that to help bring more insights into new ways of doing public policy and different types of activities in the world out there. So that's a call for that.
Jackie Morreale (44:40): I love that call. It sounds like Plato's Republic, where everyone is doing what they're meant to do and coming together as this harmonious society that all works together and supports each other. That's the dream. That's the dream. That's the goal.
Melissa Andrade Costa (44:43): That's the dream.
Jackie Morreale (44:55): Thank you so much for your time, Professor Melissa. I really appreciate all the insights that you shared today. Thank you for joining us. I hope to see you very soon for our new course in September. I can't wait to hear what you have to say and teach.
Melissa Andrade Costa (45:09): Jackie, it's been a pleasure and thank you so much. I'm so glad that you put this together and we're talking. Congratulations on the path you have just started. Good job. Thank you.
Jackie Morreale (45:20): Thank you. Have a wonderful day and I will see you!
Melissa Andrade Costa (45:28): See you soon. Bye. Thank you.
Learn more about New Acropolis and upcoming classes at: New Acropolis USA
Jackie Morreale (39:35): The reading is powerful but the connections are meaningful.
This organization does a good job at bringing the two together.
Melissa Andrade Costa (39:41): Philosophy has a path that goes through reason, but it also has a path that goes through intuition. I think it's good to combine both types of teaching and reading. One thing is Blavatsky, The Voice of Silence. It's very intuitive because it's so high up and touching.
Marcus Aurelius and Seneca are very objective and rational, and we need both. We need the world principles. We need that inner awakening and call. There is something that touches us inside that we don't know exactly what it is, but it is there and we need both. I was just reading something the other day that was just talking about that, that reading with the spirit has to do with reading to satisfy our hunger, the hunger of our soul.
One thing is just reading out of enjoyment and pleasure. The other thing is reading for satisfying our hunger. We need to be able to read in a way that it feeds our spirit.
We want more, we want true answers that satisfy our lives and our souls, our hearts.
I think that's the way to go. I was reading a quote by an Eastern master the other day that said that it was difficult for them to teach the Westerners because of the way their mind worked.
They said what is left for them is just reading and meditation. What they meant was that we need to open up our minds and our hearts in a way that we purify them and have more clarity. So we're able to grasp those higher concepts because grasping those higher concepts do not have to do only with reading, or listening to classes. It has to do with us being in a state of mind that is open enough to be able to capture it and grasp it. That's why it's so individual. It's not a matter of attending a course, it's a matter of getting ready to be able to grasp whatever is out there. Of working on ourselves, being aware and purifying ourselves, having a path to be able to get deeper into life's mystery.
You're here, honoring her work.
Jackie Morreale (41:50): So there's hope. There's hope for us Westerners. We're here, exactly. Baby steps.
Any shout outs to people who have made it all possible along the way?
Melissa Andrade Costa (42:05): Of course. I always need to have a very big space for gratitude for our National Director in New Acropolis, Professor Luis Carlos Marques Fonseca, who has devoted most of his life for New Acropolis for over 40 years in Brazil.
He's now helping to do New Acropolis in the United States as well. He's a great source of inspiration, strength, of wisdom.
Jackie Morreale (42:30): Agree and say, muito obrigado, Professor Luis Carlos. The two words I know in Portuguese. I had the pleasure of seeing him speak in Deerfield Beach, and he’s an inspirational human being.
Melissa Andrade Costa (42:34): Yes, he has a powerful presence and a beautiful life story that inspires us all.
Jackie Morreale (42:48): Yes. And still very humble and wears that jewel in his crown very well. Very easy to talk to even in different languages.
Melissa Andrade Costa (42:59): I'm glad you met him. You have to come and visit us in Brazil, whenever you want to come.
Jackie Morreale (43:02): Me too! I'm working on it and I'm ready.
Melissa Andrade Costa (43:08): We'll have the pleasure of taking you to our farm, so that you know the premises that we have here. It's a good structure.
Jackie Morreale (43:17): The farm looks amazing in photos. It's such amazing work that's being done in Brazil.
Are there any new projects or opportunities that you're looking to promote? What's next for you, Professor Melissa Andrade Costa?
Melissa Andrade Costa (43:23): First of all, an invitation for our upcoming course of New Acropolis in the US. We have a class starting on September, so please come and join us. And also one thing that's coming to me more intensely, because I'm Institutional Relations in Brazil North, where I'm based at, and that has to do with forging partnerships, with other institutions who might want to promote philosophy in different ways.
We're doing, for example, partnership with an institution here to promote values in schools in Brazil, in the city where live. My goal is for institutions out there, people who want to promote a new way of looking at the world in their work settings, in their institutions, in their public policies, to join efforts so that we can help with insights of doing a new type of education, new type of arts, new type of science, new type of different ways of being in society that is actually inspired by high ideals. We're ready to do that to help bring more insights into new ways of doing public policy and different types of activities in the world out there. So that's a call for that.
Jackie Morreale (44:40): I love that call. It sounds like Plato's Republic, where everyone is doing what they're meant to do and coming together as this harmonious society that all works together and supports each other. That's the dream. That's the dream. That's the goal.
Melissa Andrade Costa (44:43): That's the dream.
Jackie Morreale (44:55): Thank you so much for your time, Professor Melissa. I really appreciate all the insights that you shared today. Thank you for joining us. I hope to see you very soon for our new course in September. I can't wait to hear what you have to say and teach.
Melissa Andrade Costa (45:09): Jackie, it's been a pleasure and thank you so much. I'm so glad that you put this together and we're talking. Congratulations on the path you have just started. Good job. Thank you.
Jackie Morreale (45:20): Thank you. Have a wonderful day and I will see you!
Melissa Andrade Costa (45:28): See you soon. Bye. Thank you.
Learn more about New Acropolis and upcoming classes at: New Acropolis USA
Jackie Morreale, Lucia Helena Galvão, and Claudia Itaqui at Must University in Deerfield Beach, Florida, following Professor Lucia Helena's philosophy presentation for New Acropolis USA.
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Luis Carlos Marques Fonseca presenting philosophy for New Acropolis USA at Must University in Deerfield Beach, Florida.
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Professor Lucia Helena Galvão Maya and New Acropolis USA philosophy group, including Jackie Morreale (top left), after her presentation at Must University in Deerfield Beach, Florida, in June 2025.
Professor Luis Carlos Marques Fonseca and his New Acropolis USA philosophy class, including Jackie Morreale (top center), at Must University in Deerfield Beach, Florida in July 2025.
Continued Reading, Recommended by Professor Melissa Andrade Costa and New Acropolis USA:
The Voice of the Silence: Chosen Fragments from the "Book of the Golden Precepts."
by Helena Petrovna Blavatsky (Author) |
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