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SPINOZA PHILOSOPHY

The following is a transcript of this video. 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 our highest hopes and values, and that there are no gods or higher purposes to justify our suffering. To be a nihilist is to flirt with despair and the sentiment that life is not worth living, and thus, the nihilist position is antithetical to life.  “…the question whether not-to-be is better than to be is itself a disease, a sign of decline…The nihilistic movement is the expression of physiological decadence.” Nietzsche, The Will to Power Although nihilism has existed in all times and places, it is especially prevalent in the modern West. To understand why, we are going to turn to the insights of Friedrich Nietzsche. Specifically, we are going to examine why Nietzsche thought that all the dominant worldviews of the West have been pessimistic evaluations of life, and thus, precursors to modern nihilism.    In 1885, Nietzsche saw the specter of nihilism looming on the horizon of Western civilization, and as he wrote:  “…why has the advent of nihilism become necessary? Because the values we have had hitherto thus draw their final consequence; because nihilism represents the ultimate logical conclusion of our great values and ideals…”  Nietzsche, The Will to Power The West has long been under the spell of worldviews predicated on the existence of what Nietzsche called a true world. Such worldviews posit that along with this flawed earthly reality, there exists another, more perfect reality – a true world. Or as the philosopher Julian Young further explains in his book the Death of God and the Meaning of Life:  “A true world is a destination; a destination such that to reach it is to enter (or perhaps re-enter) a state of ‘eternal bliss’, a heaven, paradise or utopia. Hence true-world philosophies…give meaning to life by representing it as a journey; a journey towards ‘redemption’, towards an arrival which will more than make up for the stress and discomfort of the travelling…a true-world account of the proper course of our lives is a kind of story, a narrative.”  Julian Young, The Death of God and the Meaning of Life One of the first, and most influential, true world philosophies in Western history was forged in the mind of the Ancient Greek philosopher Plato. According to Plato, the earthly reality we perceive with our senses is a deception. It is akin to watching shadows on the wall of cave. Plato called this deceptive reality the world of Becoming, and posited that behind it exists an unchanging world of Being, a true world, which is the realm of the Forms. For Plato the meaning of life is to turn away from our senses, temper our emotions, and through the development of our intellect grasp the Forms that exist in the world of Being. This is the path to truth, to enlightenment, and to the elimination of suffering, and as Julian Young writes:  “Plato’s way of giving meaning to life…has dominated virtually the entire history of Western thought and feeling. I am referring, here, in the first instance, to Christianity – though, as we will see, Platonism (which I use as a synonym for ‘true-worldism’) continued, in disguised forms, to dominate Western thinking even in the materialist atmosphere of the post-Christian era. But let us attend, for now, to Christianity.” (Julian Young)  Julian Young, The Death of God and the Meaning of Life Nietzsche famously wrote that “Christianity is Platonism for the masses”, by which he meant that the Christian worldview is a slightly modified version of Platonism, but with greater mass appeal. For like Platonism, the Christian worldview is a true world theory. According to it, this world is a spiritually and morally degraded, or “fallen”, world, and in it we suffer for sins against God. Yet over and above this fallen world exists the kingdom of heaven – the true world – where the souls of the righteous find salvation, redemption, eternal life, and happiness, following the death of their mortal flesh.   “One does not, I think, need much convincing that Christianity (according to Nietzsche, the product of St Paul’s grafting of Jesus’ ethics on to Greek metaphysics) is basically a version of Platonism, of the true-world/true-home view of reality. There is, of course, not a complete identity between Platonism and Christianity. There is, for example, no omnipotent creator-God in Plato…Yet in both the Platonic and the Christian story…there is the same metaphysical division between the natural and the supernatural worlds, between earth and heaven, with the latter portrayed as home and the former as a place of exile.”  