The Introverted Thinker Newsletter #007
Introducing two new philosophies, exploring a 500-year old essay on friendship, and a gory and graphic history podcast.
Hello my friends👋,
I wrote quite a few articles this week, I’ve finally been getting back into the old swing of things. Also, the weather has finally been getting really hot out here in London, so that’s a plus.☀️
The following section is half of an article I wrote about different philosophies that can become your mottos for life.
Enjoy.
Two Hidden Philosophical Gems To Live By💎
Transcendentalism and Cynicism.
Philosophy is like a cushion that you can always fall back on when life slaps you in the face.
After going through some emotionally tough times myself in the last few weeks, I’ve had to really test my philosophy. It’s easy to dismiss philosophy when life is all good, but when you get down in the dumps and don't have that cushion to fall back on, it isn't fun.
That’s why we should all cultivate some type of philosophical meaning in our lives, even if it’s just in the background. Because I promise you, when you are battling life’s demons, you will be begging to grip on to anything that can smooth out the ride. Philosophy does exactly that.
When we learn about different schools of thought from throughout history, we are extracting lessons that can enrich our lives. These lessons can shift your outlook on independence, materialism, pleasure, and meaning.
Transcendentalism: Nature and Self-Reliance🌲
Transcendentalism, coined by Ralph Waldo Emerson, is a unique outlook that sees the world as divided into two realities: material reality and spiritual reality. Transcendentalists highlight the importance of the spiritual over the material when it comes to leading a fulfilling life.
“…but the great man is he who in the midst of the crowd keeps with perfect sweetness the independence of solitude.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson
This philosophy helps us understand how and why we need to break free from society's constraints and follow our own set of rules and beliefs. Why should we blindly follow the norm when it leaves people more miserable than happy?
Just look at the levels of suicide rates in suburban cities vs rural areas. Following the norm and living the city life is proven to make us more unhappy. This isn't to say we have to all move from the city and forge a rural life, but it's more a message to start to look within for signs of individuality to differ from the crowd and find your own path.
“Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson
The picture above is a photo of the cabin in the woods where Henry David Thoreau spent two years and wrote the infamous book, Walden. Transcendentalists have a strong belief that we should develop a spiritual connection with the earth and be in nature more.
Thoreau was a transcendentalist and was inspired by Emerson himself, who gave him that cabin.
Transcendentalism can give us a two-part foundation to rely on:
Be self-reliant, don't follow society just because everyone else is. Forging your own path of individuality will leave you far happier than a monotonous regular life.
Connect with nature spiritually, whatever that may mean to you. The material world corrupts us whereas the natural world enriches us.
Cynicism: Being a Free Wandering Soul 🚶♂️
The name cynicism comes from the ancient greek term kynikoi, meaning dog. In fact, the founder of this philosophy, Diogenes, was referred to as the “dog philosopher”, because he lived like one.
You may be asking why we’d want to model our lives after a homeless philosopher who lived like a dog and took dumps in the streets, and it’s a good question.
Diogenes chose to live like this. He was shunned from society for scamming the people of ancient Greece through fraudulent behavior, but when exiled, he grew to love life.
He realized that by rejecting the opinions of others and the societal standards of success and fame, he could be truly free. Choosing to chase money and power is an instant failure in life. Human beings are never content with what they have. In fact, dogs are closer to true happiness (eudaimonia) than humans.
Diogenes was the first person to use the word “cosmopolitan”, he mentioned that he wasn't tied to any city or country. He referred to himself as a citizen of the world.
The main lesson you should incorporate from cynicism is to free yourself from the superfluous desires of society, similar to Transcendentalism. It’s about being free from the societal customs of money-hungry hoarders and living as a wandering soul.
Maybe you feel like you need a new gadget because everyone else around you is getting one. But what if rejecting this impulsive need will make you happier? Because a simplified life that isn't concerned about opinions or materialistic customs will leave you happier.
Diogenes loved life as a homeless scrap-eating man of Ancient Greece. He was free to wander. Maybe we should try to live more simply and reject these extra desires that trap us in a loop of unfulfillment.
