The Laughing Philosopher's Podcast
Life is complicated. It is afflicted with more big questions than big answers. As one is tested by the suffering and irrationality of life, the questions become more compelling and imperative, and the answers become more urgent and necessary in order to be a good person and to live a happy life. What does it mean to be a good person? What is a happy life? What is love? Who am I before I was told who I am? Why haven’t I found myself yet? Why do I have regrets? Is the world just? Everything seems to have been fi...
Apocalypse Now?: Philosophy and the Fallacy of Doom!
The sky is falling. Do you feel there is no hope for the future? Does everything you hold dear feel like it’s about to blow up? Stoking apocalyptic fears and dystopian visions of the future is a whole industry of doom merchants. Calm down! Philosophy can explain why doomsday is unlikely, why you feel the end of the world is near, and why you should face the future with optimism and good cheer.
Memento Mori: Stoic Secrets to Transform Fear of Death into Fearless Living!
We live in terror of death. We cling to youth and claw at life, afraid to let go. Once we conquer the greater fear of death, our lesser fears lose their power over us, and every other adversity becomes so much easier to overcome. Ignorance is the cause of fear. Death is the other half of the bargain we make when we accept life. Death means returning to where we started and knowing it again for the first time. Death seems strange and unfamiliar only because we are born knowing only life. Death is nothing to fear. You’ll be...
The Anatomy of Belief: Why Do Smart People Believe Stupid Things?
Smart people can be stupid and believe absurd, weird, and crazy things. We are remarkably poor at distinguishing truth from falsehood and even worse at detecting liars and deception. Truth has nothing to do with what we believe. A belief doesn’t need to be true to be believed. We believe as we do, not because we think our belief is true, but because it is consistent with the wider web of our other beliefs. If we wish it to be true, and if it fits neatly inside the web of beliefs, then we readily believe it, true or fa...
The Paradox of Likability: Why Do Other People Actually Like Us More Than We Think They Do?
People like us more than we think they do. Why are we so negative about ourselves? You didn’t develop that negative voice in your head all by yourself. We are socialized not to like ourselves and to strive for perfection. Perfection is a race with no finish line. What would a perfect life even look like? Be happy. Be perfectly imperfect. Be good. Be an individual. Don’t be afraid to love yourself!
Challenging Our Instinct to Judge: Stoic Wisdom on Labeling Others and Ourselves
Normal and abnormal people do not exist. Sane and insane people do not exist. Conformists and nonconformists do not exist. The labels exist, but not the behaviors! So, how useful and reliable are our judgments of who is good and bad, who is moral and immoral, and who is wise and stupid? Labeling is easy. Getting it right is hard. Seneca recommends delaying judgment to find the truth before attributing false labels that are destructive to the individual and society.
From Emptiness to Empowerment: The Liberating Optimism of Nihilism
What does it mean to live your life as if nothing matters? Nihilism rejects conventional wisdom that everything matters. Nihilism means nothing matters. It doesn’t even matter that nothing matters. Life has no inherited, supernatural purpose or meaning. Life is pointless so our freedom is absolute. There is no one to ask for permission and no one to please but ourselves. Nothing matters in the grand scheme of things, because there isn’t one. You possess perfect freedom to choose how to live. You are the only architect of your fate in this world.
The Metaphysics of Heartbeats: Three Philosophical Truths for Instant Happiness
Do you want to feel happy right where you are, right now? Listening to your heartbeats will lead you to three philosophical insights and instant happiness: You got lucky. Your heartbeats are numbered. Some doors must close so others can open. Stop living your life piece by piece. Learn to live your life as a whole.
Emil Cioran as Architect of Purpose in a Purposeless Universe
He was a French philosopher. His philosophy of life is simple yet profound. We would have been better off not being born. Life sucks. We are born for no reason. We exist to do nothing. No one matters. Nothing matters. It doesn’t even matter that nothing matters. What are we to do? Cioran argues that the meaninglessness of life is not only a reason to live, it’s the only one!
Weber’s Divine Workaholic: Are You Chasing Capitalism’s Earthly Burnout Or Calvinism’s Heavenly Rewards?
Religion is the accidental force behind why we chase endless productivity, why working harder feels morally right and hardly working feels morally wrong, and why our self-worth and self-esteem revolve around our productivity and usefulness. Don’t you feel guilty and ashamed whenever you could have been more productive but chose not to? Wouldn’t you rather chose to fail as a spouse, fail as a parent, or fail as a friend than to fail at work? Why don’t happiness, relationships, or fun count as being productive? We are so bored with our lives and so indifferent to our fa...
Plato, Schopenhauer, and Spinoza: Is Peering Behind the Human Curtain A Backstage Pass to the Cosmos?
Our first experience of the world is our true self. Concealed behind our outward appearance, a bag of skin, inside ourselves, our unique, subjective consciousness is who we really are. And so, we look for absolute truth behind the natural world of appearances in Plato’s Forms, Schopenhauer’s Will, and Spinoza’s God. You are the blueprint of the gods and the key to unlock the secrets of the universe.
