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# Academy of Ideas

Free Minds for a Free Society

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## Posts

- [The Loss of God and the Decay of Society Part 1 - What is God?](https://academyofideas.com/2023/06/the-loss-of-god-and-the-decay-of-society-part-1-what-is-god/) - “. . .even if all possible scientific questions be answered, the problems of life have still not been touched at all.” Ludwig Wittgenstein, Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus Is secularization a sign of social progress? Is belief in God a superstition that is no longer warranted in a civilization as advanced as ours? In this two-part series, we
- [Carl Jung and the Psychology of Dreams - Messages from the Unconscious](https://academyofideas.com/2023/06/carl-jung-and-the-psychology-of-dreams-messages-from-the-unconscious/) - “We also live in our dreams, we do not live only by day. Sometimes we accomplish our greatest deeds in dreams.” Carl Jung, The Red Book Are dreams the product of random brain activity, or a side effect of the mind consolidating its memories? Are they, as Sigmund Freud suggested, the expression of repressed wishes
- [Why are so Many People Neurotic? - Carl Jung as Therapist](https://academyofideas.com/2023/01/why-are-so-many-people-neurotic-carl-jung-as-therapist/) - “There are just as many people who become neurotic because they are merely normal, as there are people who are neurotic because they cannot become normal. That it should enter anyone's head to educate them to normality is a nightmare for the former, because their deepest need is really to be able to lead "abnormal"
- [The Loss of God and the Decay of Society Part 1 - What is God?](https://academyofideas.com/2023/06/the-loss-of-god-and-the-decay-of-society-part-1-what-is-god-intro/) - Is secularization a sign of social progress? Is belief in God a superstition that is no longer warranted in a civilization as advanced as ours? In this two-part series, we are going to explore the phenomenon of religion, the concept of God, and whether contrary to popular belief, a decline in religion is harmful to
- [The Psychology of Psychopaths - Predators who Walk Among Us](https://academyofideas.com/2023/07/the-psychology-of-psychopaths-predators-who-walk-among-us/) - “Human predators populate our society.” Stefan Verstappen, Defense Against the Psychopath Psychopaths are human predators. They coerce, manipulate, lie, steal, defraud, abuse, and take life, without feeling guilt or remorse. A leading expert on psychopathy, Robert Hare, estimates that 1% of people are psychopaths; while the clinical psychologist Martha Stout suggests this figure is
- [How Nonconformity Cures a Sick Self and a Sick Society - The Wisdom of Ralph Waldo Emerson](https://academyofideas.com/2023/03/how-nonconformity-cures-a-sick-self-and-a-sick-society-the-wisdom-of-ralph-waldo-emerson/) - “I must be myself, I cannot break myself any longer for you. . .If you can love me for what I am, we shall be the happier. If you cannot, I will still seek to deserve that you should.” Ralph Waldo Emerson, Self-Reliance The great 19th century American philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson believed that
- [Life's Most Important Question](https://academyofideas.com/2026/05/lifes-most-important-question/) - “…the ultimate achievement of reason is to recognize that there is an infinity of things which surpass it. It is indeed feeble if it can’t get as far as understanding that.” Blaise Pascal, Pensées Many people believe that metaphysical questions – or questions about the ultimate nature of reality – serve no practical purpose. They
- [The Road Less Traveled - M. Scott Peck](https://academyofideas.com/2026/04/the-road-less-traveled-m-scott-peck/) - A New Psychology of Love, Traditional Values, and Spiritual Growth
- [Beyond Good and Evil - Friedrich Nietzsche](https://academyofideas.com/2026/04/beyond-good-and-evil-friedrich-nietzsche/) - A critique of herd morality, and an urgent call for the rise of great individuals.
- [Why Men Fear Women](https://academyofideas.com/2026/05/why-men-fear-women/) - Given that man is the physically stronger sex, it may seem preposterous to claim that many men fear women more than women fear men. Yet across cultures and throughout history, women have often been portrayed as the greatest threat to man. In Women, Fire, and Dangerous Things, the American linguist and philosopher George Lakoff shows how in many languages there
- [How Creativity Strengthens the Mind and Helps Cure Depression](https://academyofideas.com/2023/05/how-creativity-strengthens-the-mind-and-helps-cure-depression/) - “Creative work [has] a dual role: at the same time as it enlarges the universe by adding or uncovering new dimensions, it also enriches and expands man, who will be able to experience these new dimensions inwardly.” Silvano Arieti, Creativity – The Magic Synthesis The importance of exercise for the health of the body
- [Carl Jung as Therapist - Your Problems Don't Lie in the Past](https://academyofideas.com/2026/04/carl-jung-as-therapist-your-problems-dont-lie-in-the-past/) - “We should not forget that every neurosis entails a corresponding amount of demoralization. If a man is neurotic, he has lost confidence in himself. A neurosis is a humiliating defeat and is felt as such by people who are not entirely unconscious of their own psychology.” Carl Jung, Collected Works Volume 17 In the modern
- [Why The Western Worldview Limits Human Potential](https://academyofideas.com/2026/03/why-the-western-worldview-limits-human-potential/) - When considering how to improve modern day society many people gravitate toward political solutions. Others suggest that we need a sort of revolution of consciousness in which people move to a more enlightened state of being. But there is another path that could lead to social progress that is more practical than either politics or
- [The School of Anxiety - Overcoming Anxiety Disorders](https://academyofideas.com/2026/03/the-school-of-anxiety-overcoming-anxiety-disorders/) - In his book the Concept of Anxiety, the 19th century philosopher Søren Kierkegaard wrote: “…the courageous person does not shrink back when anxiety announces itself, and still less does he attempt to hold it off with noise and confusion; but he greets it festively, and like Socrates who raised the poisoned cup, he shuts himself
- [Why We Sabotage Ourselves - The Psychology of Self-Handicapping](https://academyofideas.com/2026/01/why-we-sabotage-ourselves-the-psychology-of-self-handicapping/) - “The self-handicapper reaches out for impediments, exaggerates handicaps, and embraces any factor reducing personal responsibility for mediocrity...” Steven Berglas and Edward Jones, Drug Choice as a Self-Handicapping Strategy Rather than simply contending with external obstacles to success, many of us actively collaborate in our own defeat. We are our own worst enemies and our inability
- [The School of Anxiety - Overcoming Anxiety Disorders](https://academyofideas.com/2026/03/the-school-of-anxiety/) - An anxiety disorder functions like a trickster. It convinces us we are in danger when we are safe, and any effort to force it away only makes it stronger. Yet anxiety disorders are among the most treatable psychological conditions. But to effectively treat them requires a shift in how we understand and respond to anxiety. Instead
- [What If the “Crazy” Ones Are Right? - Conspiracy Theories](https://academyofideas.com/2026/03/what-if-the-crazy-ones-are-right-conspiracy-theories/) - Some people allege that the politicians, bureaucrats and corporate elite that make up the ruling class are conspiring to enrich themselves, gain more power, and transform society into a totalitarian dystopia. From assassinations to false flags, cognitive warfare to the rigging of elections, engineered pandemics to manufactured economic and social crises, there is little they
- [Anxiety Disorders - What Causes Them, And Why They Persist](https://academyofideas.com/2026/02/anxiety-disorders-what-causes-them-and-why-they-persist/) - “Learning to know anxiety is an adventure which every man has to affront…He therefore who has learned rightly to be in anxiety has learned the most important thing.” Soren Kierkegaard, The Concept of Anxiety As life is uncertain and filled with risk, we all experience anxiety from time to time. When facing important decisions, confronting worries, reflecting on the
- [Anxiety Disorders - What Causes Them, And Why They Persist](https://academyofideas.com/2026/02/anxiety-disorders-what-causes-them/) - In this two-part series we explore the nature of this psychological disorder. In this first video, we clarify what distinguishes ordinary anxiety from an anxiety disorder, and we examine what causes these disorders to develop and persist. In the second video, we turn to practical insights for recovery and introduce a relatively new, and paradoxical, therapeutic approach that
- [Carl Jung - Are Demons Real?](https://academyofideas.com/2026/02/carl-jung-are-demons-real/) - “[Modern man] is blind to the fact that, with all his rationality and efficiency, he is possessed by powers beyond his control. The gods and demons have not disappeared at all, they have merely got new names.” Carl Jung, Collected Works Volume 18 For millennia, in cultures spanning the globe, men and women believed in
- [Why Self-Criticism Cripples You — and How to Stop It](https://academyofideas.com/2026/02/why-self-criticism-cripples-you-and-how-to-stop-it/) - “The solemn, deep promise to be gentle with ourselves must be invoked again and again.” Theodore Rubin, Compassion and Self-Hate Most of us make a genuine effort to treat others with patience, understanding, and kindness, yet we fail to do the same with ourselves. Self-criticism is far more common than self-compassion. We frequently tell ourselves
- [Why Self-Criticism Cripples You — and How to Stop It](https://academyofideas.com/2026/02/why-self-criticism-cripples-you/) - Most of us make a genuine effort to treat others with patience, understanding, and kindness, yet we fail to do the same with ourselves. Self-criticism is far more common than self-compassion. We frequently tell ourselves that we are stupid, lazy, unattractive, socially inept, unlovable, unsuccessful, or somehow defective. In this video, we draw this poisonous
- [The Psychology of Nice Guys - Why They Are Destined to Fail](https://academyofideas.com/2026/01/the-psychology-of-nice-guys-why-they-are-destined-to-fail/) - “Any man who tries to be good all the time is bound to come to ruin among the great number who are not good.” Niccolò Machiavelli, The Prince While kindness is a virtue, being excessively nice is not. In this video we explore the nice guy syndrome. This syndrome affects many in the modern day.
- [The Psychology of Nice Guys – Why They Are Destined to Fail](https://academyofideas.com/2026/01/the-psychology-of-nice-guys/) - While kindness is a virtue, being excessively nice is not. In this video we explore the nice guy syndrome. This syndrome affects many in the modern day. Its symptoms are as follows: putting the needs and expectations of others above our own; a compulsive seeking for social approval; a fear of interpersonal conflict; and a
- [The Psychology of the Man-Child - Profound Quotes and Passages](https://academyofideas.com/2026/01/the-psychology-of-the-man-child-profound-quotes-and-passages/) - In 1959, the Swiss psychologist Marie-Louise von Franz delivered a series of lectures examining the psychology of the man-child, as she observed: “…he remains too long in adolescent psychology; that is, all those characteristics that are normal in a youth of seventeen or eighteen are continued into later life, coupled in most cases with too great
- [The Psychology of Online Haters - Nietzsche's "Poisonous Flies"](https://academyofideas.com/2026/01/psychology-of-online-haters-nietzsches-poisonous-flies/) - “Rudeness is the weak man's imitation of strength.” Eric Hoffer, The Passionate State of Mind The internet has connected the world, but it has also unleashed a torrent of hostility. The primary source of this hostility is the online hater. Hidden behind a screen and protected by anonymity, these individuals mock and insult creators, podcasters, online personalities,
- [Why we Fear our Highest Potential - The Jonah Complex](https://academyofideas.com/2025/12/why-we-fear-our-highest-potential/) - “The difficulties of our psychotherapeutic work teach us to take truth, goodness, and beauty where we find them. They are not always found where we look for them: often they are hidden in the dirt or are in the keeping of the dragon.” Carl Jung, Collected Works Volume 16 We all possess what Carl Jung
- [The Psychology of the Man-Child – Mother Dependence](https://academyofideas.com/2025/10/man-child-mother-dependence/) - We’re excited to release the first video in our new 6-part series — The Psychology of the Man-Child: The Neurosis that is Crippling Men. This course has been over two years in the making! Drawing on the works of Carl Jung, Erich Neumann, James Hollis, Marie-Louise von Franz, Mircea Eliade, and other great thinkers, we combine psychology
- [Why Boys Must Suffer to Become Men](https://academyofideas.com/2025/10/boys-must-suffer-to-become-men/) - In this video, we explore why boys must suffer and face adversity in order to become men. Access the entire Man-Child series by joining our membership program (see link below).
- [Why Fatherless Boys Struggle to Become Men](https://academyofideas.com/2025/11/fatherless-boys-struggle-to-become-men/) - Why do so many boys without fathers struggle to grow into men? In the third video of our Psychology of the Man-Child series, we explain how an absent father harms his son’s development.
- [The Psychology of the Devouring Mother](https://academyofideas.com/2025/11/psychology-of-the-devouring-mother/) - In this 4th video in our series on The Psychology of the Man-Child, we examine how some mothers cripple their sons' masculinity and raise them to be cowards unfit for life.
- [The Negative Mother Complex – The Unconscious Forces that Cripple Men](https://academyofideas.com/2025/12/the-negative-mother-complex/) - In this video, we blend psychology and mythology to explore the negative mother complex and the regressive unconscious energies that afflict a man caught in its grip. We examine how these energies can keep him emotionally fused with his mother well into adulthood, leave him passively dependent on a girlfriend or wife, or pull him
- [How to Overcome a Mother Complex – The Hero’s Fight with the Dragon](https://academyofideas.com/2025/12/overcome-a-mother-complex-the-heros-fight-with-the-dragon/) - In the final video in our series on the Man-Child, we explore how overcoming the “mother complex” is symbolized in the hero’s mythological battle with the dragon, and we offer practical guidance on cultivating manhood.
- [How to Overcome a Mother Complex - The Hero's Fight with the Dragon](https://academyofideas.com/2025/12/how-to-overcome-a-mother-complex-the-heros-fight-with-the-dragon/) - “I once listened to the dream of a young man who was living still with his mama. He was twenty-nine years old and had never had a girl in his room. We seriously discussed the possibility of his getting a room outside his mother’s home. He was terrified…When he was trying to make up his mind to
- [Why Weak People Create Hard Times - The Biological Decline of the West](https://academyofideas.com/2025/12/why-weak-people-create-hard-times-the-biological-decline-of-the-west/) - The modern West is in decline. Economic stagnation, rising tax burdens, moral disorientation, political corruption, bloated bureaucracies, and soaring levels of poverty, drug addiction and homelessness, all point to a faltering civilization. While many agree that the West is faltering, explanations as to why vary; some blame the collapse of religion and the loss of
- [The Negative Mother Complex - The Unconscious Forces that Cripple Men](https://academyofideas.com/2025/12/the-negative-mother-complex-the-unconscious-forces-that-cripple-men/) - “Always he imagines his worst enemy in front of him, yet he carries the enemy within himself—a deadly longing for the abyss, a longing to drown in his own source, to be sucked down to the realm of the Mothers.” Carl Jung, Symbols of Transformation A boy with a devouring mother and absent father is
- [Escape Mediocrity - How to Stop Wasting your Life](https://academyofideas.com/2025/12/escape-mediocrity-how-to-stop-wasting-your-life/) - “Many are born; few live. Men without personality are innumerable and vegetate molded by their environment, like melted wax.” José Ingenieros, The Mediocre Man In the early-20th century, the Argentinian philosopher, physician, and essayist José Ingenieros wrote a book titled The Mediocre Man. In it he explores what distinguishes the mediocre masses from those who
- [The Psychology of the Devouring Mother](https://academyofideas.com/2025/11/the-psychology-of-the-devouring-mother/) - “If the mother, because she is lonely,…chooses to override the instruction to attenuate the [mother-son] bond, she will turn into a devouring mother…” Anthony Stevens, Archetype Revisited: An Updated Natural History of the Self A present and committed man in the household is crucial not only in the role he plays as a father, but also
- [The Psychology of Fairy Tales](https://academyofideas.com/2025/11/what-fairy-tales-teach-about-life/) - “…the fairy tale is the great mother of the novel, and has even more universal validity than the most-avidly read novel of your time. And you know that what has been on everyone’s lips for millennia, though repeated endlessly, still comes nearest to the ultimate human truth.” Carl Jung, Red Book Many people think of fairy tales
- [Why Fatherless Boys Struggle to Become Men](https://academyofideas.com/2025/11/why-fatherless-boys-struggle-to-become-men/) - “As well intentioned as most mothers are, they can hardly be expected to initiate their sons into something they are not. Without a father…the son stays a boy, trapped in dependency.” James Hollis, Under Saturn’s Shadow Historically, rites of passage have been crucial in helping boys attain manhood. But these rites of passage are practically non-existent in
- [Carl Jung - How Life Changes After 40](https://academyofideas.com/2025/11/carl-jung-how-life-changes-after-40/) - “And then comes the knowing that in me there is space for a second, large, and timeless life.” Rainer Maria Rilke, Rilke's Book of Hours: Love Poems to God According to Carl Jung the second half of life cannot be lived in the same manner as the first. “Whoever carries over into the afternoon the
- [Why Boys Must Suffer to Become Men](https://academyofideas.com/2025/10/why-boys-must-suffer-to-become-men/) - “Among the Magwanda and Bapedi peoples of Africa, the master of the initiation addresses the [boys to be initiated] in these words: “Until now, you have been in the darkness of childhood; you were like women and you knew nothing!” Mircea Eliade, Rites and Symbols of Initiation All premodern or traditional societies have accorded the
- [The Psychology of the Man-Child - Mother Dependence](https://academyofideas.com/2025/10/the-psychology-of-the-man-child-mother-dependence/) - Today there is a crisis of masculinity. Many men are struggling socially, spiritually, financially, and sexually. They are living at home into their late 20s and 30s, choosing to remain in the comfortable confines of their parents’ care instead of testing the uncertain waters of independence. Rather than taking risks in the real world and struggling to create something of themselves, many men are losing
- [Is Modern Man Possessed by the Terrible Mother Archetype?](https://academyofideas.com/2025/10/modern-man-possessed-terrible-mother-archetype/) - “This is an exceedingly dangerous time and we are confronted with a problem which has never been known in the conscious history of man… This is not a light but a darkness; the powers of darkness are coming up…” Carl Jung, Nietzsche’s Zarathustra According to Carl Jung, the primary forces which shape history are not
- [How to Make the West Great Again](https://academyofideas.com/2025/09/how-to-make-the-west-great-again/) - “We can see nothing today that wants to grow greater, we suspect that things will continue to go down, down, to become…more comfortable, more mediocre, more indifferent.” Friedrich Nietzsche, On the Genealogy of Morality In the late 19th century, the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche observed that Western civilization was in a state of decline; it
- [Is This How the West Ends?](https://academyofideas.com/2025/09/is-this-how-the-west-ends/) - “This is the way the world ends. Not with a bang but a whimper.” T.S. Eliot, The Hollow Men Throughout Western history, the idea of civilizational collapse has been bound up with visions of apocalyptic catastrophe caused by invasions, plagues, war, or natural disasters. But today, the greater danger may be a dark age of
- [Carl Jung – The Challenge of Becoming an Individual](https://academyofideas.com/2025/08/carl-jung-challenge-of-becoming-an-individual/) - In the modern day, many people craft images of happiness and success and obsessively pursue status and wealth, yet behind this façade and frantic pursuit lies emptiness and despair. For success in the outer world fails to create a fulfilling life unless it is accompanied by an inner development that moves us toward individuality and
- [Carl Jung - The Challenge of Becoming an Individual](https://academyofideas.com/2025/08/carl-jung-the-challenge-of-becoming-an-individual/) - “The way is not without danger. Everything good is costly, and the development of personality is one of the most costly of all things...truly a task that taxes us to the utmost.” Carl Jung, Collected Works Volume 13 In the modern day, many people craft images of happiness and success and obsessively pursue status and
- [Why the Lack of Beauty is Destroying Society](https://academyofideas.com/2025/08/why-the-lack-of-beauty-is-destroying-society/) - “We have technology, convenience, security, and a measure of prosperity, but where is the beauty? Where is the beauty that we know we cannot really live without?” John-Mark Miravalle, Beauty: What it is and Why it Matters In 2009 the late English philosopher Roger Scruton warned that “Beauty is vanishing from our world”, and that
- [Carl Jung - How Secrets Act as Psychological Poison](https://academyofideas.com/2025/08/carl-jung-how-secrets-act-as-psychological-poison/) - The Swiss psychologist Carl Jung believed that a common cause of psychological distress was the possession of a secret – specifically a secret about something distressing done to us, or something horrible that we have done to another person. In this video we explore why keeping a secret can damage our health and how unburdening
- [Carl Jung - How Secrets Act as Psychological Poison](https://academyofideas.com/2025/08/carl-jung-secrets-psychological-poison/) - The Swiss psychologist Carl Jung believed that a common cause of psychological distress was the possession of a secret – specifically a secret about something distressing done to us, or something horrible that we have done to another person. In this video we explore why keeping a secret can damage our health and how unburdening
- [Carl Jung and The Most Important Rule of Life](https://academyofideas.com/2025/07/carl-jung-and-the-most-important-rule-of-life/) - Marie-Louise von Franz was a Swiss psychologist who closely collaborated with Carl Jung from 1933 until his death in 1961. One of von Franz’s primary topics of interest was fairy tales. For like myths, fairy tales contains timeless wisdom that teaches us about the human condition. Jung believed that so much wisdom was contained in
- [The Psychology of War - Are We Doomed to Destroy Ourselves?](https://academyofideas.com/2025/07/the-psychology-of-war/) - “Will men be able to give up toying with the idea of another war? It is now a question of existence or nonexistence. . .For the danger that threatens us now is of such dimensions as to make this last European catastrophe [i.e., World War II] seem like a curtain-raiser.” Carl Jung, Epilogue to “Essays
- [Why the Obsession with Mental Health is Making the Youth Anxious and Depressed](https://academyofideas.com/2025/07/why-the-obsession-with-mental-health-is-making-the-youth-anxious-and-depressed/) - “…the methods and treatments mental health experts champion and dispense are making young people sicker, sadder, and more afraid to grow up.” Abigail Shrier, Bad Therapy: Why the Kids Aren’t Growing Up The mental health of young people has steadily declined for decades. In Anatomy of an Epidemic, Robert Whitaker references studies which showed that
- [Why the Obsession with Mental Health is Making the Youth Anxious and Depressed](https://academyofideas.com/2025/07/obsession-with-mental-health-youth-anxious-depressed/) - The mental health of young people has steadily declined for decades. In this video, we explore how this crisis, in part, stems from our society’s obsession with mental health - an obsession that has given therapists and educators license to interfere with children’s minds in ways that are making them more anxious and depressed.
- [The Dumbing Down of Humanity – Stolen Focus](https://academyofideas.com/2025/06/the-dumbing-down-of-humanity/) - The ability to focus on a single task or activity for a sustained period, and resist the pull of distractions, is a cornerstone of a good life. Fulfilling relationships, career success, building a business, cultivating skills and hobbies, and the development of personality, all require the capacity to focus. Unfortunately, most of us are experiencing
- [The Dumbing Down of Humanity - Stolen Focus](https://academyofideas.com/2025/06/the-dumbing-down-of-humanity-stolen-focus/) - “The sensation of being alive in the twenty-first century consists of the sense that our ability to pay attention—to focus—is cracking and breaking.” Johann Hari, Stolen Focus The ability to focus on a single task or activity for a sustained period, and resist the pull of distractions, is a cornerstone of a good life. Fulfilling
- [Why are People so Obedient? - Compliance and Conformity](https://academyofideas.com/2025/06/why-are-people-so-obedient-compliance-and-tyranny/) - “And the word "courage" should be reserved to characterize the man or woman who leaves the infantile sanctuary of the mass mind.” Sam Keen, Fire in the Belly In the privacy of our minds many of us disagree with the ideologies, political agendas, and government mandates of our day, yet in public we comply. We
- [Why the News Promotes Ignorance and Mental Illness](https://academyofideas.com/2025/06/why-the-news-promotes-ignorance-and-mental-illness/) - “News is to the mind what sugar is to the body: appetising, easily digestible and extremely damaging.” Rolf Dobelli, Stop Reading the News Most people think that consuming the news makes one an informed citizen who is equipped to form intelligent opinions on social and political issues. In this video, drawing from the Swiss author
- [How to Achieve Something Great - Don’t Set Big Goals](https://academyofideas.com/2025/06/how-to-achieve-something-great-dont-set-big-goals/) - “Not all those who wander are lost.” J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring We are often told that big goals are the cornerstone of a meaningful and successful life and that without them, we’ll drift aimlessly and achieve nothing of great worth. But what if this idea is mistaken? What if, in our quest
- [How to Achieve Something Great - Don’t Set Big Goals](https://academyofideas.com/2025/06/how-to-achieve-something-great/) - In this video, drawing from Kenneth Stanley and Joel Lehman’s book Why Greatness Cannot Be Planned, we explore why achieving greatness often requires that we abandon our big goals and embrace a life of uncertainty and open-ended exploration.
- [Vegetable Oils and the American Heart Association – Bad Science and Big Money](https://academyofideas.com/2025/05/vegetable-oils-and-the-american-heart-association/) - In our latest membership video we explore how bad science and big money led doctors and major health organizations – most notably the American Heart Association – to promote vegetable (seed) oils as healthy. Footnotes citing the referenced studies are included in the transcript.
- [Vegetable Oils and the American Heart Association - Bad Science and Big Money](https://academyofideas.com/2025/05/vegetable-oils-and-the-american-heart-association-bad-science-and-big-money/) - “How did we…get to the point where health-conscious consumers, truth-seeking journalists, and even doctors have overlooked the fundamentals of seed-oil toxicity?…how did our society ever get to the point where practically our entire food system depends on a processed food ingredient that violently assaults our health?” Catherine Shanahan, Dark Calories In the first video of
- [Carl Jung’s Apocalyptic Vision](https://academyofideas.com/2025/05/carl-jungs-apocalyptic-vision/) - “The spiritual decline of the earth is so far advanced that people are in danger of losing their last spiritual strength, the strength that makes it possible even to see the disintegration and to recognize it as such.” Martin Heidegger, Introduction to Metaphysics Carl Jung held a pessimistic view of the future of Western
- [Pessimism of Strength - Nietzsche’s Formula for Greatness](https://academyofideas.com/2025/03/pessimism-of-strength-nietzsches-formula-for-greatness/) - “It's easy to be a naive idealist. It's easy to be a cynical realist. It's quite another thing to have no illusions and still hold the inner flame.” Marie-Louise von Franz To be a philosophical pessimist is to be acutely aware of the tragic side of life and to believe that suffering overshadows joy,
- [Why Vegetable (Seed) Oils are Killing You](https://academyofideas.com/2025/05/why-vegetable-oils-are-killing-you/) - In this video, we explore why vegetable oils are one of the most dangerous ingredients in our food supply, and why we should avoid them as much as possible.