Julian Young, The Death of God and the Meaning of Life It is well known that Nietzsche heralded the death of god, by which he meant that in the West the belief in a monotheistic god was in decline. Yet what is less known is that he also forecasted that following the death of god true world theories would continue to flourish. However, rather than positing a transcendental heaven and redemption in the afterlife, these post-Christian true world philosophies structured themselves around the possibility of redemption in this life, and the coming of a heaven on earth that is forged by the hands of men. Nietzsche referred to these post-Christian true world theories as “shadows of god”, and as he wrote:  “God is dead; but given the way of men, there may still be caves for thousands of years in which his shadow will be shown.”  Nietzsche, The Gay Science The political ideologies which plagued the 20th century, be it fascism, socialism, communism, or totalitarianism, are shadows of god. Nietzsche called socialism “latent Christianity”, while Carl Jung, 75 years after Nietzsche, took note of the correlation in Europe between the decline in religious belief and the rise in political fanaticism.  “The State takes the place of God…the socialist dictatorships are religions.”  Carl Jung, The Undiscovered Self The practitioners of these political true world theories wanted to socially engineer a New Man who would be redeemed from past defects and sins, and they promised their followers that, if given enough power and control, the State would construct a true world, a heaven on earth. The Nazi ideology, for example, promised the coming of an Aryan utopia, while the theologian of communism, Karl Marx, stated that the arrival of a communist utopia would mark what he called “the end of history”.  “Communism is Utopia, that is nowhere. It is the avatar of all our religious eschatologies: the coming of the Messiah, the second coming of Christ, nirvana. It is not a historical prospect, but a current mythology.”  Immanuel Wallerstein, Historical Capitalism with Capitalist Civilization In the 20th century Czech writer Milan Kundera echoed this sentiment:  “Totalitarianism is not only hell, but also the dream of paradise—the age-old dream of a world where everybody would live in harmony, united by a single common will and faith…If totalitarianism did not exploit these archetypes, which are deep inside us all and rooted deep in all religions, it could never attract so many people…”  Milan Kundera, The Book of Laughter and Forgetting In our age, there exist still other shadows of god. Some of the more radical environmentalist movements are seeking to harness State power in order to radically diminish humanity’s impact on nature and create an environmental utopia, where humans redeem themselves from what are seen as sins against Mother Earth. Some believe that if we follow science, and harness the power of technology, big data and artificial intelligence, we will be able to construct a technocratic, or scientifically managed utopian society. The transhumanist movement is predicated on the belief that by merging man with machine we will be able to transcend human frailties and, at some point in the future, become like gods. Many spiritual movements see the world as invariably moving towards a utopia characterized by universal love, freedom, and harmony.  While all these shadows of god possess flocks of disciples, today the true world theory of choice for the masses is what the 20th century psychologist Michael Mahoney called the myth of arrival. Those who subscribe to this myth believe that one day they will reach a turning point in life; all their frustrations and problems will disappear, and they will finally be happy. In other words, they believe that in the future they will enter their own personal utopia, or true world, or as Mahoney writes:  “Embedded in the myth of arrival…is the message that…there will come a day when our struggles and suffering will be finished. Depression, anxiety, anger, and all manner of “ill being” will finally end. We will wake up one morning and clearly recognize that we have “arrived”: We will have gotten ourselves and our lives “together” in a way that can never be undone. We will be healthy and happy. We’ll be in the job, the home, and the relationship that we have always wanted, financially comfortable and fundamentally at peace with ourselves.”  Michael Mahoney, Constructive Psychotherapy What Platonism, Christianity, and the post-Christian political and secular shadows of god have in common is that at essence they are deeply pessimistic. Putting aside the question of whether a true world does or ever will exist, all these worldviews are predicated on a rejection of this earthly reality and a condemnation of the present moment, or as Nietzsche explains:   “…the concept “the true world” insinuates that this world is untruthful, deceptive, dishonest, inauthentic, inessential—and consequently also not a world adapted to our needs.   