Hello Philosophy Society! Discussion 1: Love of Wisdom Philosophy is defined as the love of wisdom. Traditionally, philosophy originated from the anxiety of Greeks as an approach towards understanding that used reason as a primary means to make sense of things. Wisdom is a larger category than only using reason to understand and explain phenomena or asking questions. Wisdom also incorporates how one lives their life, hence Aristotle’s approach towards the good life or what he called ‘Eudaimonia.’ To live a good life is wise. This means that we have an approach towards our mental health and wellbeing. Cultivating habits, beliefs, principles and skills that increase our wellbeing, proactively help us manage our mental health and respond to any mental health issues we may have would be wise. Philosophy, therefore, cannot only include a rational approach towards living but also a practical element. This practical element is what the philosophy society is about. The reason we study and practice the cognitive distortion skills from Feeling Good is because a large percentage of people who have read the book and learned to apply the lessons from it recovered from mental health issues like depression, anxiety, procrastination, and more. It is wise to learn these skills so that we develop tools to deal with our emotions. Much of human suffering comes from poorly managed emotions so it is wise, and hence philosophical to learn effective emotional management techniques. Much of the wisdom in good living will come from psychology as an empirical science because it has shown or demonstrated what the effects of certain techniques are. This empirical approach is one where we learn to incorporate it within our lives and support each other as a social group. That is the function of the philosophy society as a social entity. Once wellbeing and mental health are understood and best practices are established as social norms within the philosophy society, its members will be in a position to most effectively philosophize about rational subjects. If wellbeing is not taken care of at the individual and social level, it will always depreciate the individual and groups capacity to philosophize in a rational format. Your position gives you power. What is the sense in philosophizing or reasoning when action is apparent. It is not about intellectualizing the action you are supposed to do. It is about doing the action. This is psychological and part of the philosophical process. Philosophy is a way of life. When you determine what actions to take, from your observations and reason, you must actually do the action. This is behaviour and in the realm of the science of psychology. Therefore, psychology as a science is necessarily part of the good life and philosophy. To dissociate oneself as a disembodied reason-er is to delude oneself about the nature of what a human being is. A human being is an animal who has developed the capacity for abstract thought that has self-awareness and volition. You are not only a reasoner, you are a ‘behaver’ and actor. Assuming full, normal functioning cognitive capacity, you have self-awareness and can direct your actions based on observations of your environment. All of these factors are part of what it means to be human and hence philosophical. To disregard any of these properties is unwise and unphilosophical. Philosophy Academy: Feeling Good This week we began chapter 8, Ways of Defeating Guilt, pages 214 - 228 To increase our awareness of when we say ‘should,’ we can use our phone (wrist counter in Burn’s time) to count all the times we use the distortion. The more times we spot the ‘shoulds,’ he suggests we reward ourselves for that insight. (214-215) Burn’s next approach is to understand why it is the case that we would use ‘should’ as a coercive standard because we don’t trust ourselves. There is an assumption that if we did not impose the ‘should’ standards on ourselves we would be immorally out of control. He asks us to think if there was a time in our lives when we were happy, felt in control and if we need to use should statements to be in control. It is very likely that we can remember a time where we were not using ‘should’ statements to be in control and we were happily having fun, proving that ‘should’ statements are unnecessary for self-control. To test this, he suggests we reduce our ‘should’ statements and see what happens to our mood and self-control. (Burns 215) Another method is to set aside a time limit, 2 minutes, where we exhaust all the ‘shoulds’ and self-persecutions to ourselves. At this moment, we exercise all of the abusive self-criticisms that come to mind. We can record ourselves and listen to it later to see how absurd the statements are. If we limit the ‘shoulds’ to these scheduled moments, we can learn to inhibit them at all other times of the day, increasing our awareness and self-control. (Burns 215) The next approach has to do with the limits of our knowledge. (Burns 215) Sometimes, people will reflect on their past and impose a ‘should’ statement about how things could have been otherwise. This is an example of hindsight bias, where after the event has occurred, things seem self-evident but in the moment there was no way we would've known. If we know the outcome of some action or event, we would incorporate that into our decision making process. We cannot predict the future with absolute certainty so it is unrealistic to condemn ourselves when things didn't turn out the way we wanted them to. Burns states, “You can either decide to accept yourself as an imperfect human being with limited knowledge and realize that you will at times make mistakes or you can hate yourself for it.” (216) We can also question the should statement itself by asking, “why should I?” whenever we catch the distortion. We are challenging the evidence of the statement and revealing the problem in logic behind it. (Burns 216) For example, if we are lacking in our skill of being assertive, we will often function on our habit of not being assertive. To say we should have acted differently would mean that we would be acting contrary to our habit. Unless we have developed a new habit, it is unrealistic for us to behave differently. Acknowledging that we make mistakes is part of having a realistic attitude towards being human. (Burns 217) Burns states, “Instead of feeling guilty, you can use your energy to make necessary changes and enhance your self-control and productivity.” (218) 3. Learn to Stick to Your Guns: People who feel guilty can be manipulated by others because of their desire to please everyone. They can be coerced into doing things that are not in their self-interest to avoid the feeling of guilt. (Burns 218) An obsession to please others can trap a person into feelings of guilt when they cannot fulfill the other’s expectations. Burns says, “the consequences of letting someone manipulate you with guilt end up being destructive not only to you, but to the other person.” (219) We end up enabling unhealthy expectations of the other person and acting in a way that is not good for us. Certain close relationships, like family, long term friendships and intimate partnerships, can have an element of expectations that reside from a guilt based motivation. The other person can coerce us into doing things for them because it is expected in the relationship, even though it actually is not necessary. These expectations can be in the form of an unhealthy, exploitative form of reciprocation where the person demands favours under the assumption that they would have done the same for you. (Burns 219) Putting limits on our relationships so that they do not compromise our own self interest is best for all parties. Other people will develop a greater sense of independence if they are not dependent on you. If there has been an established enabling of unclear boundaries and exploitation, this is where the ‘sticking to your guns’ concept comes in. You will have to