In The Brothers Karamazov, Dostoyevsky writes, "You have needs, satisfy them. Don't hesitate. Expand your needs and demand more." He calls this "the worldly doctrine of today."
But true to the depth of the great writer, he acknowledges the trap we fall into when we pursue a life of singular materialism.
"The result," Dostoevsky writes, "For the rich is isolation and suicide, for the poor, envy and murder."
So boiling that down to its metaphysical essence, Dostoevsky was basically suggesting that the popular bumper sticker, "He who dies with the most toys wins," is a lot of twaddle.
But materialism is our inheritance from about 500 years of science bent on eradicating anything to do with spirituality - which they termed superstitious - from their theories.
I don't think this was a step up. In the end, a materialistic philosophy narrows our perspective to where mere survival becomes our primary objective.
Transcending Einstein and Materialism with Keppe's New Physics, today on Thinking with Somebody Else's Head.
Click here to listen to this episode.
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Thursday, October 25, 2012
Tuesday, October 02, 2012
Narcissism, Shame and the Inverted Sense of Freedom
Think of the greatest among us and a pattern will emerge. For those who've done something truly valuable in life, one characteristic that stands out. Somehow, in some way, they've been interested in doing something for others.
I'm not talking about the preening and PR initiatives that drive some accomplishment, of course - the self-promotion behind Academy Award lobbying or magazine cover stories proposed by highly paid publicists. But the true contribution of photo-op shy individuals and groups that truly makes the world a better place. For underlying all of this type of accomplishment must be a high degree of selflessness, of forgetting oneself in the service to the good of others.
And we all know people like that who put aside their own glory a little to come to the aid of a greater purpose. Even if they receive personal recognition in the process.
Erich Fromm considered the main condition for the achievement of love to be overcoming our narcissism, and it's this we'd like to dive into today.
Narcissism, Shame and the Inverted Sense of Freedom, today on Thinking with Somebody Else's Head.
Click here to listen to this episode.
I'm not talking about the preening and PR initiatives that drive some accomplishment, of course - the self-promotion behind Academy Award lobbying or magazine cover stories proposed by highly paid publicists. But the true contribution of photo-op shy individuals and groups that truly makes the world a better place. For underlying all of this type of accomplishment must be a high degree of selflessness, of forgetting oneself in the service to the good of others.
And we all know people like that who put aside their own glory a little to come to the aid of a greater purpose. Even if they receive personal recognition in the process.
Erich Fromm considered the main condition for the achievement of love to be overcoming our narcissism, and it's this we'd like to dive into today.
Narcissism, Shame and the Inverted Sense of Freedom, today on Thinking with Somebody Else's Head.
Click here to listen to this episode.