Einzelgänger

STOP LETTING THE WORLD RUIN YOUR PEACE

In many ways, the world doesn’t look all that great right now. The news has been mostly excessive doom and gloom for the past five years or more. We’ve dealt with a pandemic, a war in Europe, and as I’m writing this, some bizarre events seem to be unfolding on the world stage.

And I must admit, for the last year or so, I have also struggled with all the bad news coming from all directions. Even if I managed not to watch the news, the craziest stories would eventually catch my attention through other channels like WhatsApp groups or people simply telling me what’s going on in one-to-one conversations.

From my observations, many people are worried about where we’re headed; much more so than, say, 10 to 15 years ago. And now, with all the bleakness continually dominating the feeds on our devices, it’s difficult not to be affected by it. The injustice, the animosity, the conflict we witness on our screens; it’s almost as if a time bomb is about to explode with devastating consequences.

These are difficult times, not just because of what’s happening globally, but also because everyone seems to be involved. Clashing ideologies, left versus right, liberal versus conservative, West versus East, and many versions of the truth are spread by countless groups that mainly divide, push many to choose sides, often in battles that neither concern them nor are fought in their interest.

And so, entire nations become polarized, as politics cuts through families and friendships, creating enemies where once existed love and solidarity. And for what? Yes, I’m wondering about that too.

The ancient Stoics were no strangers to social unrest, geopolitical tension, and the slow collapse of political orders. They lived in times of profound uncertainty, which most likely influenced their thinking. And so, they had much to say about these matters.

The upcoming video explores how Stoicism can help us deal with today’s troubling times.

6 days ago (edited) | [YT] | 1,672

Einzelgänger

EVERYTHING IS ALWAYS FLOWING

Heraclitus is often depicted as a solitary figure who despised people’s ignorance and turned his back on public life in Ephesus, the ancient Greek city where he lived. Stories tell that people saw him as mysterious and eccentric.

He was mysterious because what he said and wrote often didn’t make sense to people, which earned him nicknames such as ‘The Riddler’ and ‘The Dark’. He was eccentric because he refused to follow the conventional ways of living. He lived a solitary life, possibly in the mountains, with little social interaction.

Comparable to the philosopher Pythagoras, stories about Heraclitus’ life are plentiful, but hard facts are pretty scarce: for a significant part, he remains a mystery. Yet his work has been highly influential, and later thinkers such as Aristotle, Plato, and even the Stoic philosopher Seneca have speculated about what his strange, ambiguous words actually mean.

From what we can see from the remains of his work, Heraclitus was very much concerned with change. Whereas others saw the cosmos as more static and monolithic, he perceived an ongoing interplay among forces, matter, and elements, making it ever-changing

However, the changing nature of the cosmos wasn’t the only thing Heraclitus was interested in. Like his predecessors, he also had ideas about the fundamental principle of everything: the arche.

His big frustration seems to be that, even though he dedicated his whole life to examining reality and came to profound conclusions about how things actually work, people refused to listen because they were too immersed in their daily affairs.

In this podcast episode, we’ll take a look at the pre-Socratic philosopher Heraclitus, his ideas, his work, and his life.

Substack: journeyofideas.substack.com/p/005-everything-is-fl…
Spotify: open.spotify.com/episode/31ygz7FZY8C8crLY2ASrdW

1 week ago | [YT] | 1,073

Einzelgänger

WHY CARING WHAT OTHER PEOPLE THINK RUINS YOUR LIFE

There isn’t a shortage of human opinion, that’s for sure. People voice their opinions all the time, everywhere they go. It starts with commenting on the new peanut butter brand at breakfast, then it’s about the neighbor’s ugly dress, then it’s about the new employee with the weird moustache, then about the news, then about yesterday’s news, the weather, and so forth.

When we look online, in YouTube or Facebook comment sections, for example, we encounter millions and millions of people sharing their opinions. And they share them as if they’re the most important, profound pieces of intellectual output humanity has ever produced, stating their opinions as absolute facts, while rejecting the opinions of actual experts. And they do it with pride and defend them as they’d defend their own children.

Arthur Schopenhauer didn’t hold back when he criticized people’s opinions, calling them false, erroneous, perverse, and absurd, which, of course, is his opinion. But he explained his opinion by saying that most people’s thoughts are superficial and futile, their ideas narrow, their sentiments mean, which makes their opinions “perverse” and full of error.

