Einzelgänger

How to Reduce the Pain of Life | Arthur Schopenhauer The nineteenthcentury German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer observed that nature is driven by an allencompassing force, which he called Will, or more specifically, the WillToLive. This force is unconscious, aimless, and blind, and gives rise to an insatiable striving within human beings. We live our lives grasping, craving, and attaching oursel...

Let It Go, Ride the Wind | The Taoist Philosophy of Lieh Tzu Taoism for Inner Peace (book): https://einzelganger.co/tao/The Lieh Tzu contains many stories with philosophical themes like the nature of reality, the purpose of life, and the workings of the mind. One theme that runs like a thread through this ancient scripture is the tendency of human beings to stand in their own way and thereby sabot...

Let Go of the Past (Marcus Aurelius) Marcus Aurelius stated that the past “signifies as much as nothing and is at present indifferent.” It’s not that events that have happened in the past don’t influence the present or that we cannot learn from past events. It’s just that we cannot work with the past, as it’s out of our reach. And often, our memories of the past are scrambled, and ways to verify w...

The feeling of wanting to leave everything behind... Where does this urge to leave everything behind come from? And is packing our stuff and starting somewhere afresh actually a smart move? Is there anything profound and meaningful about changing location, or is it just a means to escape discontent? Video: The feeling of wanting to leave everything behindSupport the channel: ✔️ PayPal: https://www...

What You Resist, Persists (The Mental Control Paradox) When we fall prey to the Mental Control Paradox, we experience that the more we try to control our thinking, the less successful we are in doing so. We’ve explored the experiment of the pink elephant a couple of times, showing how difficult it is not to think consciously about a pink elephant. So, when it comes to mental control, we could say:...

How to Stop Hating Yourself Why do we hate ourselves? Is there any good in selfhatred? And how can we break free from it? This video explores selfhatred. Video: How to Stop Hating YourselfSupport the channel: ✔️ Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/einzelgangster ✔️ PayPal: https://www.paypal.me/einzelgangerco ✔️ Bitcoin: 3HQnEz1LQ4G6dqN2LdZgzc7qoJjJCyWjTC (Donated BTC and want in the credits? Send me...

How To Maximize Misery | The 4 Stoic Sins Virtue is the path to a happy life. One can characterize Stoic virtue by its instrumental as well as noninstrumental value, meaning that Stoics don’t act for personal gain, but rather to benefit the whole, even if this includes the rejection of pleasure and the endurance of pain. However, at the same time, this way of life leads to eudaimonia, and thus, li...

Nihilism: Embracing the Void of Existence Why are we here? What are we supposed to do? What’s the goal? What’s the meaning of all this? Without Christianity to guide us, the West now faces a void - a nothingness. If there’s no God to guide us, no Afterlife to suffer for, and no divine purpose, then what’s the point of living? Even though Nietzsche was highly critical of Christianity (seeing it as...

Stop Wanting, Start Accepting | The Philosophy of Marcus Aurelius Stoicism for Inner Peace (book): https://einzelganger.co/innerpeaceAlthough he never considered himself a philosopher, Marcus Aurelius’ writings have become one of the most significant ancient Stoic scriptures. His ‘Meditations’ contain a series of notes to himself based on Stoic ideas, one of which is embracing fate and living conf...

2 Hours of Stoic Wisdom | A Journey to Inner Peace and Tranquility Einzelgänger's original Stoic video essays (volume 1) compiled into an audiobook, with calming music and nature sounds for reflection and relaxation. I have to credit my mother, a professional photographer who took most of the nature shots in this video. Books: (affiliate links): 📖 The Urge: Fall of a Stoic: https://amzn.to/3Yc77K...

How to Overcome Yourself | Nietzsche’s Superman Nietzsche’s concept of the Superman (or Übermensch) is one of his most famous and controversial ideas, as it goes vastly against normative perceptions of what’s good and evil. Nevertheless, the Superman is an ideal human being that Nietzsche believed we should all strive to become. This video explores Nietzsche’s philosophy and the concept of the Sup...

Letting Someone Go | Taoism for Broken Hearts Taoism for Inner Peace (book): https://einzelganger.co/tao/The philosophy of Taoism revolves around letting go, accepting, yielding, and going with the flow. All Taoist sages seem to agree that it’s better to be detached and indifferent, allow change to happen, and move along with life’s constant transformations than to resist change and cling to what’...