Nietzsche, The Will to Power What is it that leads people to reject this earthly reality, which is the only reality we know for certain exists, and to posit the existence of true world? According to Nietzsche, it is a psychological need which is the driving force behind all true world philosophies. Those who subscribe to these worldviews tend to be morally and spiritually weak and unable to cope with the human condition without a psychological crutch. Such people, therefore, need to believe in the existence of a true world where they will find lasting peace and salvation, otherwise, they would be crippled by suffering and incapable of enduring life. Or as Nietzsche writes:  “General insight: it is the instinct of life-weariness…which has created the “other world”…to imagine another, more valuable world is an expression of hatred for the world that makes one suffer…Does man not eternally create a fictitious world for himself because he wants a better world than reality?”  Nietzsche, The Will to Power As true world philosophies are pessimistic evaluations of our lot on earth, they are precursors of nihilism, for as Nietzsche wrote: “Pessimism is a preliminary form of nihilism.” (Nietzsche, The Will to Power) All that is required to move from being a believer in a true world to a full-blown nihilist is a simple crisis of faith. For if, or when, doubt deflates one’s belief in a true world, then one is forced to confront the possibility that this earthly reality and the here and now – which one has already judged to be irreparably flawed and insufficient – is all there is. In the Will to Power, Nietzsche writes:  “The development of pessimism into nihilism…. – The repudiated world versus an artificially built ‘true, valuable’ one. Finally: one discovers how the true world is fabricated solely from psychological needs: and now all one has left is the ‘repudiated world’, and one adds this supreme disappointment to the reasons why it deserves to be repudiated. At this point nihilism is reached:…one grants the reality of becoming as the only reality… — but cannot endure this world…”   Nietzsche, The Will to Power As true world theories are pessimistic and a mere step away from nihilism, Nietzsche thought that to overcome nihilism what modern man needs is a worldview not dependent on a true world. We need a worldview which, rather than repudiating this earthly existence, justifies, affirms, and even embraces the suffering that is indispensable to it. We need a worldview that helps us cultivate meaning in the present moment, and in the only life we know for certain we have. We need, in short, a worldview that promotes human flourishing by remaining faithful to the here and now and to this earth. And in the next video, we will explore Nietzsche’s worldview predicated on the will to power, which he put forth as an alternative to true world theories.  “I beseech you, my brothers, remain faithful to the earth, and do not believe those who speak to you of otherworldly hopes! Poison-mixers are they, whether they know it or not. Despisers of life are they, decaying and poisoned themselves, of whom the earth is weary: so let them go.”    Nietzsche, Thus Spoke Zarathustra

ACADEMY OF IDEAS PRESENTS CARL JUNG'S PERSPECTIVE ON THE CAUSES OF NEUROTIC MENTAL EFFECTS AND THIS TRENCHANT EPISODE ALSO LOOKS TO WHY THE MAJORITY OF PEOPLE IN  MODERN SOCIETY SUFFERES FROM A NEUROSIS DUE TO COMFORMITY AND DUSMISSING INE TRUE SELF TO BECOME FREE BY FOLLOWING A PATH GUIDED BY THE INNER SELF.  The following is a transcript of this video. “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” lives.”   Carl Jung, Problems of Modern Psychotherapy With an education system that indoctrinates us to think alike, a mass media that ensures we fear alike, an advertising industry that gets us to like the same things, and a social media that makes it easy to shame and ridicule all those who step too far out of line, many people are conformists. But many in the modern day are also neurotic and so a question arises: Is there a cause-and-effect relationship between too much conformity and neurotic illness? The great Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung believed there was, and in this video, we are going to explore what a neurosis is and how being too conformist makes us susceptible to this form of illness.  A neurosis is a psychological disorder defined by persistent and deep levels of anxiety and an overall fear of life. In addition to these cardinal symptoms, a neurotic illness may also include depression, guilt, phobias, obsessions and compulsions, excessive worry and rumination, insomnia, irritability, or anger. Carl Jung suggested that the neurotic’s fear of life was a result of “a disturbed or diminished process of adaptation” (Collected Works Volume 18) and “a morbid development of the whole of a personality” (Collected Works Volume 10). A neurotic, in other words, is an individual who fails to adapt to the demands of life, whose personality is stunted as a result, and whose existence, therefore, becomes a continual struggle with little, to no reprieve.  While a neurosis isn’t necessarily fatal, it slowly but surely saps the vitality out of life. A neurosis destroys our potential, places us in the constricting confines of an ever-shrinking comfort zone, fills us with guilt for a life not lived, wreaks havoc on relationships, inhibits the cultivation of skills, and damages our physical health due to the effects of chronic anxiety and depression on the body. Jung went as far as to call a neurosis “the agony of a human soul in all its vast complexity” (Carl Jung, The State of Psychotherapy Today).   