In Harrison Bergeron, Kurt Vonnegut Jr. describes the nightmare of total equality, a society in which equality is finally achieved, but at the cost of freedom and individuality. One’s utopia is another’s dystopia.   We’ll be exploring the increasing promotion of equality to the point of it being absurd as a consequence of the “unheard cry for meaning” that plagues modern society.    The modern age is characterised by a sense of disorientation of not knowing what to do with one’s life. Nietzsche’s foresaw nihilism as an inevitable consequence of the Death of God, where God is replaced with public opinion, the entertainment culture, and the State.    Without objective values, we fall into relativism, making us fall prey to authoritarianism and conformism, as displayed by George Orwell's Animal Farm and 1984. ☕ Donate a coffee ⭐ Support on Patreon Send me anything you like to my mailing address: Eternalised P.O. Box 10.011 28080 Madrid, Spain ━━━━━━━━━━━━━ ⌛ Timestamps (0:00) Introduction: The Nightmare of Total Equality (1:40) Disorientation and Nihilism (4:10) Living a Meaningful Life (4:43) The Problem of Relativism (5:23) Totalitarianism and Conformism (7:45) Preachers of Equality (11:20) Pathos of Distance: The Overman and The Last Man (12:25) Orwell’s Warning: 1984

The Russian existentialist philosopher Lev Shestov is known for his “philosophy of despair” or “philosophy of tragedy”. For Shestov, the sources of philosophy were the human tragedy, the horrors and sufferings of human life and the sense of hopelessness.     Tragedies take place in the depth of the human soul, where no eye can reach out to see. Consequently, He saw the beginning of philosophy starting not with knowledge, not with wonder, but with despair.    Despair is what he considers a “penultimate knowledge”, that is, a preliminary step that we must acknowledge, in order to progress towards something higher, the “ultimate knowledge”. ☕ Donate a coffee ⭐ Support on Patreon Send me anything you like to my mailing address: Eternalised P.O. Box 10.011 28080 Madrid, Spain ━━━━━━━━━━━━━ ⌛ Timestamps (0:00) Introduction (0:52) Philosophy of Despair (3:32) Conflict between Faith and Reason (6:14) Penultimate Knowledge: Despair and Awakening (11:03) Ultimate Knowledge: Freedom and God

The persona is one of Carl Jung's most well-known concepts, representing the social mask that we put on. We all embody different masks in different settings, as it is our way to adapt to the demands of society, playing an important part in shaping our social role and in how we deal with other people. But, it also has its dangers.    We will be discussing the dangers of concealing our true self. We may use the persona to help us conceal our vulnerabilities and other parts that we do not want to reveal about ourselves, or we may excessively identify with the persona.   The persona prevents us from what Jung considered the most important task in our lives, the process of individuation, bringing one closer to the Self. 📨 ⁠⁠Subscribe to newsletter⁠⁠ ☕ Donate a coffee ⭐ Support on Patreon Send me anything you like to my mailing address: Eternalised P.O. Box 10.011 28080 Madrid, Spain ━━━━━━━━━━━━━ ⌛ Timestamps (0:00) Introduction: The Persona (1:23) Stages of the Persona (3:16) Being Unconscious of The Persona (4:57) Excessive Identification with The Persona (6:02) The Persona and The Self (Individuation) (7:10) The Persona and Bad Faith (9:10) The Persona and The Collective Unconscious

In the 19th century the status of mass society became a philosophical and moral issue in a manner hitherto unseen. It came to be defined as the permanent possibility in all individuals of losing concern for their personal status and worth, and assigning themselves to something outside themselves in an abstract “other”.   We’ll be exploring the various existential critiques and interpretations of this phenomenon peculiar to modern society from four major 19th century thinkers who have integrated the event of the masses into the very structure of their philosophies: Søren Kierkegaard ("The Crowd is Untruth" and "The Public"), Friedrich Nietzsche ("The Last Man"), Martin Heidegger ("Das Man") and José Ortega y Gasset (The Mass Man"). ☕ Donate a coffee ⭐ Support on Patreon Send me anything you like to my mailing address: Eternalised P.O. Box 10.011 28080 Madrid, Spain ━━━━━━━━━━━━━ ⌛ Timestamps (0:00) Introduction (1:20) Kierkegaard: The Crowd is Untruth (4:50) Kierkegaard: Levelling and The Public (6:19) Nietzsche: The Last Man and The Übermensch (7:30) Heidegger: Das Man and Being-toward-Death (8:57) Ortega y Gasset: The Mass Man (11:30) Ortega’s Philosophy of Life (13:36) New Challenges: Posthuman Era

