Academy of Ideas
Academy of Ideas
Academy of Ideas
Free Minds for a Free Society
Why Democracy Leads to Tyranny
“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 […]
Mar 30
17 min
Why Solitude Promotes Greatness – The Benefits of Being Alone
“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 […]
Mar 14
15 min
1984 vs Brave New World – How Freedom Dies
“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 […]
Feb 19
12 min
Spontaneous Recovery – The Body’s Power to Heal from Cancer and Chronic Disease
“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 […]
Feb 9
13 min
Why an Unhealthy Mind creates an Unhealthy Body
“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 […]
Jan 24
14 min
Why Lying to Yourself is Ruining Your Life
“. . .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 […]
Jan 3
14 min
How to Escape Mediocrity and Mental Illness – The Road Less Traveled
“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 […]
Dec 2, 2023
14 min
Why do Most Relationships Fail? – The Myth of the Magical Other
“…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 […]
Nov 8, 2023
13 min
Do we Need God? – The Loss of God and the Decay of Society
“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 […]
Nov 1, 2023
25 min
The Psychology of Malignant Narcissists – People of the Lie
“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 […]
Oct 10, 2023
13 min
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