- [Why Vegetable (Seed) Oils are Killing You](https://academyofideas.com/2025/05/why-vegetable-seed-oils-are-killing-you/) - “There is a noxious substance in your pantry—and likely your fridge and freezer, too. It has an innocuous and even healthy-sounding name. It is ubiquitous in prepared foods and a staple ingredient in home-cooked meals. Chances are that you and your family are eating it every day. I am referring to vegetable oil—a substance that
- [How to Cultivate Your Sixth Sense - The Power of Intuition](https://academyofideas.com/2025/05/how-to-cultivate-your-sixth-sense-the-power-of-intuition/) - “We only believe in those thoughts which have been conceived not in the brain but in the whole body.” W.B. Yeats, Essays and Introductions Intuition is one of the most powerful faculties for gaining knowledge about the world. Along with reason, science, and imagination, it is one of the primary means by which we discover
- [Why Stupid People are Destroying Society - The Laws of Human Stupidity](https://academyofideas.com/2025/04/why-stupid-people-are-destroying-society-the-laws-of-human-stupidity/) - “Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity.” Hanlon’s Razor What is responsible for the sickness of modern society? Is it the evil machinations of the power hungry? Is it due to a conspiracy of the ruling class? In this video, relying on the Italian historian Carlo Cipolla’s essay The Basic
- [Why Technology is Enslaving and Dehumanizing Us](https://academyofideas.com/2025/04/why-technology-is-enslaving-and-dehumanizing-us/) - “Man is caught like a fly in a bottle. His attempts at culture, freedom, and creative endeavor have become mere entries in technique’s filing cabinet.” Jacques Ellul, The Technological Society In the mid-1950s the French philosopher Jacques Ellul wrote a book titled The Technological Society. In sit he proposed that technology, or more broadly what
- [How to Cultivate Charisma - Become Socially Powerful](https://academyofideas.com/2025/04/cultivate-charisma-become-socially-powerful/) - Charismatic people are socially powerful. The way they carry themselves and communicate with others inspires trust, likability, and a willingness to follow their lead. As a result, they tend to enjoy more social opportunities, better relationships, and greater success in their careers. While some people are naturally charismatic, charisma is also a skill that can
- [How to Cultivate Charisma - Become Socially Powerful](https://academyofideas.com/2025/04/how-to-cultivate-charisma-become-socially-powerful/) - “…in controlled laboratory experiments, researchers were able to raise and lower people’s levels of charisma as if they were turning a dial…Charisma has been turned into an applied science.” Olivia Fox Cabane, The Charisma Myth: How Anyone Can Master the Art and Science of Personal Magnetism Charismatic people are socially powerful. The way they
- [Big Pharma and the Big Lie - The Chemical Imbalance Theory of Mental Illness](https://academyofideas.com/2025/04/big-pharma-and-the-big-lie-the-chemical-imbalance-theory-of-mental-illness/) - “Big Pharma is one of the largest and most profitable businesses in America, and in order to sell their chemical goods to allegedly treat the mind/psyche, pharmaceutical companies must convince society that people’s mental and behavioral problems are caused by their bodily chemicals.” Daniel R. Berger, The Chemical Imbalance Delusion An epidemic of mental
- [How to Cultivate the Discipline of Great Suffering](https://academyofideas.com/2024/12/how-to-cultivate-the-discipline-of-great-suffering/) - “To live is to suffer; to survive is to find some meaning in the suffering.” Gordon W. Allport, Preface to Man's Search for Meaning Suffering can enhance us, or it can destroy us; and often what determines which plays out are the beliefs and assumptions we hold about the meaning and value of suffering. In
- [When Government Becomes the Enemy - Resistance Against State Injustice](https://academyofideas.com/2025/03/when-government-becomes-the-enemy-resistance-against-state-injustice/) - The right to self-defense is perhaps the least disputed of all moral principles. It is also common sense that we have the right to defend other people who are aggressed upon. Virtually everyone recognizes these rights as the most obvious of ethical principles, yet many people believe that our rights to defense do not apply
- [When Government Becomes the Enemy - Resistance Against State Injustice](https://academyofideas.com/2025/03/when-government-becomes-the-enemy/) - The right to self-defense is perhaps the least disputed of all moral principles. It is also common sense that we have the right to defend other people who are aggressed upon. Virtually everyone recognizes these rights as the most obvious of ethical principles, yet many people believe that our rights to defense do not apply
- [Work Less, Achieve More - Why Working Too Much Cripples Productivity](https://academyofideas.com/2025/03/work-less-achieve-more-why-working-too-much-cripples-productivity/) - “The greatest geniuses sometimes accomplish more when they work less.” Leonardo Da Vinci Today many subscribe to hustle culture and believe that to be successful in business, a career, or a creative endeavor, it is necessary to work long hours, burn the midnight oil, and sacrifice leisure, rest, and sleep. But many who follow this
- [The Loss of Intuition - Why too Much Consciousness is a Disease](https://academyofideas.com/2025/02/the-loss-of-intuition-why-too-much-consciousness-is-a-disease/) - “There is in us something wiser than our head.” Arthur Schopenhauer, Parerga and Paralipomena, Volume 1 Most people believe that conscious thought, guided by reason, is the best tool we have to learn about the world and to solve life's problems. Yet, as Schopenhauer reminds us, there is something within us that transcends the
- [The Loss of Intuition – Why too Much Consciousness is a Disease](https://academyofideas.com/2025/02/the-loss-of-intuition-too-much-consciousness-is-a-disease/) - In this video we explore the nature of intuition, uncover its profound power and examine how social, political, and technological forces are undermining our intuitive capacities.
- [The Darkside of AI - Transhumanism and the War Against Humanity](https://academyofideas.com/2025/02/darkside-of-ai-transhumanism-and-the-war-against-humanity/) - In an interview in 1964, the science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke stated: “The most intelligent inhabitants of that future world won’t be men or monkeys. They’ll be machines—the remote descendants of today’s computers. Now, the present-day electronic brains are complete morons. But this will not be true in another generation. They will start to
- [Why Religious Myths Alleviate Existential Despair](https://academyofideas.com/2025/02/why-religious-myths-alleviate-existential-despair/) - Many see the myth as a relic of a bygone era, as a primitive and superstitious attempt to explain the world and our place in that is no longer needed in our rational and scientific age. In this video, relying on Bernardo Kastrup’s book More Than Allegory: On Religious Myth, Truth and Belief, we explore
- [Why Religious Myths Alleviate Existential Despair](https://academyofideas.com/2025/02/why-religious-myths-alleviate-existential-despair-intro/) - In this video, relying on Bernardo Kastrup’s book More Than Allegory: On Religious Myth, Truth and Belief, we explore why we need myths. For whether we realize it or not, all of us experience life through the lens of a myth. The choice we face, as we will examine, is not between myth or no myth,
- [Psychiatry and Big Pharma Exposed - A Corruption Beyond Measure](https://academyofideas.com/2024/11/psychiatry-and-big-pharma-exposed-a-corruption-beyond-measure/) - “Psychiatry is a science…and it has the tools and knowledge at its disposal to help us when our lives break down. This is the official story we hear, the one gaining airtime in the media, the ear of government policymakers, and widespread dissemination through celebrity chat shows and popular magazines. But what if the actual
- [Big Pharma and The Big Lie - Mental Illness and Chemical Imbalances](https://academyofideas.com/2024/10/big-pharma-and-the-big-lie-the-myth-of-the-chemical-imbalance/) - “Big Pharma is one of the largest and most profitable businesses in America, and in order to sell their chemical goods to allegedly treat the mind/psyche, pharmaceutical companies must convince society that people’s mental and behavioral problems are caused by their bodily chemicals.” Daniel R. Berger, The Chemical Imbalance Delusion An epidemic of mental
- [The Drugs Don't Work, They Make it Worse - Big Pharma and the Big Lie](https://academyofideas.com/2024/11/the-drugs-dont-work-they-make-it-worse-big-pharma-and-the-big-lie/) - In his book Toxic Psychiatry, the psychiatrist Peter Breggin issued the following warning: “Do not abruptly stop most psychiatric drugs! Most psychiatric drugs are far more dangerous to take than people realize, but they also can become dangerous when discontinued too abruptly...most have addictive qualities and can produce withdrawal symptoms that are emotionally and physically
- [The Great Rewiring of Childhood: A Smartphone-Social Media Dystopia](https://academyofideas.com/2025/01/great-rewiring-of-childhood-smartphones-and-social-media/) - “The Great Rewiring of Childhood, in which the phone-based childhood replaced the play-based childhood, is the major cause of the international epidemic of adolescent mental illness.” Jonathan Haidt, The Anxious Generation The release of the iPhone in 2007 profoundly transformed how we interact and experience the world and so marked the dawn of a
- [Is Rapid Personality Transformation Possible? - The Psychology of Quantum Change](https://academyofideas.com/2023/11/rapid-personality-transformation-possible-quantum-change/) - In this video we explore the phenomenon of quantum change, which is personality change that occurs in a rapid and dramatic fashion.
- [The Wisdom of a Pessimist - Arthur Schopenhauer](https://academyofideas.com/2025/01/wisdom-of-a-pessimist-arthur-schopenhauer/) - “There is some wisdom in taking a gloomy view, in looking upon the world as a kind of Hell, and in confining one's efforts to securing a little room that shall not be exposed to the fire.” Arthur Schopenhauer, Counsels and Maxims At the age of 21, the philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche was browsing a bookstore
- [Fyodor Dostoevsky - The Wisdom of a Genius](https://academyofideas.com/2024/12/fyodor-dostoevsky-the-wisdom-of-a-genius/) - Fyodor Dostoevsky is considered one of history’s greatest novelists, but he is also one of history’s greatest psychologists. His stories contain depictions of characters who span the spectrum of human personality, from those of abject evil, to those saintly in nature. Friedrich Nietzsche was so impressed with the works of Dostoevsky that in a letter
- [How to Cultivate the Discipline of Great Suffering](https://academyofideas.com/2024/12/the-discipline-of-great-suffering/) - Suffering can enhance us, or it can destroy us; and often what determines which plays out are the beliefs and assumptions we hold about the meaning and value of suffering. In this video we explore how a negative vision of suffering has infected the modern zeitgeist and fueled a widespread dependence on psychiatric and illicit
- [Should We Obey The Government?](https://academyofideas.com/2024/12/should-we-obey-the-government/) - “For it was a witty and a truthful rejoinder which was given by a captured pirate to Alexander the Great. The king asked the fellow, “What is your idea, in infesting the sea?” And the pirate answered, with uninhibited insolence, “The same as yours, in infesting the earth! But because I do it with a
- [Psychiatry and Big Pharma Exposed – A Corruption Beyond Measure](https://academyofideas.com/2024/11/psychiatry-and-big-pharma-exposed/) - The public has been led to believe that the diagnosis of mental illness by psychiatrists, and the prescribing of psychiatric drugs, is a practice grounded in science. In this video, we explain why this is not the case. We look at the problems with the diagnostic methods of mainstream psychiatry and we explore how Big
- [The Psychology of Narcissism - A Modern Epidemic](https://academyofideas.com/2024/11/the-psychology-of-narcissism-a-modern-epidemic/) - One of the surest ways to ruin our life is to be in a close relationship with a narcissist. Whether it be a narcissist as a parent, husband, wife, colleague, or friend, if we are forced to deal with a narcissist on a daily basis we suffer. But even worse than having a narcissist in
- [The Drugs Don’t Work, They Make it Worse – Big Pharma and the Big Lie](https://academyofideas.com/2024/11/the-drugs-dont-work-they-make-it-worse/) - Doctors, psychiatrists, and pharmaceutical companies tell the public that psychiatric drugs are safe and effective. In this video, we look at some of the research which shows that psychiatric drugs can worsen mental health conditions and intensify suffering, rather than providing relief.
- [Why is Modern Man so Weak and Powerless? - Carl Jung](https://academyofideas.com/2024/10/why-is-modern-man-so-weak-and-powerless-carl-jung/) - Many believe that the most important social divide in the West today is between the political left and right. Much of the discourse in the corporate and independent media revolves around this battle, and many believe that its outcome will have existential ramifications for the future of the West. But is this political conflict acting
- [Big Pharma and The Big Lie – Mental Illness and Chemical Imbalances](https://academyofideas.com/2024/10/big-pharma-and-the-big-lie-intro/) - In this video, we expose the “big lie” that supports the millions of psychiatric drug prescriptions written each year and the billions of dollars of profits that pharmaceutical companies earn from their sales. This lie is that chemical (or neurotransmitter) imbalances cause mental illness, and that taking psychiatric drugs corrects for such imbalances.
- [How an Entire Population Becomes Mentally Ill and Immoral - Herd Psychology ](https://academyofideas.com/2024/09/herd-psychology-intro/) - In this video we explore how social crises make us susceptible to a herd psychology, which can lead to widespread immorality, outright madness, and even totalitarian rule.
- [How an Entire Population Becomes Mentally Ill and Immoral - Herd Psychology ](https://academyofideas.com/2024/09/how-an-entire-population-becomes-mentally-ill-and-immoral-herd-psychology/) - “Men, it has been well said, think in herds; it will be seen that they go mad in herds, while they only recover their senses slowly, one by one.” Charles MacKay, Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds In a functioning society, one can assume that most people, most of the time, will behave
- [Carl Jung and the Archetypes - Making the Unconscious Conscious](https://academyofideas.com/2024/09/carl-jung-and-the-archetypes-making-the-unconscious-conscious/) - “. . .when a living organism is cut off from its roots, it loses a connection with the foundation of its existence and must necessarily perish.” Carl Jung, Aion Carl Jung dedicated his life to a single goal, which as he notes in his autobiography, was to “penetrate into the secret of the personality.”
- [The Evolutionary Psychology of Sex and Relationships - The Mating Psychology of Women](https://academyofideas.com/2024/01/the-evolutionary-psychology-of-sex-and-relationships-the-mating-psychology-of-women/) - Understanding the mating psychology of humans is one of the holy grails of the seeker of knowledge. For when it comes to sex and relationships, the stakes are high. A healthy coupling with another person can be a source of immense joy and can improve the quality of our life. But when a mating attempt
- [The Evolutionary Psychology of Sex and Relationships - Monogamy as Mate-Guarding and the Mating Psychology of Men ](https://academyofideas.com/2024/02/the-evolutionary-psychology-of-sex-and-relationships-monogamy-as-mate-guarding-and-the-mating-psychology-of-men/) - Why do men possess such a strong preference for female youth and beauty? Why is monogamy central to human mating, when it is so rare in other mammals? Why is male infidelity relatively common? Why do men respond to female infidelity with an intense jealousy that sometimes drives them to commit physical abuse or murder?
- [The Evolutionary Psychology of Sex and Relationships - How to Reduce Conflict and Cultivate Romantic Harmony](https://academyofideas.com/2024/02/how-to-reduce-conflict-and-cultivate-romantic-harmony/) - “We need to reconcile the profound love that humans seek with the conflict that permeates our most cherished relationships. We need to square our dreams with reality. To understand these baffling contradictions, we must gaze back into our evolutionary past—a past that has grooved and scored our minds as much as our bodies, a past
- [Why Hopelessness Destroys You – How to Cultivate Hope](https://academyofideas.com/2024/08/why-hopelessness-destroys-you-how-to-cultivate-hope-intro/) - In this video we explore an overlooked, but incredibly important reason for setting goals – goals are the fuel that ignite the faculty of hope and hope is one of the most important factors in the quality of life.
- [Why Hopelessness Destroys You - How to Cultivate Hope](https://academyofideas.com/2024/08/why-hopelessness-destroys-you-how-to-cultivate-hope/) - We are teleological beings. Ends and goals move us through life, shape our character, and when all is said and done, the ends we accomplish determine the mark we make on the world. “We cannot think, feel, will, or act without the perception of a goal." (Alfred Adler, Individual Psychology) But the importance of setting
- [What Doesn't Kill You Makes You Stronger](https://academyofideas.com/2024/08/what-doesnt-kill-you-makes-you-stronger/) - “The warrior’s approach is to say “yes” to life: “yea” to it all…Opportunities to find deeper powers within ourselves come when life seems most challenging. Negativism to the pain and ferocity of life is negativism to life. We are not there until we can say “yea” to it all.” Joseph Campbell, Reflections on the Art
- [The Psychology of Self-Transformation](https://academyofideas.com/2017/09/psychology-of-self-transformation/) - “The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation.” (Henry David Thoreau, Walden) Henry David Thoreau made this remark over 150 years ago, however, it is an observation that still rings true today. Often this desperation is the product of nagging feelings that we are wasting our life, accompanied by the frustration that despite our
- [How Adversity Created a Genius – The Life of Fyodor Dostoevsky](https://academyofideas.com/2024/07/how-adversity-created-a-genius-the-life-of-fyodor-dostoevsky-intro/) - In this video we explore the life of the Russian novelist Fyodor Dostoevsky and reveal how immense hardships sculpted him into one of history’s most astute psychological observers and one of the greatest authors of all time. We also show how crucial to Dostoevsky’s ability to utilize hardships in the direction of positive self-transformation was
- [How Adversity Created a Genius - The Life of Fyodor Dostoevsky](https://academyofideas.com/2024/07/how-adversity-created-a-genius-the-life-of-fyodor-dostoevsky/) - “He did not know that the new life would not be given him for nothing, that he would have to pay dearly for it and that it would cost him great striving, great suffering.” Fyodor Dostoevsky, Crime and Punishment Many people blame the hardships of their life for their inability to live up to
- [Social Distancing - Why They want You Isolated and Alone](https://academyofideas.com/2024/07/social-distancing-why-they-want-you-isolated-and-alone/) - ...totalitarian domination as a form of government is new in that it... bases itself on loneliness, on the experience of not belonging to the world at all, which is among the most radical and desperate experiences of man. Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism Many people have amnesia regarding that fact that a mere few
- [Pursue Pain, Not Pleasure - Why Comfort is Crippling You](https://academyofideas.com/2024/05/pursue-pain-not-pleasure-why-comfort-is-crippling-you/) - In the 1st century AD, the Greek orator and philosopher Dio Chrysostom wrote: “Luxury makes pains seem even harder, and dulls and weakens one's pleasures. For the person who is always luxuriating and never touches pain will end up unable to endure any pain at all, and also not able to feel any pleasure, not
- [Unused Creative Energy Destroys You - How to Actualize Your Creative Potential](https://academyofideas.com/2024/06/unused-creative-energy-destroys-you-how-to-actualize-your-creative-potential/) - “…we all possess an inborn creative force that wants to become active…The human mind is naturally creative, constantly looking to make associations and connections between things and ideas. It wants to explore, to discover new aspects of the world, and to invent. To express this creative force is our greatest desire, and the stifling of
- [Free Speech, Censorship, and the Threat of Totalitarianism](https://academyofideas.com/2024/07/censorship-and-the-death-of-freedom/) - "...in those wretched Countries where a Man cannot call his Tongue his own, he can scarce call any Thing else his own. Whoever would overthrow the Liberty of a Nation, must begin by subduing the Freeness of Speech." Silence Dogood, pseudonym of Benjamin Franklin, The New-England Courant, Number 49, 2-9 July 1722 Freedom of
- [Unused Creative Energy Destroys You – How to Actualize Your Creative Potential](https://academyofideas.com/2024/06/unused-creative-energy-destroys-you-how-to-actualize-your-creative-potential-intro/) - In this video, we explore why unused creative energy is one of the most destructive psychological forces, and how to overcome the internal resistances that prevent us from actualizing our creative potential.
- [How Depression Facilitates Self-Transformation](https://academyofideas.com/2024/06/how-depression-facilitates-self-transformation/) - “You desire to know the art of living, my friend? It is contained in one phrase: make use of suffering.” Henri-Frédéric Amiel, Amiel's Journal Depression is the darkest of human experiences. It saps our energy, weakens our will to work, destroys our desire to socialize, decreases our motivation to exercise, and sometimes even jeopardizes our
- [What the West Can Learn from the East – The Wisdom of the Bhagavad Gita](https://academyofideas.com/2024/05/what-the-west-can-learn-from-the-east-the-wisdom-of-the-bhagavad-gita-intro/) - Of all life’s battles the greatest we fight is the one within. Each of us must struggle with the doubts, fears, and anxieties that accompany us as we navigate a world of challenge and change, in the skins of mortal creatures. Of the many sources of advice on how to attain inner peace in the
- [What the West Can Learn from the East - The Wisdom of the Bhagavad Gita](https://academyofideas.com/2024/05/what-the-west-can-learn-from-the-east-the-wisdom-of-the-bhagavad-gita/) - “Pleasures conceived in the world of the senses have a beginning and an end and give birth to misery. The wise do not look for happiness in them.” The Bhagavad Gita, translated by Eknath Easwaran Of all life’s battles the greatest we fight is the one within. Each of us must struggle with the doubts,
- [The Dangers of Dwelling on the Past - Carl Jung as Therapist](https://academyofideas.com/2024/05/the-dangers-of-dwelling-on-the-past-carl-jung-as-therapist-intro/) - In this video we explore why Jung believed that turning backwards and examining the past is a wrong turn, and how overcoming a neurotic illness is best accomplished by focusing on the present and looking to the future.
- [The Dangers of Dwelling on the Past - Carl Jung as Therapist](https://academyofideas.com/2024/05/the-dangers-of-dwelling-on-the-past-carl-jung-as-therapist/) - “We should not forget that every neurosis entails a corresponding amount of demoralization. If a man is neurotic, he has lost confidence in himself. A neurosis is a humiliating defeat and is felt as such by people who are not entirely unconscious of their own psychology.” Carl Jung, Collected Works Volume 17 In the modern
- [The Psychology of Malignant Narcissists - People of the Lie](https://academyofideas.com/2023/10/the-psychology-of-malignant-narcissists-people-of-the-lie/) - “Evil is not committed by people who feel uncertain about their righteousness, who question their own motives, who worry about betraying themselves. The evil in this world is committed by the spiritual fat cats, by the Pharisees of our own day, the self-righteous who think they are without sin because they are unwilling to suffer
- [Are We Enslaved to One Side of the Brain? - The Sickness of Modern Man](https://academyofideas.com/2024/04/are-we-enslaved-to-one-side-of-the-brain-the-sickness-of-modern-man/) - “It seems to me that we face very grave crises indeed and that, if we are to survive, we need not just a few new measures, but a complete change of heart and mind.” Iain McGilchrist, The Master and His Emissary: The Divided Brain and the Making of the Western World There seems to be
- [Why Modern Man is Mentally Ill – The Disappearance of Heroism ](https://academyofideas.com/2024/04/why-modern-man-is-mentally-ill-the-disappearance-of-heroism/) - “...human nature and society can have conflicting demands, and hence a whole society can be sick...” Erich Fromm, The Sane Society In the modern world, few truly thrive while many grapple with character flaws and destructive lifestyles that foster anxiety disorders, neurotic illnesses, and depression. Increasingly normality is becoming synonymous with mental illness. In this
- [Why Modern Man is Mentally Ill – The Disappearance of Heroism](https://academyofideas.com/2024/04/why-modern-man-is-mentally-ill-the-disappearance-of-heroism-intro/) - In the modern world, few truly thrive while many grapple with character flaws and destructive lifestyles that foster anxiety disorders, neurotic illnesses, and depression. Increasingly, normality is becoming synonymous with mental illness. In this video, we explore how the disappearance of heroism is fueling this crisis in mental health, and examine why fulfilling our need
- [Why Democracy Leads to Tyranny](https://academyofideas.com/2024/03/why-democracy-leads-to-tyranny/) - “Remember Democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes exhausts and [destroys] itself. . .It is in vain to Say that Democracy is … less proud, less selfish, less ambitious or less avaricious than Aristocracy or Monarchy. It is not true in Fact and no where appears in history. Those Passions are the same in all
- [Are We Possessed By One Side of the Brain? - The Sickness of the Modern Age](https://academyofideas.com/2024/03/are-we-possessed-by-one-side-of-the-brain-the-sickness-of-the-modern-age/) - “It seems to me that we face very grave crises indeed and that, if we are to survive, we need not just a few new measures, but a complete change of heart and mind.” Iain McGilchrist, The Master and His Emissary: The Divided Brain and the Making of the Western World There seems to be
- [Are We Possessed By One Side of the Brain? - The Sickness of the Modern Age](https://academyofideas.com/2024/03/are-we-possessed-by-one-side-of-the-brain-the-sickness-of-the-modern-age-intro/) - There seems to be a sickness that has spread throughout society, and it has infected most people with a mindset that is not suitable for individual or social flourishing. In this video, we explore a fascinating hypothesis, put forth by the psychiatrist and neuroscience researcher Iain McGilchrist, that can help account for the sickness of
- [Why Solitude Promotes Greatness - The Benefits of Being Alone](https://academyofideas.com/2024/03/why-solitude-promotes-greatness-the-benefits-of-being-alone/) - “To live alone one must be either a beast or a god, says Aristotle. Leaving out the third case: one must be both…” Nietzsche, Twilight of the Idols According to a 2010 study published in the journal PLOS Medicine, the health risks of chronic loneliness are equivalent to smoking 15 cigarettes a day. To mitigate
- [The Myth of Meaning in the Work of C. G. Jung](https://academyofideas.com/2016/08/myth-of-meaning-jung-aniela-jaffe/) - One of the reasons for Jung’s great interest in life’s meaning was due to his understanding of the dangers of a meaningless life.
- [The Evolutionary Psychology of Sex and Relationships – How to Reduce Conflict and Cultivate Romantic Harmony](https://academyofideas.com/2024/02/how-to-reduce-conflict-and-cultivate-romantic-harmony-intro/) - In this video, we explore how evolutionary psychology can help us understand the roots of relationship conflict, reduce it, and achieve sustainable romantic harmony.
- [1984 vs Brave New World - How Freedom Dies](https://academyofideas.com/2024/02/1984-vs-brave-new-world-how-freedom-dies/) - “If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face – forever.” George Orwell, 1984 George Orwell’s writings have experienced a spike in popularity over the past several decades and for a good reason – modern societies are becoming ever more like the dystopia Orwell depicted in his
- [Why do Most Relationships Fail? - The Myth of the Magical Other](https://academyofideas.com/2023/11/why-do-most-relationships-fail-the-myth-of-the-magical-other/) - “...more people look for salvation through relationship than in houses of worship. One may even suggest that romantic love has replaced institutional religion as the greatest motive power and influence in our lives...the search for love has replaced the search for God.” James Hollis, The Eden Project: In Search of the Magical Other Half of
- [Spontaneous Recovery - The Body's Power to Heal from Cancer and Chronic Disease](https://academyofideas.com/2024/02/spontaneous-recovery-the-bodys-power-to-heal-from-cancer-and-chronic-disease/) - “Natural forces within us are the true healers of disease.” Hippocrates Modern medicine has achieved remarkable results. Its ability to save people from ailments which a mere generation ago would have led to an untimely death, borders on the miraculous. But when it comes to chronic illness modern medicine has its limits. Sometimes the
- [The Evolutionary Psychology of Sex and Relationships – Monogamy as Mate-Guarding and the Mating Psychology of Men ](https://academyofideas.com/2024/02/the-evolutionary-psychology-of-sex-and-relationships-monogamy-as-mate-guarding-and-the-mating-psychology-of-men-intro/) - Why do men possess such a strong preference for female youth and beauty? Why is monogamy central to human mating, when it is so rare in other mammals? Why is male infidelity relatively common? Why do men respond to female infidelity with an intense jealousy that sometimes drives them to commit physical abuse or murder?