Carl Jung’s collective unconscious is one of his most well-known (and controversial) concepts. The collective unconscious is the aspect of the unconscious mind which manifests inherited, universal themes which run through all human life. He came upon the idea in a dream.   The collective unconscious does not owe its existence to personal experience and consequently is not a personal acquisition, while the personal unconscious is made up essentially of contents which have at one time been conscious but which have disappeared from consciousness through having been forgotten or repressed. The personal unconscious consists of complexes, while the collective unconscious is made up of archetypes (or primordial images).   Archetypes are collectively-inherited forms or patterns of behaviour. They reflect basic patterns common to us all, and which have existed universally since the dawn of time. 📨 ⁠⁠Subscribe to newsletter⁠⁠ ☕ Donate a coffee ⭐ Support on Patreon Send me anything you like to my mailing address: Eternalised P.O. Box 10.011 28080 Madrid, Spain ━━━━━━━━━━━━━ ⌛ Timestamps (0:00) Jung’s Discovery of The Collective Unconscious (3:31) Personal Unconscious & Complexes (5:05) Collective Unconscious & Archetypes (9:17) The Psychological Meaning of The Collective Unconscious (11:30) Method of Proof: Dreams and Active Imagination (13:26) Confrontation with the Unconscious

Russian novelist Fyodor Dostoevsky wrote Notes from Underground in 1864 which is considered to be one of the first existentialist works, emphasising the importance of freedom, responsibility and individuality. It is an extraordinary piece of literature, social critique and satire of the Russian nihilist movement as well as a novel with deep psychological insights on the nature of man.   Dostoevsky’s most sustained and spirited attack on the Russian nihilist movement is voiced by one of the darkest, least sympathetic of all his characters – the nameless narrator and protagonist known as the Underground Man, revealing the hopeless dilemmas in which he lands as a result.   Notes from Underground attempts to warn people of several ideas that were gaining ground in the 1860s including: moral and political nihilism, rational egoism, determinism, utilitarianism, utopianism, atheism and what would become communism. ☕ Donate a coffee ⭐ Support on Patreon Send me anything you like to my mailing address: Eternalised P.O. Box 10.011 28080 Madrid, Spain ━━━━━━━━━━━━━ ⌛ Timestamps (0:00) Introduction (0:54) Notes from Underground: Historical Context and Themes (7:26) Notes from Underground: Introduction (10:38) Man of Action vs Man of Acute Consciousness (15:39) Irrational Pleasure in Suffering (17:05) Critique of Rational Egoism and Utopianism (23:48) The Value of Suffering

In his best-known work The Hero with a Thousand Faces published in 1949, Joseph Campbell describes the archetypal Hero’s Journey or “monomyth” shared by the world. The Hero’s Journey occurs in three sequential phases: separation, initiation and the return. In the climax of the myth, the Hero experiences a psychological death and rebirth. The death of an old aspect of one’s self and the birth of a new and more capable self, receiving insights and experience.   Joseph Campbell was influenced by Carl Jung’s analytical psychology and his extensive work in comparative mythology and religion covers many aspects of the human experience. The Hero’s Journey is not just a mythological story, but is deeply embedded within the human condition. It tells the story of a person encountering a difficult life problem and their journey in resolving it through personal transformation.    In therapy, patients who were introduced to the Hero’s Journey as a means of reconceptualising their disorder as a hero quest, rather than an external stressful task, shifted their attitude from passive to active, supporting them to become the “author of their own lives”. This has been clinically tested in a diverse range of issues, such as: anxiety, depression, trauma, addiction, PTSD and psychosis. ☕ Donate a coffee ⭐ Support on Patreon Send me anything you like to my mailing address: Eternalised P.O. Box 10.011 28080 Madrid, Spain ━━━━━━━━━━━━━ ⌛ Timestamps (0:00) Introduction: The Hero’s Journey (4:23) Introduction to the Phases of the Hero’s Journey (5:26) First Phase of the Hero’s Journey: Separation (7:19) Second Phase of the Hero’s Journey: Initiation (9:24) Third Phase of the Hero’s Journey: The Return (11:38) Follow Your Bliss

