Published in This Examined LIfe·May 27, 2021Member-onlyYou Know Nothing, Dear ReaderBut don’t worry — you have so many other skills! — Once upon a time, Socrates paid the oracle at Delphi a visit. His intent: To ask her where he could find the wisest person in Athens. Her reply shocked him down to his sandals. She proclaimed that it was, in fact, he, Socrates who was the wisest. …Philosopy4 min readPhilosopy4 min read
Published in This Examined LIfe·May 24, 2021Member-onlyBoredom Is Stupidbut you don’t have to be — I sit in the waiting room waiting… impatiently I glance down at my phone, back up again, sigh, and close my eyes tight as if to wipe away my current situation. What is the point of booking an appointment at a certain time if the appointment is never actually at…Philosophy6 min readPhilosophy6 min read
Published in This Examined LIfe·May 19, 2021Member-onlyEpicurus and How To live on The Hedonic TreadmillWhy, when it comes to pleasure, less is more — As the Notorious B.I.G wrote, “Mo money, mo problems”. Perhaps we all grasp the wisdom of this on some level — and yet few of us give up the pursuit of more: more money, more sex more exciting experiences, more knowledge… The trouble is, of course, that more is never…Philosophy5 min readPhilosophy5 min read
Published in The Shadow·May 18, 2021Member-onlyBeyond, Between, Behind Good and EvilA baby sparrow, baby crows, and the limits of the human heart — Whatever is done for love always occurs beyond good and evil. ― Friedrich Nietzsche Our ideas about good and evil, about right and wrong, are often transcendent. What is right is right. What is wrong is wrong. Period. To this absolutist picture, evolution has added moral psychology — the actual…Philosophy5 min readPhilosophy5 min read
Published in Creative Enlightenment·May 15, 2021Member-onlyCreativity Is EmbodiedOr why you should look up when walking — A few mornings ago I had my baby daughter in the carrier and was baby-dancing my way slowly about my neighbourhood while she snored softy. In my slow, bouncy wanderings, I happened upon a women standing beneath a large pine tree staring directly up into its branches. Being a human…Creativity4 min readCreativity4 min read
Published in This Examined LIfe·May 14, 2021Member-onlyRow, Row, Row Your BoatA case for lucid dreaming while awake — Row, row, row your boat Gently down the stream Merrily merrily, merrily, merrily Life is but a dream The Taoist philosopher Zhuangzi once dreamt he was a butterfly. The dream was so vivid, so life-like that upon waking he could not tell whether he was a human who dreamt he…Philosophy8 min readPhilosophy8 min read
Published in This Examined LIfe·May 11, 2021Member-onlyEquanimity Is AntifragileOr why you should find a crying baby — Equanimity needs to be pushed to its limits, my baby daughter taught me as much. Let me tell you how. It was a grey overcast evening in late January; a slow drizzle nicely accentuated the overall melancholic mood. …Mental Health6 min readMental Health6 min read
May 9, 2021Member-onlyJust Give UpA paradoxical strategy for self-development — Tourists crowded past me along Berlin’s busy Kudamm Strasse as I sat slumped over sobbing uncontrollably. My partner sat with me on the warm concrete steps of a church — one arm around my shoulder, feeling concerned and more than a bit confused by my outpouring of emotion. That’s it…Self Improvement6 min readSelf Improvement6 min read
Published in This Examined LIfe·May 8, 2021Member-onlyAcceptance Is Bullshit(and I mean that technically) — The philosopher Harry G. Frankfurt wrote a short piece on a topic that one would not normally expect to emanate from the ivory tower: Bullshit He defines bullshit in contrast to honesty and lying. Honesty is simply telling what one believes to be the case. So, when my wife asks…Psychology7 min readPsychology7 min read
Published in This Examined LIfe·May 7, 2021Member-onlyThe Still Small Voice of ConscienceOr why you should listen for a voice in your head that isn’t yours — In the winter of 1968, Martin Luther King, Jr. gave a powerful speech condemning the US’s involvement in the Vietnam war. In closing, said On some positions cowardice asks the question, is it safe? Expediency asks the question, is it politic? Vanity asks the question, is it popular? But conscience…Life5 min readLife5 min read