- [Why an Unhealthy Mind creates an Unhealthy Body](https://academyofideas.com/2024/01/why-an-unhealthy-mind-creates-an-unhealthy-body/) - “The great majority of us are required to live a life of constant, systematic duplicity. Your health is bound to be affected if, day after day, you say the opposite of what you feel, if you grovel before what you dislike and rejoice at what brings you nothing but misfortune. Our nervous system isn’t just
- [The Evolutionary Psychology of Sex and Relationships – The Mating Psychology of Women](https://academyofideas.com/2024/01/the-evolutionary-psychology-of-sex-and-relationships-the-mating-psychology-of-women-intro/) - Evolutionary psychology is a fairly new field that is shining light on the mating psychology of men and women. In this 2-part series, we explore some of the interesting, helpful, unsettling, and controversial insights that have emerged from this field of study. In this first video, we introduce the concept of sexual selection and unravel
- [Why Lying to Yourself is Ruining Your Life](https://academyofideas.com/2024/01/why-lying-to-yourself-is-ruining-your-life/) - “. . .you must look at who you are and make an effort to know yourself, which is the most difficult knowledge one can imagine. When you know yourself, you will not puff yourself up like the frog who wanted to be the equal of the ox. . .” Don Quixote, Miguel de Cervantes
- [Why are Most People Cowards? | Obedience and the Rise of Authoritarianism](https://academyofideas.com/2022/01/why-are-most-people-cowards-obedience-and-the-rise-of-authoritarianism/) - “Authoritarianism in religion and science, let alone politics, is becoming increasingly accepted, not particularly because so many people explicitly believe in it but because they feel themselves individually powerless and anxious. So what else can one do...except follow the mass political leader...or follow the authority of customs, public opinion, and social expectations?” Rollo May, Man's
- [How to Brainwash the World - 2 + 2 = 5 - The Psychology of Thought Reform](https://academyofideas.com/2023/12/how-to-brainwash-the-world-2-2-5-the-psychology-of-thought-reform/) - “If desired a man can be completely changed. . . and after such a change has been accomplished, he will be suitable for any purpose.” Bertolt Brecht In the totalitarian states of the 20th century, a psychological war was waged on the minds of an unsuspecting public. The main weapon in this war was “thought
- [How to Brainwash the World – 2 + 2 = 5 – The Psychology of Thought Reform](https://academyofideas.com/2023/12/how-to-brainwash-the-world-2-2-5-the-psychology-of-thought-reform-intro/) - Are people today being brainwashed into accepting authoritarian and totalitarian rule? In this video, we explore the phenomenon of thought reform, a type of mass-brainwashing first used in the totalitarian states of the 20th century.
- [Could We Turn Evil? - How Evil Spreads Through a Society](https://academyofideas.com/2022/09/could-we-turn-evil-how-evil-spreads-through-a-society/) - “I knew that a man could kill a man, because it happens all the time,” said a survivor of the Rwandan genocide. “Now I know that even the person with whom you've shared food, or whom you've slept, even he can kill you with no trouble. The closest neighbor can kill you with his teeth:
- [The Power of the Unconscious Part 4 - Connecting to the Inner God](https://academyofideas.com/2020/09/power-of-the-unconscious-part-4-connecting-to-the-inner-god/) - “I am accused of mysticism. I do not, however, hold myself responsible for the fact that man has, always and everywhere, spontaneously developed a religious function, and that the human psyche from time immemorial has been shot through with religious feelings and ideas. Whoever cannot see this aspect of the human psyche is blind, and
- [How to Escape Mediocrity and Mental Illness - The Road Less Traveled](https://academyofideas.com/2023/12/how-to-escape-mediocrity-and-mental-illness-the-road-less-traveled/) - “Since ultimately people heal themselves with or without the tool of psychotherapy, why is it that so few do and so many do not? Since the path of spiritual growth, albeit difficult, is open to all, why do so few choose to travel it? It was to this question that Christ was addressing himself when
- [Is Rapid Personality Transformation Possible? - The Psychology of Quantum Change](https://academyofideas.com/2023/11/is-rapid-personality-transformation-possible-the-psychology-of-quantum-change/) - “Men’s courses will foreshadow certain ends to which, if persevered in, they must lead. But if the courses be departed from, the ends will change.” Ebenezer Scrooge, to the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come, in Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol Of all the sources of mental anguish, one of the most devastating is
- [Why Absent Fathers Harm Children and Ruin Society](https://academyofideas.com/2023/08/why-absent-fathers-harm-children-and-ruin-society/) - “Fatherlessness is the leading cause of declining child well-being in our society. It is also the engine driving our most urgent social problems…Yet, despite its scale and social consequences, fatherlessness is a problem that is frequently ignored or denied.” David Blankenhorn, Fatherless America Families are microcosms of society. Strong and stable families contribute to social
- [Why Do We Shrink From Life? - Overcoming Infantile Fear and Weakness](https://academyofideas.com/2021/05/why-do-we-shrink-from-life-overcoming-infantile-fear-and-weakness/) - “Because of some obstacle - constitutional weakness or defect, wrong education, bad experiences, an unsuitable attitude, etc. - one shrinks from the difficulties which life brings and thus finds oneself back in the world of the infant.” Carl Jung, Alchemical Studies As we age our body matures and casts off its childish form; but
- [Do we Need God? - The Loss of God and the Decay of Society](https://academyofideas.com/2023/11/do-we-need-god-the-loss-of-god-and-the-decay-of-society/) - “Over half a century ago, while I was still a child, I recall hearing a number of older people offer the following explanation for the great disasters that had befallen Russia [in the 20th century]: ‘Men have forgotten God; that’s why all this has happened.’” Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, 1983 Templeton Address Is secularization a sign
- [Nietzsche and Madness - A Descent into the Depths](https://academyofideas.com/2021/05/nietzsche-and-madness-a-descent-into-the-depths/) - In January of 1889, the great German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche went mad. One year later, Nietzsche’s friend Peter Gast visited him in a mental asylum in Jena. He wrote the following: “He did not look very ill…I believe Nietzsche would be just about as grateful to his rescuers as somebody who has jumped into the water
- [Nietzsche and Nihilism - A Warning to the West](https://academyofideas.com/2022/11/nietzsche-and-nihilism-a-warning-to-the-west/) - In 1888, the philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche wrote: “What I relate is the history of the next two centuries. I describe what is coming, what can no longer come differently: the advent of nihilism.” Nietzsche, The Will to Power Nihilism is the conviction that there is no meaning to life, that the world is inhospitable to
- [How to Quit Your Boring Job - Turn a Passion into a Career](https://academyofideas.com/2022/10/how-to-quit-your-boring-job-turn-a-passion-into-a-career/) - “Either we have no dreams or our dreams are interesting. We should learn to arrange our waking life the same way: nothing or interesting.” Nietzsche, The Gay Science The chance of living a good life is increased by attaining success in two main areas. Firstly, we need to make money, as poverty is limiting and
- [Joseph Campbell and the Myth of the Hero’s Journey](https://academyofideas.com/2016/06/joseph-campbell-myth-of-the-heros-journey/) - Myths of individuals undergoing heroic adventures as they attempt to actualize their higher potentials are abundant in many cultures throughout history.
- [Nietzsche and Jung: Myth and the Age of the Hero](https://academyofideas.com/2018/11/nietzsche-jung-myth-age-of-the-hero/) - “Here we have our present age … bent on the extermination of myth. Man today, stripped of myth, stands famished among all his pasts and must dig frantically for roots...” (Friedrich Nietzsche, The Birth of Tragedy) We live at a time where science and technology have diminished our physical suffering to a remarkable degree. But
- [Why the Lack of Religion Breeds Mental Illness](https://academyofideas.com/2022/05/why-the-lack-of-religion-breeds-mental-illness/) - “The least of things with a meaning is worth more in life than the greatest of things without it.” Carl Jung, Practice of Psychotherapy We live in a world consumed by an endless series of crises. But of all the crises we face the one that may be of the greatest concern, is one that
- [How to Escape from a Sick Society](https://academyofideas.com/2021/09/how-to-escape-from-a-sick-society/) - Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, reflecting on the Soviet Union’s descent into totalitarian rule in the mid-20th century, and all the things that could have been done to prevent it, wrote the following: “If…if… We didn’t love freedom enough. And even more – we had no awareness of the real situation. . .we hurried to submit. We submitted with pleasure! … We purely and simply deserved everything that
- [How Inflation Precipitates Societal Collapse](https://academyofideas.com/2022/10/how-inflation-precipitates-societal-collapse/) - “…if inflation is not eliminated very soon, all our technological and scientific improvements will not prevent us from a tremendous financial catastrophe that will destroy practically all that civilization has created in the last several hundred years.” Ludwig von Mises, Ludwig von Mises on Money and Inflation The philosopher George Santayana stated that “Those who
- [Will Civilization Collapse?](https://academyofideas.com/2022/09/will-civilization-collapse/) - “I see in you all the characteristic stigma of decay. I can prove to you that… your atheism and your pessimism and your cynicism, your immorality, your broken-down marriages…were characteristic marks of the dying ages of ancient States.” Oswald Spengler, The Decline of the West Are we living in an age of civilizational collapse? In
- [Could We Turn Evil? - How Evil Spreads Through Society](https://academyofideas.com/2022/09/could-we-turn-evil-how-evil-spreads-through-society-intro/) - If placed in conditions of extreme social stress, would you or I participate in a mass atrocity? Do we all have the capacity for evil lying latent within us? In this video we explore how evil, on a mass scale, can overwhelm a society and how normal men and women can be driven to commit
- [How to Promote Self-Actualization](https://academyofideas.com/2022/08/how-to-promote-self-actualization-preview/) - In this video we investigate why the practice of self-acceptance, and the cultivation of self-trust, are integral ingredients in the process of self-actualization.
- [How to Stop Wasting Your Life - Carl Jung as Therapist](https://academyofideas.com/2022/08/how-to-stop-wasting-your-life-carl-jung-as-therapist/) - “This is precisely the risk modern man runs: he may wake up one day to find that he has missed half his life.” Carl Jung, Practice of Psychotherapy Psychotropic drugs have become one of the most common forms of treatment for anxiety disorders and depression. But these drugs are not very good at curing people
- [Stoicism | Overcoming the Fear of Death & Cultivating Courage and Freedom](https://academyofideas.com/2022/08/stoicism-overcoming-the-fear-of-death-cultivating-courage-and-freedom-intro/) - In this video we explore ancient philosophical wisdom on how to lessen our fear of death so that we live more fully.
- [Scapegoating and the Road to Political Persecution](https://academyofideas.com/2022/07/scapeogating-and-the-road-to-political-persecution/) - “Humanity is arming itself, in dread and fascinated horror, for a stupendous crime.”Carl Jung, Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious While we cannot create a heaven on earth, we can create a hell and history is full of examples. Many of these man-made hells are the result of war and conquest, but many others are the
- [How to Become More Powerful in the Social World](https://academyofideas.com/2022/07/how-to-become-more-powerful-in-the-social-world-intro/) - In this video we explore the psychology of interpersonal power. Specifically, we examine how to improve our ability to influence other people, as well as protect ourselves from those who seek to manipulate us and do us harm.
- [Why Suffering can Promote Strength and Health](https://academyofideas.com/2022/06/why-suffering-can-promote-strength-health/) - “The discipline of suffering, of great suffering - do you not know that only this discipline has created all enhancements of man so far?” Friedrich Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil Suffering is inevitable. It is an essential component of the human condition, and the sources of suffering are many. Some have gone as far as
- [Why are People so Divided and Hostile? | The Dangers of Racial, National, and Political Identities](https://academyofideas.com/2022/05/why-are-people-so-divided-and-hostile-the-dangers-of-racial-national-and-political-identities-2/) - In this video we explore the dangers of over-identifying with groups or collectives - be they racial, national, political, or religious - and why this is leading to a divided, hostile, and easily controlled society.
- [How to Turn a Passion into a Career - Why Most Fail and Few Succeed](https://academyofideas.com/2022/04/how-to-turn-a-passion-into-a-career-why-most-fail-and-few-succeed-intro/) - In this video we explore why so few people manage to turn a passion into a sustainable career, and what it is that differentiates those who do succeed from everyone else.
- [Anxiety and Depression - A Retreat into a Constricted World](https://academyofideas.com/2022/04/anxiety-and-depression-a-retreat-into-a-constricted-world/) - “Attention is not just another cognitive function. Attention is how our world comes into being for us. The altered nature of attention can appear to abolish parts of the world, collapse time and space [and] eviscerate emotion. . .It is a profoundly moral act.” Iain McGilchrist, The Matter With Things As was explored in the
- [Fear Psychosis and the Cult of Safety - Why are People so Afraid?](https://academyofideas.com/2022/04/fear-psychosis-and-the-cult-of-safety/) - Is the modern world caught in the grip of a fear psychosis and has a cult of safety entrenched itself the West? In this video, we are going to explore these questions. “Quite an experience, to live in fear, isn’t it? That’s what it is to be a slave.” Blade Runner Today we live longer
- [Is Humanity Doomed? - Carl Jung on Healing a Sick Society](https://academyofideas.com/2022/03/is-humanity-doomed-carl-jung-on-healing-a-sick-society/) - “Anxiously we look round for collective measures, thereby reinforcing the very mass-mindedness we want to fight against. There’s only one remedy for the leveling effect of all collective measures, and this is to emphasize and increase the value of the individual.” Carl Jung, Civilization in Transition We live in an age where two visions
- [The Power of Attention Part 3 - Overcoming Anxiety and Depression](https://academyofideas.com/2022/03/the-power-of-attention-part-3-overcoming-anxiety-and-depression-intro/) - In this video we explore how a change in the way we attend to the world can cure us of anxiety and depression.
- [The Parallel Society vs Totalitarianism | How to Create a Free World](https://academyofideas.com/2022/02/parallel-society-vs-totalitarianism-how-to-create-a-free-world/) - “The real question is whether the ‘brighter future' is always so distant. What if it has been here for a long time already - and only our own blindness and weakness have prevented us from seeing it around us and within us, and kept us from developing it.” Vaclav Havel, The Power of the Powerless
- [The Power of Attention Part 2 - The Constricted World of Anxiety and Depression](https://academyofideas.com/2022/02/the-power-of-attention-part-2-the-constricted-world-of-anxiety-depression-intro/) - In this video we examine the role that attention plays in the constricted experiential world of anxiety and depression.
- [The Power of Attention Part 1 - How Attention Creates Our World](https://academyofideas.com/2022/01/the-power-of-attention-part-1-how-attention-creates-our-world-intro/) - In this video we explore the remarkable power of attention. We look at how attention grounds our experience, how attention lies at the root of mental illness, and how in the modern world our attentional capacities are being hijacked and distorted by the media we consume.
- [Is Government the New God? - The Religion of Totalitarianism](https://academyofideas.com/2021/12/is-government-the-new-god-the-religion-of-totalitarianism/) - “The State takes the place of God…the socialist dictatorships are religions and State slavery is a form of worship.”Carl Jung, The Undiscovered Self Since the birth of totalitarianism in the 20th century much has been written about this form of rule and millions have read George Orwell’s depiction of it in the classic novel 1984.
- [Recovery from Addiction - Harm Reduction and the Psychological Rebirth](https://academyofideas.com/2021/12/recovery-from-addiction-harm-reduction-and-the-psychological-rebirth-intro/) - In this video we investigate practical strategies to facilitate a psychological rebirth, and hence, recovery from addiction.
- [Is the Mainstream Media a Threat to Freedom and Sanity?](https://academyofideas.com/2021/11/mainstream-media-a-threat-to-freedom-and-sanity/) - “I rejoice that horses and steers have to be broken before they can be made the slaves of men, and that men themselves have some wild oats still left to sow before they become submissive members of society.” Henry David Thoreau, Walking If this claim of Henry David Thoreau’s is true – that we must
- [The Crisis of Addiction - Childhood Trauma and a Corrupt Culture](https://academyofideas.com/2021/11/crisis-of-addiction-childhood-trauma-corrupt-culture/) - “What is addiction, really? It is a sign, a signal, a symptom of distress. It is a language that tells us about a plight that must be understood.” Alice Miller, Breaking Down the Wall of Silence In the Buddhist’s conception of the universe, the wheel of life revolves through 6 realms, each representing a different
- [Smartphones and Social Media: A Mass Surveillance Dystopia](https://academyofideas.com/2021/10/smartphones-and-social-media-a-mass-surveillance-dystopia/) - In the book The Origins of Totalitarianism Hannah Arendt describes the rudimentary mass surveillance system used by the secret police force of the Russian Empire. “Every suspect was noted on a large card in the center of which his name was surrounded by a red circle; his political friends were designated by smaller red circles
- [Carl Jung - Addiction as a Spiritual Disease](https://academyofideas.com/2021/10/carl-jung-addiction-as-a-spiritual-disease-2/) - In this video we explore how an addiction develops and examine Carl Jung analysis of addiction as a spiritual disease.
- [Social Media - Why it Sickens the Self and Divides Society](https://academyofideas.com/2021/10/social-media-why-it-sickens-the-self-and-divides-society/) - “WHAT HATH GOD WROUGHT?” These were the first words sent over the newly invented electric telegraph machine in May 1844. This message proved to be prophetic. For the communication technologies that followed in the wake of the telegraph, from the telephone, to the radio, to TV, computers, the internet, and now smart phones and social
- [The Big Lie - How to Enslave the World](https://academyofideas.com/2021/09/the-big-lie-how-to-enslave-the-world/) - “And the lie has, in fact, led us so far away from a normal society that you cannot even orient yourself any longer; in its dense, gray fog not even one pillar can be seen.”Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, The Gulag Archipelago Lying has always been used for political purposes. Lies cover up corruption, past mistakes and hidden
- [The Roots of Addiction - Childhood Trauma, Emotional Pain, and a Dying Culture](https://academyofideas.com/2021/09/roots-of-addiction-childhood-trauma-emotional-pain-a-dying-culture-intro/) - In this video we investigate the nature and roots of addiction.
- [Why are So Many People Accepting Tyranny?](https://academyofideas.com/2021/08/why-are-so-many-people-accepting-tyranny-intro/) - In this video we explore the question: Why are so many people accepting the emergence of a totalitarian form of rule, and in the process, allowing bureaucrats and politicians to control the most precious of all things - our one chance at life?
- [Is 1984 Becoming a Reality? - George Orwell's Warning to the World](https://academyofideas.com/2021/08/is-1984-becoming-a-reality-george-orwells-warning-to-the-world/) - In 1940 George Orwell wrote: “Almost certainly we are moving into an age of totalitarian dictatorships – an age in which freedom of thought will be at first a deadly sin and later on a meaningless abstraction. The autonomous individual is going to be stamped out of existence.” George Orwell, Inside the Whale George Orwell’s dystopian novel 1984
- [Do We Live in a Brave New World? - Aldous Huxley's Warning to the World](https://academyofideas.com/2021/06/do-we-live-in-a-brave-new-world-aldous-huxleys-warning-to-the-world/) - In his 1958 book Brave New World Revisited, Aldous Huxley wrote the following: “If the first half of the twentieth century was the era of the technical engineers, the second half may well be the era of the social engineers — and the twenty-first century, I suppose, will be the era of World Controllers, the scientific
- [The Pillars of Success – Why Sleep, Focus and Mindset Promote Excellence](https://academyofideas.com/2021/06/pillars-of-success-why-sleep-focus-and-mindset-promote-excellence-intro/) - In this video we explore how we can attain the ideal of not only finding an intrinsically rewarding form of work, but also how we can become so good at it, that through it, we can support ourselves financially
- [Carl Jung's Method of Self-Development - The Path of Individuation](https://academyofideas.com/2021/05/carl-jung-self-development-path-of-individuation/) - “. . .when all is said and done, our own existence is an experiment of nature, an attempt at a new synthesis.” Carl Jung, Structure & Dynamics of the Psyche While Carl Jung is best known for his ideas on the unconscious, be it his theory of the archetypes or his writings on the shadow side
- [Why Do We Shrink from Life? - Overcoming Infantile Fear and Weakness](https://academyofideas.com/2021/05/why-do-we-shrink-from-life-overcoming-infantile-fear-and-weakness-intro/) - In this video we shine a light on the infantile tendencies which plague the adult mind, and examine what we can do to override these tendencies so as to move boldly forward into life.
- [The Manufacturing of a Mass Psychosis - Can Sanity Return to an Insane World?](https://academyofideas.com/2021/04/manufacturing-of-a-mass-psychosis-can-sanity-return-to-an-insane-world/) - “The masses have never thirsted after truth. They turn aside from evidence that is not to their taste, preferring to deify error, if error seduce them. Whoever can supply them with illusions is easily their master; whoever attempts to destroy their illusions is always their victim.” Gustav Le Bon, The Crowd: A Study of the
- [The Mass Psychosis and the Demons of Dostoevsky](https://academyofideas.com/2021/03/mass-psychosis-demons-dostoevsky/) - “Man does not make his ideas; we could say that man’s ideas make him.” Carl Jung, Freud and Psychoanalysis Ideas are the seeds of our greatest creations, but they can also sow destruction. Ideas, when put into action, lead to individual and social flourishing or to individual suffering and social ruin. And certain ideas, as
- [Is a Mass Psychosis the Greatest Threat to Humanity?](https://academyofideas.com/2021/02/mass-psychosis-greatest-threat-to-humanity/) - "All one’s neighbours are in the grip of some uncontrolled and uncontrollable fear. . . In lunatic asylums it is a well-known fact that patients are far more dangerous when suffering from fear than when moved by rage or hatred.” Carl Jung, Psychology and Religion According to the psychologist Carl Jung the greatest threat to
- [A Guide to Self-Actualization – Abraham Maslow and the Healthy Individual](https://academyofideas.com/2021/04/guide-to-self-actualization-abraham-maslow-healthy-individual/) - “What a man can be, he must be. This need we call self-actualization.”Abraham Maslow While most psychologists study sick people, the 20th century psychologist Abraham Maslow devoted his career to studying the most successful and psychologically healthy. Such individuals, he discovered, share one overarching life theme – they are self-actualizers. Self-actualization is the life-long process
- [Why Caring What Others Think Breeds Mental Illness](https://academyofideas.com/2021/01/why-caring-what-others-think-breeds-mental-illness/) - “Put up with being laughed at on occasion; look around you, and give yourself a good shaking to find out who you really are.” Epictetus, Discourses Common sense tells us that a modicum of concern for the opinions of others is useful in the cultivating of good relationships and the maintenance of social cohesion. But most people care too much about
- [Why are So Many Men Psychologically Infantile?](https://academyofideas.com/2021/01/why-are-so-many-men-psychologically-infantile/) - View all our videos on Manhood! A man can’t go out the way he came in…a man has got to add up to something!Arthur Miller, Death of a Salesman In our previous series on Carl Jung and the Man-Child, we looked at why the phenomenon of the “man-child” is so prevalent in our times. We
- [How Civil Disobedience Safeguards Freedom and Prevents Tyranny](https://academyofideas.com/2020/12/how-civil-disobedience-safeguards-freedom-and-prevents-tyranny/) - “Monsters exist, but they are far too few in number to be truly dangerous; the most dangerous monsters are ordinary [men and women] ready to believe and obey without asking questions.” Primo Levi, The Truce Is a peaceful and prosperous society dependent on strict obedience to the laws and dictates of the state? Is voting the only proper
- [The Psychology of Joy - 3 Antidotes to Suffering](https://academyofideas.com/2020/11/the-psychology-of-joy-3-antidotes-to-suffering/) - “The weak have remedies, the wise have joys; superior wisdom is superior bliss.” Edward Young, Virtue's Apology Some people pass from birth to death with both feet firmly planted on the sunny side of life. Such are the healthy-minded among us. These fortunate individuals are innately predisposed to joy and optimism and experience life as
- [Optimizing Habits – The Surest Way to a Better Life: Part 2 - How to Form Good Habits](https://academyofideas.com/2020/11/optimizing-habits-part-2-how-to-form-good-habits-intro/) - In the 2nd video of this 2 part series we look at an effective practical strategy for forming good habits which we can implement immediately in our life.
- [How to Thrive in the Battle of Life](https://academyofideas.com/2020/10/how-to-thrive-in-the-battle-of-life/) - “It is no more possible to make life easy than it is to grow a herb of immortality.” Carl Jung, Civilization in Transition In many ways life is a battle. A battle against our self-destructive tendencies, our weaknesses and fears. A battle against our mortal nature and the limits of time. A battle against bad habits and people who try to pull us down. And depending
- [Søren Kierkegaard and the Value of Despair](https://academyofideas.com/2020/10/soren-kierkegaard-value-of-despair/) - “That one is in despair is not a rarity; no, it is rare, very rare, that one is…not in despair.” Søren Kierkegaard, The Sickness Unto Death Is it possible to believe that we are leading a good life, but in actuality to be in a critical state of despair? Can conformity and the pursuit of social status
- [Optimizing Habits - The Surest Way to a Better Life: Part 1 Overcoming Addictions](https://academyofideas.com/2020/10/optimizing-habits-part-1-overcoming-addictions-intro/) - In the first video of this 2 part series we explore how we can optimize our habits and overcome addictions.
- [How the "Greater Good" is Used as a Tool of Social Control](https://academyofideas.com/2020/09/greater-good-tool-of-social-control/) - “The great citizens of a country are not those who bend the knee before authority but rather those who, against authority if need be, are adamant as to the honor and freedom of that country.” Albert Camus, Resistance, Rebellion, and Death Instead of respect for reason, open dialogue, freedom of speech and individual and property rights,
- [Carl Jung - Inferiority Complexes and the Superior Self](https://academyofideas.com/2020/09/carl-jung-inferiority-complexes-superior-self/) - “When a man can say of his states and actions, “As I am, so I act,” he can be at one with himself . . .and he can accept responsibility for himself even though he struggles against it.” Carl Jung, Two Essays on Analytical Psychology Carl Jung was a man of eclectic interests and this
- [The Power of the Unconscious Part 4 - Connecting to the Inner God](https://academyofideas.com/2020/09/power-of-the-unconscious-part-4-connecting-to-the-inner-god-intro/) - In this series of videos we are exploring the power of the unconscious mind. In this video we examine a series of actionable steps to help us connect to our inner god.
- [Freedom vs. Force - The Individual and the State](https://academyofideas.com/2020/08/freedom-vs-force-the-individual-and-the-state/) - “Freedom is…the air we cannot do without, that we breathe without even noticing it until the time comes when, deprived of it, we feel that we are dying.” Albert Camus, Resistance, Rebellion, and Death It is a startling fact that throughout history freedom has been considered so precious that some individuals have preferred death to
- [The Psychology of Power - How to Dethrone Tyrants](https://academyofideas.com/2020/07/the-psychology-of-power-how-to-dethrone-tyrants/) - “Neither necessity nor desire, but the love of power, is the demon of mankind. You may give men everything possible health, food, shelter, enjoyment but they are and remain unhappy . . . for the demon waits and waits; and must be satisfied. Let everything else be taken away from men, and let this demon
- [The Power of the Unconscious Part 3 – The Practical Value of Religion](https://academyofideas.com/2020/08/the-power-of-the-unconscious-part-3-practical-value-of-religion-intro/) - In this series of videos we are exploring the power of the unconscious mind. In this video we examine the practical benefits of using the unconscious to cultivate a religious attitude to life.
- [Escape Boredom - Leonardo da Vinci and a Guide to the Good Life](https://academyofideas.com/2020/07/escape-boredom-leonardo-da-vinci-good-life/) - When we think of the forces that shape us, we often look back in time. We look to the events of our youth, to the influence of our peers, and to the way we were treated by our family. But while our past, or at least our conception of it, influences our sense of self,
- [Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn Quotes - What The Gulag Archipelago Can Teach Us Now](https://academyofideas.com/2020/06/aleksandr-solzhenitsyn-quotes-what-the-gulag-archipelago-can-teach-us-now/) - Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, the 20th century Russian author, is most famous for his book The Gulag Archipelago in which he describes life under the grip of totalitarian rule. Solzhenitsyn wrote the book while serving a sentence in the Soviet Gulag prison system. What was his crime? Writing a letter to a friend. The letter was intercepted
- [Do We Live in a Sick Society?](https://academyofideas.com/2020/06/do-we-live-in-a-sick-society/) - “Now there are times when a whole generation is caught. . .between two ages, two modes of life, with the consequence that it loses all power to understand itself and has no standards, no security, no simple acquiescence.” Hermann Hesse, Steppenwolf Do we live in an age where normality has become a sickness? Has our
- [The Psychology of Heroism](https://academyofideas.com/2020/06/how-to-be-a-hero-psychology-of-heroism/) - “We need a great rebirth of the heroic in our world. Every sector of human society, wherever that may be on the planet, seems to be slipping into an unconscious chaos.” Robert Moore and Douglas Gillette, King, Warrior, Magician, Lover, The 19th century American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow said that “Fame is the fragrance of heroic deeds.” (Tales
- [The Power of the Unconscious Part 2 – The Inner God](https://academyofideas.com/2020/06/the-power-of-the-unconscious-part-2-the-inner-god-intro/) - In this video we explore the connection between religion, or spirituality, and the unconscious mind.
