Academy of Ideas

“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 […] The post Why the News Promotes Ignorance and Mental Illness first appeared on Academy of Ideas.

“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 […] The post Carl Jung's Apocalyptic Vision first appeared on Academy of Ideas.

 “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 […] The post How to Cultivate Your Sixth Sense – The Power of Intuition first appeared on Academy of Ideas.

“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 […] The post Why Stupid People are Destroying Society – The Laws of Human Stupidity first appeared on Academy of Ideas.

“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 […] The post Why Technology is Enslaving and Dehumanizing Us first appeared on Academy of Ideas.

“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 post Big Pharma and the Big Lie – The Chemical Imbalance Theory of Mental Illness first appeared on Academy of Ideas.

“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 post Work Less, Achieve More – Why Working Too Much Cripples Productivity first appeared on Academy of Ideas.

“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, […] The post Pessimism of Strength – Nietzsche's Formula for Greatness first appeared on Academy of Ideas.

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 […] The post The Darkside of AI – Transhumanism and the War Against Humanity first appeared on Academy of Ideas.

 “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 […] The post The Great Rewiring of Childhood: A Smartphone-Social Media Dystopia first appeared on Academy of Ideas.

“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 […] The post The Wisdom of a Pessimist – Arthur Schopenhauer first appeared on Academy of Ideas.

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 […] The post Fyodor Dostoevsky – The Wisdom of a Genius first appeared on Academy of Ideas.

“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 […] The post Should We Obey The Government? first appeared on Academy of Ideas.

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 post The Psychology of Narcissism – A Modern Epidemic first appeared on Academy of Ideas.

 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 […] The post Why is Modern Man so Weak and Powerless? – Carl Jung first appeared on Academy of Ideas.

“. . .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 post Carl Jung and the Archetypes – Making the Unconscious Conscious first appeared on Academy of Ideas.

“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 post What Doesn't Kill You Makes You Stronger first appeared on Academy of Ideas.

…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 […] The post Social Distancing – Why They want You Isolated and Alone first appeared on Academy of Ideas.

“…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 […] The post Censorship and the Death of Freedom first appeared on Academy of Ideas.

“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 […] The post How Depression Facilitates Self-Transformation first appeared on Academy of Ideas.

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 […] The post Pursue Pain, Not Pleasure – Why Comfort is Crippling You first appeared on Academy of Ideas.

“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 […] The post Are We Enslaved to One Side of the Brain? – The Sickness of Modern Man first appeared on Academy of Ideas.

“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 […] The post Why Democracy Leads to Tyranny first appeared on Academy of Ideas.

“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 post Why Solitude Promotes Greatness – The Benefits of Being Alone first appeared on Academy of Ideas.

“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 […] The post 1984 vs Brave New World – How Freedom Dies first appeared on Academy of Ideas.

“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 post Spontaneous Recovery – The Body's Power to Heal from Cancer and Chronic Disease first appeared on Academy of Ideas.

“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 post Why an Unhealthy Mind creates an Unhealthy Body first appeared on Academy of Ideas.

“. . .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 […] The post Why Lying to Yourself is Ruining Your Life first appeared on Academy of Ideas.

“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 […] The post How to Escape Mediocrity and Mental Illness – The Road Less Traveled first appeared on Academy of Ideas.

“…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 […] The post Why do Most Relationships Fail? – The Myth of the Magical Other first appeared on Academy of Ideas.

“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 […] The post Do we Need God? – The Loss of God and the Decay of Society first appeared on Academy of Ideas.

“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 […] The post The Psychology of Malignant Narcissists – People of the Lie first appeared on Academy of Ideas.

“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 […] The post Why are People so Obedient? – Compliance and Tyranny first appeared on Academy of Ideas.

“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 […] The post Why Nonconformity Cures a Sick Self and a Sick Society first appeared on Academy of Ideas.

“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 […] The post Why Absent Fathers Harm Children and Ruin Society first appeared on Academy of Ideas.

“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 […] The post The Psychology of Psychopaths – Predators who Walk Among Us first appeared on Academy of Ideas.

“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 […] The post Carl Jung and the Psychology of Dreams – Messages from the Unconscious first appeared on Academy of Ideas.

“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 […] The post How to Stop Being a Slave to the Opinions of Other People first appeared on Academy of Ideas.

“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 […] The post Face Your Dark Side – Carl Jung and the Shadow first appeared on Academy of Ideas.

“…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, […] The post Can Decentralization Save Humanity? – Why Smaller is Better in Politics first appeared on Academy of Ideas.

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 […] The post The Uncensored Truth about Inflation – How Inflation Enriches Politicians and the 1% first appeared on Academy of Ideas.

“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 post Why are so Many People Neurotic? – Carl Jung as Therapist first appeared on Academy of Ideas.

“…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, […] The post Why You Should Seek Power, Not Happiness – Nietzsche's Guide to Greatness first appeared on Academy of Ideas.

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 […] The post Nietzsche and Nihilism – A Warning to the West first appeared on Academy of Ideas.

“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 […] The post How to Quit Your Boring Job – Turn a Passion into a Career first appeared on Academy of Ideas.

“…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 […] The post How Inflation Precipitates Societal Collapse first appeared on Academy of Ideas.

“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 […] The post Will Civilization Collapse? first appeared on Academy of Ideas.

“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 […] The post How to Stop Wasting Your Life – Carl Jung as Therapist first appeared on Academy of Ideas.

“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 … Read More › The post Could Politicians in the West Persecute their own People? first appeared on Academy of Ideas.

“The discipline of suffering, of great suffering – do you not know that only this discipline has created all enhancements of man so far?”   … Read More › The post Why Suffering can Promote Strength and Health first appeared on Academy of Ideas.

“The least of things with a meaning is worth more in life than the greatest of things without it.”   Carl Jung, Practice of Psychotherapy … Read More › The post Why the Lack of Religion Breeds Mental Illness first appeared on Academy of Ideas.