Now, isn’t there truth in Schopenhauer’s claims? Isn’t it so that the majority of people who voice their unvarnished opinions hardly know what they’re talking about, and often do so out of anger and a desire to “destroy” their opponents, rather than to have a constructive dialogue?

Schopenhauer also argued that a man speaks with depreciation of his fellow man whenever he’s not obliged to fear him or when he’s not listening. And yes, behavior like this is very common online; we see armies of anonymous trolls who have nothing to fear, as their identities are hidden, saying the most disgusting things. When words have no consequences, people seem to show who they truly are.

The upcoming video explores why caring what other people think can be profoundly detrimental to one’s life.

3 weeks ago | [YT] | 1,947

Einzelgänger

LIFE ADVICE SOCIETY DOESN’T WANT YOU TO HEAR

Is happiness personal? I’ve often thought about that question while researching different philosophies and belief systems. There are many roads to happiness, and what makes someone happy seems to differ from person to person. What happiness actually means also appears to be a personal matter.

Conventional advice for a happy life tends to revolve around relationships: building a social circle, finding the right partner, having children, and spending time with family. It encourages us to pursue decent careers that offer the financial stability needed to sustain this conventional way of living.

Such advice seems excellent, as it encourages people to fully integrate into the societal machine, which offers plenty of perks. And it’s a formula that has worked for many people, for many generations. “You should do what other people do, unless you have a very good reason not to,” wrote Jordan Peterson, advocating for the ‘established path’ of being useful and responsible.

Yet, in the arena of philosophers, there have been plenty of outliers; people who rejected conventional life advice, who found their happiness in different things, who found ways to be happy and content that aren’t quite socially acceptable.

The upcoming video explores ‘life advice’ that goes against the norm and can even be considered controversial.

1 month ago | [YT] | 2,149

Einzelgänger

WHEN LIFE KEEPS KNOCKING YOU DOWN

Oftentimes, just when you think you’ve got your life in order, something happens that undermines it all. I’m sure I’m not the only one who’s experiencing this. Just when everything feels right, there’s some event throwing a spanner in the works. It’s pretty frustrating.

We’re walking around with these ideal images of how life should be, but we’re never getting there. There’s always something lacking. There’s always something going on, despite our efforts to live well. Life, so it seems, never just works without problems. It’s never as it’s supposed to be.

Prolonged adversity can gradually wear us down. Too many disappointments can make us pessimistic and almost feel destined for misfortune. I’ve felt like that often, myself, as if the devil has been toying with me since I was born. “Why me?” I frequently said out loud and, honestly, I still do sometimes.

But the Buddhists believe that the ongoing stream of unfortunate events isn’t something to be distressed about. Sure, being upset about misfortune is natural, but when we look closely at how things have worked since the dawn of time, we see that our default operating mode for handling misfortune is pretty irrational.

The upcoming video explores why bad things keep happening and why it’s useless to be overly concerned about them, and what we can do to be more resilient in the face of misfortune.

1 month ago | [YT] | 2,177

Einzelgänger

IS MODERN DATING BROKEN?

Modern dating is insufferable, isn’t it? Somehow, in a world overflowing with options, finding love has never been more frustrating or more confusing. In the past, things were much easier. You married the girl next door or met your future partner at church, and that was that.

But today, things seem much more complex. We don’t just marry the neighbour, and religious communities aren’t the go-to places to find a spouse anymore. We look beyond the old structures that once regulated our love lives into a wide, open world with endless opportunities.

Contrary to the past, marriage has become optional (at least in the West). We’re now exploring the exciting world of casual dating, situationships, and friends with benefits. New forms of relating have increased our freedom to shape our love lives as we see fit, but they have also complicated things.

Moreover, dating apps add fuel to the fire, granting us access to a dating pool of many millions of potential candidates. And so, someone looking for a romantic partner is confronted by this unprecedented complexity and choice, which seems like a good thing, but… is that really the case?

The upcoming video explores what’s happening in modern dating, and whether there’s anything we can do about it.

2 months ago (edited) | [YT] | 1,403

Einzelgänger

WHY NOTHING FEELS EXCITING ANYMORE

Maybe it’s just me, but hasn’t the world grown less appealing, and far less interesting, almost overnight? It’s like everywhere I go, every place I visit, I’ve already seen before. In cities around the globe, I encounter the same stores. Train stations and airports look similar. And even people seem to look alike in appearance and manner.

Everything seems manufactured; originality and uniqueness are fading qualities, and many of the things we entertain ourselves with have become repetitive and overly abundant. It’s as if our planet has lost its magic and life, its mystery.