- [The Psychology of the Anti-Hero](https://academyofideas.com/2020/05/the-psychology-of-the-anti-hero/) - “When we appreciate how natural it is for man to strive to be a hero, how deeply it goes in his evolutionary and organismic constitution…then it is all the more curious how ignorant most of us are, consciously, of what we really want and need.” Ernest Becker, The Denial of Death One of the oldest
- [The Pessimist's Guide to the Good Life - The Wisdom of William James](https://academyofideas.com/2023/09/the-pessimists-guide-to-the-good-life-the-wisdom-of-william-james/) - “If we survey the field of history and ask what features all great periods of revival, of expansion of the human mind, display in common, we shall find, I think, simply this; that each and all of them have said to the human being, ‘the inmost nature of reality is congenial to powers which you
- [The Power of Role Models - How Imitation Promotes Self-Transformation](https://academyofideas.com/2023/10/the-power-of-role-models-how-imitation-promotes-self-transformation/) - “Not infrequently, the quintessence of an attitude is neither a maxim nor an ideal but a personality who is revered and emulated.” Carl Jung, The Structure and Dynamics of the Psyche Of all the ways we undermine our potential and pave the way for our ruin, harboring a negative attitude stands out as one
- [The Power of the Unconscious Part 1 - What is the Unconscious?](https://academyofideas.com/2020/05/the-power-of-the-unconscious-part-1-what-is-the-unconscious-intro/) - Is it the link to god, the realm of darkness and violence, the source of all creativity, or the region of our untapped potentials? The unconscious mind has been many things to many people and much about it still remains shrouded in mystery. But what do we know about the unconscious? What role does it
- [Life as a Quest - The Antidote to a Wasted Existence](https://academyofideas.com/2020/04/life-as-a-quest-the-antidote-to-a-wasted-existence/) - “Adventure shatters the oppressive, insistent reality as if it were a piece of glass. It is the unforeseen, the unthought-of, the new. Each adventure is a new birth of the world, a unique process. How can it fail to be interesting?” José Ortega y Gasset, Meditations on Quixote As creatures of habit we derive comfort from our well-established
- [A Guide to Uncommon Success Part 4 - Cultivating the Habits of Success](https://academyofideas.com/2020/04/guide-to-uncommon-success-part-4-cultivating-the-habits-of-success-intro/) - In the final video of this series we explore tips on how to execute on our routines with a ruthless consistency.
- [How to Be Free in an Unfree World](https://academyofideas.com/2020/04/how-to-be-free-in-an-unfree-world/) - “In such epochs where the highest values of life—our peace, our independence, our basic rights, all that makes our existence more pure, more beautiful, all that justifies it—are sacrificed to the demon inhabiting a dozen fanatics and ideologues, all the problems of the man who fears for his humanity come down to the same question:
- [How to Fortify the Mind in Times of Crisis](https://academyofideas.com/2020/03/how-to-fortify-the-mind-in-times-of-crisis/) - “Maturity is the capacity to endure uncertainty.” John Finley To trigger a nervous breakdown in someone you could apply the following steps: Force your victim into an atomized existence, forbid them from participating in the activities that imbue their life with joy, rid them of their job, destroy their daily routines, and tell them not
- [A Guide to Uncommon Success Part 3 - The Daily Routine](https://academyofideas.com/2020/03/guide-to-uncommon-success-part-3-the-daily-routine-intro/) - In the 3rd video in this series we look at how the key to a life of uncommon success lies in a well thought-out daily routine.
- [Using a Second Self to Promote Self-Transformation](https://academyofideas.com/2020/03/using-a-second-self-to-promote-self-transformation/) - “Everyone holds his future in his own hands, like a sculptor the raw material he will fashion into a figure. But it’s the same with that type of artistic activity as with all others: We are merely born with the capability to do it. The skill to mold the material into what we want must
- [A Guide to Uncommon Success Part 2 - Choosing a Goal](https://academyofideas.com/2020/03/guide-to-uncommon-success-part-2-choosing-a-goal-intro/) - In this video we explore how to choose an adequate goal - the first practical step on the pathway to uncommon success.
- [How to Integrate Your Shadow - The Dark Side is Unrealized Potential](https://academyofideas.com/2020/02/how-to-integrate-your-shadow/) - “Good does not become better by being exaggerated, but worse, and a small evil becomes a big one through being disregarded and repressed. The shadow is very much a part of human nature, and it is only at night that no shadows exist.” Carl Jung, Psychology and Religion Carl Jung stressed that an individual’s proper
- [The School of Anxiety is The School of Greatness](https://academyofideas.com/2020/02/school-of-anxiety-school-of-greatness/) - “How can a man come to know himself? Never by thinking, but by doing. Try to do your duty and you will know at once what you are worth.” Goethe Reflection and introspection can teach us who we are, other people can teach us what is possible, but only through action can we create a
- [Solitude and Self-Realization: Why You Should Spend More Time Alone](https://academyofideas.com/2020/01/solitude-self-realization-why-you-should-spend-more-time-alone/) - “Do not die of another person’s misery.” Baltasar Gracián While there are countless ways that we sabotage ourselves, sometimes our problems are not generated by us, but by the people who surround us. “A single joyless person is enough to create constant discouragement and cloudy skies for a whole household, and it is a miracle
- [A Guide to Uncommon Success Part 1 - The Psychology of Success](https://academyofideas.com/2020/01/a-guide-to-uncommon-success-part-1-psychology-of-success-intro/) - In this video we examine how we can escape mediocrity and the monotony of normality through the attainment of uncommon success.
- [The Ideal Body: Use Your Body to Shape a Great Character](https://academyofideas.com/2020/01/use-your-body-to-shape-a-great-character/) - “If body structure and temperament are related, as anyone who studies human nature can determine, the question then is: Can one change the character of an individual without some change in the body structure and in its functional motility?” Alexander Lowen, The Language of the Body In our previous video we explored how our character
- [Nietzsche and the Herd-Instinct: Why We Conform and Obey](https://academyofideas.com/2020/01/nietzsche-and-the-herd-instinct-intro/) - In this video we explore Nietzsche's insights as to why it is so easy to conform and obey others, and what we can do to individuate and "go our own way".
- [The Ideal Body: How our Body Shapes our Character](https://academyofideas.com/2019/12/how-our-body-shapes-our-character/) - “. . .the living organism expresses itself in movement more clearly than in words. But not alone in movement! In pose, in posture, in attitude and in every gesture, the organism speaks a language which antedates and transcends its verbal expression.” Alexander Lowen, The Language of the Body The connection between mind and body has
- [Cultivating Heroic Manhood Part 3 - The Hero and the Fight with the Dragon](https://academyofideas.com/2019/12/cultivating-heroic-manhood-part-3-hero-fight-with-dragon-intro/) - In the final video of the series we examine how the mythological hero's fight with the dragon is symbolic of us overcoming the regressive forces of our mind.
- [Do We Live in a Brave New World? – A Collection of Frighteningly Relevant Quotes from Aldous Huxley](https://academyofideas.com/2019/12/quotes-aldous-huxley-brave-new-world/) - In 1932, Aldus Huxley published his most famous work Brave New World. This novel depicts a dystopian society in which pleasure and distraction, not fear and punishment, are used by those in power to maintain tight control over the populace. The following quotes by Aldus Huxley, and others, show that many of the ideas in
- [How to Stop Being a Coward](https://academyofideas.com/2019/11/how-to-stop-being-a-coward/) - In our age of anxiety and victimhood, courage is a trait that many of us sorely lack. For who among us could not create a long list of things we would do if only we were more courageous? How often have we disappointed ourselves by succumbing to our fears rather than taking actions that could
- [Cultivating Heroic Manhood Part 2 - The Virtues of Manhood](https://academyofideas.com/2019/11/cultivating-heroic-manhood-part-2-the-virtues-of-manhood/) - In the second part of this series we explore how we can escape psychological regression through the cultivation of heroic manhood.
- [How to Change Your Attitude to Change Your Life](https://academyofideas.com/2019/11/change-your-attitude-change-your-life/) - “Do not be too timid and squeamish about your actions. All life is an experiment. The more experiments you make the better.” Ralph Waldo Emerson, Emerson in His Journals There is perhaps no task we can set before ourselves that offers greater rewards than striving for mastery of the world within. For no matter what
- [Cultivating Heroic Manhood Part 1 - Why are So Many Men Psychologically Infantile?](https://academyofideas.com/2019/10/cultivating-heroic-manhood-part-1-psychological-regression-intro/) - In this series, we are going to provide a guide for how to outgrow boy psychology and attain manhood. In this 1st video we explore what cross-culturally is considered the greatest threat to manhood: psychological regression.
- [How to Turn Your Mind from an Enemy to an Ally](https://academyofideas.com/2019/10/how-to-turn-your-mind-from-an-enemy-to-an-ally/) - “Man is a mystery. It needs to be unravelled, and if you spend your whole life unravelling it, don't say that you've wasted time. I am studying that mystery because I want to be a human being.” Fyodor Dostoyevsky Each of us occupies two worlds. There is the outer world of people, places, and things,
- [Freedom and Anxiety: The Inner God vs The Inner Worm](https://academyofideas.com/2019/09/freedom-and-anxiety-inner-god-vs-inner-worm/) - “Can freedom become a burden, too heavy for man to bear, something he tries to escape from?” Erich Fromm, Escape from Freedom Man is a creature forever pulled between two extremes, between what some have called our inner god and our inner worm. Our inner god represents our powers of imagination and our symbolic awareness
- [How to Find a Purpose and the Psychology of the Daemon](https://academyofideas.com/2019/08/how-to-find-a-purpose-psychology-of-daemon/) - “Sooner or later something seems to call us onto a particular path. You may remember this “something” as a signal calling in childhood when an urge out of nowhere, a fascination, a peculiar turn of events struck like an annunciation: This is what I must do, this is what I’ve got to have. This is
- [Carl Jung and the Cultivation of Character Part 2 - Active Imagination](https://academyofideas.com/2019/09/carl-jung-cultivation-of-character-part-2-active-imagination-intro/) - In the 2nd part of this series we examine the technique of active imagination, which is a practical method Jung used on himself and his patients to move towards psychological wholeness and greatness of character.
- [Machiavelli - The Rulers vs The Ruled](https://academyofideas.com/2019/08/machiavelli-the-rulers-vs-the-ruled-struggle-for-power/) - “Daring as it is to investigate the unknown, even more so it is to question the known.” Kaspar It is often said that to understand the present we must understand the past. For history is our greatest teacher and one thing it teaches us is that mankind is a fallible species. Our past is as
- [Carl Jung and the Cultivation of Character](https://academyofideas.com/2019/08/carl-jung-cultivation-of-character-intro/) - In this video we examine Jung's advice on how we can cultivate a great character, and in so doing assume more control of our destiny. For as the Greek philosopher Heraclitus put it "Character is destiny".
- [Rapid Personality Change and the Psychological Rebirth](https://academyofideas.com/2019/07/rapid-personality-change-psychological-rebirth/) - “You must be ready to burn yourself in your own flame; how could you rise anew if you have not first become ashes?” Nietzsche, Thus Spoke Zarathustra How can we re-make our character? Can we become another as if born anew? Most models of human development place tight bounds around our capacity for self-directed change.
- [Deep Work vs the Internet Part II - How to Succeed in the Age of Distraction](https://academyofideas.com/2019/06/deep-work-vs-the-internet-how-to-succeed-in-the-age-of-distraction-intro/) - In this video we examine practical advice regarding how to attain professional success by cultivating the capacity for deep work and distraction-free focus.
- [Carl Jung and the Psychology of the Man-Child](https://academyofideas.com/2019/06/carl-jung-psychology-of-man-child/) - To watch the rest of this video series - and all our Membership Videos - become a Supporting Member!Become a Supporting Member “Man cannot discover new oceans unless he has the courage to lose sight of the shore.” Andre Gide Marie-Louis von Franz, a Swiss psychologist, noticed a disturbing trend in the mid-20th century –
- [Modern Art and the Decline of Civilization](https://academyofideas.com/2019/06/modern-art-decline-of-civilization/) - We live in an age where our extensive scientific knowledge and our love of all things objective and measurable has placed religion in a precarious position. Our scientific worldview tells us that religious dogma is illusory and full of falsehoods and that as enlightened men and women we do not need it to live. But
- [Deep Work vs the Internet Part I - How the Internet is Changing our Brain](https://academyofideas.com/2019/05/deep-work-vs-internet-how-the-internet-is-changing-our-brain-intro/) - In the first part of this 2 part series, we look at what modern research has discovered regarding how the internet is changing our brain. We examine how it is damaging our ability to focus, changing the way we think, and we explore the dystopian future which may arise in the future if we continue
- [The Outsider's Guide to the Social World](https://academyofideas.com/2019/05/outsiders-guide-social-world/) - Shakespeare famously claimed that “all the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players” and this theatrical quality of life is nowhere more evident than in the social world. For the social world is not, and never will be, a world in which we reveal our true selves. Our total character is
- [Why Purpose and Discipline Promote Psychological Well-Being](https://academyofideas.com/2019/04/why-purpose-discipline-promote-psychological-well-being/) - “Unlimited possibilities are not suited to man; if they existed, his life would only dissolve in the boundless. To become strong, a man’s life needs the limitations ordained by duty and voluntarily accepted. The individual attains significance as a free spirit only by surrounding himself with these limitations and by determining for himself what his
- [Midlife - Crisis and Transformation - Part 2](https://academyofideas.com/2019/04/midlife-crisis-and-transformation-part-2-intro/) - In the second part of this 2 part series, we examine how we can live in the second half of life to ensure it's more meaningful than the first. We look at Jung's advice on why we should become more childlike in midlife, and why we should spend more time contemplating the riddles of the
- [How to Overcome the Downward Pull of Other People](https://academyofideas.com/2019/04/overcome-downward-pull-of-other-people/) - “A man’s shortcomings are taken from his epoch; his virtues and greatness belong to himself.” Goethe Of the many factors which influence our psychological health, and the overall course of our life, the people we spend the most time with are of the utmost importance. Ideas, emotions, and ways of life are contagious, and so
- [The Benefits of Reading Great Books](https://academyofideas.com/2019/03/benefits-reading-great-books/) - “Books are the best of things, well used; abused, among the worst. What is the right use?…They are for nothing but to inspire.” Ralph Waldo Emerson, The American Scholar Of the many pastimes that occupy us, reading books is not one that ranks high on the list for many people. We live in a culture
- [Why Public Schools and the Mainstream Media Dumb Us Down](https://academyofideas.com/2019/03/public-schools-mainstream-media-dumb-us-down/) - “Resist much, obey little; Once unquestioning obedience, once fully enslaved; Once fully enslaved, no nation, state, city, of this earth, ever afterward resumes its liberty.” Walt Whitman, Leaves of Grass These were the words of caution which the great poet Walter Whitman offered to his fellow Americans. For Whitman recognized that crucial to a free
- [Midlife - Crisis and Transformation - Part 1 - The First Adulthood](https://academyofideas.com/2019/03/midlife-crisis-transformation-part-1-intro/) - In this 2 part series we examine Carl Jung's thoughts on the nature of the midlife crisis. In this first video we examine his thoughts on how to live successfully in the first adulthood, and some of the causes of the midlife crisis.
- [The Psychology of Resilience: Thriving in Adversity](https://academyofideas.com/2019/02/psychology-of-resilience/) - “Excellence withers without an adversary.” Seneca, Letters from a Stoic Life deals us an abundance of obstacles and adversities and so, one would think, the mere passage of time would teach us how to profitably deal with the challenges that cross our path. But time only teaches the willing, and therefore many of us are
- [Carl Jung on Overcoming Anxiety Disorders](https://academyofideas.com/2019/02/carl-jung-overcoming-anxiety-disorders/) - “The perpetual hesitation of the neurotic to launch out into life is readily explained by his desire to stand aside so as not to get involved in the dangerous struggle for existence. But anyone who refuses to experience life must stifle his desire to live – in other words, he must commit partial suicide.” Carl
- [How to Unleash Your Potential Part 4 - Becoming More Courageous](https://academyofideas.com/2019/02/unleash-your-potential-part-4-becoming-more-courageous-intro/) - In this video we explore how we can structure our life so as to become more courageous individuals.
- [Carl Jung and The Value of Anxiety Disorders](https://academyofideas.com/2019/01/carl-jung-value-of-anxiety-disorders/) - “I am not altogether pessimistic about neurosis. In many cases we have to say, “Thank heaven he could make up his mind to be neurotic.” Neurosis is really an attempt at self-cure…It is an attempt of the self-regulating psychic system to restore the balance, in no way different from the function of dreams – only
- [The Psychology of Depression - How To Ruin Your Life](https://academyofideas.com/2018/10/psychology-of-depression/) - “I am in that temper that if I were under water I would scarcely kick to come to the top.” (John Keats) Rare is the individual who goes through life without at some point being afflicted by the anguish to which Keats refers. Sometimes this is triggered by an adverse or tragic event, but often
- [The Psychological Benefits of Contemplating Death](https://academyofideas.com/2018/01/psychological-benefits-of-contemplating-death/) - “The cradle rocks above an abyss, and common sense tells us that our existence is but a brief crack of light between two eternities of darkness.” (Vladimir Nabokov, Speak, Memory: A Memoir) While we all know that we will die, that the ‘trap door to nothingness’ moves ever closer, this is a fact upon which
- [Trust the Science? - Misconceptions of How Science Works](https://academyofideas.com/2022/11/trust-the-science-misconceptions-of-how-science-works-intro/) - Should we trust the science? In this video we explore this question by examining common misconceptions of how science works.
- [Trust the Science? - The Corruption of Mainstream Science](https://academyofideas.com/2022/11/trust-the-science-the-corruption-of-mainstream-science-intro/) - In this video we explore 3 warning signs that suggest that skepticism, not blind trust, is the best response to any call to ‘follow the science’.
- [Why You Should Seek Power, Not Happiness - Nietzsche's Guide to Greatness](https://academyofideas.com/2022/12/why-you-should-seek-power-not-happiness/) - “...not increase of consciousness is the goal, but enhancement of power.” Nietzsche, The Will to Power In the quest to live a good life, each of us, consciously or implicitly, chooses an ultimate value around which to orient our life. For many this value is wealth, for others it may be status, social-acceptance, happiness,
- [Disconnected from Reality: How Smartphones and Social Media Promote a Schizophrenic-Like Condition](https://academyofideas.com/2022/12/smartphones-social-media-and-the-rise-of-a-schizophrenic-society-2/) - In this video we explore how excessive use of screen-based technologies disconnects us from our body and pushes us toward a schizophrenic-like manner of experiencing the world.
- [How Weakness Corrupts – Social Justice, Equality, and Woke Morality ](https://academyofideas.com/2023/01/how-weakness-corrupts-social-justice-equality-and-woke-morality-intro/) - In this video we explore how weakness corrupts, and how in the modern day a widespread weakness is leading people to embrace the doctrines of social justice, equality, and woke morality.
- [Why are People Sheeplike in their Obedience to Authority?](https://academyofideas.com/2023/02/why-are-people-sheeplike-in-their-obedience-to-authority-2/) - In this video we explore some of the reasons why people are sheeplike in their obedience to authority.
- [The Uncensored Truth about Inflation - How Inflation Enriches Politicians and the 1%](https://academyofideas.com/2023/02/the-uncensored-truth-about-inflation/) - Central banks have spent decades flooding the global economy with newly created money. We are told this policy, or what is called a monetary inflation, is needed to stimulate economic growth and to keep unemployment low, but like so many of the justifications that politicians and bureaucrats offer for their actions, this one is a
- [Can Decentralization Save Humanity? - Why Smaller is Better in Politics](https://academyofideas.com/2023/03/can-decentralization-save-humanity-why-smaller-is-better-in-politics/) - “...the world would be most happily governed if it consisted not of a few aggregations...with their accompaniments of despotism and tyrannic rule, but of a society of small States.” Saint Augustine, The Political Aspects of Saint Augustine's City of God Should the states and provinces of nations separate and become politically autonomous? Should counties, cities,
- [Face Your Dark Side - Carl Jung and the Shadow](https://academyofideas.com/2023/04/face-your-dark-side-carl-jung-and-the-shadow/) - “Like plants, so men also grow, some in the light, others in the shadows. There are many who need the shadows and not the light.” Carl Jung, The Red Book None of us are as good as we like to think. We possess animalistic drives for sex and power. We have a cruel and aggressive
- [Why Mediocrity is a Mental Illness](https://academyofideas.com/2023/04/why-mediocrity-is-a-mental-illness-intro/) - In this video we explain why mediocrity is a mental illness, and explore how it can be cured.
- [How to Stop Being a Slave to the Opinions of Other People](https://academyofideas.com/2023/05/how-to-stop-being-a-slave-to-the-opinions-of-other-people/) - “Most people can never, even for a moment, disentangle themselves from the restraints imposed by those around them, nor can they disregard their approval. From the moment they begin to understand their parents' smiles and frowns they have needed the moment to moment approval of everyone, even strangers...These people measure their entire worth by what
- [How Creativity Strengthens the Mind and Helps Cure Depression](https://academyofideas.com/2023/05/how-creativity-strengthens-the-mind-and-helps-cure-depression-intro/) - In this video we explore what it means to be creative, why creative expression promotes psychological health, and how we can stoke the fires of our creative potential.
- [The Loss of God and the Decay of Society Part 2 – Why Religion can Save Society](https://academyofideas.com/2023/07/the-loss-of-god-and-the-decay-of-society-part-2-why-religion-can-save-society-intro/) - In this video we explore how a social revival is contingent on more people forming an authentic connection to God and cultivating a religious attitude toward life.
- [Why Nonconformity Cures a Sick Self and a Sick Society](https://academyofideas.com/2023/08/why-nonconformity-cures-a-sick-self-and-a-sick-society/) - “I must be myself, I cannot break myself any longer for you. . .If you can love me for what I am, we shall be the happier. If you cannot, I will still seek to deserve that you should.” Ralph Waldo Emerson, Self-Reliance The great 19th century American philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson believed that to flourish
- [Sociological Propaganda – Why Modern Man Embraces His Servitude](https://academyofideas.com/2023/09/sociological-propaganda-why-modern-man-embraces-his-servitude-intro/) - In this video, we explore the French philosopher Jacques Ellul’s concept of sociological propaganda, shedding light on how its subtle yet omnipresent influence can account for modern man’s embrace of his own shackles.
- [The Pessimist’s Guide to the Good Life – The Wisdom of William James](https://academyofideas.com/2023/09/the-pessimists-guide-to-the-good-life-the-wisdom-of-william-james-intro/) - In this video we explore the timeless wisdom of William James on how to cultivate a good life, even if at times we are consumed by dark thoughts about the dark side of existence.
- [The Power of Role Models – How Imitation Promotes Self-Transformation](https://academyofideas.com/2023/10/the-power-of-role-models-how-imitation-promotes-self-transformation-2/) - In this video we explore the profound influence of role models, and how imitation promotes self-transformation.
- [Performing Therapy On Yourself: Self-Knowledge and Self-Realization](https://academyofideas.com/2018/09/performing-therapy-on-yourself/) - Why do so many people fail to flourish? And what can we do in our own life to ensure we do not succumb to the states of apathy, self-sabotage, and fear which abound in the lives of the mass of men? In a series of books,the 20th century psychoanalyst Karen Horney explored the idea that
- [Why Passivity Breeds Mediocrity and Mental Illness](https://academyofideas.com/2018/09/passivity-mediocrity-mental-illness/) - “This is one of the most urgent problems for civilized man. He has created civilization to give himself security. Security for what? For boredom? His chief problem seems to be that most human beings need a certain amount of challenge, of external stimulus, to stop them from sinking into the blank stare and blank consciousness
- [Why You Should Strive for a Meaningful Life, Not a Happy One](https://academyofideas.com/2019/01/strive-for-meaningful-life-not-a-happy-one/) - “There is only one inborn error, and that is the notion that we exist in order to be happy….So long as we persist in this inborn error, and indeed even become confirmed in it through optimistic dogmas, the world seems to us full of contradictions.” Arthur Schopenhauer, The World as Will and Representation The modern
- [Nietzsche and The Human Animal: The Domesticated and The Strong](https://academyofideas.com/2018/12/nietzsche-human-animal-domesticated-strong/) - “I call an animal, a species, an individual corrupt, when it loses its instincts, when it chooses, when it prefers, what is harmful to it.”Nietzsche, The Antichrist Throughout much of history, humans have perceived themselves as superior to all other creatures. Myths of our divine origin and our place at the crown of creation are
- [How to Unleash Your Potential Part 2 - The Experimental Approach](https://academyofideas.com/2018/12/unleash-your-potential-part-2-experimental-approach-intro/) - In the first part of this series we discussed what type of self-knowledge can best assist us in our attempts at personal growth. But self-knowledge is only the first step in the process of change. We must use this knowledge to introduce novelty into our life, in order to break our destructive life patterns and
- [The Psychology of Self-Sabotage and Resistance](https://academyofideas.com/2018/12/psychology-of-self-sabotage-resistance/) - Become a Supporting Member “Most of us have two lives. The life we live, and the unlived life within us. Between the two stands Resistance.” (The War of Art, Steven Pressfield) At certain times in life we experience a calling from our higher self, urging us to move in the direction of a more noble
- [How to Unleash Your Potential - Part 1: The Role of Self-Knowledge and Self-Acceptance](https://academyofideas.com/2018/11/unleash-your-potential-part-1-self-knowledge-self-acceptance-intro/) - In this series of videos we are going to explore how we can overcome our problems in order to move in the direction of psychological health and the realization of our inner potential. In this first video we explore whether it is necessary to understand the origin of our problems if we wish to change,
- [The Problem of Anger - How to Use the Power of Your Dark Side](https://academyofideas.com/2018/10/problem-of-anger-power-dark-side/) - We are lived by Powers we pretend to understand. (W. H. Auden) Of all the powers that shape our life, our emotions stand out both in their ability to dramatically influence our well-being and in the mysterious ways they do this. For caught in the grip of a strong emotion, we often lose the ability
- [Carl Jung and the Man-Child Part III: How to Mature Psychologically - The Value of Work and How to Find a Calling](https://academyofideas.com/2018/10/carl-jung-man-child-part-3-how-to-mature-psychologically-intro/) - In the final video of the series we’re going to examine how the puer can instigate his own initiatory rite of passage and cure himself of his problems, so as to develop into a more responsible, successful, and independent adult.
- [Why We Can’t Vote Our Way to Freedom](https://academyofideas.com/2018/05/why-we-cant-vote-our-way-to-freedom/) - For hundreds of years freedom reigned as a preeminent value in Western civilization, and with the abolition of slavery in the mid-19th century, the tide of liberty seemed destined to overpower those forces looking to hold humanity in the chains of servitude. By the early 20th century, however, this trend was quickly reversed, as governments
- [Carl Jung and the Man-Child - Part II - The Psychology of the Individual Who Fails to Grow Up](https://academyofideas.com/2018/09/carl-jung-man-child-part-2-psychology-intro/) - In this 2nd video of our series on the Puer Aeternus we examine the psychology of individuals who fail to grow up.