Modern society has seen a massive spike in mental illness. Why could this be? We will be exploring the characteristics of modernity and associate it with the rise of mental illness. Modernity is associated by scientific and technological advancement, individualism and hedonism. The empowerment of the individual self is one of the most ramifying features of modernity. In The Myth of Mental Illness, Thomas Szasz suggests that many people who suffer from mental illness is due to the consequence of the attempt to confront and to tackle the problem of how to live. Modern man feels the weight of his freedom and responsibility to live his life, as Sartre asserts, we are “condemned to be free”. Kierkegaard says that one can get lost in the finite (becoming lost in the crowd) or in the infinite (a state of analysis-paralysis). Camus’s absurd person is one who has seen through the ridiculous repetitions of daily life (Sisyphean condemnation). When we do not have a “why” to satisfy our existence, we must search for alternatives or risk falling into an existential crisis. Nietzsche’s proclamation of the death of God engenders the most profound cultural, sociological and psychological repercussions, leaving many facing a crisis in discerning a meaning or purpose for their existence, leading to a sense of disorientation. Viktor Frankl tells us that we are living in an existential vacuum, the mass neurosis of modern times is the “unheard cry for meaning”. Modern man is in desperate need for the hero journey, described by Joseph Henderson. Carl Jung analyses the question: “What actually takes place inside the mentally ill?” Sebastian Junger tells us of he importance of a tribe which modern man lacks, and finally, Carl Jung describes the psychic dissociation in modern man. ☕ Donate a coffee ⭐ Support on Patreon Send me anything you like to my mailing address: Eternalised P.O. Box 10.011 28080 Madrid, Spain ━━━━━━━━━━━━━ ⌛ Timestamps (0:00) Introduction: Modern Society and Mental Illness (1:50) The Myth of Mental Illness (3:00) Modern Society: Freedom and Responsibility (5:14) Modern Society: Death of God (6:34) The Existential Vacuum (8:20) The Hero Journey (9:13) What Actually Takes Place Inside the Mentally Ill? (11:45) Modern Society: Lack of a Tribe (14:52) Modern Society: Psychic Dissociation

Friedrich Nietzsche provided the first detailed diagnosis of nihilism as a widespread phenomenon of Western culture and warns the world of its consequences, most famously in the parable of the madman where he proclaims that "God is dead".   Nietzsche was concerned primarily with existential nihilism, where life as a whole has no intrinsic meaning or value. He defines nihilism as the “radical repudiation of value, meaning, and desirability." In other words, nihilism consists in an inability to find value and meaning in the higher aspects of this life and world. It empties the world and purpose of human existence.    In order to overcome nihilism, Nietzsche proposes a “revaluation of all values”, through concepts such as the Übermensch, the Will to Power and the Eternal Recurrence, seeking to replace the old values with new ones that focus on life-affirmation, rather than some beyond. He tells us to remain faithful to the earth.   In this episode, we begin with an introduction to nihilism followed by three different manifestations of nihilism throughout Nietzsche’s works: nihilism as despair, nihilism as disorientation and nihilism as a lack of higher values. We then discuss the formal distinction he makes of nihilism in the will to power as active nihilism and passive nihilism. Finally, we consider nihilism in modern man, answer the question: Is Nietzsche a Nihilist? And end with how to overcome nihilism according to Nietzsche. ☕ Donate a coffee ⭐ Support on Patreon Send me anything you like to my mailing address: Eternalised P.O. Box 10.011 28080 Madrid, Spain ━━━━━━━━━━━━━ ⌛ Timestamps (0:00) Introduction: Nihilism (2:19) Nihilism as Despair (3:00) Nihilism as Disorientation (7:25) Ascetic Ideal as Nihilistic (8:30) Nihilism as Lack of Higher Values (13:25) Active Nihilism and Passive Nihilism (14:34) Nihilism and Modern Man (16:24) Is Nietzsche a Nihilist? (17:20) Overcoming Nihilism

The knight of faith is one of Kierkegaard’s most important concepts, which he discusses in Fear and Trembling under the pseudonym Johannes de silentio. He begins explaining the knight of faith through the story of Abraham and Isaac.    Although he has never found any knight of faith, he would not deny on that ground that they exist. He looks like any normal person, one detects nothing of the strangeness and superiority that marks him.   Before one can be a knight of faith, one must become a knight of infinite resignation, one who renounces that which he most loves in the world. The knight of faith makes the leap of faith and by virtue of the absurd, he renounces everything and regains everything, coming back to his original position through a double movement.   He compares both movements: the movement of infinite resignation and the movement of faith with the leap of a ballet dancer and gives the example through the story of a man in an impossible love with a princess.   The general message is that the notion of faith is so far cheapened that what is talked about is not properly called faith at all. ☕ Donate a coffee ⭐ Support on Patreon Send me anything you like to my mailing address: Eternalised P.O. Box 10.011 28080 Madrid, Spain