The world has transformed from a giant enigma filled with riddles and secrets into a massive, interconnected shopping mall, where every little spot, every place of significance, is on full display, like shoes in a store window. True adventure and discovery are things of the past, and experiences have become commodified, sold like prepackaged meals in a 7-Eleven.

What’s left to wonder? What’s left to explore? What experiences are truly worthwhile and touch the depths of our souls? In a world so heavily globalized, shrunk by technology and robbed of its mystique, what’s really the point?

This upcoming video explores why life feels so meaningless today.

2 months ago | [YT] | 2,241

Einzelgänger

WHY SKEPTICISM IS CRUCIAL TODAY

It’s funny, sometimes, when you look at two opposing media outlets, say Fox News and MSNBC, reporting on the same issue, they come up with two entirely different stories; Fox will say that the conservatives “owned the libs”, while MSNBC will announce the “complete meltdown” of the conservatives.

How can such completely opposite versions of the truth exist? And more importantly, in this case, why do some people embrace the story by Fox News as truth, and others the story by MSNBC as truth? Could it be out of convenience? Personal preference?

Ancient Greek philosopher Xenophanes of Colophon observed that people readily accept “truths” without evidence, guided more by preference than reason. As one of the first skeptics in Western philosophy, he urged a more humble and questioning approach to truth.

This week’s podcast episode explores why skepticism is crucial today, based on the wisdom of Xenophanes.

Substack: journeyofideas.substack.com/p/004-why-skepticism-i…
Spotify: open.spotify.com/episode/4BOQaZraMRcwzbWDdsAdD6

2 months ago (edited) | [YT] | 836

Einzelgänger

GET BUSY LIVING OR GET BUSY DYING

In prison, your fate largely depends on others. Your body is subjected to the whims of both prison guards and fellow inmates. You can’t leave. So if you don’t like it for some reason, and people are making your life a living hell, you have to deal with it in some way or another. And in the first moments one enters prison, this harsh reality can hit like an atomic bomb.

The first scenes of the film The Shawshank Redemption shows how newcomers, referred to as “fresh fish”, experience their first nights, and how one guy in particular starts sobbing uncontrollably, as he realizes his fate, followed by a fatal beating by the brutal prison guard Captain Hadley.

From an existentialist viewpoint, being imprisoned is part of one’s ‘facticity.’ Most people don’t choose to be in a place like Shawshank State Prison. And for protagonist Andy Dufresne, being a highly educated, brilliant, successful, and relatively young man, ending up there is really one of the worst things he could have imagined happening. But it’s a fact of his existence, no matter how unfair.

After the rite of passage ends, after they’ve been checked for lice, walked naked to their cells, endured that first night among violent inmates and guards, their new reality sets in. The fresh fish now face a new challenge: how to shape their lives as prisoners. So, in their unfreedom hides an inescapable freedom.

The upcoming video explores The Shawshank Redemption from an existentialist philosophical perspective.

2 months ago (edited) | [YT] | 1,041

Einzelgänger

WHY WE NEED TO BE BORED

Have you noticed that these days, whenever people go idle—even for just a few seconds —they instantly reach for their phones? It’s like they can’t help themselves.

In terms of functionality, the smartphone is a wonderful development; it has created a whole new economy and has also been a game-changer in developing countries. We basically have the entire world in our pocket: infinite information, news, instant connectivity with billions of people, and unlimited entertainment. I’d say it’s such an enticing, irresistible object that if Gollum were to visit our world, he would probably swap the One Ring for an iPhone.

However, the smartphone has also become the most effective thief of a ‘mode of being’ that most of us avoid. I’m talking about boredom. And today’s human, the ‘homo smartphonicus’, can’t stand it.

Boredom usually gets a bad rep. It’s painful. It’s something we want to get rid of as quickly as possible. Hence, whenever today’s homo smartphonicus feels the slightest boredom, he’ll reach into his pocket, get the device out, and start checking his email for the 24th time that day. That’s how he copes.

Boredom has become nothing more than a signal of idleness, an unproductive, uninteresting state that needs to be eliminated quickly by activity… which is a shame. Because if we’d have the patience to welcome boredom, to let her in for once, and see what she has to say, we might discover she’s actually a pretty wise companion.

Several philosophers have discussed the significance of boredom, what it means to be bored, and how we deal with it. The upcoming video explores why we need to be bored.

3 months ago | [YT] | 1,748