- [Social Media and The Psychology of Loneliness](https://academyofideas.com/2018/08/social-media-psychology-of-loneliness/) - “All man’s history is an endeavor to shatter his loneliness.” (Norman Cousins, Modern Man is Obsolete) In today’s world, with all the technologies built to connect us, loneliness, one would think, would be easily shattered. But the more we get drawn into the virtual worlds of social media, the worse we tend to feel. To
- [Carl Jung and the Man-Child - Part I - The Mother Complex and the Absent Father](https://academyofideas.com/2018/08/carl-jung-man-child-mother-complex-absent-father-intro/) - This is the first video of a 4 part course in which we examine the psychology of the individual who remains stuck in an "adolescent psychology", and explore how you can overcome such a problem in your own life. In this 1st video we look at how an absent father and a mother complex stunts the
- [The Addict in Us All: How Smartphones are Creating a Population of Addicts](https://academyofideas.com/2018/07/addict-in-us-all-smartphones-creating-population-of-addicts/) - “Speak not of gifts, or innate talents! One can name all kinds of great men who were not very gifted. But they acquired greatness, became ‘geniuses’.” (Friedrich Nietzsche, Human, All Too Human) The philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche penned these words in the late-1800s, but at the time few agreed with his message. Rather, well into the
- [Re-Writing the Story of Your Life](https://academyofideas.com/2018/07/re-writing-the-story-of-your-life-intro/) - In this video we examine the role narratives play in determining our sense of self and examine what influence we can exert on the writing of the script of our life.
- [Epictetus and Stoicism: The Wisdom of the Slave Philosopher](https://academyofideas.com/2018/06/epictetus-stoicism-wisdom-of-the-slave-philosopher/) - “Always to seek to conquer myself rather than fortune, to change my desires rather than the order of the world, and generally to believe that nothing except our thoughts is wholly under our control, so that after we have done our best in external matters, what remains to be done is absolutely impossible, at least
- [Aldous Huxley and Brave New World: The Dark Side of Pleasure](https://academyofideas.com/2018/06/aldous-huxley-brave-new-world-dark-side-of-pleasure/) - “None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free.” (Goethe) These words were written by Goethe nearly 200 years ago, but are perhaps more relevant in our time than they were in his. For many people assume we live in a free society simply because the West has not morphed into
- [The Myth of Arrival Part II: The Alternative - The Path of Mastery](https://academyofideas.com/2018/06/alternative-path-of-mastery-intro/) - In the 1st part of this 2 part series, we explored the myth of arrival, which is the dominant way of life in Western societies. In this video, the 2nd part, we explore an alternative way of life that is more conducive to a fulfilling life - that being the path of mastery.
- [Abraham Maslow and the Psychology of Self-Actualization](https://academyofideas.com/2018/05/abraham-maslow-psychology-of-self-actualization/) - “What human beings can be, they must be.” (Abraham Maslow, Motivation and Personality) In the early-20th century, psychologists were primarily concerned with the sicknesses that afflict the human mind. Abraham Maslow, aware of this one-sided approach, saw it as grossly inadequate. If the goal of psychology is not just to rid of us illnesses, but
- [How We Change - Human Plasticity and The Process of Changing our Life](https://academyofideas.com/2018/04/how-we-change-human-plasticity-and-the-process-of-changing-our-life/) - This is a transcript of one of our members only videos, you can become a member here to watch this video and gain access to many more exclusive videos. Of all the questions addressed in the field of psychology perhaps the most important relate to the issue of human plasticity, or in other words, the human
- [Why We Struggle To Change](https://academyofideas.com/2018/04/why-we-struggle-to-change/) - “To be human, is not a fact, but a task.” (Soren Kierkegaard) As Kierkegaard, and many others have long realized, life is a continual series of challenges. While some people, from an early age, develop personality traits and behaviour patterns which help them boldly navigate the complexities of life, many more are hindered in this
- [Nietzsche and Equality: Ressentiment and Revenge](https://academyofideas.com/2018/04/nietzsche-equality-ressentiment-revenge-intro/) - In this video we examine why Nietzsche thought "the sick are man's greatest danger" by looking at the emotion of resentment and how it gives rise to fanatical demands for equality and thus a limitation in personal freedoms.
- [How We Enslave Ourselves](https://academyofideas.com/2018/03/how-we-enslave-ourselves/) - Since the birth of civilization, tyrannical rulers have plagued mankind. Driven by an insatiable appetite for power such individuals have done their best to control both the minds and bodies of their subjects. Seen in this light, the history of civilization is very much a history of varying degrees of human enslavement. Especially in the
- [Human Plasticity and The Process of Change](https://academyofideas.com/2018/03/human-plasticity-process-of-change-intro/) - In this video, relying on the work of the psychologist Michael J. Mahoney we will examine how change unfolds in one's life and the patterns of commonalities that exist in all cases of personal transformation.
- [Carl Jung, the Shadow, and the Dangers of Psychological Projection](https://academyofideas.com/2018/02/carl-jung-shadow-dangers-of-psychological-projection/) - “The sad truth is that man’s real life consists of a complex of inexorable opposites—day and night, birth and death, happiness and misery, good and evil. We are not even sure that one will prevail over the other, that good will overcome evil, or joy defeat pain. Life is a battleground. It always has been,
- [Soren Kierkegaard and The Psychology of Anxiety](https://academyofideas.com/2018/02/soren-kierkegaard-psychology-anxiety/) - “Just as a physician might say that there is very likely not one single living human being who is completely healthy, so anyone who really knows mankind might say there is not one single living human being who does not…secretly harbor an unrest, an inner strife, a disharmony, an anxiety about an unknown something or
- [The Value of a Neurosis: Reinterpreting the Significance of Anxiety and Depression](https://academyofideas.com/2018/02/the-value-of-neurosis-significance-anxiety-depression-intro/) - In this video we explore the ideas of Carl Jung and the Polish psychiatrist Kazimierz Dabrowski, who believed neurotic symptoms such as anxiety and depression, if approached correctly, can impel one to unforeseen heights of personal growth.
- [Ralph Waldo Emerson and The Psychology of Self-Reliance](https://academyofideas.com/2018/01/ralph-waldo-emerson-psychology-of-self-reliance/) - “It is easy in the world to live after the world’s opinion; it is easy in solitude to live after our own; but the great man is he who in the midst of the crowd keeps with perfect sweetness the independence of solitude.” (Ralph Waldo Emerson, Self-Reliance) Self-reliance, of the type alluded to by Ralph
- [The Stoic Approach to Dealing with Insults and Ridicule](https://academyofideas.com/2018/01/stoicism-insults-and-ridicule-intro/) - In this video we look at ways to deal with insults and ridicule, and live a life true to ourselves, rather than one shaped by a need for social validation.
- [Wisdom on Happiness - Recurring Themes from the Literature on Happiness](https://academyofideas.com/2017/12/wisdom-on-happiness-recurring-themes-from-the-literature-on-happiness/) - What type of life is most conducive to happiness? This question has occupied the minds of philosophers, poets, psychologists, and religious figures for millennia. While there is no final, agreed upon answer as to what makes for a happy life, there are some elements that recur often enough in the literature on this topic, that
- [The Psychology of Authenticity](https://academyofideas.com/2017/12/psychology-of-authenticity/) - “Poets, philosophers and seers have always concerned themselves with the idea of a true self, and the betrayal of the self has been a typical example of the unacceptable.” (D.W. Winnicott, The Concept of the False Self) From its beginnings over 500 years ago, the ideal of authenticity has been embedded in the value system
- [Nietzsche and the Value of Suffering](https://academyofideas.com/2017/12/nietzsche-value-of-suffering-intro/) - In this video, drawing on Nietzsche’s ideas, we will examine how to change our attitude toward suffering. Rather than allowing our suffering to weaken us and make us weary of life, we will learn how to use it as a “great stimulant” that can make us stronger, more productive, and better human beings.
- [A Guide to Living With Purpose](https://academyofideas.com/2017/12/a-guide-to-living-with-purpose/) - One of the most common themes in self-development literature, as well as a sentiment echoed by numerous psychologists and philosophers, is the importance of living with purpose. Finding a purpose, and structuring one’s life around its pursuit, can be life-altering. In this article we will examine what it means to live with purpose, why it
- [The Psychology of Alfred Adler: Superiority, Inferiority and Courage](https://academyofideas.com/2017/11/psychology-of-adler-superiority-inferiority-courage/) - “It would not be easy to find another author,” wrote Henri Ellenberger in The Discovery of the Unconscious, “from which so much has been borrowed from all sides without acknowledgment than Alfred Adler.” (The Discovery of the Unconscious, Henri Ellenberger) While Alfred Adler was one of the most influential psychologists of the twentieth century he
- [The Psychology of Failure](https://academyofideas.com/2017/11/psychology-of-failure-intro/) - In this video we examine how we can use the techniques of cognitive therapy to re-frame our perceptions on failure in a manner more conducive to personal growth.
- [Focus, Distraction, and the Impact of Modern Technology](https://academyofideas.com/2017/10/focus-distraction-and-the-impact-of-modern-technology/) - The following is a transcript from one of our member's only videos. If you enjoy our content please consider supporting us to get access to a new member's only video each month https://academyofideas.com/members/ The ability to direct, control, and sustain your attention is one of the most crucial of the mental faculties that we possess. Daniel
- [Carl Jung: What is the Individuation Process?](https://academyofideas.com/2017/10/carl-jung-what-is-the-individuation-process/) - Far too many of us are oblivious to the dangers that some of our behavioural patterns pose to our long-term well-being. Instead of facing up to our problems, we either try and convince ourselves that our issues are trivial and so can be ignored, or we pretend that the problems do not exist at all.
- [Nietzsche and Thus Spoke Zarathustra: The Last Man and The Superman](https://academyofideas.com/2017/10/nietzsche-and-zarathustra-last-man-superman/) - In Thus Spoke Zarathustra, the main character leaves his home at the age of 30 and retreats into the mountains hoping to find enlightenment. There, “6000 feet beyond man and time”, Zarathustra remains for 10 years, and in his solitude his spirit grows and he pierces into the enigma of man and existence. One morning,
- [The Psychology of Self-Sabotage and Resistance](https://academyofideas.com/2017/10/psychology-self-sabotage-resistance-intro/) - In this video, drawing from the work of the acclaimed author Steven Pressfield, we look at our tendency to self-sabotage, in order to help us overcome it.
- [Carl Jung and The Shadow: Profound Quotes and Passages](https://academyofideas.com/2017/10/carl-jung-shadow-profound-quotes/) - Profound quotes on Carl Jung and the shadow, and how to integrate the power of your dark side.
- [Nietzsche and Thus Spoke Zarathustra: Becoming Gods](https://academyofideas.com/2017/09/nietzsche-thus-spoke-zarathustra-becoming-gods/) - “God is dead! God remains dead! And we have killed him! How shall we console our selves, the most murderous of all murderers? The holiest and the mightiest that the world has so far possessed, has bled to death under our knife, who will wipe the blood from us? With what water could we cleanse ourselves? What purifications, what
- [Constructive Living - How to Change Your Life](https://academyofideas.com/2017/09/constructive-living-david-reynolds/) - What follows is a summary of David Reynolds' great book Constructive Living which should be of interest to anyone trying to make positive changes to their life. Most of us would like to change. Whether that entails becoming a more confident individual, replacing bad habits with good ones, or spending more time working toward the
- [Carl Jung: Myth and The Meaning of Life](https://academyofideas.com/2017/09/jung-myth-meaning-of-life-intro/) - In this video we examine what differentiates those who are able to overcome life’s hardships versus those who are crushed by them. In so doing we examine the importance of cultivating a meaningful existence, paying particular attention to Carl Jung’s ideas on the subject.
- [Decentralization and Freedom](https://academyofideas.com/2017/08/decentralization-and-freedom/) - Governments are responsible for some of the greatest atrocities in history. The 20th century was particularly brutal in this respect, with tens of millions of people dying at the hands of their own government. It is said that those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it. Thus, in this video, relying
- [Edward Bernays and Group Psychology: Manipulating the Masses](https://academyofideas.com/2017/07/edward-bernays-group-psychology-manipulating-the-masses/) - “The conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organized habits and opinions of the masses is an important element in democratic society. Those who manipulate this unseen mechanism of society constitute an invisible government which is the true ruling power of our country. We are governed, our minds are molded, our tastes formed, our ideas suggested,
- [The Psychology of Solitude](https://academyofideas.com/2017/08/psychology-of-solitude/) - “The fear of finding oneself alone - that is what they suffer from - and so they don’t find themselves at all.” (Andre Gide, The Immoralist) Human beings are social by nature and unfit to endure extreme cases of isolation. If we are alone for too long our mental faculties can degrade degrade, leading to
- [The Breakdown of Nations](https://academyofideas.com/2017/08/breakdown-of-nations-leopold-kohr/) - The Breakdown of Nations was the economist and political scientist, Leopold Kohr’s first book. It was published in 1954, but is remarkably relevant to the modern day. In it Kohr puts forth, and defends, the assertion that the primary cause of social misery, be it in the form of crime, tyrannical government, or war, is
- [The Psychology of Envy and Social Justice](https://academyofideas.com/2017/05/psychology-of-envy-social-justice/) - “Our envy of others devours us most of all.” (Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, Gulag Archipelago) Stretching back to the time of the Ancient Greeks, countless philosophers have contemplated the nature of envy, or what Immanuel Kant described as the “tendency to perceive with displeasure the good of others.” (Immanuel Kant) Those who have written about envy, be
- [The Psychology of Self-Deception](https://academyofideas.com/2017/07/psychology-of-self-deception/) - “With all that which a person allows to appear, one may ask: what is it meant to hide? What should it divert the eyes from?. . .How far does he deceive himself in this action?” (Friedrich Nietzsche, The Dawn) Humans are adept at deception. Throughout our lives we deceive others as to our intentions, our
- [The Denial of Death - Ernest Becker](https://academyofideas.com/2017/07/denial-of-death-ernest-becker/) - The Denial of Death is a Pulitzer Prize winning book by Ernest Becker, and a must read for anyone interested in understanding the deep motivations underlying human behavior. Becker argues convincingly that the fear of death is a primary motive force within humans, and gives rise to the universal drive for heroism. He also explains
- [Democracy Quotes](https://academyofideas.com/2013/12/democracy-quotes/) - Throughout history certain ideas are promoted to a level where any questioning or criticism of them is seen as taboo. In the 21st century, one of these ideas is democracy. Democracy is virtually never criticized by those in the mainstream media, and state controlled education presents democracy to students with the status of a god
- [Introduction to Propaganda](https://academyofideas.com/2013/10/introduction-to-propaganda/) - The American historian Howard Zinn wrote: "If those in charge of our society - politicians, corporate executives, and owners of press and television can dominate our ideas, they will be secure in their power. They will not need soldiers patrolling the streets. We will control ourselves." In this day and age we are exposed to
- [Does Democracy Promote Prosperity or Ruin?](https://academyofideas.com/2016/09/hoppe-from-aristocracy-to-monarchy-to-democracy/) - “Democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There was never a democracy that did not commit suicide.” (John Adams) Each age holds a set of cherished beliefs that are elevated to a sacred status wherein questioning them is deemed heretical. For many centuries it was the dogmas of Christianity that held
- [Thomas Sowell and The Conflict of Political Visions](https://academyofideas.com/2017/07/thomas-sowell-conflict-of-political-visions-intro/) - In this video we examine the philosopher Thomas Sowell’s interesting hypothesis that much of the divisiveness seen in today’s political discourse is the result of a difference in social visions. Or in other words a difference in fundamental assumptions about human nature and how societies function. These difference lead, as we will discuss, to fundamentally
- [The Psychology of Conformity](https://academyofideas.com/2017/06/psychology-of-conformity/) - “For nonconformity the world whips you with its displeasure”. (Ralph Waldo Emerson) This remark by Ralph Waldo Emerson makes it clear that the forces of conformity were quite strong when he lived nearly 200 years ago. However, he would likely be surprised at the extent to which the whipping of nonconformists has now been made
- [Intellectuals and Society](https://academyofideas.com/2016/09/intellectuals-and-society-sowell/) - “There has probably never been an era in history when intellectuals have played a larger role in society than the era in which we live. When those who generate ideas, the intellectuals proper, are surrounded by a wide penumbra of those who disseminate those ideas – whether as journalists, teachers, staffers to legislators or clerks
- [The Free Market Existentialist: Capitalism without Consumerism](https://academyofideas.com/2016/08/free-market-existentialism-william-irwin/) - Existentialism and free market capitalism are not often seen as complimentary. Rather, more often than not, due to the influence of the famous French existentialist Jean-Paul Sartre, existentialism is associated with communism. But in the fascinating book The Free Market Existentialist: Capitalism without Consumerism, author William Irwin attempts to make the case that free-market capitalism,
- [Wealth Inequality: The Good and the Bad](https://academyofideas.com/2016/10/wealth-inequality/) - Like the entirety of the natural world which is characterized by a great degree of diversity, the human species is no different. Each person possesses a multitude of differences with respect to all others – be it physical characteristics, mental capabilities, genetic predispositions, the family one is born into, or the part of the world
- [The Law - Frédéric Bastiat](https://academyofideas.com/2013/09/the-law-frederic-bastiat/) - This video provides a summary of Frédéric Bastiat's most famous work "The Law". The key theme of this work is an examination of what happens to a society when the law becomes a weapon of those in power, rather than a tool to protect the rights and freedoms of individuals. A free ebook version of
- [Spontaneous Order vs. Centralized Control](https://academyofideas.com/2016/03/spontaneous-order-vs-centralized-control/) - “Many of the greatest things man has achieved are the result not of consciously directed thought, and still less the product of a deliberately coordinated effort of many individuals, but of a process in which the individual plays a part which he can never fully understand.” (F.A. Hayek) It is common these days to assume
- [Carl Jung and the Spiritual Problem of the Modern Individual](https://academyofideas.com/2017/06/carl-jung-spiritual-problem-modern-individual/) - As a practicing psychologist and keen observer of the Western world, Carl Jung noticed that many people in his day were afflicted by debilitating feelings of insignificance, inadequacy, and hopelessness. Over several chapters in Volume 10 of his Collected Works, Jung examined this issue and came to conclude that such feelings were caused by what
- [The Pathology of Normality and Collective Psychoses](https://academyofideas.com/2017/06/pathology-of-normality-collective-psychoses-intro/) - As explained in a series of books by Steven Bartlett, most notably “Normality Does Not Equal Mental Health”, normality has unquestioningly been used as a standard for mental health both by the population at large and the psychiatric community since its birth. In this video we argue that normality is an insufficient standard of mental
- [Nietzsche and Truth: Skepticism and The Free Spirit](https://academyofideas.com/2017/05/nietzsche-truth-skepticism-free-spirit/) - “Perhaps nobody yet has been truthful enough about what “truthfulness” is.” (Beyond Good and Evil) These words, penned by Nietzsche in Beyond Good and Evil, reflect his belief that in many cases what are considered established truths are instead errors, lies, and convictions that have grown out of fear, need, and cowardice. “I was the
- [Suffering and the Self-Overcoming](https://academyofideas.com/2017/05/suffering-and-self-overcoming/) - It doesn’t matter what you do – you are powerless. The most you can hope for is to be born into fortunate circumstances and lucky enough to endure a life endowed with more comfort than suffering. This belief, that we are extremely limited in our ability to impact the course of our life, is quite
- [Colin Wilson, The Outsider and The Fallacy of Insignificance](https://academyofideas.com/2017/05/colin-wilson-the-outsider-fallacy-of-insignificance-intro/) - In this video we explore the ideas of the prolific writer Colin Wilson, most famous for his conception of "the outsider" - the individual driven to escape the "triviality of everydayness" - as well his notion of the fallacy of insignificance which afflicts many in the modern world.
- [The Gulag Archipelago and The Wisdom of Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn](https://academyofideas.com/2017/04/gulag-archipelago-aleksandr-solzhenitsyn/) - “And the lie has, in fact, led us so far away from a normal society that you cannot even orient yourself any longer; in its dense, gray fog not even one pillar can be seen.” (Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, The Gulag Archipelago) These words were penned by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, the Russian author most famous for his book
- [Carl Jung and The Achievement of Personality](https://academyofideas.com/2017/04/carl-jung-achievement-of-personality/) - In a chapter titled The Development of Personality contained in Volume 17 of his Collected Works, Carl Jung provides a fascinating account of what he called the achievement of personality, which he described as “the prototype of the only meaningful life, that is, of a life that strives for the individual realization of its own
- [Swamplands of the Soul: Suffering and Self-Transformation](https://academyofideas.com/2017/04/swamplands-of-the-soul-suffering-and-self-transformation-intro/) - In this video we explore the connection between suffering and self-transformation, by drawing heavily from James Hollis' profound book, Swamplands of the Soul
- [Focus, Distraction, and the Dangers of Modern Technology](https://academyofideas.com/2017/04/focus-distraction-and-the-dangers-of-modern-technology-intro/) - In this video we examine the importance of focus as a "hidden driver of excellence", and look at the dangers which modern technologies pose to our ability to direct and sustain our attention, and thus achieve our life-goals.
- [The Psychology of Mediocrity and Cultivating an Ideal](https://academyofideas.com/2017/04/the-psychology-of-mediocrity-and-cultivating-an-ideal-intro/) - In this video we look at the psychology of mediocrity, the development of a mediocracy in modern society, and how to rise above it by cultivating a personal ideal.
- [Tyranny, the Shadow, and the Scapegoat](https://academyofideas.com/2017/04/tyranny-the-shadow-and-the-scapegoat-intro/) - In this video we examine the question: 'What makes so many people prone to support and participate in the actions of tyrannical governments when so doing leads to such widespread misery, suffering and death?' We put forth one answer that was proposed by Carl Jung and his student, Erich Neumann, which proposes that a psychological
- [The Psychology of Obedience and The Virtue of Disobedience](https://academyofideas.com/2017/03/psychology-of-obedience/) - “Must the citizen ever for a moment, or in the least degree, resign his conscience to the legislator? Why has every man a conscience then? I think that we should be men first, and subjects afterward. . .The only obligation which I have a right to assume is to do at any time what I
- [Carl Jung - What are the Archetypes?](https://academyofideas.com/2017/02/carl-jung-what-are-archetypes/) - Is the mind of a newborn a blank slate, awaiting stimuli and input from the world to obtain structure and form? Or does it have a pre-formed structure which influences how we experience the world? This question has long interested psychologists and philosophers alike. Carl Jung, the 20th century psychiatrist and founder of analytical psychology,
- [Tyranny, the Shadow, and the Scapegoat](https://academyofideas.com/2017/01/tyranny-shadow-scapegoat/) - In the 20th century more people were killed by their own governments than died fighting in the two world wars. It is common to lay much of the blame for this brutal period at the feet of those who led the most murderous of regimes; such as Hitler in Germany, Stalin in Russia, or Mao in
- [Nietzsche and Dionysus: Tragedy and the Affirmation of Life](https://academyofideas.com/2017/03/nietzsche-and-dionysus/) - In his book Twilight of the Idols, Nietzsche wrote: “Herewith I again stand on the soil out of which my intention, my ability grows - I, the last disciple of the philosopher Dionysus.” (Twilight of the Idols) For the entirety of his writing career Nietzsche was heavily influenced by the ancient Greek god Dionysus –
- [The Psychology of Mediocrity and Cultivating an Ideal](https://academyofideas.com/2017/02/psychology-mediocrity-cultivating-ideal/) - “I consider reality to be the thing one need concern oneself about least of all, for it is, tediously enough, always at hand while more beautiful and necessary things demand our attention and care.” (Hermann Hesse) Our awareness of reality can be separated into two levels: the vast majority of the time we are focused on
- [Focus, Distraction, and the Dangers of Modern Technology](https://academyofideas.com/2017/03/focus-distraction-dangers-modern-technology/) - The ability to direct, control, and sustain your attention is, without exaggeration, one of the most crucial of the mental faculties that humans possess. Daniel Goleman in his book Focus went as far as to call it “the hidden driver of excellence”, while Winifred Gallagher wrote in Rapt: Attention and the Focused Life: “. .
- [Swamplands of the Soul: Suffering and Self-Transformation](https://academyofideas.com/2017/04/swamplands-of-the-soul-suffering-self-transformation/) - “How to gain, how to keep, how to recover happiness,” wrote William James “is in fact for most men at all times the secret motive of all they do, and of all they are willing to endure.” (William James) While this drive for happiness is for many in the modern day somewhat of an obsession,
- [Colin Wilson, The Outsider and The Fallacy of Insignificance](https://academyofideas.com/2017/04/colin-wilson-outsider-fallacy-of-insignificance/) - In 1956 a 24-year-old named Colin Wilson published his first book, titled The Outsider. Wilson, at the time of writing this book was a drifter; having quit his job at a factory he slept in a London park and spent his days writing at various museums. Almost immediately after its publication, The Outsider achieved significant
- [The Pathology of Normality and Collective Psychoses](https://academyofideas.com/2017/05/pathology-normality-collective-psychoses/) - It has long been accepted, usually with little reflection, that being psychologically normal is good while being psychologically abnormal is bad. This assumption is encapsulated in a statement by the “father of American psychiatry”, Benjamin Rush: “Sanity—aptitude to judge things like other men, and regular habits, etc. Insanity a departure from this.” Acceptance of this
- [Thomas Sowell and The Roots of Political Conflict](https://academyofideas.com/2017/06/thomas-sowell-roots-political-conflict/) - These days it is uncontroversial to suggest that there are serious problems with the way societies are organized and the manner in which governments function. What does breed controversy, however, is what is to be done about it. In many cases one person’s proposed solution is viewed by others as potentially leading to further ruin.
- [Frans de Waal and Our Inner Ape: The Evolutionary Origins of War and Peace](https://academyofideas.com/2017/08/frans-de-waal-inner-ape-evolutionary-origins-war-peace/) - Are humans primarily aggressive animals, held in check only by structures of authority, or is an innate moral sense and capacity for peace also a part of our nature? Frans de Waal the renowned primatologist famous for his study of the behavior of our two closest living primate relatives - the chimpanzee and the bonobo
- [Carl Jung: Myth and The Meaning of Life](https://academyofideas.com/2017/09/jung-myth-meaning-of-life/) - Why are some people capable of overcoming their struggles and affirming life, while others faced with similar circumstances are crushed by hardship and resign to a life of passivity? In the late 1990s Jamie Pennebaker, an American social psychologist, performed a study which shed light on this question. Pennebaker elicited volunteers who had recently experienced
- [The Psychology of Self-Sabotage and Resistance](https://academyofideas.com/2017/10/psychology-self-sabotage-resistance/) - “Most of us have two lives. The life we live, and the unlived life within us. Between the two stands Resistance.” (The War of Art, Steven Pressfield) At certain times in life we experience a calling from our higher self, urging us to move in the direction of a more noble life. This calling often
- [The Psychology of Failure](https://academyofideas.com/2017/11/psychology-of-failure/) - Cognitive-behavioural therapy is one of the most effective and widely used treatments for psychological disorders. It is used to treat depression, anxiety disorders, phobias, substance abuse and even schizophrenia. While there are several types of cognitive-behavioural therapy the general idea behind them all is the same. The goal is to help the patient identify and
- [Nietzsche and the Value of Suffering](https://academyofideas.com/2017/12/nietzsche-value-of-suffering/) - “Suffering is essential to life, and therefore does not flow in upon us from outside, but everyone carries around within himself its perennial source.” (Arthur Schopenhauer, The World as Will and Representation) Humans have been referred to as the “rational animal” or the “social animal”, but the epithet “the suffering animal” is just as appropriate.
