Published inThe Apeiron Blog·Apr 27, 2021Member-onlyWhat The Buddhist Being-Doing Balance Is (And Why It Matters For Happiness)Beyond the pathology of productivity culture. — If you have worked for any length of time, then you have probably fallen into the work-life balance trap. That’s where you find your living overwhelmed by the demands of work. Buddhism would have us consider another balancing problem, one that might be even more fundamental: the being-doing balance. …Buddhism11 min readBuddhism11 min read
Published inThe Apeiron Blog·Mar 4, 2021Member-onlyHow To Use Machiavelli’s Principles of Power (And Still Be A Good Person)Learn to distinguish between high and low trust environments. — Machiavelli was a teacher of evil. Among other counsels, the scholar Leo Strauss notes that Machiavelli advises: “[1] princes ought to exterminate the families of rulers whose territory they wish to possess securely; [2] princes ought to murder their opponents rather than confiscate their property since those who have been…Philosophy15 min readPhilosophy15 min read
Published inILLUMINATION-Curated·Jan 23, 2021Member-onlyHow To Build Your Willpower According to The Stoics and AztecsInsight #1: Willpower Isn’t One Thing, It’s Three — One paradoxical quality of willpower turns on the way it is unevenly distributed in our lives. For example, I’ve earned a few school degrees, which means that I am able to “knuckle down” and study uninterrupted for long hours. …Philosophy14 min readPhilosophy14 min read
Published inILLUMINATION-Curated·Jan 14, 2021Member-onlyWhat Hannah Arendt Can Teach Us About The Capitol Hill InsurrectionWhen the Banality of Evil Meets Social Media — Adolf Eichmann was an unremarkable man before he joined the Nazi party in 1932. He was mediocre in school and to make ends meet, he became a traveling oil salesman. After joining the SS, he coordinated the trains needed to carry out murder on an unimaginable scale. …Philosophy6 min readPhilosophy6 min read
Published inILLUMINATION-Curated·Jan 8, 2021Member-onlyI Was Born From A Secret MarriageSebastian Purcell’s Philosophical Biography — If you ever run into a professional philosopher, ask them how they ended up on that track. Their answers almost always follow a winding path. In that respect, my own life is no different. But I’m atypical even for a philosopher. I write and research on topics, like Aztec and…Philosophy9 min readPhilosophy9 min read
Published inILLUMINATION-Curated·Jan 1, 2021Member-onlyThe Art of Happiness According to Epicureanism and Matthew McConaughey3 Unique Skills For Cultivating Joy In Life — Epicurean philosophy, which developed around 300 BC in ancient Greece, holds that the art of happiness consists in a life of ethical hedonism. Matthew McConaughey’s recent memoir, Greenlights, also advocates ethical hedonism as the path to living well, but not the Epicurean kind. An episode from McConaughey’s life might clarify…Philosophy13 min readPhilosophy13 min read
Published inILLUMINATION-Curated·Dec 24, 2020Member-onlyBuddhist and Stoic Lessons on Giving, Connecting, and Happiness (Even Beyond the Holidays)The art of meaningful gifts — As a child, an idea I didn’t understand was that someone could enjoy giving as much as receiving. The reason we do, Buddhist and Stoic philosophy teach, is that it is the connection we forge through gifts that brings happiness — not the items themselves. Many of us learn this…Philosophy11 min readPhilosophy11 min read
Published inILLUMINATION-Curated·Dec 18, 2020Member-onlyWhy The Stoics Thought That Happy Lives Detach from Needy RelationshipsA brief defense of Stoicism’s most controversial advice — Stoic philosophy is known for its toolbox of “spiritual exercises” to help you deal with life. But it seems limited with its advice on relationships. Epictetus (50–135 CE), a prominent Stoic philosopher in Rome, argues that to be happy, you must detach from the things and the people you love: …Stoicism11 min readStoicism11 min read
Published inILLUMINATION-Curated·Dec 11, 2020Member-onlyThe Surprising Lessons that Buddhism and Cynicism Can Teach You About Being Present and Happy5 Practices To Enrich Your Daily Life — One of the paradoxes of life is that to be happier you don’t have to get more stuff or do new things. You only have to live the life you already have and be more fully present in it. I can give you a story to explain. After planning for…Philosophy13 min readPhilosophy13 min read
Published inILLUMINATION-Curated·Dec 4, 2020Member-onlyWhy Derren Brown’s Stoicism Is The Solution to Happiness You Didn’t Know You Were Looking ForHow pessimistic thoughts lead to rich lives — Derren Brown is a celebrity magician and philosopher. Counterintuitively, to live a happy life he recommends that you should become a pessimist. To explain, suppose that you enter a raffle and win a new car. Suppose further that it just happens to be your dream car. Picture that car. Imagine…Philosophy10 min readPhilosophy10 min read