A Shocking and Fascinating Podcast Episode🔪:
Dan Carlins Hardcore History: Show 61 - (Blitz): Painfotainment
Dan Carlin is a radio show host and a self proclaimed historian. He’s been a guest on the Joe Rogan Experience many times and everytime I hear an episode with him my mind is blown. He covers some of the most fascinating historical stories.
He has his own podcast series called Hardcore History where he looks at different topics or time periods. The episodes are extremely long, I’m talking 4-6 hours because he only publishes one every six months or so.
So you know this is well researched and historically factual.
This episode that I listened to throughout this last week is about torture and pain and the obsession that certain cultures have had with it in the past. It goes over everything from the various public executions in history and how they were spectacles where thousands of people would show up and much more.
He explores the question of what makes the people of the past different to us in terms of wanting to see people get brutally murdered and tortured in the middle of the streets.
It’s an extremely gory and explicit episode so i don’t recommend it if you are sensitive to such matters, as he describes some graphic torture methods of the past.
However if you are a true history nut like me, his whole series is amazing and I must recommend it.
Something I Read This Week:
On Friendship by Michel de Montaigne:
This week one of the things I read was an essay by famous 16th century philosopher Michel de Montaigne, called On Friendship. I covered Montaigne in a previous edition of the newsletter as a thinker of the week. You can see that here.
This essay, although written nearly 500 years ago, reads and flows so well, almost as if it was written a few years ago. Thats why I love Montaigne as a philosopher, because his works are so accessible and often quite humorous.
In this essay he explores the importance of friendship and how strong a bond can be between two friends, as opposed to the false lustful passion in a relationship. It really opens your eyes to how valuable a true friendship is, where each friend is always there for the other.
It really makes you wonder about the temporary and damaging nature of most relationships, and how we push away genuine friends for a temporary fiery burst of love. Montaigne is clear that we should prioritise friendships over romantic relationships, and I am in accordance with this.
Here are is a quote that stuck with me:
“The love of friends is a general universal warmth, temperate moreover and smooth, a warmth which is constant and at rest, all gentleness and eveness, having nothing sharp nor keen. What is more, sexual love is but a mad craving for something which escapes us.”
The Thinker of the Week
Every week, I include a key historical thinker who has impacted the world through their thoughts and actions. They can vary from philosophers, artists, designers, psychologists, sociologists, writers, eastern meditators, and political theorists.
Anna Freud: 1895-1982🇦🇹
Anna Freud is the daughter of Sigmund Freud. She was the youngest of six children and born in Vienna in 1895. She was bullied in school as her father started to make his radical theories about incestual sex and the mind. She was given the nickname the ‘black devil’ at school.
She later became a very prominent psychoanalyst, following in the footsteps of her father. She pioneered in the treatment of children. In 1934, she published her most notable and famous work, The Ego and Mechanisms of Defence.
A defense mechanism is a responsive method intended to ease our pain in the short term. However, this harms us in the longer term, and in turn, we learn to deal with reality not very well, causing development and maturity issues.
She highlighted ten main types of defence mechanisms in her book, but I wont go over all of them to spare you some time.
Anna Freud as a key thinker and pioneer in psychology taught us that our defence mechanisms that we so often put up against the real world are not by choice. We don’t realise what we are doing most the time.
We fail to realise that we are in denial about something, or making some excuses up to save ourselves. It’s a default mechanism we all use to make life less stressful, and Anna helped us understand this so well.
Anna Freud was a wonderful soul, who taught us about modesty above all. Because she showed us that our defence mechanisms are probably affecting the relationships around us and have powerful roles within our own live.
We should show gratitude to those who willingly decide to invest themselves in our lives because all of us have these destructive self-defense mechanisms without knowing.
Thank you so much for reading once again!❤️
If you made it this far please share this post on Twitter or tell a friend about it, we are still a small community here so each like, comment, and share helps.😊
Enjoy the rest of your Sunday and I will see you next week!
Loved this Julian. I can see the effort you're putting into these newsletters. Really appreciate it. Transcendentalism seems interesting but not something for me. It's too "extremist" so to say. I believe the material world also has to offer a lot of happiness.
Well, Diogenes the bad ass philosopher. He's right though - cynicism us a fact. Every one is indeed motivated by pure self interest. Most don't know it or admit it and some know and admit it.
Couldn’t agree more regarding Montaigne’s thoughts on friendship!