- [The Stoic Approach to Dealing with Insults and Ridicule](https://academyofideas.com/2018/01/stoicism-insults-and-ridicule/) - “The greatest height of heroism to which an individual. . .can attain is to know how to face ridicule; better still, to know how to make oneself ridiculous and not to shrink from the ridicule.” (Miguel de Unamuno, The Tragic Sense of Life) Of all the threats that humans are exposed to in their day-to-day
- [The Value of a Neurosis: Reinterpreting the Significance of Anxiety and Depression](https://academyofideas.com/2018/02/the-value-of-neurosis-significance-anxiety-depression/) - Neurotic suffering is not rare in this day-and-age. Rather unless we are one of a lucky few, at some point in our life it is likely we will be forced to contend with some form of a neurosis. Whatever the underlying cause, the maladaptive behaviour patterns that arise in our attempt to cope with our
- [Human Plasticity and The Process of Change](https://academyofideas.com/2018/03/human-plasticity-process-of-change/) - Of all the questions addressed in the field of psychology perhaps the most important relate to the issue of human plasticity, or in other words, the human capacity to change. While techniques and strategies for implementing change dominate the self-development and psychological literature, what is less frequently addressed is how change typically unfolds in one’s
- [Nietzsche and Equality: Ressentiment and Revenge](https://academyofideas.com/2018/04/nietzsche-equality-ressentiment-revenge/) - “The sick are man’s greatest danger; not the “beasts of prey”. Those who have come out wrong, who are crushed, broken, from the very start—it is they, the weakest, who most undermine life among men, who call into question and poison most dangerously our trust in life, in man, and in ourselves.” (Nietzsche, On the
- [The Myth of Arrival – A Critique of the Dominant Way of Life in Western Societies](https://academyofideas.com/2018/05/myth-of-arrival/) - The question of “how to live your life” is the most crucial question that we face. Whether we consciously consider this question or not, we all answer it in the choices we make, and we suffer, or are rewarded, accordingly. In most cases, the answer to this question does not come through thoughtful deliberation. Instead
- [The Myth of Arrival Part II: The Alternative - The Path of Mastery](https://academyofideas.com/2018/06/alternative-path-of-mastery/) - “First, therefore, we must seek what it is that we are aiming at; then we must look about for the road by which we can reach it most quickly. . .But so long as we wander aimlessly, having no guide, and following only the noise and discordant cries of those who call us in different
- [Re-Writing the Story of Your Life](https://academyofideas.com/2018/07/re-writing-the-story-of-your-life/) - “All the world’s a stage, And all the men and women are merely players; They have their exits and their entrances, And one man in his time plays many parts.” (William Shakespeare) Over the past several decades there has been an increasing emphasis in the field of psychology on the important role that narratives play
- [Carl Jung and the Man-Child  - Part I - The Mother Complex and the Absent Father](https://academyofideas.com/2018/08/carl-jung-man-child-part-1-mother-complex-absent-father/) - “Man cannot discover new oceans unless he has the courage to lose sight of the shore.” (Andre Gide) Marie-Louis von Franz, a Swiss psychologist, noticed a disturbing trend in the mid-20th century – many men and women who were well into their adult years remained psychologically stunted in their maturation. They occupied the bodies of
- [Carl Jung and the Man-Child - Part II -  The Psychology of the Individual Who Fails to Grow Up](https://academyofideas.com/2018/09/carl-jung-man-child-part-2-psychology/) - In the first video of this course we introduced the problem of the puer aeternus, or the problem of the individual who struggles to mature beyond an adolescent level of psychological development. As we explained, one of the main factors which contributes to this problem is a physically or emotionally absent father and a mother
- [Carl Jung and the Man-Child Part III: How to Mature Psychologically - The Value of Work and How to Find a Calling](https://academyofideas.com/2018/10/carl-jung-man-child-part-3-how-to-mature-psychologically/) - “We cannot master everything, taste everything, understand everything, drain every experience to its last dregs. But if we have the courage to let almost everything else go, we will probably be able to retain the one thing necessary for us—whatever it may be. If we are too eager to have everything, we will almost certainly
- [How to Unleash Your Potential - Part 1: The Role of Self-Knowledge and Self-Acceptance](https://academyofideas.com/2018/11/unleash-your-potential-part-1-self-knowledge-self-acceptance/) - “Life is occupied in both perpetuating itself and in surpassing itself, if all it does is maintain itself, then living is only not dying, and human existence is indistinguishable from an absurd vegetation. . .” (Simone de Beauvoir) One characteristic shared by all members of the human species is that each of us is flawed.
- [How to Unleash Your Potential Part 2 - The Experimental Approach](https://academyofideas.com/2018/12/unleash-your-potential-part-2-experimental-approach/) - Socrates famously claimed that the “the unexamined life is not worth living” (Socrates). Self-knowledge, he stressed, is key to a flourishing existence and in the first video of this series we examined what type of self-knowledge is required if we wish to achieve personal growth. But while Socrates was correct in emphasizing the need for
- [How to Unleash Your Potential Part 3 - Coping with Fear and Anxiety](https://academyofideas.com/2019/01/unleash-your-potential-part-3-coping-with-fear-and-anxiety/) - “Let us not forget that the little emotions are the great captains of our lives and we obey them without realizing it.” Vincent van Gogh There is no self-development, no actualization of our potential, without the introduction of novelty into our life. For this reason, in the previous video, we recommended an experimental approach to
- [How to Unleash Your Potential Part 4 - Becoming More Courageous](https://academyofideas.com/2019/02/unleash-your-potential-part-4-becoming-more-courageous/) - “Courage, in its final analysis, is nothing but an affirmative answer to the shocks of existence, which must be born for the actualization of one’s own nature.” Kurt Goldstein So far in this course we have discussed the role of self-knowledge in personal growth, the experimental approach to human change, and in the previous video
- [Midlife - Crisis and Transformation - Part 1 - The First Adulthood](https://academyofideas.com/2019/03/midlife-crisis-transformation-part-1/) - Dante, The Divine Comedy These words by Dante mark the beginning of his epic poem The Divine Comedy. But they also depict the experience of many in the midst of midlife - a time often marked by turmoil and uncertainty regarding the meaning of life and the paths one should tread. Yet there is much
- [Deep Work vs the Internet Part I - How the Internet is Changing our Brain](https://academyofideas.com/2019/05/deep-work-vs-internet-how-the-internet-is-changing-our-brain/) - “With the exception of alphabets and number systems, the Net may well be the single most powerful mind-altering technology that has ever come into general use.” Nicholas Carr, The Shallows Decades after it first came into existence, the internet, and the devices we use to access it, have infused themselves into every area of our
- [Deep Work vs the Internet Part II - How to Succeed in the Age of Distraction](https://academyofideas.com/2019/06/deep-work-vs-internet-how-to-succeed-in-the-age-of-distraction/) - “Do you want to do intellectual work? Begin by creating within you a zone of silence…a will to renunciation and detachment which puts you entirely at the disposal of work; acquire the state of soul unburdened by desire and self-will which is the state of grace of the intellectual worker. Without that you will do
- [Carl Jung and the Cultivation of Character](https://academyofideas.com/2019/08/carl-jung-cultivation-of-character/) - “When a man can say of his states and actions, “As I am, so I act,” he can be at one with himself . . .and he can accept responsibility for himself even though he struggles against it.” Carl Jung, Two Essays on Analytical Psychology Carl Jung was a man of eclectic interests and this
- [Carl Jung and the Cultivation of Character Part 2 - Active Imagination](https://academyofideas.com/2019/09/carl-jung-cultivation-of-character-part-2-active-imagination/) - “We yearn immeasurably to become whole.” Nietzsche, Untimely Meditations In our previous video on Carl Jung and the Cultivation of Character, we examined how integrating elements of our unconscious into conscious awareness and striving toward the ideal of psychological wholeness was the path to a great character. In this video we are going to
- [Using a Second Self to Facilitate Self-Transformation](https://academyofideas.com/2019/09/using-a-second-self-to-facilitate-self-transformation/) - “Everyone holds his future in his own hands, like a sculptor the raw material he will fashion into a figure. But it’s the same with that type of artistic activity as with all others: We are merely born with the capability to do it. The skill to mold the material into what we want must
- [Cultivating Heroic Manhood Part 1 - Why are So Many Men Psychologically Infantile?](https://academyofideas.com/2019/10/cultivating-heroic-manhood-part-1-psychological-regression/) - A man can’t go out the way he came in…a man has got to add up to something! Arthur Miller, Death of a Salesman In our previous series on Carl Jung and the Man-Child, we looked at why the phenomenon of the “man-child” is so prevalent in our times. We argued that due to the
- [Cultivating Heroic Manhood Part 2 - The Virtues of the Real Man](https://academyofideas.com/2019/11/cultivating-heroic-manhood-part-2-virtues-of-the-real-man/) - “The road to manhood is a hard one.” Ian Burma, Behind the Mask In the first video in this series we explored how the modern day crisis of masculinity is the result of widespread psychological regression. Too many men are remaining in the psychological womb of the mother, desperately dependent on the love and admiration
- [Cultivating Heroic Manhood Part 3 - The Hero and the Fight with the Dragon](https://academyofideas.com/2019/12/cultivating-heroic-manhood-part-3-hero-fight-with-the-dragon/) - “Danger alone acquaints us with our own resources: our virtues, our armor and weapons, our spirit, and forces us to be strong. First principle: one must need to be strong – otherwise one will never become strong.” Nietzsche, Twilight of the Idols In this series we have been exploring how to escape “boy psychology” and
- [Nietzsche and the Herd-Instinct: Why We Conform and Obey](https://academyofideas.com/2020/01/nietzsche-and-the-herd-instinct/) - Any human being who does not wish to be part of the masses need only stop making things easy for himself. Let him follow his conscience, which cries out to him: “Be yourself! All that you are now doing, thinking, desiring, all that is not you. Nietzsche, Untimely Meditations We exist within the tension of
- [A Guide to Uncommon Success Part 1 - The Psychology of Success](https://academyofideas.com/2020/01/a-guide-to-uncommon-success-part-1-psychology-of-success/) - “Passion: a strong feeling or emotion for something or someone. Very nice. Now what? Are you just feeling it, or are you going to do something about it? I love hearing motivational speakers tell people to “follow your passion.” Follow it? How about work at it. Excel at it. Demand to be the best at
- [A Guide to Uncommon Success Part 2 - Choosing a Goal](https://academyofideas.com/2020/03/guide-to-uncommon-success-part-2-choosing-a-goal/) - “For what is most choice worthy for each individual is the highest it is possible for him to achieve.” Aristotle, Politics Why should a person strive for success? How we answer this question will depend on how we define the term. If success is defined in its colloquial sense as the acquisition of money, fame, social status or power, success is at best value neutral. Our life
- [A Guide to Uncommon Success Part 3 - The Daily Routine](https://academyofideas.com/2020/03/guide-to-uncommon-success-part-3-the-daily-routine/) - “Many natures are so constituted that ordinary happenings in an ordinary career would not arouse or develop their greatest talents, which lie too deep to be easily ignited.” Orison Swett Marden, Making Life a Masterpiece Success in the life of an individual is the product of the same two factors that lead to success in
- [A Guide to Uncommon Success Part 4 - Cultivating the Habits of Success](https://academyofideas.com/2020/04/guide-to-uncommon-success-part-4-cultivating-the-habits-of-success/) - “I’ve always believed that when a man gets it into his head to do something, and when he exclusively occupies himself in that design, he must succeed whatever the difficulties. That man will become Grand Vizier or Pope.” Casanova In the previous videos in this series we outlined the preparatory steps to an uncommonly successful
- [The Power of the Unconscious Part 1 - What is the Unconscious?](https://academyofideas.com/2020/05/the-power-of-the-unconscious-part-1-what-is-the-unconscious/) - “Man, all too proud, figures that he is the master of his movements, his words, his ideas and himself. It is perhaps of ourselves that we have the least command. There are crowds of things which operate within ourselves without our will.” Pierre Janet Is it the link to god, the realm of darkness and violence,
- [The Power of the Unconscious Part 2 - The Inner God](https://academyofideas.com/2020/06/the-power-of-the-unconscious-part-2-the-inner-god/) - “The religious myth is one of man’s greatest and most significant achievements, giving him the security and inner strength not to be crushed by the monstrousness of the universe.” Carl Jung, Symbols of Transformation In the first video of this series we explored the nature and the structure of the unconscious mind. In the remainder of this series we are going to discuss how we
- [The Power of the Unconscious Part 3 - The Practical Value of Religion](https://academyofideas.com/2020/08/the-power-of-the-unconscious-part-3-practical-value-of-religion/) - “But here begins a new account, the account of a man’s gradual renewal, the account of his gradual regeneration, his gradual transition from one world to another, his acquaintance with a new, hitherto completely unknown reality.” Fyodor Dostoevsky, Crime and Punishment In this series of videos we are exploring the power of the unconscious mind
- [Optimizing Habits - The Surest Way to a Better Life: Part 1 Overcoming Addictions](https://academyofideas.com/2020/10/optimizing-habits-part-1-overcoming-addictions/) - “Habit is the deepest law of human nature.” Thomas Carlyle, The Ancient Monk It is said that “every man is the maker of his own fate”, but what is it that allows one man’s fate to be full of successes and glories while others are consumed by failures and disappointments? Many answers could be given
- [Optimizing Habits – The Surest Way to a Better Life: Part 2 - How to Form Good Habits](https://academyofideas.com/2020/11/optimizing-habits-part-2-how-to-form-good-habits/) - “Men's natures are alike; it is their habits that carry them far apart.” Confucius If we want to accomplish meaningful goals, change a weakness to a strength, learn a craft, master a skill, or improve our mental or physical health, it is our habits that unlock such possibilities. Learning how to cultivate new habits,
- [Ancient Philosophy Part 1 - The Training Method of the Sage](https://academyofideas.com/2020/12/ancient-philosophy-part-1-training-method-of-the-sage/) - “What should a philosopher say, then, in the face of each of the hardships of life? ‘It is for this that I’ve been training myself; it is for this that I was practising.’” Epictetus, Discourses The presocratic Greek philosopher Thales was said to be so preoccupied with gazing at the stars and pondering metaphysical matters that
- [Ancient Philosophy Part 2: The Sage and the Slave - How to be Tranquil and Free](https://academyofideas.com/2021/01/ancient-philosophy-part-2-sage-slave-how-to-be-tranquil-and-free/) - “But what you long for is a thing that is great, supreme, and very close to the state of being a god: to be unshaken.” Seneca, On Tranquility of Mind The ancient philosophers prized above all else tranquility, which is a state of mind characterized by the absence of discomforting emotions such as doubt, fear,
- [Ancient Philosophy Part 3: The Sage and Money - How to Be Tranquil and Free With or Without Wealth](https://academyofideas.com/2021/02/ancient-philosophy-part-3-sage-and-money/) - Referring to Diogenes the Cynic, the ancient philosopher he thought closest to a real-life sage, Epictetus stated the following: “It is to [his power of choice] that he devotes all his attention and energy; but when anything else comes into play, he lies back and snores, and is wholly at peace. No one can rob
- [Ancient Philosophy Part 4: The Sage and Other People - How to Deal with Bad Moods and Mistreatment](https://academyofideas.com/2021/03/ancient-philosophy-part-4-sage-and-other-people/) - “Liberty is having a mind superior to injury, a mind that makes itself the only source from which its pleasures spring, that separates itself from all external things, avoiding the unquiet life of one who fears everybody’s laughter, everybody’s tongue.” Seneca, On the Constancy of the Wise Man Other people are the most frequent disturbers of
- [Ancient Philosophy Part 5: The Sage and Adversity - How to Stay Strong in Times of Hardship](https://academyofideas.com/2021/04/ancient-philosophy-part-5-sage-and-adversity/) - “So the struggle…is over no slight matter, but whether we are to be mad or sane.” Epictetus, Fragments The presocratic Greek philosopher Heraclitus observed that “War is the father of all”, and this statement rings true when we reflect on the course of a human life. For much that is good is birthed in the battles of life.
- [The Pillars of Success - Why Sleep, Focus and Mindset Promote Excellence](https://academyofideas.com/2021/06/pillars-of-success-why-sleep-focus-and-mindset-promote-excellence/) - “Blessed is he who has found his work; let him ask no other blessings.” Thomas Carlyle, Past and Present Most people work for one reason: to earn money to purchase the goods and services that promote survival and enjoyment of life. But for others the act of work provides its own rewards – their work gives them purpose and imbues life with joy, satisfaction, and feelings of accomplishment. Those in this latter class can be said
- [Why the Desire for Safety Can Breed Mental Illness and Social Ruin](https://academyofideas.com/2021/07/why-the-desire-for-safety-can-breed-mental-illness-and-social-ruin/) - “Condition for being a hero. If a man wants to become a hero, the snake must first become a dragon: otherwise he is lacking his proper enemy.” Nietzsche, Human, all too Human Our age has been called many things, but an age of cowards may best describe it given the immense fear, anxiety and helplessness
- [Mass Psychosis - How an Entire Population Becomes Mentally Ill](https://academyofideas.com/2021/08/mass-psychosis-how-an-entire-population-becomes-mentally-ill/) - This video is a condensed version of our Mass Psychosis series. It is animated by the YouTube channel After Skool. “The masses have never thirsted after truth. They turn aside from evidence that is not to their taste, preferring to deify error, if error seduce them. Whoever can supply them with illusions is easily their
- [Why are So Many People Accepting Tyranny?](https://academyofideas.com/2021/08/why-are-so-many-people-accepting-tyranny/) - “The [totalitarian] state is a tiger seeking to devour the people, and they must either kill or cripple it. Their own safety depends upon it.” Benjamin Tucker, Individual Liberty One of the overriding themes of history is the battle between servitude and freedom – between power being centralized in small groups who wield it over the many, versus power
- [The Roots of Addiction – Childhood Trauma, Emotional Pain, and a Dying Culture](https://academyofideas.com/2021/09/roots-of-addiction-childhood-trauma-emotional-pain-a-dying-culture/) - “What is addiction, really? It is a sign, a signal, a symptom of distress. It is a language that tells us about a plight that must be understood.” Alice Miller, Breaking Down the Wall of Silence In the Buddhist’s conception of the universe, the wheel of life revolves through 6 realms, each representing a different
- [Carl Jung – Addiction as a Spiritual Disease](https://academyofideas.com/2021/10/carl-jung-addiction-as-a-spiritual-disease/) - “…the addict’s life is a downward spiral of hopelessness, despair, constant fear, and terrible loneliness. For the addict, there seems no escape from the pain and acting-out cycles. The addict is helpless and entirely addiction centered, focused on whatever it is—a drug, a pornographic picture, a drink, another bet, more food—that produces the trance, a
- [Recovery from Addiction - Harm Reduction and the Psychological Rebirth](https://academyofideas.com/2021/12/recovery-from-addiction-harm-reduction-and-the-psychological-rebirth/) - As we explored in the previous videos of this series, one of the primary psychological causes of addiction is emotional pain. This pain can be the result of childhood trauma, emotionally distant parents, a lack of direction in life or feelings of low self-worth or high self-hate. An addiction can also stem from social circumstances
- [The Power of Attention Part 1 - How Attention Creates Our World](https://academyofideas.com/2022/01/the-power-of-attention-part-1-how-attention-creates-our-world/) - Can one person change the world? While this question has long been debated and forms the core of what is called the ‘great man theory of history’, what is beyond debate is that we can change our own world. For we are co-creators of the world we inhabit and this power of world-creation manifests through
- [The Power of Attention Part 2 - The Constricted World of Anxiety and Depression](https://academyofideas.com/2022/02/the-power-of-attention-part-2-the-constricted-world-of-anxiety-depression/) - “Attention is not just another cognitive function. Attention is how our world comes into being for us. The altered nature of attention can appear to abolish parts of the world, collapse time and space [and] eviscerate emotion. . .It is a profoundly moral act.” Iain McGilchrist, The Matter With Things As was explored in
- [The Power of Attention Part 3 - Overcoming Anxiety and Depression](https://academyofideas.com/2022/03/power-of-attention-part-3-overcoming-anxiety-and-depression/) - “You can hold yourself back from the sufferings of the world, that is something you are free to do and it accords with your nature, but perhaps this very holding back is the one suffering you could avoid.” Franz Kafka, The Zürau Aphorisms In the first video of this series, we explored how the deployment
- [How to Turn a Passion into a Career - Why Most Fail and Few Succeed](https://academyofideas.com/2022/04/how-to-turn-a-passion-into-a-career-why-most-fail-and-few-succeed/) - “Is [this] not the kind of lasting success that every creative person strives for? To produce something that is consumed (and sells) for years and years, that enters the “canon” of our industry or field, that becomes seminal, that makes money (and has impact) while we sleep, even after we’ve moved on to other projects?”
- [Why are People So Divided and Hostile? - The Dangers of Racial, National, and Political Identities](https://academyofideas.com/2022/05/why-are-people-so-divided-and-hostile-the-dangers-of-racial-national-and-political-identities/) - “We fall captive to the herd animal if we cannot reach the individual divinity in ourselves.” Carl Jung, ETH Lecture December 1939 A healthy sense of self is built upon two primary components: the realization of our unique potential and the identification with a set of collective norms. If we tend too far in the direction
- [How to Become More Powerful in the Social World](https://academyofideas.com/2022/07/how-to-become-more-powerful-in-the-social-world/) - “…human beings do not seek pleasure and avoid displeasure. What human beings want, whatever the smallest organism wants, is an increase of power.” Nietzsche, The Will to Power Power, as the psychologist Rollo May explained, “is the ability to cause or prevent change” (Rollo May, Power and Innocence). It is, in other words, the capacity
- [Stoicism | Overcoming the Fear of Death & Cultivating Courage and Freedom](https://academyofideas.com/2022/07/stoicism-overcoming-the-fear-of-death-cultivating-courage-and-freedom/) - “One who regards death without fear steps more lightly through life, and is free from many other fears as well, for death is the master fear that lies behind them.” Ward Farnsworth, The Practicing Stoic Some people are so terrified of dying that they shrink from being fully alive. They try to control death
- [How to Promote Self-Actualization](https://academyofideas.com/2022/08/how-to-promote-self-actualization/) - “I am most impressed with the fact that each human being has a directional tendency toward wholeness, toward actualization of his or her potentialities…My experience has forced me to conclude that the individual has within himself the capacity and the tendency...to move forward toward maturity.” Carl Rogers, On Becoming a Person The 20th century psychologist
- [Trust the Science? - Misconceptions of How Science Works](https://academyofideas.com/2022/11/trust-the-science-misconceptions-of-how-science-works/) - “Our science is a drop, our ignorance a sea.” William James, Is Life Worth Living? We are told to trust the science and to follow the science, and most people willingly obey any command that comes from those who claims to speak for science. But what is science and how are the truths of science
- [Trust the Science? - The Corruption of Mainstream Science](https://academyofideas.com/2022/11/trust-the-science-the-corruption-of-mainstream-science/) - “Science. . .has proved itself an incredibly powerful revolutionary force. When we consider how recently it has risen to power, we find ourselves forced to believe that we are at the very beginning of its work in transforming human life.” Bertrand Russell, The Impact of Science on Society We live in an age where many
- [Disconnected from Reality: How Smartphones and Social Media Promote a Schizophrenic-Like Condition](https://academyofideas.com/2022/12/smartphones-social-media-and-the-rise-of-a-schizophrenic-society/) - “I am body entirely, and nothing beside.” Friedrich Nietzsche, Thus Spoke Zarathustra Many people spend more time staring at screens, than interacting with the real world. Hour-upon-hour, day-after-day, it is just eyes and ears that act as inputs, and mouths and fingers that act as outputs. We are a population, in the words of the
- [How Weakness Corrupts – Social Justice, Equality, and Woke Morality ](https://academyofideas.com/2023/01/how-weakness-corrupts-social-justice-equality-and-woke-morality/) - “When some men fail to accomplish what they desire to do they exclaim angrily, “May the whole world perish!” This repulsive emotion is the pinnacle of envy, whose implication is “If I cannot have something, no one can have anything, no one is to be anything!”” Nietzsche, The Dawn Much of the blame for
- [Why are People Sheeplike in their Obedience to Authority?](https://academyofideas.com/2023/02/why-are-people-sheeplike-in-their-obedience-to-authority/) - “The worst problem of all in any society is that the majority of human beings are sheeplike in their obedience and conformity to authority, even when they are instructed to commit acts that go against their real values and beliefs.” Israel W. Charny, How Can We Commit The Unthinkable? In the last few years, the majority of
- [Why Mediocrity is a Mental Illness](https://academyofideas.com/2023/04/why-mediocrity-is-a-mental-illness/) - “For this is how things are: the diminution and leveling of…man constitutes our greatest danger, for the sight of him makes us weary. We can see nothing today that wants to grow greater, we suspect that things will continue to go down, down, to become…more comfortable, more mediocre, more indifferent.” Nietzsche, On the Genealogy of
- [The Loss of God and the Decay of Society Part 2 - Why Religion can Save Society](https://academyofideas.com/2023/07/the-loss-of-god-and-the-decay-of-society-part-2-why-religion-can-save-society/) - “It seems more and more apparent that even with the most sophisticated of political maneuvers, the noose on the neck of mankind draws tighter. . .and there seems to be no way out for anyone. . .” Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, 1983 Templeton Address Society is sick. There are far too many corrupt individuals in positions
- [Sociological Propaganda - Why Modern Man Embraces His Servitude](https://academyofideas.com/2023/09/sociological-propaganda-why-modern-man-embraces-his-servitude/) - We are taxed at levels that have historically led to revolt. Laws and regulations smother our freedom and inhibit our ability to flourish. The all-seeing eye of mass surveillance strips us of our privacy. Our monetary system teeters precariously on a mountain of debt and our money is worth less with each passing day. All
- [Midlife - Crisis and Transformation - Part 2 - The Second Half of Life](https://academyofideas.com/2019/04/midlife-crisis-and-transformation-part-2/) - “Symptoms of midlife distress are in fact to be welcomed, for they represent…a powerful imperative for renewal….No wonder there is such enormous anxiety. One is summoned, psychologically, to die unto the old self so that the new might be born.” James Hollis, The Middle Passage In the first video of this two-part series we examined
- [Nietzsche and Psychology: How to Become Who You Are](https://academyofideas.com/2017/02/nietzsche-psychology-become-who-you-are/) - In 1888, a few months before the end of his most prolific, and final period of writing, Friedrich Nietzsche wrote in Ecce Homo: “That a psychologist without equal speaks from my writings – this is perhaps the first insight gained by a good reader.” (Ecce Homo) Nietzsche viewed himself as the first psychologist amongst the
- [Rollo May, the Courage to Create, and How to Become More Creative](https://academyofideas.com/2017/02/rollo-may-courage-to-create/) - Creativity is an essential component of a successful and fulfilling life. Yet despite its importance, it is a highly misunderstood phenomenon. Few understand its nature and inner workings, and are therefore unaware of how to stimulate it and use it to their advantage. To provide a better understanding of creativity, and how to stimulate it
- [Why we Procrastinate and How to Stop](https://academyofideas.com/2017/01/tips-on-overcoming-procrastination/) - “Procrastination is the bad habit of putting off until the day after tomorrow what should have been done the day before yesterday.” (Napoleon Hill) Procrastination, to some degree, is practiced by all of us. But when procrastination gets out of hand it can severely limit one’s enjoyment of life. In this article, we are going
- [Mini-Habits - An Ingenious Strategy for Cultivating Good Habits](https://academyofideas.com/2017/01/mini-habits-develop-good-habits/) - Mini Habits: Smaller Habits, Bigger Results is a short book which offers a novel strategy for cultivating good habits. The strategy is based on the premise that the biggest hurdles to habit formation stem from the unreliability of motivation and the limited nature of willpower. “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not
- [The Individual vs. Tyranny](https://academyofideas.com/2017/01/the-individual-vs-tyranny/) - “The simple step of a courageous individual is not to take part in the lie.” (The Gulag Archipelago) These are the words of Aleksander Solzhenitsyn, the 20th century Russian author most famous for his book The Gulag Archipelago, which documents the decade he spent as a political prisoner under Stalin. As a close observer of
- [Robert Greene's Mastery - A Guide to Finding a Purpose for Your Life](https://academyofideas.com/2017/01/robert-greene-mastery-summary/) - Robert Greene’s book Mastery is a fantastic resource for those dissatisfied with their current path in life and who believe they have the potential for something greater, but who need help moving from a life of passivity to a life more of their own creation. What follows is a brief summary of the book. “He who
- [Public Schools, the Fixation of Belief, and Social Control](https://academyofideas.com/2016/12/public-schools-fixation-of-belief-social-control/) - The advent of compulsory public schooling in the West is often viewed as a sign of progress, a development which granted all individuals an equal opportunity to become educated, cultivate one’s cognitive faculties, and improve one’s position in life. But this optimistic view is not shared by all. Rather many who have studied the history
- [The Psychology and Principles of Mastery](https://academyofideas.com/2016/11/psychology-principles-mastery/) - “Nobody can build the bridge for you to walk across the river of life, no one but you yourself alone. There are, to be sure, countless paths and bridges and demi-gods which would carry you across this river; but only at the cost of yourself; you would pawn yourself and lose. There is in the
- [Stoicism: Letters from a Stoic and the Wisdom of Seneca](https://academyofideas.com/2016/09/seneca-letters-from-a-stoic/) - The philosopher and Roman Statesman Lucius Seneca was sentenced to death by two successive emperors - Caligula in 37 AD and Claudius in 41 AD. Managing to evade both death-sentences, he then spent 8 years in exile on the island of Corsica as a result of an alleged affair with the Emperor Caligula’s sister. But
- [Abraham Maslow, Peak Experiences, and the Spirituality of the Solitary Individual](https://academyofideas.com/2016/09/maslow-peak-experiences-solitary-individual/) - “Man has a higher and transcendent nature, and this is part of his essence, i.e., his biological nature as a member of a species which has evolved.”