Why Not Needing People is Great Not needing people can be a blessing. No matter where we look, when people come together, there’s always some form of turmoil, be it gossip, bullying, people antagonizing each other, or fights. When people depend on each other, it’s the unfortunate part of the deal. But if we don’t need these people, we don’t have to tolerate their behavior; we don’t have to bear th...

Why Optimism Makes Us Sad | Are We Better Off Being Pessimists? Generally, people praise the optimistic mindset, and research suggests that optimism helps us reduce stress and depressive symptoms. Hence, optimism seems to be a healthy coping mechanism for dealing with the future when looking at the scientifically proven benefits. But does optimism also have downsides? Can some forms of optimism ev...

The Cheaper Your Pleasures, The Richer You’ll Be | Minimalist Philosophy Check out my novel The Urge: Fall of a Stoic: https://einzelganger.co/urgeHow can we be satisfied without cost? How can we be wealthy with only the bare minimum? Several philosophers of the past shed their light on questions like these. And, according to some, the cheaper your pleasures, the richer you'll be. This video explo...

Why Vulnerability is Power | Priceless Benefits of Being Vulnerable What if vulnerability is not a weakness but an act of courage that could lead us to reach goals, overcome fears, and make genuine connections? Video: You're not a weakass for showing who you areSupport the channel: ✔️ PayPal: https://www.paypal.me/einzelgangerco ✔️ Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/einzelgangster ✔️ Bitcoin: 3HQnEz...

Nihilism: The belief in nothing Einzelgänger explores a wide range of topics and ideas, with a dose of "as I see it," out of curiosity and creative urge. Einzelgänger is under the supervision of the Dutch Regulatory Media Authority (Commissariaat voor de Media).*Disclaimer: The material provided by Einzelgänger isn't a clinical/medical service or replacement of mental health professionals, nor an...

The More You Try, The Worse You Feel | On Mood Swings Mood swings can be very unpleasant. And when extreme, they can severely impact our quality of life. But where do these changing emotional states come from? And what can we do about them? Support the channel: ✔️ PayPal: https://www.paypal.me/einzelgangerco ✔️ Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/einzelgangster ✔️ Bitcoin: 3HQnEz1LQ4G6dqN2LdZgzc7qoJj...

Signs of a Toxic Friend | Buddhist Philosophy But whether or not a friend is toxic can be challenging to determine, especially when we’re attached to this friend. For a significant part, whether someone’s behavior is desirable or not is pretty subjective. Also, people are rarely entirely bad; most (if not all) human beings have positive sides as well. So, how do we decide if a friend is actually a...

The Philosophy of the Sith | An Examination of the Dark Side (Star Wars) The Sith are the main villains of one of the most influential movie franchises: Star Wars. What’s the difference between the Sith and the Jedi? What resemblances do we find between Sith philosophy and established philosophical ideas? And can we use Sith philosophy in our daily lives? This video explores the philosophy of the...

How to Simplify Your Life | Minimalist Philosophy Modern life is cluttered with stuff, social connections, ideas, and stimuli. Worries and wishes fill our minds, and we’re always restless because we fail to distinguish the forest from the trees. When immersed in complexity, it’s difficult to see the essential. “The ability to simplify means to eliminate the unnecessary so that the necessary may sp...

Can Money Buy Happiness? Yes, According to Philosophy & Science Money makes the world go round. Aside from an extreme minority, we all need money to live our lives. But there are differences in how we handle money and how we experience its value. Some get by with little, and others are perpetual squanderers. Some are perfectly content earning a modest salary supporting their frugal lifestyles; oth...

What You Try to Control, Controls You | The Paradox of Control Taoism for Inner Peace (book): https://einzelganger.co/tao/The ‘paradox of control’ attempts to show that the more we try to control external circumstances, the less in control we are as we try to control something we cannot. And so, as a consequence of our attempts to impose control over a situation, it may eventually turn out for the...

The Power of 'No' It’s a short simple word: ‘no’.But for some people, it’s extremely difficult to use nonetheless. Especially socalled ‘people pleasers’ have difficulties saying ‘no’ to the people they intend to please. Which is a shame, because the ability to say ‘no’ not only helps us to not do things that we don’t want to do; it’s also a deciding factor whether or not we’re able to commit to a...

This world is a mess… and Nietzsche saw it coming. Nietzsche's Overman: https://youtu.be/Gaj7WX7tDIsThis video explores Nietzsche’s prediction of a nihilist world, if his warning was justified, and the current mess we’re dealing with. Video: This world is a mess… and Nietzsche saw it coming. Support the channel: ✔️ PayPal: https://www.paypal.me/einzelgangerco ✔️ Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/ei...