According to Jung, a neurotic illness is triggered by three conditions: Firstly, an individual is confronted with a challenge, task, or problem in an important domain of life. Secondly, because of cowardice, laziness, self-doubt, or just plain stupidity, the individual evades the challenge rather than facing up to it.   “If we follow the history of a neurosis with attention, we regularly find a critical moment when some problem emerged that was evaded.”   Carl Jung, The Eros Theory The existence of a problem that one wishes to evade is not sufficient to produce a neurosis. Rather a third condition is necessary and that is the use of defense mechanisms to force the problem out of conscious awareness.  “. . . it would be a serious misunderstanding to confuse the existence of problems with neurosis. There is a marked difference between the two in that the neurotic is ill because he is unconscious of his problems. . .”  Carl Jung, The Stages of Life Common defence mechanisms include repressing thoughts, displacing emotions, projecting one’s problems onto another person, compulsive activity to keep oneself distracted, self-medicating into a numbed-out state, or avoiding situations that trigger awareness of one’s problem. The use of defense mechanisms is paid for at the cost of increased anxiety, for as Jung wrote regarding one of his neurotic patients:  “. . .by repressing disagreeable thoughts she created something like a psychic vacuum which, as usually happens, gradually became filled with anxiety. Had she troubled herself consciously with her thoughts she would have known what was lacking, and she would then have needed no anxiety states as a substitute for the absence of conscious suffering.”   Carl Jung, The Development of Personality Evading and denying the tasks of life is very common in the modern day, and this is contributing to epidemic levels of neurotic illness. Jung pointed to several factors that can account for this: Firstly, many parents pass onto their children a neurotic approach on to life. For children emulate the fear of life of the neurotic parent, and from an early age learn to evade life’s problems, or as Jung explains:  “. . .the psychic disorders of children are more often than not causally connected with the psychology of the parents, and in most cases one would do well to pay more attention to the faulty attitude of parents and educators than to the child’s psyche, which in itself would function correctly if it were not disturbed by the harmful influence of the parents.”   Carl Jung, Collected Works Volume 18 A second factor responsible for the high rates of neuroses is an unwillingness of many young adults to adequately separate themselves from their parents as they approach adulthood. For to become an adult in-body, but remain a child in-mind, is to ensure one will be afflicted with a neurotic illness, or as Jung explains:   “Though it is a misfortune for a child to have no parents, it is equally dangerous for him to be too closely bound to his family. An excessively strong attachment to the parents is a severe handicap in his later adaptation to the world, for a growing human being is not destined to remain forever the child of his parents.”   Carl Jung, Child Development and Education Social forces are also promoting the laziness and passivity that leads to the neurotic evasion of life’s tasks. For example, there is an excessive use of addictive technologies, paternalistic governments that inhibit the cultivation of self-responsibility, diets that are sub-optimal for energy production, an overuse of psychotropic and recreational drugs, and a moral system that no longer elevates the virtues of courage and self-reliance to their rightful spot in the pantheon of values.   But while many reasons can account for the existence of so many neurotics, the important question for the sufferer is how to effectuate a cure? According to Jung the approach we should take depends on whether the problem we are evading lies in the collective, outer world, of people, places, or things, or in the individualist, inner world of our psyche.   “In my picture of the world there is a vast outer realm and an equally vast inner realm; between these two stands man, facing now one and now the other. . .”   Carl Jung, Child Development and Education Problems in the outer world tend to take the form of failures to meet the basic demands of social life. For example, some people struggle to make friends or to establish intimate relationships. Others fail to attain gainful employment or to contribute to their community. Still others fail to develop an adequate persona, or social personality. These problems are of a collective nature in the sense that they represent challenges of life that all members of a society must face up to and Jung called cases of neurotic illness caused by evading these tasks instances of “atrophied collective adaptation” (Collected Works Volume 16). Individuals afflicted with this type of neurosis need to become more “normal” in the sense of cultivating the basic skills needed to function successfully in society.    “Previously, because of his illness, the patient stood partly or wholly outside life. Consequently he neglected many of his duties, either in regard to social achievement or in regard to his purely human tasks. He must get back to fulfilling these duties if he wants to become well again.”  Carl Jung, The Theory of Psychoanalysis  But some people meet all the demands of social life and attain all the trappings of worldly success – a spouse and a family, a satisfying social life, a good career, as well as ample material success – and yet still become neurotic. Or as Jung writes:  “…psychotherapists are familiar with the collectively adapted person who has everything and does everything that could reasonably be required as a guarantee of health, but yet is ill.”  Carl Jung, Principles of Practical Psychotherapy The problem being evaded by these neurotics is not to be found in the outer world, but in the inner world of the psyche. Such individuals are afraid of their individuality and so fail to heed the call of their conscience to develop the idiosyncratic side of their nature.  “He is incapable of living his own life and finding the character that belongs to him.”  Carl Jung, Symbols of Transformation These neurotics are too normal, they are too conformist, and their social success acts as a barrier to exploring the depths of the psyche. But as the development of the individual side of our nature is just as imperative as our collective development, a failure to adequately differentiate ourselves from others will make us neurotic, or as Jung writes:  “There are large numbers of people for whom the development of individuality is the prime necessity, especially in a cultural epoch like ours, which is literally flattened out by collective norms . . . In my experience there are. . .very many for whom the development of individuality is an indispensable requirement.”   Carl Jung, On Psychic Energy To be healed the all-too normal neurotic must experience a symbolic death, or the letting go of much that is familiar and comfortable, so the individualistic side of his nature can emerge, or as Jung puts it:  “That the highest summit of life can be expressed through the symbolism of death is a well-known fact, for any growing beyond oneself means death.”   Carl Jung, Symbols of Transformation Character traits, relationships, career choices, and especially habits of thought and behaviour, many of these must be sacrificed to permit the birth of the new. Our desire for social validation must be sacrificed as well, and so too the comfort we derive by conforming. For to paraphrase Jung we need to be “drawn out of ourselves onto other paths” (V16) that permit the full flowering of our character.   “[The neurotic] must in very truth take the way of the individual life [path] he has recognized as his own, and continue along it until such time as an unmistakable reaction from the unconscious tells him that he is on the wrong track.”   Carl Jung, Collected Works Volume 7 If we have spent years or decades treading the conformist path of normality, establishing a more idiosyncratic approach to life may seem risky. We may face ridicule, disappoint others, or lose some of our social status, but as Jung writes:  “If you want to cure a neurosis you have to risk something. To do something without taking a risk is merely ineffectual . . .”  Carl Jung, Collected Works Volume 11 But remaining neurotic, is also a risk – but a risk that offers no reward. We will waste our life, waste our potential, and be destined to live out our days plagued by anxiety, depression, self-hate, and guilt. And for those afflicted by the neurosis of too much conformity we should keep in mind that some of us are just not fit to be normal by modern day standards, we need an abnormal existence in order to be healthy, or as Jung writes:  “Among neurotics, there are not a few who do not require any reminders of their social duties and obligations, but are born and destined rather to be bearers of new cultural ideals. They are neurotic as long as they bow down before authority and refuse the freedom to which they are destined.”   Carl Jung, Some Crucial Points in Psychoanalysis   Substack-https://theacademyofideas.substack.com/ Twitter - https://twitter.com/academyofideas Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/academyofid... 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Professor Jordan Peterson is a world-renowned lecturer, author, and clinical psychologist who has inspired millions of people all over the world with his heartfelt , motivational speeches that cut with raw truth. He has struck a chord with young adults all over the world, and his advice and mentoring has transformed many lives. One Social is proud to present this selected special mix of some of his best truth talks.

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