- [Ralph Waldo Emerson on Self-Reliance and Nonconformity](https://academyofideas.com/2016/09/ralph-waldo-emerson-self-reliance-nonconformity/) - “Insist on yourself; never imitate.” (Self-Reliance, Ralph Waldo Emerson) Self-Reliance by Ralph Waldo Emerson is a classic essay on the importance of nonconformity, individuality, and self-reliance. The ideas contained in the essay provide a much needed antidote against the conforming pressures of our age, as Emerson was a strong believer in the importance of not
- [Ernest Becker on The Denial of Death and Heroism](https://academyofideas.com/2016/09/the-denial-of-death-ernest-becker/) - “This is the terror: to have emerged from nothing, to have a name, consciousness of self, deep inner feelings, and excruciating inner yearning for life and self-expression – and with all this yet to die. It seems like a hoax. . . What kind of deity would create such complex and fancy worm food?” (The
- [Nietzsche on Genius and Mastery](https://academyofideas.com/2016/09/nietzsche-genius-mastery/) - “Speak not of gifts, or innate talents! One can name all kinds of great men who were not very gifted. But they acquired greatness, became “geniuses”
- [The Practicing Mind: Thomas Sterner on Developing Discipline in Your Life](https://academyofideas.com/2016/09/the-practicing-mind-thomas-sterner/) - So what is the art of practicing? And where do we go wrong when we try to put in the time to learn and master anything new?
- [Existential Psychotherapy: Death, Freedom, Isolation, Meaninglessness](https://academyofideas.com/2016/08/existential-psychotherapy-death-freedom-isolation-meaninglessness/) - A commonly held belief, is that psychological disorders are primarily the result of biochemical imbalances which can be treated with pharmaceutical medications. This view, however, is not accepted by all. In the mid-20th century, there arose a therapeutic movement called existential psychotherapy, constructed upon the idea that some psychological disorders, such as cases of anxiety
- [Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World](https://academyofideas.com/2016/08/deep-work-cal-newport/) - In other words, deep work is key for those looking to sculpt their own destiny instead of sleep-walking through life.
- [The Great Work of Your Life, Dharma, and Embracing Fear](https://academyofideas.com/2016/08/great-work-of-your-life-dharma-embracing-fear/) - "Every man has a vocation to be someone: but he must understand clearly that in order to fulfill this vocation he can only be one person: himself."
- [Solitude: Mastering the Art of Being Alone](https://academyofideas.com/2016/07/solitude-art-of-being-alone/) - Within us exist two opposing drives: the drive for love and friendship; and the drive towards individuation, independence, and autonomy.
- [Viktor Frankl: Logotherapy and Man's Search for Meaning](https://academyofideas.com/2016/07/viktor-frankl-logotherapy-mans-search-for-meaning/) - The truth is that as the struggle for survival has subsided, the question has emerged: survival for what?
- [Nathaniel Branden and The Disowned Self: Reconnecting with your Authentic Self](https://academyofideas.com/2016/07/nathaniel-branden-disowned-self/) - The process of “losing oneself” is a common but unacknowledged danger, occurring when one loses touch with their inner experience.
- [How to Stimulate Creative Breakthroughs: The Unconscious and Creativity](https://academyofideas.com/2016/06/stimulating-creativity-unconscious/) - Highly creative individuals throughout history have pinpointed the unconscious as the source of creative breakthroughs.
- [The Nature of Creativity and The Courage to Create](https://academyofideas.com/2016/05/the-nature-of-creativity-and-the-courage-to-create/) - As noted by Robert Greene in his book Mastery, engaging in creative work is one of the most pleasurable and satisfying endeavors possible for human beings.
- [Stoicism: Meditations and the Wisdom of Marcus Aurelius](https://academyofideas.com/2016/05/stoicism-meditations-the-wisdom-of-marcus-aurelius/) - “You have power over your mind - not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength.” (Meditations, Marcus Aurelius)
- [Introduction to Camus: The Absurd, Revolt, and Rebellion](https://academyofideas.com/2016/04/introduction-to-camus-the-absurd-revolt-and-rebellion/) - In this article we provide a summary of Albert Camus' main ideas - including his ideas on the absurdity of existence, revolt, and rebellion.
- [Alan Watts: Anxiety, Enlightenment, and the Wisdom of Insecurity](https://academyofideas.com/2016/03/alan-watts-anxiety-enlightenment-and-the-wisdom-of-insecurity/) - Alan Watts on dealing with anxiety by letting go of our need to feel secure, and plunging into the river of life and joining the "dance".
- [Introduction to Stoicism](https://academyofideas.com/2014/04/introduction-to-stoicism/) - Approximately 2000 years ago a Roman philosopher named Seneca said the following about the state of philosophy in his day: “There are indeed mistakes made, through the fault of our advisors, who teach us how to debate and not how to live. There are also mistakes made by students, who come to their teachers to
- [Nietzsche: The Eternal Return, Suffering, and the Affirmation of Life](https://academyofideas.com/2016/02/nietzsche-the-eternal-return-suffering-and-the-affirmation-of-life/) - "The ideal of the most high spirited, alive, and world affirming human being who has not only come to terms and learned to get along with whatever was and is, but who wants to have what was and is repeated into all eternity, shouting insatiably da capo [from the beginning]." (Beyond Good and Evil, Nietzsche).
- [Viktor Frankl and the Search for Meaning](https://academyofideas.com/2016/02/viktor-frankl-and-the-search-for-meaning/) - “…the man who regards his life as meaningless is not merely unhappy but hardly fit for life.” (Albert Einstein) Other animals require adequate nourishment and shelter in order to survive. We need those things as well, but we also need meaning. We need to feel as if our life is worth living. What we crave
- [Nathaniel Branden: Self-Esteem and Honoring the Self](https://academyofideas.com/2016/02/nathaniel-branden-self-esteem-and-honoring-the-self/) - “The greatest evil that can befall a man is that he should come to think ill of himself.” (Johann Wolfgang von Goethe) If this statement by Goethe even approaches the truth, what is tragic is the fact that so many people “think ill of themselves”, or in other words, struggle with low self-esteem. The psychologist and
- [James Hillman: The Daimon and the Search For a Calling](https://academyofideas.com/2016/02/james-hillman-the-daimon-and-the-search-for-a-calling/) - “Sooner or later something seems to call us onto a particular path. You may remember this “something” as a signal moment in childhood when an urge out of nowhere, a fascination, a peculiar turn of events struck like an annunciation: This is what I must do, this is what I’ve got to have. This is
- [Introduction to Carl Jung - Individuation, the Persona, the Shadow and the Self](https://academyofideas.com/2016/02/introduction-to-carl-jung-individuation-the-shadow-the-persona-and-the-self/) - “Individuation means becoming a single, homogeneous being, and, in so far as ‘individuality’ embraces our innermost, last, and incomparable uniqueness, it also implies becoming one’s own self. We could therefore translate individuation as… ‘self-realization.’” (Collected Works of C.G. Jung: Volume 7, Carl Jung ) In this second video in our mini-series on the ideas of
- [Introduction to Carl Jung - The Psyche, Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious](https://academyofideas.com/2016/01/introduction-to-carl-jung-the-psyche-archetypes-and-the-collective-unconscious/) - “Man has developed consciousness slowly and laboriously, in a process that took untold ages to reach the civilized state. And this evolution is far from complete, for large areas of the human mind are still shrouded in darkness.” (Man and His Symbols, Carl Jung) These words were written by Carl Jung, a Swiss psychologist who
- [Carl Jung and the Shadow: The Hidden Power of Our Dark Side](https://academyofideas.com/2015/12/carl-jung-and-the-shadow-the-hidden-power-of-our-dark-side/) - "That which we do not bring to consciousness appears in our lives as fate." (Carl Jung) Carl Jung is famous for formulating the concept of the shadow, the portion of our personality which, through the course of our life, is relegated to the darkness of the unconscious. The Nature of the Shadow “The shadow goes
- [Frédéric Bastiat - The Law: Summary and Analysis](https://academyofideas.com/2015/12/frederic-bastiat-the-law-summary-and-analysis/) - The Law, a work written by the French political philosopher and economist Frederic Bastiat in 1850, investigates what happens in a society when the law becomes a weapon used by those in power to control and enslave the population. What is the Purpose of Law? Laws should be set to prevent certain actions which harm individuals and
- [Stefan Zweig: The Daemon, Creativity, and Destruction](https://academyofideas.com/2015/12/stefan-zweig-the-daemon-creativity-and-destruction/) - Everyone, at certain periods in their life, experiences times of unrest and discontent; occasions when normal everyday human existence appears inadequate, even insignificant. In these periods one may become aware of an underlying energetic force urging one to renounce the trivial and mundane, and to seek a higher, more dangerous form of existence. In his
- [Nietzsche and Zapffe: Beauty, Suffering, and the Nature of Genius](https://academyofideas.com/2015/12/nietzsche-zapffe-beauty-suffering-nature-of-genius/) - Many thinkers have proposed that human beings require emotional stimulants and psychological aids to mitigate the hardships and burdens associated with existence, and to provide an energizing conviction that life has worth. Without such mechanisms, one is prone to slip into the sort of world-weariness expounded in the “wisdom of Silenus”. “Oh, miserable ephemeral race,
- [Fear and Social Control](https://academyofideas.com/2015/11/fear-and-social-control/) - In this article we investigate how fear can be used by those in positions of power as a tool to manipulate and control certain aspects of society.
- [Introduction to Aristotle: Knowledge and the Four Causes](https://academyofideas.com/2015/11/introduction-to-aristotle-knowledge-and-the-four-causes/) - Introduction to Aristotle – The Four Causes The Greek philosopher, Aristotle famously claimed that “all men by nature desire to know”. But what, according to Aristotle, does it mean to know something, and how do we arrive at knowledge of the world? The purpose of this video is to answer these questions and in the
- [Introduction to Kierkegaard: The Religious Solution](https://academyofideas.com/2015/05/introduction-to-kierkegaard-the-religious-solution/) - "If a human being did not have an eternal consciousness, if underlying everything there were only a wild, fermenting power that writhing in dark passions produced everything, be it significant or insignificant, if a vast, never appeased emptiness hid beneath everything, what would life be then but despair?" (Fear and Trembling) As outlined in the
- [Introduction to Kierkegaard: The Existential Problem](https://academyofideas.com/2015/04/introduction-to-kierkegaard-the-existential-problem/) - "The biggest danger, that of losing oneself, can pass off in the world as quietly as if it were nothing."
- [Carl Jung on the Unconscious and Dreams](https://academyofideas.com/2015/04/carl-jung-on-the-unconscious-and-dreams/) - Here are some great passages from Carl Jung's book Man and His Symbols, which was written just before his death, and was meant as an introduction to his work for the general public. "Man has developed consciousness slowly and laboriously, in a process that took untold ages to reach the civilized state (which is arbitrarily dated
- [The Ideas of Socrates](https://academyofideas.com/2015/03/the-ideas-of-socrates-transcript/) - In Xenophon's dialogue, the Memorabilia, Hippias, upon overhearing Socrates converse with a group of people in the streets of Athens, commented: "Socrates, you are still repeating the same things I heard you say so long ago." Not in the least bit fazed by Hippias' attempt to belittle him, Socrates responded: "Yes, and what is more
- [Abraham Maslow: The Jonah Complex and the Fear of Greatness](https://academyofideas.com/2015/03/abraham-maslow-the-jonah-complex-and-the-fear-of-greatness/) - The overwhelming majority of people fail to achieve a life even close to what they are capable of. Discovering why there is an innate pull or tendency towards mediocrity is essential in overcoming it, and cultivating a life conducive to one’s individuality and personal growth. Abraham Maslow posited the existence of a psychological condition inherent
- [Philosophy as a Way of Life](https://academyofideas.com/2015/03/philosophy-as-a-way-of-life/) - Some today consider philosophy to be a superfluous enterprise, valuable only to those with their “head in the clouds” and time to kill. This view may be partially attributable to the growing interest that contemporary philosophers have with producing ideas intended only for their fellow academics. As the 20th century French philosopher Pierre Hadot pointed
- [Pessimism of Strength](https://academyofideas.com/2014/09/pessimism-of-strength/) - "Time is that by virtue of which everything becomes nothingness in our hands and loses all real value." (Arthur Schopenhauer) According to popular thought, pessimism is an outlook which is necessarily associated with feelings of depression, despair, and hopelessness. However, as is often the case with popular thought, this idea is false. Rather some of
- [Gustave Le Bon and the Masses](https://academyofideas.com/2014/03/gustave-le-bon-and-the-masses/) - "The masses have never thirsted after truth. They turn aside from evidence that is not to their taste, preferring to deify error, if error seduce them. Whoever can supply them with illusions is easily their master; whoever attempts to destroy their illusions is always their victim. ”” (The Crowd: A Study of the Popular Mind,
- [Creativity and the Pursuit of Excellence](https://academyofideas.com/2014/01/creativity-and-the-pursuit-of-excellence/) - Is the best life one devoted to the pursuit of pleasure, or the pursuit of excellence?
- [Aristotle's Divisions of Science](https://academyofideas.com/2014/01/aristotles-divisions-of-science/) - In one of his monumental works, Physics, Aristotle sets out to investigate the appropriate divisions of science. According to Aristotle, a science is possible if and only if there are knowable objects. There cannot be a science of dragons, for example, because dragons do not exist and hence a 'science' of dragons would lack knowable
- ["In life, a man commits himself and draws his own portrait, outside of which there is nothing" - Sartre](https://academyofideas.com/2014/01/in-life-a-man-commits-himself-and-draws-his-own-portrait-outside-of-which-there-is-nothing-sartre/) - This interesting article (find the link at the bottom of the post) takes a look at what some famous existentialists (Kierkegaard, Heidegger, Sartre, de Beauvoir) have thought about the nature of human freedom. Of special note is Jean Paul Sartre's conception of freedom. Sartre thought that each individual is radically free to shape his/her own
- [The Nature of Mass Movements](https://academyofideas.com/2014/01/the-nature-of-mass-movements-2/) - In this lecture we examine Eric Hoffer's fascinating analysis of mass movements which he put forth in his book The True Believer. We look at their causes, those most prone to join a mass movement, the role of leaders and intellectuals in such movements, and more.
- [The Wisdom of Ralph Waldo Emerson](https://academyofideas.com/2014/01/the-wisdom-of-ralph-waldo-emerson/) - "Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail." (Emerson) “Be not the slave of your own past - plunge into the sublime seas, dive deep, and swim far, so you shall come back with new self-respect, with new power, and with an advanced experience that
- [Ralph Waldo Emerson Quotes](https://academyofideas.com/2013/12/ralph-waldo-emerson-quotes/) - "Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail." (Emerson) “Be not the slave of your own past - plunge into the sublime seas, dive deep, and swim far, so you shall come back with new self-respect, with new power, and with an advanced experience that
- [Eric Hoffer Quotes](https://academyofideas.com/2013/12/eric-hoffer-quotes/) - "Rudeness is the weak man's imitation of strength." (Eric Hoffer) “We lie the loudest when we lie to ourselves.” (Eric Hoffer) “Man staggers through life yapped at by his reason, pulled and shoved by his appetites, whispered to by fears, beckoned by hopes. Small wonder that what he craves most is self-forgetting.” (Eric Hoffer) "One
- [Kierkegaard: The Aesthetic, Ethical, and Religious Forms of Life](https://academyofideas.com/2013/12/kierkegaard-the-aesthetic-ethical-and-religious-forms-of-life/) - Here is a great article by the philosopher Jeff Mason, in which he explains Kierkegaard's different forms of life: the aesthetic, ethical, and religious. All three forms of life are attempts to escape the universal condition of despair, according to Kierkegaard. As Mason explains, Kierkegaard thought that an individual's life is defined by what one
- [Kierkegaard, Depression, and Despair](https://academyofideas.com/2013/12/kierkegaard-depression-and-despair/) - Soren Kierkegaard, the 19th century Danish philosopher and father of existentialism, put forth an interesting distinction between depression and despair. Kierkegaard struggled with depression from his childhood until his death at the age of 42, writing in one of his journals: "I am in the profoundest sense an unhappy individuality, riveted from the beginning to
- [Arthur Schopenhauer Quotes](https://academyofideas.com/2013/12/arthur-schopenhauer-quotes/) - A collection of some of the greatest quotes by the German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer.
- [Carl Jung Quotes](https://academyofideas.com/2013/12/carl-jung-quotes-2/) - "Tears, sorrow, and disappointment are bitter, but wisdom is the comforter in all psychic suffering. Indeed, bitterness and wisdom form a pair of alternatives: where there is bitterness wisdom is lacking, and where wisdom is there can be no bitterness." (Carl Jung) "Every form of addiction is bad, no matter whether the narcotic be alcohol
- [William James Quotes](https://academyofideas.com/2013/12/william-james-quotes/) - “If this life be not a real fight, in which something is eternally gained for the universe by success, it is no better than a game of private theatricals from which one may withdraw at will. But it feels like a real fight – as if there were something really wild in the universe which
- [The Ethics of Schopenhauer](https://academyofideas.com/2013/12/the-ethics-of-schopenhauer/) - In this lecture we will investigate the ethical side of Schopenhauer's philosophy. Which as he put it, is: "the part of our discussion which proclaims itself as the most serious, for it concerns the actions of men, the subject of direct interest to everyone, and one which can be foreign or indifferent to none." The
- [Happiness Quotes](https://academyofideas.com/2013/12/happiness-quotes/) - “What is happiness? The feeling that power is growing, that resistance is overcome.” (Nietzsche) “Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony.” (Gandhi) “Happiness is neither virtue nor pleasure nor this thing nor that, but simple growth. We are happy when we are growing.” (W.B. Yeats) “There
- [Hume and Tolstoy on Aesthetics](https://academyofideas.com/2013/11/hume-and-tolstoy-on-aesthetics/) - Aesthetics is a branch of philosophy which attempts to understand the nature of beauty and art in general. Aesthetics attempts to answer such questions as 'what is the value of art?', 'what is the relation of beauty and art?', 'what makes art different from non-art?', 'what is the nature of the aesthetic experience?' David Hume
- [Liberty Quotes](https://academyofideas.com/2013/12/liberty-quotes/) - "Throughout history orators and poets have extolled liberty, but no one has told us why liberty is so important. Our attitude towards such matters should depend on whether we consider civilization as fixed or as advancing. . . In an advancing society, any restriction on liberty reduces the number of things tried and so reduces
- [Anti-War Quotes](https://academyofideas.com/2013/12/anti-war-quotes/) - While the US has a long tradition of participating in war, it has an equally long, if not longer, anti-war tradition. Here are some of interesting passages from American anti-war writings: "What is war? I believe that half the people that talk about war have not the slightest idea of what it is. In a
- [Joseph Campbell - Other people have a lot of plans for you](https://academyofideas.com/2013/12/joseph-campbell-other-people-have-a-lot-of-plans-for-you/) - Joseph Campbell was a highly acclaimed 20th century American writer who often propounded the wisdom that in order to live a fulfilling and successful life we must look within ourselves, discover what it is we truly want from life, and go and get it. As he often said: "Follow your bliss". To follow our bliss,
- [Emil Cioran - "What a torment to be ordinary, a man among men!”](https://academyofideas.com/2013/12/emil-cioran-what-a-torment-to-be-ordinary-a-man-among-men/) - Emil Cioran (1911-1995) was a Romanian philosopher most known for his nihilistic and pessimistic views. Cioran wrote a number of highly acclaimed books including The Trouble with Being Born, On the Heights of Despair, and A Short History of Decay. Here is a free pdf version of Cioran's work, The Book of Delusions. Below you
- [Introduction to Schopenhauer - The World as Will](https://academyofideas.com/2013/11/introduction-to-schopenhauer-the-world-as-will/) - In his masterpiece, The World as Will and Representation, the 19th century German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer wrote: "For if anything in the world is desirable, so desirable that even the dull and uneducated herd in its more reflective moments would value it more than silver and gold, it is that a ray of light should
- [The Wisdom of Carl Sagan](https://academyofideas.com/2013/11/the-wisdom-of-carl-sagan/) - “One of the saddest lessons of history is this: If we’ve been bamboozled long enough, we tend to reject any evidence of the bamboozle. We’re no longer interested in finding out the truth. The bamboozle has captured us. It’s simply too painful to acknowledge, even to ourselves, that we’ve been taken. Once you give a
- [Methods of Social Control](https://academyofideas.com/2013/11/methods-of-social-control/) - In this series we look at different ways in which individuals or groups of individuals attempt to exert control, manipulate, and exploit the general population (or the masses). We investigate mass movements, crowd psychology, propaganda, and brainwashing. The Nature of Mass Movements In this lecture we examine Eric Hoffer's fascinating analysis of mass movements which
- [Arthur Schopenhauer on Pursuing a Passion](https://academyofideas.com/2013/11/arthur-schopenhauer-on-pursuing-a-passion/) - Everyone feels that they have a special talent or ability to achieve something unique, something great. Yet there is no doubt that practically all individuals find in their waning days that they have failed to achieve what they thought they were capable of. Whether due to internal forces (fear, insecurity etc.) or external impediments (social/familial
- [Collectivism and Individualism](https://academyofideas.com/2013/03/collectivism-and-individualism/) - In this lecture we examine collectivism and individualism from the perspective of the 20th century economist and philosopher Ludwig von Mises.
- [The Crowd: A Study of the Popular Mind - Gustave Le Bon](https://academyofideas.com/2013/07/the-nature-of-crowds/) - In this video we provide a summary of the French social psychologist Gustave Le Bon's classic and highly influential work The Crowd: A Study of the Popular Mind. In this work Le Bon investigates the nature of crowd psychology.
- [What is Brainwashing?](https://academyofideas.com/2013/10/what-is-brainwashing/) - In 1950, with the support of China's Communist regime, North Korea invaded South Korea to instigate the Korean War. In response to the invasion, the United Nations rallied troops from over 20 countries to fight in support of South Korea. The United States, who at the time occupied South Korea and was its main source
- [Homo Homini Lupus (Man is a Wolf to Man)](https://academyofideas.com/2013/10/homo-homini-lupus-man-is-a-wolf-to-man/) - The Roman playwright Titus Maccius Platus (254–184 BC) is first credited with the phrase 'Homo homini lupus' (man is a wolf to man). Arthur Schopenhauer used the phrase in his book The World as Will and Representation, and Sigmund Freud utilized such a phrase in the passage below: "The bit of truth behind all this
- [Nietzsche and Russian Fatalism](https://academyofideas.com/2013/10/nietzsche-and-russian-fatalism/) - Whether debilitated by a physical illness or overcome by an intense bout with psychological/emotional pain, Nietzsche recommended that one utilize the remedy which he called 'Russian fatalism'. One who utilizes such a remedy ceases the attempt to cure himself, and simply lies down and accepts his sickness and pain and inhibits any physical or emotional
- [Resist Not Evil - Clarence Darrow](https://academyofideas.com/2013/10/resist-not-evil-clarence-darrow/) - In this lecture we examine the pacifism of the famous American lawyer Clarence Darrow. We discuss his interesting views on society, war, and the punishment of criminals.A free ebook version of “Resist Not Evil” can be found here.
- [The Ideas of Socrates](https://academyofideas.com/2013/04/the-ideas-of-socrates/) - In Xenophon’s dialogue, the Memorabilia, Hippias, upon overhearing Socrates converse with a group of people in the streets of Athens, commented: "Socrates, you are still repeating the same things I heard you say so long ago." Not in the least bit fazed by Hippias' attempt to belittle him, Socrates responded: "Yes, and what is more
- [Socrates: The Man and His Life](https://academyofideas.com/2013/03/socrates-the-man-and-his-life/) - In this lecture we investigate the life of Socrates. In particular, we look at two monumental events in his life: his encounter with the oracle at Delphi which pronounced him to be the wisest of all men, and his trial and subsequent execution. Further Resources Good Places to Start One's Study of Socrates Philosophy 101
- [Socrates: The Socratic Problem](https://academyofideas.com/2013/03/socrates-the-socratic-problem/) - In this lecture we investigate what is known as the Socratic problem, which is the problem as to whether we can arrive at knowledge of the historical Socrates, or whether he will always remain nothing but a work of fiction. We also look at the Socrates of Plato's dialogues, and consider the question as to
- [Plato on Misanthropy](https://academyofideas.com/2013/10/plato-on-misanthropy/) - The 18th century English writer Samuel Johnson, commonly referred to as Dr. Johnson, once wrote: “I hate mankind, for I think myself one of the best of them, and I know how bad I am.” Misanthropy is defined as a general dislike or distrust of humankind. Such a word originated in Ancient Greece (misanthropos: misein
- [Philosophy as a Training for Death](https://academyofideas.com/2013/10/philosophy-as-a-training-for-death/) - The idea that philosophy can assist one face their own mortality with courage and equanimity has a long history. Many philosophers have in fact claimed that it is the knowledge of our mortality which gives rise to the need for philosophy in the first place. This idea has its roots in Plato's dialogue the Phaedo. In
- [Greatness and the Guru](https://academyofideas.com/2013/10/greatness-and-the-guru/) - One day a man went to a guru and asked him to show him the way to greatness. The guru told him to meet him at the beach the next day. Bright and early the next morning the guru was there meditating in front of the rising sun. The man went up to the guru
- [Existentialism, Empiricism, and Rationalism](https://academyofideas.com/2013/10/existentialism-empiricism-and-rationalism/) - One commonality among existentialists is the importance they place on recognizing the inevitably of our demise. Thomas Wartenberg, in his great introduction to existentialism, makes the interesting suggestion that the way that existentialists approach the finitude of human existence has roots which stretch back to Aristotle and the empiricist tradition. As Wartenberg writes: "There seem
- [Ernest Becker and Heroism](https://academyofideas.com/2013/09/ernest-becker-and-heroism/) - In this lecture we investigate what Ernest Becker called the universal urge to heroism. We look at the different ways Becker proposed individuals strive for heroism, and introduce what he called genuine heroism.