assert your boundaries to the other person because they are in the habit of getting what they want and are unfamiliar with this new way of doing things. Establishing boundaries in this regard, as challenging as it may be in the moment, is best for both of you in the long term. (Burns 221) To increase our success ast articulating our boundaries in sensitive situations, we can practice by trying out with a friend who can give us feedback or writing down a practice dialogue as shown in the book. (Burns 222) 4. Anti-whiner Technique: Sometimes people can try to make us feel guilty, frustrated or helpless by whining, complaining or nagging. The person complaining tells you something, you respond with a desire to help, they disregard what you say and complain more. If you try to disengage from the conversation, they say you are abandoning them hence making you feel guilt. They essentially want you to sit there and listen to their complaining without helping them because they do not know how to deal with their own emotions or distorted thinking patterns. (Burns 222) The solution Burns offers is to use the disarming technique by finding something to agree with then instead of offering advice, you say something complimentary. (Burns 222) The complainer will usually not find it interesting to continue because the other person keeps on agreeing with them. In some instances, when people complain, they just want the reassurance from another that what they are experiencing is real. When we acknowledge it, they feel heard and will stop complaining. Trying to help people who complain can motivate them to complain more because, in offering help, there is an assumption they cannot solve the problem themselves and they can perceive helping as a form of criticism. “When people whine and complain, they are usually feeling irritated, overwhelmed, and insecure…When you agree with them and add a compliment, they feel endorsed, and they then usually relax and quiet down.” (Burns 223) 5. Moorey Moaner Method: Sometimes a person can have too much empathy and suffer, due to the personalization distortion, because of other people’s problems. If one feels overwhelmed with others always bringing their problems to them, they can find a way to agree with them, then distract them by identifying a positive part of what they are complaining about and focus on that. (Burns 224) 6. Developing Perspective: Personalization is one of the most common distortions that causes people to feel guilt. Personalization is the “misguided notion that you are ultimately responsible for other people’s feelings and actions or for naturally occurring events.” (Burns 225) In situations where another person tells us that their suffering is due to an interaction with us, it is important for us to determine a realistic sense of responsibility so that we do not feel guilty. Burns asks, “Where does your responsibility end and the other person’s begin?” (225) The ability to differentiate our responsibility is called ‘disattribution,’ which is basically having a healthy perspective on things. (Burns 225) Buy the book here: https://a.co/d/89LT1Jq Read a brief summary of the book here: https://www.achillesjustice.com/post/feeling-good Burns, David. Feeling Good: The New Mood Therapy. Harper Publishing. New York, 1999. Feeling Good: The New Mood Therapy Mass Market Paperback – Dec 30 2008 © Achilles Atlas Justice and achillesjustice.com, 2018-23. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Achilles Atlas Justice and achillesjustice.com with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

Hello Philosophy Society! Discussion 1: Creating Boundaries Some relationships will require more stringent boundaries than others due to the other person not being of sound mind. They may act in ways that are harmful unintentionally and for our own self-preservation, it is important for us to establish a sense of space from them. It is up to us to stand up for ourselves and have no contact if necessary. This can be difficult if we have developed a relationship with the person as family, friends or colleagues. In your experience, the self is the predominant form that you are responsible for and other people come second. It is important to have regard for others, but taking care of ourselves comes first. Taking care of ourselves does not necessarily come at the cost of other people’s interest. Once we are independent, we have the power to take space from others at our own discretion. If we sense that the relationship with them is compromising our wellbeing, we can create a boundary or take space. A boundary is a condition you identify and communicate to the other person like “I am not comfortable discussing a specific topic.” Sometimes the other person is not of sound mind enough to actually comprehend or respect the boundary you have identified. This is usually due to a cognitive limitation, personality disorder or some other psychological factor that leads to you having to create the boundary in the first place. This means that the boundary is more for you than it is for them. If they are unable to understand and follow the personal rules you have identified, then it is not going to be very effective to create a linguistic rule that represents that behavioural problem. It is always good to give others the benefit of the doubt and not assume that they are unable to grow. If you develop an expectation and plan that is within your control, then you will not be dependent on the weaknesses of others and allow those weaknesses to cause harm to you. This means that you create the boundaries for yourself and only engage with ‘at risk people’ when you are strong enough to deal with them at their worst. Discussion 2: Human Agency Humans have a capacity to make decisions based on an integrated understanding of their environment more than any other animal on the planet. We can engage in moral actions and decisions in ways that other organisms are completely incapable of doing. Even though we make mistakes, this capacity for agency is the fundamental attribute that also gives us the capacity to do good acts. Philosophy Academy: Feeling Good This week we began chapter 8, Ways of Defeating Guilt, pages 198 - 214. Burns begins the chapter by asking what is the function and basis of guilt as a realistic, helpful or useful emotion. He identifies two primary situations where one would experience guilt. 1. We believe we have done something we shouldn't because the action violates a moral standard. (198) 2. Our bad behaviour makes us a bad person. The main problem with guilt is the concept of ‘badness.’ Instead of feeling guilty, we can feel a sense of healthy remorse if we act in hurtful ways. Remorse occurs when we become aware that our actions violate ethical standards and hurt ourselves or someone else. Guilt differs from remorse because it has the notion of the self being innately bad, evil or immoral whereas remorse is focused on our behaviour. (199) We can also feel depressed, anxious, or shameful when we feel guilty and is based on assuming: 1. Our ‘bad behaviour’ makes us inferior or worthless. (depression) 2. Others will look down on us if they know what we did. (shame) 3. I may suffer retaliation or punishment because of what I did. (anxiety) (199) The best way to know if our thoughts are constructive or destructive is to evaluate them for distortions. If we are distorted, our guilt is based on invalid ways of thinking or looking at our experience. (199) For example, we may be distorted by magnifying things in assuming that we did something wrong but it may not actually be true. If we unrealistically magnify some action, we may be in anguish through inappropriate and unnecessary self-persecution. Another distortion would be labeling ourselves as a ‘bad person.’ Our behaviour may have been a problem but labeling ourselves as ‘bad’ can create a self-destructive ruminative thought process that prevents problem solving solutions. Personalization is another distortion that causes guilt from us taking responsibility for things we are not in control of by blaming ourselves for others behaviour or thoughts. (200-201) The thesis of CBT is premised on the principle that it is how we think and perceive, our thoughts, that create our feelings. Burns states, “you might come to the nihilistic belief that you cannot hurt anybody no matter what you do, and hence you have a license to do anything…If they’re upset, it’s their thoughts, right? Wrong! …if a person’s suffering is caused by valid, undistorted thoughts, then the suffering is real and may in fact have an external cause.” (201) If someone’s suffering is caused by their own distorted thinking, that is their responsibility. We would be distorted via personalization to take responsibility for the distorted thinking of others. However, if your actions legitimately hurt someone and they are not distorted in how they understand your actions, you are responsible for the harm you caused. If you are remorseful for the discomfort or pain you caused others, it is realistic in this sense. (201) The last distortion that comes up with guilt is inappropriate should statements creating an irrational expectation of being perfect, omniscient, or omnipotent. Rules in the form of ‘should cognitions,’ create impossible expectations of ourselves. When we do not fit the expectations we set out, we create unnecessary disappointment and cognitive dissonance that could be prevented from non-rigid standards. It is important to be mindful of self-defeating expectations that are irresponsible because of the strain it causes us. (201) Omniscience means ‘all-knowing,’ which is something a human cannot have. If we expect we were to know information that was inaccessible to us, we can suffer for no reason. (Burns 201) Most information is out of our awareness so it is important to be realistic in our assessment of what one would reasonably know given the circumstances. Hindsight bias is where we reflect on an event that was unpredictable and assume that it was knowable. It is important to be mindful of this bias and be compassionate when things occur that are out of our awareness. This way, we can use our emotional energy to account for the unexpected event, instead of being upset that something happened we didn’t foresee. (202) Omniscience is the attribute of being ‘all-powerful,’ which is another fictional trait humans will never possess. Placing expectations on ourselves that only a god could achieve is unfair and setting ourselves up for suffering. Only in fiction can a character have omniscience so if we believe that applies to us, we will have extremely unrealistic standards for ourselves. This creates cognitive dissonance because our belief of being all powerful will never match reality and hence we will feel discomfort with the contrast of our belief and events in the world. (202) These three kinds of should statements can create inappropriate guilt for they are not reasonable moral standards. In contrast, it is important to develop a healthy sense of regret or remorse based on the proportion of intensity, duration and consequences of our emotions relative to our actions. (202) The Guilt Cycle People can become trapped in a cycle of feeling guilty due to establishing a pattern they have deemed as valid and valuable. They can see the process of feeling guilty as a necessary part of dealing with mistakes and problems. They can believe 1. If I feel guilty I deserve to be condemned because I am bad. 2. If I am bad, I should suffer. The sense of guilt makes the person feel bad and feeling bad makes them feel more guilty in a vicious cycle. This feedback loop is perpetuated by the emotional reasoning distortion where one feels bad hence must be bad. If one has a negative view of themselves in the form of self-loathing, that frame of mind does not prove they did anything wrong but simply their belief about themselves. (203) The cycle is a self-punishing behavioural pattern that makes things worse by “guilt-provoking thoughts lead[ing] to unproductive actions that reinforce your belief in your badness.” (Burns 204) People mistakenly believe that if they punish themselves it will motivate them to do better but instead reinforces negative beliefs of inadequacy. (204) Irresponsibility of Guilt: When we do something inappropriate or hurtful there is no correlation that we must suffer for it. (Burns 204) Even if we were supposed to suffer, some time limitation is necessary and has nothing to do with our ability to learn from the mistake to prevent doing it in the future. Some people assume that suffering is necessary for them to have self-control and be moral. (Burns 205) In some ways, “if your behaviour has a needlessly hurtful impact on others, a small amount of painful remorse will add to your awareness more effectively than a sterile recognition of your [fuck]-up with no emotional arousal.” (Burns 206) This is different from labeling ourselves as a bad person and contributing nothing to our understanding of the behaviour or learning from it. “Change and learning occur most readily when you (a) recognize that an error has occurred and (b) develop a strategy for correcting the problem.” (Burns 206) A focus on the observable thing in your control, your behaviour, is more effective than creating a mystical curse, ‘I am a bad person,’ to suffer under. (206) When we make mistakes or fuck up in some way, recognizing, learning from and changing is what is necessary. Guilt is counterproductive if it gets in the way of this process. (Burns 206) We can take a more enlightened approach to guild the morality of our behaviour by being empathetic. “Empathy is the ability to visualize the consequences, good and bad, of your behaviour…the capacity to conceptualize the impact of what you do on yourself and on the other person, and to feel appropriate and genuine sorrow and regret without labeling yourself as inherently bad.” (Burns 207) With empathy we can develop the mental and emotional apparatus to guide our behaviour in moral and self-enhancing ways without guilt. (Burns 207) It is important that we learn to determine if our feelings are normal and healthy when being remorseful in contrast to a self-defeating, distorted burden of guilt. Ask: 1. Did I consciously or willingly do something incorrect, harmful, unjust, that I did not need to? Am I imposing unrealistic expectations based on being all-powerful, knowing or perfect? 2. Am I viewing myself with the labeling distortion as a bad person for what I have done? (magnification, overgeneralization or personalization) 3. Is my feeling of remorse or regret realistic based on an empathetic awareness of how my actions negatively impacted others? What is my assessment of the intensity, duration and consequences of my feelings to the actions I did? 4. What strategy am I using to learn in response to my mistake? (Burns 207) Burns then goes through methods to help remove inappropriate guilt and increase one’s self-respect. (Burns 207) 1. Daily Record of Dysfunctional Thoughts: Begin by writing down the provoking situation, then identify the automatic thoughts your mind is generating. Identify the distortions in the thinking and replace them with enhancing, realistic thoughts. (Burns 208) On page 209, Burns has an example. 2. Should Removal techniques: Burns first wants us to ask ‘who is the person that says we ‘should’?.’ This question is to increase our awareness of the automatic thoughts that create negative emotions. When we realize that it is us who are creating the rules, we can determine their usefulness and replace them if needed. (208) Burns then uses a cost/benefit analysis by identifying the advantages and disadvantages of each rule. He provides a chart on page 210. We can also simply replace the ‘should’ word with equivalent words like ‘could’ or the phrase ‘it would be best if.’ These replacements do not have the condemning feature of rigidity and are more open, fluid and leave options open for unexpected events or situations. (Burns 210) We can use terms that are probabilistic rather than deterministic, ‘it would be nice if’ instead of ‘X should happen,’ to account for unexpected circumstances. (Burns 211) The anti-should method that Burns advocates is about testing the should statement by determining whether it fits reality or not. When we have the belief that we ‘should have done X,’ we are making the assumption that things were supposed to be a certain way and reminding us of the way things are supposed to be, by saying ‘should,’ is supposed to be helpful. Reality testing is opposite of ‘shoulding’ yourself: it involves that whatever you did was what you were supposed to do and telling yourself it was supposed to be otherwise is only hurtful. (Burns 211) If you do something, there are reasons or circumstances that led you to acting a certain way. Unless the reasons or circumstances change, why would your actions have been different? We act from habit and unless we change our habits, we are most likely going to act from them. To say we ‘should’ have acted differently, would mean that we would be going against the habit that we usually follow. If we have a pattern of behaving a certain way, imposing a different behaviour we are unlikely to have done is only making things harder for us. As long as we have the habit, we will continue to behave in that way. So expecting different behaviour is unrealistic unless our habits change. Burns states, “try to motivate yourself through rewards rather than punishment.” (213) Instead of using ‘should’ as a punishment, we can encourage ourselves to develop different habits. Burns gives the following argument: 1) Humans fuck up from time to time. 2) I am human 3) Therefore, I should fuck up from time to time. (214) Whenever we make a mistake, it's not helpful to criticize ourselves and feel guilty. Burns says developing “the proper attitude and feelings are key.” (214) If we believe we do not have control and we use ‘shoulds’ to compensate, our attitude and response to it is the problem. We can have a more realistic and constructive attitude like “even though I will make mistakes, I can be mindful of them and make an effort to develop stronger constructive habits that are in line with my goals.” (Aj) Buy the book here: https://a.co/d/89LT1Jq Read a brief summary of the book here: https://www.achillesjustice.com/post/feeling-good Burns, David. Feeling Good: The New Mood Therapy. Harper Publishing. New York, 1999. Feeling Good: The New Mood Therapy Mass Market Paperback – Dec 30 2008 © Achilles Atlas Justice and achillesjustice.com, 2018-23. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Achilles Atlas Justice and achillesjustice.com with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

Hello Philosophy Society! Discussion 1: Organizational Growth The participation of each member in the philosophy society is valuable and important. Each person has their own growth in learning the content, applying it in their own lives, communicating with other members in the group and learning how to present the information from their perspective to others. The group itself grows socially by each member having their own place within the context of others. Each person learns from each other and the group as a whole grows as everyone is exposed to similar information and shares that information with each other. The quality of information is determined by the user’s ability to integrate that information into their priori experience and apply that information in the present moment. All of the content in the philosophy society is chosen based on its usefulness in understanding the meaning of one’s life, practicing a prosocial orientation towards others, and its truth value. Learning how to coherently find the place of principles, facts and concepts is important as we use our critical thinking and scientifically minded principles. The philosophy society is based on training. Some people will have more skills developed than others. To be qualified is based on merit. Merit is determined by one’s commitment to their training. Your training is already taking place every moment your brain is processing information so being conscious and directing some of your attention and skill development will enhance the quality of your skills. Leaving skill development up to chance is akin to talent, it is not in your control and you ‘just have it.’ One who focuses on developing their skills towards a performance goal can be recognized as achieving something meaningful. They have exercised determination and focus to raise their skills to a level that others did not. Exercising self-control and making decisions to persevere through the ‘pain period’ of training is worth merit. One can prove their merit through demonstration. If you are good at something you can show us. What does it mean to be ‘good’ at the philosophy society? What kind of skills are necessary to begin or start your own group? First understanding why philosophy society groups are in existence is necessary. Social organization around the values of learning how to feel and think from a coherent, sound-minded perspective is essential. We want to make sense out of nonsense. Learning to bring your mind back together when you have lost it, is a mark of durable mental health. Mental illness occurs when you cannot bring your mind back together from experiences that are beyond your capacity. The philosophy society is the place where people gather to practice the philosophical skills to master their minds. These skills come from concepts and reasoning learned within the history of philosophy and the application of facts and concepts from the science of psychology. Anyone can facilitate a philosophy society group as long as they practice the skills outlined in its curriculum. The practice of these skills means that they necessarily accept when they are wrong and make efforts to correct their mistakes. This is a training process and to participate legitimately is to take part in that training from an active perspective. There are many roles involved in the philosophy society from planning and scheduling events, to event management and facilitation, to being a mediator and expert in the content being discussed. No one can dictate or demand that they have a position of authority unless their skills shown through demonstration prove that position. The main goal is to keep the group alive and growing based on the principles, values and skills outlined in its mandate. One person may begin doing some or all roles and give up responsibility to others who are more competent based on skill. Everyone has a place within the organizational structure based on effort, motivation, and skills. Being qualified is based on your ability to perform a task successfully, not the credentials you may or have been given. Critical Films: The Peaceful Warrior (Part 2.) This week we finished reading the dialogues between Socrates and Dan from the film. They can be found on the website: https://www.achillesjustice.com/post/peaceful-warrior. Dialogue 8: Realization of a Warrior (1:08:12 – 1:13:57) Dan is very upset about his accident and how his goals in life seem to be out of reach due to his physical injury. He begins to cry because he is so upset that the things that were most important to him he believes he cannot do anymore. He tells Socrates, “I don’t know what to do” and Socrates responds, “First realization of a warrior…not knowing.” The wisdom here is about courage. A warrior is one who uses courage and it is truly relevant when we are faced with the situation of the unknown. When we do not know, we psychologically can experience fear and anxiety. In those emotional states is where we evoke courage, the persistence to move forward and understand what is going on. Not allowing negative emotional states, like fear and anxiety, to stop us from pursuing our goals and dreams