Solving Problems - Fulfilment - Issue 62 - 21st May 2023

You and I will be disappointed, traumatised, hurt, frustrated, angry, sorrowful, grief stricken and disease ridden. I’m telling you this because we all know this to be true but we, for good reason, hide from it. The philosopher’s job is to uncover what is hidden in plain sight and the fact of the sufferable nature of life is probably the most hidden but the most fundamental of these hidden truths. We have been sold a false bill of goods and it all started with the belief in the pursuit of happiness. Ever since we aimed at happiness, we were doomed to fail.

Loosen Technology’s Grip - Issue 61 - 14th May 2023

In a recent interview, psychotherapist and author Esther Perel said ”it’s the very things that can turn you on at night [that] you will demonstrate against during the day” (2). I want to explore this but not within the sexual sphere with which it was intended but from a sociological perspective. We all demonstrate certain aspects of ourselves publicly and hide aspects we wish not to display. It is not a new phenomenon that we behave in certain manners to please those around us. Societies and cultures worldwide have developed via the evolution of tribes to reward ‘fitting in’ and shunning those who don’t. Those who don’t conform lose their tribe and their survival rate alone is greatly diminished.

Make Retiring Unnecessary - Issue 60 - 7th May 2023

Delayed gratification is the art of sacrificing now for a better future. We all do this to some degree, some more productively than others. On the smaller scale, we sacrifice by exercising so that we can be fitter later. On the grander scale, we sacrifice by working the majority of our lives for a pleasant retirement.

Productive Habit-Forming - Issue 59 - 30th April 2023

It is vital that you put all of yourself into this project of being more productive as you will fail otherwise. When people attempt to lose weight they find a temporary strategy to do so and then once they reach their target weight, revert back to their old ways. It’s the same with all important projects in your life, including life itself. When we set goals without drastically changing our lifestyles, those goals will never be achieved.

Worries Are Unreliable - Issue 58 - 23rd April 2023

I want to briefly discuss Sod’s Law. The law goes that “anything that can go wrong will go wrong” (1). The pessimist views this as a negative aspect of life however the wise optimist views this as freedom. Since we do not know what will happen next in life, why would we worry about it? The issue with worries is that they rarely come to fruition, thus they are incredibly unreliable as a predictor for the future.

Expose Yourself To The Other Side - Issue 57 - 16th April 2023

The socio-political landscape has changed drastically within the last ten years. Partisanship has all but deteriorated and our views of the ‘other side’ are becoming more and more hostile. It’s interesting to me because following World War Two many countries, governments, politicians and societies knew that they must vow to never become anything resembling Nazis. A noble goal. Unfortunately many people presently have focused so much on not becoming whats’s possible with increasing order and tyranny on the far right that they forgot the potential chaos of communism on the far left. In the years leading up to and the years following WW2, millions died as a result of the Soviet Union’s communist regime. Millions are also estimated to have died as a result of Mao’s communist regime in China.

Religion For The 21st Century - Issue 56 - 9th April 2023

I’ve been pondering the utility or lack of utility of religious thinking in thecontext of the 21st century. Religions are currently wrestling with the mindsets of enlightened, rational and modern societies and unfortunately, to a degree, the latter are winning. You only have to look at the glacier speed with which many religions are re-forming in order to accommodate 21st century thought.

Don’t Chase The Future - Issue 55 - 2nd April 2023

I recently watched the movie Click, a film that surrounds Michael Newman (Adam Sandler), who becomes increasingly frustrated with the world. He works extremely hard as an architect, so much so that he neglects his wife and children. He argues that once he’s promoted, he’ll be able to delegate work to his employees and therefore have more time for his family. He then stumbles across a warehouse to the rear of the Bed Bath & Beyond store, in which Morty (Christopher Walken) works. Morty gifts Michael a universal remote control that allows him to fast forward, rewind, pause and skip parts of his life. Morty warns Michael against skipping forward through parts of his life with a useful metaphor.

Accept Suffering - Issue 54 - 25th March 2023

When something we perceive as negative occurs, we notice it. We notice it more than when something positive happens. Many studies show that we will look at something negative for longer than something positive. You just have to drive past an accident to realise this. We notice all the red lights and bad driving out on the road more than we notice the green lights and polite driving. Negative and extreme content goes viral more than positive content. I think there's a connection between this and our deteriorating mental health.

Find The Centre - Issue 53 - 19th March 2023

Throughout Eastern philosophies, there is an idea that we should remain in thecentre, for this is where the optimal being resides. Those in the centre are neither too ordered, not too chaotic. They are neither too masculine, not too feminine. They are neither too happy, nor too sad. They just are. Of course you cannot stay in the centre for long as the world, according to Buddhism, is ever-changing. Just as the Taoist symbol of the Yin Yang represents, we must walk the thin line between opposites such as chaos and order, pain and pleasure and happiness and sadness.