- [Ernest Becker and the Fear of Death](https://academyofideas.com/2013/09/ernest-becker-and-the-fear-of-death/) - In this lecture we look at the 20th century cultural anthropologist Ernest Becker's ideas regarding how the fear of death haunts the human being, shaping one's experience of reality. We look at how Becker thought individuals alleviate this fear by striving to live meaningful and significant lives.
- [On Liberty - John Stuart Mill](https://academyofideas.com/2013/08/john-stuart-mill-on-liberty/) - To what extent does society have the right to control and impose limits on the thoughts, beliefs, and actions of individuals? The 19th century philosopher John Stuart Mill thought this question to be of monumental importance. In his famous work On Liberty, written over a century ago, Mill predicted that such a question "is likely
- [Introduction to Ethics](https://academyofideas.com/2013/08/introduction-to-ethics/) - The 20th century existentialist philosopher Albert Camus stated that "A man without ethics is a wild beast loosed upon this world." In this article we are going to provide an introduction to ethics. We will examine the subject matter of the discipline of ethics, discuss some of the most important questions addressed by moral philosophers,
- [Nietzsche and Self Overcoming](https://academyofideas.com/2012/12/nietzsche-and-self-overcoming/) - Nietzsche thought that the universe was the manifestation of an underlying force which he called will to power. "This world is the will to power - and nothing besides!", he proclaimed. Nietzsche characterized the will to power, the basic underlying essence of the universe, as "an insatiable desire to manifest power". In this lecture we
- [Introduction to Nietzsche](https://academyofideas.com/2013/06/introduction-to-nietzsche/) - In this lecture we provide an introduction to some of Friedrich Nietzsche's main ideas. We do so within the context of what he saw as the purpose of his philosophical endeavors: to facilitate the emergence of the higher man with the ability to affirm life in the face of tragedy. In particular we look at his views on morality, nihilism, suffering, truth, the overman, amor fati, and the eternal recurrence.
- [Introduction to Metaphysics](https://academyofideas.com/2013/06/introduction-to-metaphysics/) - The philosopher Immanuel Kant once referred to metaphysics as “a bottomless abyss” and “a dark ocean without a shore” while the American philosopher William James called it “nothing but an unusually obstinate way to think clearly.” In this article we are going to provide an introduction to metaphysics. To do so we will look at
- [Diogenes the Cynic](https://academyofideas.com/2013/05/diogenes-the-cynic/) - In this lecture we are going to investigate the life and ideas of Diogenes the Cynic. The word cynic comes from the Greek word for dog (kyon) and Diogenes is a name which means "the man from God". Hence, Diogenes was also called Diogenes the Dog which means "the man from God who acted like
- [The Varieties of Religious Experience - William James](https://academyofideas.com/2013/04/william-james-and-the-sick-soul/) - The 20th century mathematician and philosopher Alfred North Whitehead once wrote: “in Western literature there are four great thinkers, whose services to civilized thought rest largely on their achievements in philosophical assemblage. . . These men are Plato, Aristotle, Leibniz, and William James.” In this lecture we are going to examine some of the ideas
- [A Critique of Scientism](https://academyofideas.com/2013/04/the-limits-of-science-a-critique-of-scientism/) - In this lecture we examine the claim of scientism, i.e., the belief that the methods of science are the only means to obtain knowledge of the world.
- [The Role of Ideas in History](https://academyofideas.com/2013/03/the-role-of-ideas-in-history/) - In this lecture we examine the role ideas play in the course of human history, concentrating on the thought of Ludwig von Mises. We pay specific attention to how societies change and contrast Mises views to those who utilize a philosophy of history to explain historical change, such as Karl Marx.
- [Epicurus and Ethics](https://academyofideas.com/2013/03/epicurus-and-ethics/) - In this lecture we discuss the ethics of Epicurus, an Ancient Greek philosopher who ascribed to hedonism and claimed that pleasure is the greatest good in life.
- [Nietzsche and the Will to Power](https://academyofideas.com/2013/03/nietzsche-and-the-will-to-power/) - In this lecture we investigate Nietzsche's doctrine of the will to power by contrasting it with materialism, a metaphysical account of the universe which has dominated scientific thought for the last 3 centuries. We also introduce the ideas of Alfred North Whitehead, and point out the similarity between his ideas and Nietzsche's.
- [Introduction to the Scientific Revolution](https://academyofideas.com/2013/02/introduction-to-the-scientific-revolution/) - In this lecture we overview the general characteristics of the Scientific Revolution and look at how science changed during this period. We also discuss the famous historian Herbert Butterfield's influential views on the impact of the Scientific Revolution.
- [Introduction to Democritus](https://academyofideas.com/2013/02/introduction-to-democritus/) - In this lecture we look at Democritus, the father of the philosophical doctrine known as atomism. Along with investigating his proposal that the universe is composed of atoms and void, we discuss the influence which atomism had on subsequent thinkers, as well as look at Democritus' epidemiological and ethical ideas. Further Resources Good Places to
- [Introduction to Anaxagoras](https://academyofideas.com/2013/01/introduction-to-anaxagoras/) - In this lecture we discuss Anaxagoras. Specifically, we will investigate his interesting theory of matter which claimed that 'everything is in everything', and introduce him as the first philosopher to divide the universe into mind and matter. To conclude we will look at the difference between a teleological and mechanistic view of the universe, and
- [Introduction to Empedocles](https://academyofideas.com/2013/01/introduction-to-empedocles/) - In this lecture we discuss Empedocles, the most colorful of all the Presocratics. While Empedocles wrestled with Parmenides' law against becoming, he also harbored within himself a strong spiritual impulse, and died by hurling himself into the volcanic crater of Mt. Etna, convinced that upon his death he would return to divinity. Further Resources Good
- [Introduction to Parmenides](https://academyofideas.com/2012/12/introduction-to-parmenides/) - In this lecture we will learn about Parmenides, a Presocratic philosopher who concluded that birth, change, motion, and death are illusory. Further Resources Good Places to Start One's Study of the Presocratics A History of Greek Philosophy Volume I (1979) - W.K.C Guthrie A History of Greek Philosophy Volume II (1979) - W.K.C Guthrie Retrieving
- [Introduction to Heraclitus](https://academyofideas.com/2012/12/introduction-to-heraclitus/) - In this lecture we will learn about the life of Heraclitus, and his three main intertwined ideas: 1) everything is in flux, 2) the world is an ever living fire, and 3) war is the father of all. Further Resources Good Places to Start One's Study of the Presocratics A History of Greek Philosophy Volume
- [Introduction to Thales, Anaximenes, and Anaximander](https://academyofideas.com/2012/11/introduction-to-thales-anaximenes-and-anaximander/) - In this lecture we investigate the ideas of the first three Presocratics, who are referred to as the Milesians: Thales, Anaximander and Anaximenes. In particular, we will explain how they were in search of the arche, or the underlying source and origin of the world. Furthermore, we will show how the Milesians were engaged in
- [Introduction to Existentialism](https://academyofideas.com/2012/11/introduction-to-existentialism/) - Existentialist thinkers over the last few centuries have created some of the greatest works of philosophy and literature Western civilization has ever seen. However, putting one's finger on what existentialism is proves quite difficult. The goal of this article is to help people better understand existentialism and some of the ideas put forth by its
- [Introduction to the Presocratics](https://academyofideas.com/2012/11/introduction-to-the-presocratics/) - In this lecture we introduce the Presocratics, discover why they deserve our attention, and investigate the difference between mythology and philosophy. Further Resources Good Places to Start One's Study of the Presocratics A History of Greek Philosophy Volume I (1979) - W.K.C Guthrie A History of Greek Philosophy Volume II (1979) - W.K.C Guthrie Retrieving
- [Nietzsche and the True World](https://academyofideas.com/2012/11/nietzsche-and-the-true-world/) - In the last lecture we investigated the connection between suffering and nihilism. We saw that when one comes to realize that suffering is an inescapable part of this life, and that the ideal of lasting happiness is an impossibility, one often begins to wonder what the point of it all is and sets out on a path that
- [What is Religion?](https://academyofideas.com/2012/09/what-is-religion/) - Religion has played an immense role in sculpting civilization throughout history. It is also a topic a topic of a lot of controversy and debate. In this lecture we are not going to examine the validity of different religious beliefs, nor the role organized religions play in current-day society. Rather, building on the ideas of
- [Introduction to Epistemology](https://academyofideas.com/2012/08/introduction-to-epistemology/) - At the beginning of Aristotle's work Metaphysics he states "All men by nature desire to know." But what does it mean to know? This is one of the questions that is addressed by the field of epistemology which we will provide an introduction to in this article. Specifically, we will examine the meanings of the
- [Introduction to Nihilism](https://academyofideas.com/2012/08/introduction-to-nihilism/) - In this introductory lecture we will look at what nihilism means, its history, and its significance in Western Civilization.
- [Nietzsche and Metaphysics](https://academyofideas.com/2012/11/nietzsche-and-metaphysics/) - In this lecture we investigate Nietzsche's critique of traditional metaphysics, and introduce his own interpretation of the universe.
- [Overcoming Nihilism](https://academyofideas.com/2012/11/overcoming-nihilism/) - We have reached the final lecture in this series on nihilism. In the last lecture we learned that while Nietzsche saw nihilism as a disease, for those he characterized as active nihilists, nihilism presents an opportunity to greatly improve one’s life. In this lecture we will investigate some of the ideas Nietzsche thought could assist
- [Active and Passive Nihilism](https://academyofideas.com/2012/11/active-and-passive-nihilism/) - "Nihilism as a sign of increased power of the spirit: as active nihilism. Nihilism as decline and recession of the power of the spirit: as passive nihilism.”
- [Suffering and the Meaning of Life](https://academyofideas.com/2012/11/suffering-and-the-meaning-of-life/) - "Gradually, man has become a fantastic animal that has to fulfill one more condition of existence than any other animal: man has to believe, to know, from time to time why he exists;
- [Nietzsche and the Death of God](https://academyofideas.com/2012/11/nietzsche-and-the-death-of-god/) - In his book Twilight of the Idols, Nietzsche announces: "What is called idol on the title page is simply what has been called truth so far. Twilight of the Idols - that is: the old truth is approaching its end." (Twilight of the Idols, Friedrich Nietzsche) In the last lecture, we investigated true world theories,
- [How Nonconformity Cures a Sick Self and a Sick Society - The Wisdom of Ralph Waldo Emerson](https://academyofideas.com/2023/03/how-nonconformity-cures-a-sick-self-and-a-sick-society-the-wisdom-of-ralph-waldo-emerson-intro/) - In this video we explore the dangers of conformity, why we must be a nonconformist to flourish, and how the nonconformist acts as a force of good in a society gone mad.
- [Frans de Waal and Our Inner Ape: The Evolutionary Origins of War and Peace](https://academyofideas.com/2017/08/frans-de-waal-inner-ape-intro/) - In our subscriber video for July we look at the work of the renowned primatologist Frans de Waal, who attempts to understand the evolutionary origins of war and peace through a study of our two closest living primate relatives - the chimpanzee and the bonobo.
- [The Myth of Arrival – A Critique of the Dominant Way of Life in Western Societies](https://academyofideas.com/2018/05/myth-of-arrival-intro/) - In this first video of a 2-part series we examine and critique the dominant way of life in the Western world, a way of life structured around what some have called the myth of arrival. In the second video we will look at an alternative way of life more conducive to a fulfilling existence.
- [How to Unleash Your Potential Part 3 - Coping with Fear and Anxiety](https://academyofideas.com/2019/01/unleash-your-potential-part-3-coping-with-fear-and-anxiety-intro/) - Personal growth requires that we experiment with novel ways of interacting with the world. But this process of moving from the familiar, to the unfamiliar, also gives rise to discomforting emotions such as fear and anxiety. Therefore, in this video we discuss some useful techniques for dealing with these emotions.
- [Using a Second Self to Facilitate Self-Transformation](https://academyofideas.com/2019/09/using-a-second-self-to-facilitate-self-transformation-intro/) - In this video we examine how the construction of a "second self" can help facilitate self-transformation and a healthy escape from the self that is causing us to suffer.
- [Ancient Philosophy Part 1 - The Training Method of the Sage](https://academyofideas.com/2020/12/ancient-philosophy-part-1-training-method-of-the-sage-intro/) - The ancient Hellenic philosophers proposed that the purpose of philosophy is to promote greatness of character. Drawing from the practical wisdom of the ancients, in the first video of this series we outline how to approach the study of ancient philosophy so that it can achieve this end.
- [Ancient Philosophy Part 2: The Sage and the Slave - How to be Tranquil and Free](https://academyofideas.com/2021/01/ancient-philosophy-part-2-sage-slave-how-to-be-tranquil-and-free-2/) - In this video we explain how the ancient philosophers thought we can free ourselves from the psychological slavery that afflicts the mass of mankind, and cultivate the unshakeable tranquility that epitomizes the philosophical sage.
- [Ancient Philosophy Part 3: The Sage and Money - How to Be Tranquil and Free With or Without Wealth](https://academyofideas.com/2021/02/ancient-philosophy-part-3-sage-and-money-intro/) - In this video we explore perspectives and practices to help us remain tranquil and free with or without wealth.
- [Ancient Philosophy Part 4: The Sage and Other People - How to Deal with Bad Moods and Mistreatment](https://academyofideas.com/2021/03/ancient-philosophy-part-4-sage-and-other-people-intro/) - In this video we examine insights and strategies to help us grow immune to the bad moods and rude ways of other people.
- [Ancient Philosophy Part 5: The Sage and Adversity – How to Stay Strong in Times of Hardship](https://academyofideas.com/2021/04/ancient-philosophy-part-5-sage-and-adversity-intro/) - In this video we examine how the ideas of ancient philosophy can help us stay strong in times of hardship.
- [Why the Desire for Safety Can Breed Mental Illness and Social Ruin](https://academyofideas.com/2021/07/why-the-desire-for-safety-can-breed-mental-illness-and-social-ruin-intro-2/)
- [What Happened to Nietzsche? - Madness and the Divine Mania](https://academyofideas.com/2021/06/what-happened-to-nietzsche-madness-divine-mania/) - Referring to the individual who descends into the depths of the mind, Nietzsche wrote: “He enters a labyrinth, and multiplies a thousandfold the dangers that life in itself brings with it - of which not the least is that nobody can see how and where he loses his way, becomes solitary, and is torn to pieces by
- [Nietzsche and Morality: The Higher Man and The Herd](https://academyofideas.com/2017/01/nietzsche-and-morality/) - In the Preface to his classic work On the Genealogy of Morality, Nietzsche wrote: “What if a regressive trait lurked in “the good man,” likewise a danger, an enticement, a poison, a narcotic, so that the present lived at the expense of the future? Perhaps in more comfort and less danger, but also in a
- [Stoicism vs. Epicureanism](https://academyofideas.com/2014/03/stoicism-vs-epicureanism/) - Stoicism and Epicureanism were the two main Hellenistic schools of philosophy (i.e., schools which came after Aristotle). While differing in their fundamental tenets, both philosophical schools recognized the goal of philosophy to be the transformation of the self into a sage. A sage is one who has attained a 'plenitude of being', or 'perfection of
- [Friedrich Nietzsche Quotes](https://academyofideas.com/2013/12/friedrich-nietzsche-quotes/) - A collection of some of the greatest quotes by the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche.
- [The Superior Individual and the Willing Slave - Richard Taylor on Restoring Pride](https://academyofideas.com/2020/07/superior-individual-willing-slave-richard-taylor-restoring-pride/) - “The themes of this book result from years of observing people in my effort to understand why their lives take the directions they do. Some of these people have been men and women of great creative achievement while most, of course, have not…What is it, then, that sets the former part? The answer is, in
- [What Would Nietzsche Think of 21st Century Society?](https://academyofideas.com/2020/03/what-would-nietzsche-think-of-21st-century-society/) - Friedrich Nietzsche believed himself to be a philosophical physician. One of his missions in life was to help others understand the sickness into which modern society was falling and to offer a cure to the poison of a corrupted value system. “To be a physician here to be inexorable here, to wield the knife here
- [How to Become a More Effective Learner](https://academyofideas.com/2017/01/tips-for-learning/) - "Tell me and I forget, teach me and I may remember, involve me and I learn." ~ Benjamin Franklin The rise of the Internet has created a situation whereby we can access enough resources to thoroughly learn any topic. But exposure to the relevant material is not enough, instead, to really understand something there are
- [Brain Plasticity, Strengthening Your Willpower, and Improving Your Self-Control](https://academyofideas.com/2017/02/brain-plasticity-willpower-self-control/) - If you find that you struggle to accomplish your goals or are stuck in habitual behavior patterns that make you miserable it will come as no surprise that you need to change. But why are some able to take the necessary steps to implement change in their lives, while others are not? Many factors contribute
- [C.S. Lewis Quotes](https://academyofideas.com/2013/12/c-s-lewis-quotes/) - "Isn't it funny how day by day nothing changes but, when you look back everything is different. . ." (C.S. Lewis) "Of all tyrannies a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive." (C.S. Lewis) "We all want progress, but if you're on the wrong road, progress means doing an
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- [Miguel de Unamuno Quotes](https://academyofideas.com/2013/12/miguel-de-unamuno-quotes/) - Miguel de Unamuno, was a Spanish philosopher and poet, most famous for his work Tragic Sense of Life. Here are a few of the many great passages from his work: “We can only know and feel humanity in the one human being which we have at hand.” “Happiness is a thing that is lived and felt,
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- [On Writing – A Memoir of the Craft](https://academyofideas.com/2017/08/on-writing-memoir-of-the-craft-stephen-king/) - As one of the most prolific authors of the past century, Stephen King knows something about the craft of writing. In his great book, On Writing – A Memoir of the Craft, King provides excellent advice for aspiring authors. In this article we will share a few of his tips. Master the Fundamentals “Writing is
- [Friedrich Nietzsche and the Politics of the Soul - Leslie Thiele](https://academyofideas.com/2017/07/friedrich-nietzsche-politics-soul-leslie-thiele/) - In my opinion this is the best introduction to Nietzsche's thought, as it provides a sweeping analysis of many of his key themes, and explains Nietzsche's fundamental life-purpose: to instil a passion for greatness in a world where religious ideals were beginning to crumble. This book is great for both those brand new to Nietzsche,
- [Mathematics - The Loss of Certainty](https://academyofideas.com/2017/08/mathematics-the-loss-of-certainty-morris-kline/) - Are the theorems of mathematics discovered in nature or imposed on nature by the human mind? What is the difference between pure and applied mathematics? And just how “true” are mathematical theorems? These are but a few of the fascinating questions that the mathematician Morris Kline addresses in his book Mathematics – The Loss of
- [An Effective Technique for Overcoming Writer's Block](https://academyofideas.com/2017/01/effective-technique-for-overcoming-writers-block/) - Peter Elbow’s book Writing With Power: Techniques for Mastering the Writing Process is a fantastic resource for those looking to improve their writing skills. In this article we will outline a very effective writing technique, found in Elbow’s book, which can be used to limit the impact of writer’s block. While many people desire to write,

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- [fear](https://academyofideas.com/tag/fear/)
- [archetypes](https://academyofideas.com/tag/archetypes/)
- [individuation](https://academyofideas.com/tag/individuation/)
- [seneca](https://academyofideas.com/tag/seneca/)
- [epictetus](https://academyofideas.com/tag/epictetus/)
- [anxiety](https://academyofideas.com/tag/anxiety/)
- [economics](https://academyofideas.com/tag/economics/)
- [albert camus](https://academyofideas.com/tag/albert-camus/)
- [marcus aurelius](https://academyofideas.com/tag/marcus-aurelius/)
- [happiness](https://academyofideas.com/tag/happiness/)
- [solitude](https://academyofideas.com/tag/solitude/)
- [focus](https://academyofideas.com/tag/focus/)
- [capitalism](https://academyofideas.com/tag/capitalism/)
- [socialism](https://academyofideas.com/tag/socialism/)
- [self-discipline](https://academyofideas.com/tag/self-discipline/)
- [mastery](https://academyofideas.com/tag/mastery/)
- [conformity](https://academyofideas.com/tag/conformity/)
- [non-conformity](https://academyofideas.com/tag/non-conformity/)
- [money](https://academyofideas.com/tag/money/)
- [habits](https://academyofideas.com/tag/habits/)
- [collective unconscious](https://academyofideas.com/tag/collective-unconscious/)
- [The Loss of God and the Decay of Society](https://academyofideas.com/tag/the-loss-of-god-and-the-decay-of-society/)
- [The Power of Attention](https://academyofideas.com/tag/the-power-of-attention/)
- [Cultivating Heroic Manhood](https://academyofideas.com/tag/cultivating-heroic-manhood/)
- [Midlife - Crisis and Transformation](https://academyofideas.com/tag/midlife-crisis-and-transformation/)
- [Single Membership Videos](https://academyofideas.com/tag/single-membership-videos/)
- [Trust the Science?](https://academyofideas.com/tag/trust-the-science/)
- [Ancient Philosophy - How to be a Stoic Sage](https://academyofideas.com/tag/ancient-philosophy-how-to-be-a-stoic-sage/)
- [The Psychology of Addiction and Recovery](https://academyofideas.com/tag/the-psychology-of-addiction-and-recovery/)
- [The Psychology of Success](https://academyofideas.com/tag/the-psychology-of-success/)
- [The Psychology of Habits - The Surest Way to a Better Life](https://academyofideas.com/tag/the-psychology-of-habits-the-surest-way-to-a-better-life/)
- [Carl Jung and The Power of the Unconscious](https://academyofideas.com/tag/carl-jung-and-the-power-of-the-unconscious/)
- [Carl Jung and the Cultivation of Character](https://academyofideas.com/tag/carl-jung-and-the-cultivation-of-character/)
- [Deep Work and the Internet - The Importance of Focus](https://academyofideas.com/tag/deep-work-and-the-internet-the-importance-of-focus/)
- [How to Unleash Your Potential](https://academyofideas.com/tag/how-to-unleash-your-potential/)
- [Carl Jung and the Man-Child](https://academyofideas.com/tag/carl-jung-and-the-man-child/)
- [The Myth of Arrival – A Critique of the Dominant Western Myth](https://academyofideas.com/tag/the-myth-of-arrival-a-critique-of-the-dominant-western-myth/)
- [scapegoating](https://academyofideas.com/tag/scapegoating/)
- [mythology](https://academyofideas.com/tag/mythology/)
- [civil disobedience](https://academyofideas.com/tag/civil-disobedience/)
- [obedience](https://academyofideas.com/tag/obedience/)
- [mediocrity](https://academyofideas.com/tag/mediocrity/)
- [social media](https://academyofideas.com/tag/social-media/)
- [communism](https://academyofideas.com/tag/communism/)
- [envy](https://academyofideas.com/tag/envy/)
- [social justice](https://academyofideas.com/tag/social-justice/)
- [politics](https://academyofideas.com/tag/politics/)
- [self-deception](https://academyofideas.com/tag/self-deception/)
- [decentralization](https://academyofideas.com/tag/decentralization/)
- [technology](https://academyofideas.com/tag/technology/)
- [courage](https://academyofideas.com/tag/courage/)
- [authenticity](https://academyofideas.com/tag/authenticity/)
- [george orwell](https://academyofideas.com/tag/george-orwell/)
- [social world](https://academyofideas.com/tag/social-world/)
- [self-reliance](https://academyofideas.com/tag/self-reliance/)
- [neurosis](https://academyofideas.com/tag/neurosis/)
- [projection](https://academyofideas.com/tag/projection/)
- [addiction](https://academyofideas.com/tag/addiction/)
- [manchild](https://academyofideas.com/tag/manchild/)
- [parenting](https://academyofideas.com/tag/parenting/)
- [passivity](https://academyofideas.com/tag/passivity/)
- [depression](https://academyofideas.com/tag/depression/)
- [anger](https://academyofideas.com/tag/anger/)
- [imitation](https://academyofideas.com/tag/imitation/)
- [solzhenitsyn](https://academyofideas.com/tag/solzhenitsyn/)
- [narcissism](https://academyofideas.com/tag/narcissism/)
- [evil](https://academyofideas.com/tag/evil/)
- [emotions](https://academyofideas.com/tag/emotions/)
- [psychopaths](https://academyofideas.com/tag/psychopaths/)
- [inflation](https://academyofideas.com/tag/inflation/)
- [power](https://academyofideas.com/tag/power/)
- [resilience](https://academyofideas.com/tag/resilience/)
- [mass media](https://academyofideas.com/tag/mass-media/)
- [character development](https://academyofideas.com/tag/character-development/)
- [attitude](https://academyofideas.com/tag/attitude/)
- [embodiment](https://academyofideas.com/tag/embodiment/)
- [success](https://academyofideas.com/tag/success/)
- [aldous huxley](https://academyofideas.com/tag/aldous-huxley/)
- [attention](https://academyofideas.com/tag/attention/)
- [parallel society](https://academyofideas.com/tag/parallel-society/)
- [The Evolutionary Psychology of Sex and Relationships](https://academyofideas.com/tag/evolutionary-psychology-sex-relationships/)
- [The Corruption of Big Pharma and Psychiatry](https://academyofideas.com/tag/corruption-big-pharma-psychiatry/)

## Book categories

- [Carl Jung](https://academyofideas.com/book-category/carl-jung/)
- [Friedrich Nietzsche](https://academyofideas.com/book-category/friedrich-nietzsche/)
- [Psychology](https://academyofideas.com/book-category/psychology/)
- [Miscellaneous](https://academyofideas.com/book-category/miscellaneous/)
- [Economics](https://academyofideas.com/book-category/economics/)
- [Ancient Philosophy](https://academyofideas.com/book-category/ancient-philosophy/)
- [Religion](https://academyofideas.com/book-category/religion/)
- [Self-Improvement](https://academyofideas.com/book-category/self-improvement/)
- [Philosophy](https://academyofideas.com/book-category/philosophy/)
- [Creativity](https://academyofideas.com/book-category/creativity/)
- [Fiction](https://academyofideas.com/book-category/fiction/)
- [Freedom vs. Control](https://academyofideas.com/book-category/freedom-vs-control/)