Stoicism probably isn’t what you think it is. This ancient philosophy can make your life a hell of a lot better—here’s how.
Philosophy
Gamerscore. Social media accolades. Hollow work milestones. What do these things have in common?
Last night was a pleasantly cool evening, so I decided to open up the window and let a breeze roll into my apartment before I went to bed, instead of blasting the air conditioner as I usually do. As I laid there, I began to notice the sound of the crickets chirping. I then began [...]
What would happen if some of history’s famous philosophers were alive today and tried to spread their ideas via Internet memes? I tried to answer this question by translating some of the major ideas of five famous philosophers into Matrix Morpheus memes. For your amusement and education, here’s what might happen if five great philosophers took [...]
Sometimes I share comics from the inimitable Existential Comics and provide some commentary on them. Now is one of those times. Sharing and elaborating on Existential Comics’ striking, moving, thought-provoking, and/or hilarious philosophy comics seems like a great way to make philosophy education more fun and accessible, and to help popularize philosophy. So I’ll probably keep [...]
I made a comic! For the first time ever. It involves an angst-ridden human and a sorta-Zen tortoise and plenty of strangeness. I’ll leave it at that. I hope you enjoy. A version of this essay was first published at HighExistence. Refine The Mind is now on Patreon. For the cost of buying me a [...]
About three weeks ago, I went on a camping trip to Yosemite National Park. I’d never been to Yosemite. Of course I’d heard whispers of its legendary beauty, and I’d probably seen pictures of it here and there. But prior to departing, I made a point not to ask Google to show me 5,000 images [...]
“Words are, of course, the most powerful drug used by mankind.” ― Rudyard Kipling Right now, you’re staring at some squiggly black symbols on a supercomputer. Particular sequences of these symbols are linked with concepts in your mind. As a result, you’re able to see this intricate, loopy labyrinth of letters as something more than an arbitrary jumble of hieroglyphics. You’re [...]
“Sit in a room and read—and read and read. And read the right books by the right people. Your mind is brought onto that level, and you have a nice, mild, slow-burning rapture all the time.” ― Joseph Campbell The indelible Joseph Campbell may have been talking about books in the above quote, but I imagine [...]
“The conception of duty, speaking historically, has been a means used by the holders of power to induce others to live for the interests of their masters rather than for their own.” ― Bertrand Russell In 1932, the British philosopher Bertrand Russell penned a poignant and paradigm-challenging essay titled “In Praise of Idleness.” In it, Russell [...]