requires courage. The peaceful warrior is about fighting the weaknesses of the human condition in our pursuit to become our best self. Philosophically, the Oracle of Delphi stated that the Ancient Greek Socrates was the wisest person in Athens because he was not arrogant. Socrates believed ‘he knew nothing,’ and took a position of ignorance to develop his understanding of concepts and beliefs. From this position of ‘knowing nothing’ Socrates demonstrated the Socratic method, to inquire and ask questions based on the content of one’s dialogue or speech. It is important not to impose assumptions in being socratic and base our reasoning on the information given. Friedrich Nietzsche, a 20th century German philosopher, introduced the concept of Nihilism, not having any beliefs, moral principles or meaninglessness. In the process of deconstructing an unhealthy mind, the concept of Nihilism can help us identify with the process of deconstructing itself by allowing our identity to rest on the process of consciousness. Buddhism has a similar perspective with the acceptance of no self. In the film, Dan is in a state of dismay because of an unexpected event. Here, he can use the concepts of nihilism or no-self for his identity so that he can grow from this position. Accepting we do not know creates the space to build legitimate knowledge. Knowledge is known as something that is true, we believe it and can justify it. Accepting that we do not know takes courage. Simplifying believing something does not mean we know what we believe. If our belief is false or we cannot justify it, we would not know what we are talking about. In terms of cognitive distortions, we may have a distorted belief but it is not knowledge because the justification of that belief is not supported. When we evaluate our automatic thoughts for distortions, we are looking at the integrity of the justification for the thought. When we feel an unhealthy emotion, like depression, we can use our self-awareness to be mindful of the automatic thought then draw out the distorted thinking within it. We are looking for why this belief is not true because it is not justified and hence cannot be knowledge. We want to translate our distorted thinking to empowering or realistic beliefs that we can justify and are true. Knowledge: https://www.achillesjustice.com/post/knowledge-theaetetus In the film, Socrates responds to Dan who is feeling shameful that he is crying. He states that emotions are natural and like the passing weather. To have a better sense of not becoming consumed by our emotions and accepting them, we practice mindfulness meditation. It is important to not expect yourself to be perfect and not be emotional or catastrophize that you are emotional. When we feel emotions, it is important to be compassionate to ourselves for feeling things but at the same time make sense of those emotions. Dan responds by asking what someone is supposed to do when they cannot do what they are born to do. Socrates explains how everything in life has a purpose and it is up to us to figure out what it is. This is a fundamental factor in having meaning in life, that we establish a sense of coherence in our experience. We want everything to fit together and make sense. Some things are not in our control that are unexpected and seem to take us off track from our goals. It is important to determine firstly, what is in our control and what is not. Once we have a sense of that, we can focus our efforts on those things that are in our control. We want to make sure that our effort is not wasted and be mindful of the Pareto principle, the 80/20 rule: 80% of our results come from 20% of our effort. Determining what that 20% is can increase one’s effectiveness within control. Know thyself. Know your identity and do not know anything that gets in the way of who you are. Build and grow from what you are around what you are given based on the environmental conditions you have. Socrates then tells Dan to sit in the car until he has an insight worth sharing. Here, Socrates is instructing Dan to reflect. Plato wrote in his dialogue The Apology, “An unreflected life is not worth living.” (38a) It is important for us to know what happened, what we were in control of, and what we could have done differently. We determine this by reflecting. Nietzsche’s revaluation of values is another principle that is relevant in our reflections. https://www.achillesjustice.com/post/revaluation-of-v We want to reflect on our values, understand the priority of them and whether what we deem is important is actually contributing to our wellbeing or in line with our identity. Once we are aware of how our values affect our lives, we can change and modify them as necessary. The principle Socrates was interested in Dan reflecting on was the value for the present moment. He wanted Dan to discover this value on his own. In Dan’s time on the car reflecting, he comes to two important realizations. First, Dan states, “people who are the hardest to love are usually the ones who need it the most.” When someone is harmful to us, be understanding, compassionate and empathetic in response. Recapitulating the same negativity that others are expressing will only make matters worse. It is much better to respond constructively and be a role model for prosocial behaviour. At the same time do not tolerate others being abusive to you, respond assertively with boundaries and take space from them if necessary. After many hours, Dan comes to the realization that Socrates wanted him to remember. Dan says, “There is never nothing going on. There are no ordinary moments.” Socrates laughs in gratitude and welcomes Dan back to the present moment. It is from the present moment where we can deal with all issues that obstruct our purpose or goal. Therefore, it is in the present, via being mindful, can we become successful in that which is meaningful to us. Dialogue 9: Habit and Intuition (1:14:05 – 1:19:19) In this scene, Socrates rewards Dan by taking him to a bar for a drink and a cigar to celebrate his accomplishment of being in the present moment when he was at his lowest point. It can be difficult for us to be in the present when it is painful or difficult for us to accept. However, it is in these moments, when we are at our weakest, that it is the most important time for us to be aware and make a decision that will make things better. Incorrectly, Dan says that they can act this way because they are better than others. Socrates responds, ‘no, not better, for the same reason you cannot be less than others.’ We see this discussion of being better or less than others in Burn’s readings of self-esteem and deriving it from achievement. Socrates identifies that the problem is habit. The solution is being ‘conscious of your choices and responsible for your actions.’ This involves a sense of self-awareness and self-control. Dan responds that Socrates himself told him to listen to his own intuition. Socrates replies that maybe it is Dan’s intuition speaking to him. Here, the film gives the audience the idea that maybe Socrates is a figment of Dan’s imagination. Independent of the reality of Socrates’ existence, the wisdom he has embarked on Dan is the same. Here, there is a large element of Aristotle’s practical wisdom in learning how to act virtuously. As we are confronted with different situations, we learn how to apply the abstract concepts of different virtues, like courage, to solve the situation in the conduct of our actions. Dan is vomiting due to a bit too much alcohol. Socrates reminds him that ‘Every action has its price and pleasure, recognizing both sides the warrior becomes..realistic and responsible for their actions.’ This principle is consequentialist meaning that we determine how ethical an action is based on the consequences from that action. Socrates comments on an attitude towards death as a transformation. Humans have existential angst when it comes to thinking about death. End of life anxiety leads to belief in religion, god and the afterlife in the form of terror management. Humans can in some ways control how they die by living a healthy life and avoiding preventable diseases or physical injury. Until we develop technology to prolong the physical body, cure illness, or upload our consciousness to some form of computer, it is best to focus on how we live rather than be anxious about what happens after. This goes back to the previous concept Socrates communicated, “Death isn’t sad. The sad thing is most people don’t live at all.” It is up to us to focus our attention, as much as we can on the present moment through mindfulness. Dialogue 10: Find the Love (1:20:56 – 1:23:36) Dan and Socrates are sitting on his couch having some tea. Socrates tells Dan that when he feels fear, that is the time to ‘use the sword and cut the mind to ribbons.” Anything that keeps one from the moment, the past or future, is irrelevant. To be immersed totally in the present is not realistic. At moments it is important for us to reflect and plan for the future. However, most of our time can be spent observing and experiencing what is happening in the now. We can use Burns’ distortion checklist to remove any unrealistic automatic thoughts, apply our critical thinking skills and enhance our motivation. Dan is ready to commit himself to the same value that Socrates communicates at the beginning of the film; a higher purpose of service to others. Socrates responds by telling Dan to continue his training as a gymnast. Dan is shocked in disbelief, showing Socrates the large scar on his leg saying that a piece of metal is holding it together. Socrates says, “Warrior does not give up on what he loves, he finds the love in what he does.” The ultimate service to others is being our best self. Each person has their own unique identity and purpose that will contribute to humanity overall. In our interactions with others we can be good to them as a form of indirect service as we pursue our own goals. From a phenomenological, conscious, perspective, being good to the self is #1. Through our self awareness we can see ourselves as an other and service to all selves, including our own is important. We take a fundamental priority over our autonomous self over external selves. Socrates tells Dan that the warrior is not about perfection, victory or invulnerability, but absolute vulnerability which is the only true courage. It is important to be mindful of the ‘should’ distortion and creating unrealistic standards. Being realistic about the nature of learning and training gives us an opportunity for growth no matter what happens to us. We have the decision to take what happens in our experience and make the best of it. This means we embrace our mistakes by being self-aware of them. Applying our Aristotelian virtue of courage and the development of our practical wisdom in applying it within specific situations is fundamental. Dan complains that he had an accident as if it was a permanent obstruction to the pursuit of his goals. Socrates responds quickly by saying that the accident is his training, “life is choice, you can choose to be a victim or anything else.” The narrative we frame our experience matters. We can have an internal or external locus of control in how we interpret events in our lives. With an internal locus of control, we are able to take responsibility for what we can change and make a difference in directing our experience towards our goals. That which is out of our control is a training exercise. We can embrace what happens to us and overcome obstructions as an opportunity for growth. Dan shockingly asks if he is supposed to ignore what happened to him. Socrates responds by identifying that a warrior acts, whereas a fool reacts. Action is intentional whereas a reaction is an unconscious response and not of one’s volition, free will or agency. Dan anxiously wonders if he is able to be successful and Socrates reminds him that thought is future orientated and irrelevant. This is also the distortion of jumping to conclusions, the fortune teller error. Dan asks how to start and Socrates responds, “There is no starting or stopping, only doing.” There is a state of being that Socrates is directing Dan towards. There is no starting or stopping what you are, there only ‘is.’ Be what you are. Training is a consciously directed way of being. There is a lack of procrastination in this attitude and helpful as a realistic cognition. Dialogue 11: Suffering (1:30:17 – 1:33:56) After Dan’s epic training montage, he approaches his coach in anticipation that he has regained his strength after his accident. His coach does not share the same sentiment, viewing his presence at the gym and informs him that he denied his request to compete again. Socrates reminds Dan that suffering is fundamental to the human condition and whether we get or not get what we desire, we suffer either way. If we don’t get what we want, we are disappointed with not achieving our desired outcome. If we do get what we want, we suffer because it does not last. This principle is discussed in Buddhism’s four noble truths that life is based on impermanence and hence the root of our suffering. Socrates tells Dan that it does not matter what his coach thought and no one is necessary for him to do what he loves but himself. He tells Dan how the craving is the problem that prevents him from being happy, “If I only had it I would be happy. Can’t you hear that?” Dan is confused, responding that our dreams cannot be bad. Socrates replies that it is not your dreams that you surrender, but control over what happens to you. Regardless of what happens you are an exceptional person. Burns would be in agreement that our value as a person is independent of what happens to us. The distinction between process and outcome orientation is very relevant here. If we attach value to the outcome, we can suffer unnecessarily if we do not achieve that outcome. If we attach ourselves to the process, it is within our control and we will not create unnecessary suffering. What we are doing is what produces value, not the results. It is important not to allow the outcome to affect our self esteem or the value we have for ourselves. The ‘should’ distortion can come up in the context of us telling ourselves we should achieve a specific outcome. Essentially, the warrior does what he loves. When you do what you love, you are fighting for yourself. Only you can live for you. Living in the fear of failure is a problem of the ‘jumping to conclusions’ distortion, fortune telling, and catastrophizing. Dialogue 12: Paradox, Humour and Change (1:34:17 – 1:37:10) Socrates takes Dan on a hike to teach him his last lesson. On the way, he reveals the three main principles of his philosophy. The first is paradox: life is a paradox so there is no point in trying to figure it out. This perspective is a way of giving up and not needed to accept. This is stated within Buddhist teachings and the point is because our suffering does not come from understanding the metaphysical workings of the cosmos. Suffering is derived from desire and attachment therefore that is where one’s well being will be increased. Meaning in life can be achieved by establishing a significant purpose that is coherent with one’s narrative and identity. Overcoming trauma has this within it as an effective treatment. We have a responsibility to put things in place with our relationships in the context of coherence. Our social relationships can either give us great support or problems making them a priority for our development. The second principle that Socrates tests Dan on is humor which is a form of self-love. Do what makes you feel good as an activity which is different from goals you may be planning productively. Learning to feel good is important in contrast to focusing on one’s goals. If we do not feel good or become ill, we will never have the means, ourselves, to get to our goals. We can do this by building emotional energy throughout our activities and create a positive emotional disposition. It is important to be mindful to not disqualify the positive as a distortion. The third principle that Socrates embarks on Dan is change. The concept of impermanence from Buddhism is clear here. Dan recognizes that nothing stays the same. Socrates then tells Dan that they have arrived at their destination and points to the rock beside Dan’s foot. Dan is distraught, expecting something fabulous upon his arrival and disappointed to see what Socrates has to show him. Before he knew what the outcome was, he was excited and after he knew he was unsatisfied. Socrates says, “sorry you're not happy anymore.” Dan recognizes that life is a journey and it is the journey that brings us happiness, not the destination. Ultimately, all of our destinations is death. It is living that brings us happiness. Enjoying the moment by not being aware of the finitude of our existence and making sure we do not take life for granted. We can take time to appreciate things we value and be grateful for what exists. We can develop a sound principle within our experience to appreciate life even though there will be moments of frustration or sadness. With sound principles, we can always guide ourselves back to the perspective of appreciation. Dialogue 13: The Final Qualifier (1:43:21 – 1:45:17) Dan is now at the final qualifier for the olympics. His friend Tommy is astonished at Dan’s ability to recover from his accident and perform better than he did before it happened. Dan tells Tommy how the thoughts he is having are the reason why he is unable to perform to the best of his ability. It is important to not focus on the outcome but be in the moment, and not be directed by the approval of others. Dialogue 14: This Moment (1:48:24 – 1:48:39) As Dan is upside down, performing his triple flip, he hears Socrates speaking to him in his mind. Where are you? Here What time is it? Now What are you? This moment. Dan has learned the wisdom of the peaceful warrior and how to be present in the moment. https://www.achillesjustice.com/post/peaceful-warrior Whatsapp Chat: Discussion Summary The evidence I have provided shows that psychedelics, LSD, MDMA, Psilocybin and Ketamine, have all shown that there is empirical evidence though studies that they do. It is not just anecdotal evidence that they help with addictions, depression, PTSD, etc. In terms of dosage, as long as you do not overdose then you are okay. There may be minimum requirements for dosage but even in the evidence provided, microdosing has a positive effect. A large part of the benefits for mental health is in what you do while under the influence. If you are using the drug to avoid your problems then it may not help in contrast to going into the memories and experiencing them anew and being able to disconnect yourself from the negative ruminating thoughts associated with them. The risks for LSD had been largely overstated because at the time people were going against the vietnam war. LSD promotes free thinking in contrast to conformity so it was against the political agenda at the time. In one of the studies referenced they quote the policy maker at the time saying that they knew that the reason they legislated against LSD was due to the political agenda, not necessarily any negative risks associated with the drug. Ketamine does have problems of being addictive and needs to be used with caution. It is important that these drugs are decriminalized so that we can better understand their limitations in controlled settings so that we know what proportions and frequencies they can be used safely. When we use the perspective that psychedelics are ‘spiritual’ than what research shows what do we mean by that? In the sense that we believe in a non-material reality that science is inaccessible to but our spirit can access through the drugs? The reason that drug studies have dependent and independent variables is so we can make sure any effects that the person is experiencing is from the drug. This methodology is important so that we do not have the third variable problem. When determining causality, A caused B, we need to isolate the factors affecting the causal nature of B. We want to make sure that some other factor, C, did not cause it. For example, if someone is doing different kinds of MDMA, variation in the chemical structure due to how it was made, we cannot conclude with certainty that certain results in a population are due to the variance or MDMA in general. When we standardize the drug, meaning they all come from the same batch, then we can conclude that any variance in effects is not due to differences in the kinds of MDMA the participants are taking. Controlling every factor in an experiment is the only way we can conclude, with certainty causation. This is how experiments are done. If we do not control for these outcomes, then we cannot say that A caused B because it could have been something else. In the case of the synthetic psilocybin, that is a criticism for the use of the synthetic drug instead of a naturally occurring substance. We can argue that this specific study you are mentioning lacks external validity because it is not representative of the actual drug people would use in the real world. At the same time, isolating these three psychoactive substances is useful so that we can determine what effects they have. It can be difficult to distill out what does what when there are many factors at play. If we can take one factor at a time then we can understand what their effects are in isolation to produce a better understanding overall. There is a difference between ‘tripping out’ for entertainment, like getting drunk to have fun, and using psychedelics to heal trauma or recover from alcoholism or nicotine addiction. If we decriminalize or legalize psychedelics, then this in either case would not be a problem. Colonialism is a social phenomena that has occurred throughout history whereby a nation in power occupies and dominates over a geographical area, taking the land from the indigenous people of that area. This has nothing to do with science. Science is an abstract concept that helps humans understand their experience, their environment and nature. Even if colonialism never occurred, science would have been developed because it has nothing to do with, for example, the British coming to North america. Colonialism is a historical and political fact not a criticism against the validity of science. Science can and is done by people of all cultures who wish to use it to understand the cosmos. Science is not limited to people from a specific ethnic background. If we go far back enough, no cultures had science. Science, as a methodology and an institutional practice, can be used by anyone who participates in it. The feeling of anxiety from doing mushrooms is normal. While doing mushrooms you are most likely going to process and experience negative emotions. Part of the reason to do the drug is to help with that. Mushrooms help in the processing of these feelings so experiencing them is part of the growth and healing process. Determining that 40% felt anxiety is important to know but not to judge the drug negatively about. This is where philosophizing comes to help. It is important to understand and know how to contextualize the information determined in studies. Only through experience as a practical skill can one have a sense of what these things mean. We would have to do a study where people who felt anxiety were also with an expert who can guide them through it and determine how much growth or recovery they achieved after the experience. Learning how to judge and interpret our results is just as important as the means we use to gather the results. We would have to look at what you mean by psychosis. During certain psychedelic experiences you may hallucinate. Visual hallucinations could be considered psychosis if you believe they are real. For example, people that do DMT may be engaged in psychosis if they believe that the awakening experiences they have are real, when it is really being induced by the drug. Not sure about the ‘feminine entity’ behind mushrooms. Mushrooms help the brain connect neural pathways that bypass the rumination and DNS system. This means that you can process information from different parts of your brain that you usually would not be able to when you are not on mushrooms. Sometimes we can be stuck in certain ways of doing things or remembering experiences and mushrooms help us take a different perspective that allows us to grow in a healthier way. The phenomenal perspective is not meant to replace the chemicals interacting with your brain. This is the qualia/phenomenal vs chemical difference in explanation. Depending on the phenomena we are talking about, whether it is subjective experience or the chemistry of the brain, we use different conceptual analysis to make sense of it. Some information is lost when we reduce or transfer information from one level of explanation to another. But that does not invalidate each tier of explanation. It is simply a different perspective of the same thing. If you want the phenomenal perspective, you simply have to do it. Reading a book about roller coasters is not the same as going on one, that doesn't mean the story of the roller coaster is wrong. They are different ways to understand or know a thing. We have moved on from logical positivism, which is to confirm that something exists through positing via observation, to falsification from Karl Popper. From popper we have advanced to Kuhn’s criteria of adequacy to evaluate different modes of explanation and theory. Observing information is the one step to developing a scientific theory and understanding. But as we have discussed before, there are problems in observation. Science does its best to correct the problems of observation. Quantitative and qualitative research are both important. Doing surveys, a qualitative research method, is useful to develop a self-report correlation. But there are problems with self-report and correlations. We can then use a qualitative research method, like a case study, to further explore what the meaning of the participant’s experience is. We can make an effort to rule out things that are flaws in self-report like embellishment or lying. Whenever we use words to convey information, we are using propositional knowledge. If we use propositional knowledge, we are subject to the rules of reason. Otherwise we would be demanding or coercing the other people to accept what we are saying as true. That is not philosophical or ethical. We want reason because it allows us to teach each other about the other forms of knowing. At the same time, we may need to accept that what we believed we may not actually know and this is where communicating to others is actually a test for us to determine the quality of what we think we know. We can have objective observations and use science to better understand our subjective experiences. We live in a phenomenal world from our first person experience. Science and its methods are not meant to replace that. It is not meant to replace our experience and mastery in our lives. Science is meant like another form of perception, like a new set of eyes, that we can use like an x-ray vision to understand even clearer what is going on in our experience and the cosmos. Double blind trials are important because of the biases we are susceptible to in psychological experimentation. If the researcher knows who is getting the active drug, they have been shown to influence how they interact with those participants, by saying subtle things that indicate they are getting the drug, which influences the results of the study. We know that the placebo effect is quite dramatic and recent studies have shown that anti-depressant drugs are about just as good as placebos. The fact that you know you are taking treatment, that belief, is powerful enough to create improvements. This means that if we do not do double blind studies, we will never know if the experimenter is biasing the results or if the placebo effect is the cause. Double blind trials are one of the methodological steps to ensure that our results are valid, which means that the test measures what it says it is measuring and not something else. Testimonials or self-report have some usefulness. They can be administered quickly, to a lot of people, and cheaply. But there are problems like the expectancy effect, people will try to answer what they think you want them to, even with good intentions. People will want to ‘help out’ the research team and give them the results they want. This is why the researchers usually will not tell the participants what they are actually studying. Another problem with testimonials or self-report is the self-serving bias. People basically will tend to say that they are really good at things and above average. The assumption that humans are all similar is an issue of sampling, not the double blind methodology. In sampling, we want to know the effects on the general population. What is the percentage of people that respond to drug X in a positive or negative way? This is why statistics are useful and the sampling issue is a limitation in self-report, survey, quantitative methods. This is why having a multi-dimensional approach to research is important. We want to do both quantitative and qualitative research. Take a survey of a large sample size that is randomized, do some case studies, and clinical, experimental, trials. The current methodology is always improving. Science as we know it is only a few hundred years old. It is important to realize that living one’s life, being spiritual, and philosophy are different from science. Science is a measuring tool that helps us understand nature and our experience. It is not meant to replace our experience. Philosophy, as means to ask questions and understand things, is important to use to criticize science and its practices so that we can make them better. Indigenous people who discover something have just as much opportunity to use science as someone who has traveled the world. Being from the geographical land does not necessarily give you insight into the cosmos more than anyone else. There may be indigenous values and traditions that are particular to each group but we are all human no matter where we come from. All humans that use their mind to understand nature have the capacity to be scientific. The brain has evolved to understand the environment we need to survive in. We do have the capacity to determine reality from non-reality. Psychosis is the inability to know what is real and is seen in schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders. If you are speaking of Kant’s noumena, then yes, we always perceive our world through the eyes of a human and not the thing in itself. But humans that do not suffer from psychosis are able to determine what is objectively real. I have written a paper on Kant’s Objective Reality here: https://www.achillesjustice.com/post/objective-reality. A valid belief system is one that corresponds to reality. Having feelings about something does not mean those things are real. Psychosis is not a wonderful teacher and is very dangerous. Psychosis leads most people who suffer from it homeless and they cannot meet their basic needs. Being delusional, meaning having beliefs that do not correspond to reality or are unreasonable, is another symptom of mental illness. Vapassina does not condone psychosis or delusional thinking. “Vipassana, which means to see things as they really are” and is one of the founding schools of thought for mindfulness. https://www.dhamma.org/en/index. © Achilles Atlas Justice and achillesjustice.com, 2018-23. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Achilles Atlas Justice and achillesjustice.com with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.