The Laughing Philosopher's Podcast

“Life is complicated with serious challenges. Growth and change are a response to challenges. We begin to live by not running away from the very things you should be running toward.”

“We are living through Vico’s final stage of history, the age of the individual. This will lead to a war of all against all, barbarism, and the self-destruction of society.”

“The Golden Rule is a sensible path to follow to be a good person. But which one? Positive or negative? Jesus or Confucius?”

“When you’re 80, you will regret that you didn’t love more, forgive more, and dream more.”

“Should you fear God? How does death feel? How does eternity feel? Is life too short? In death, what can you take with you? Is it normal to think about death?”

“Why should you go on living? What is the purpose of life? Is there another kind of life after death? Is your fear of death real or imaginary?"

“A divine being that is all-knowing, all-good, and all-powerful would not write a book. And if God wrote a book, then God is not a god.”

“You don’t know what you want because your desires are fleeting and impermanent. Forcing your life to fit your desires is like forcing your head to fit your hat. You will only hurt yourself.”

“If you don’t know why you need it and you just want more of what can’t make you happy and what you already have enough of, then perhaps you don’t really want it.”

“Life’s most precious possessions are not found by striving, but by waiting. Waiting gives space to the unexpected that it needs to happen.”

“Yes, 2 plus 2 can only equal 4. But not only 2 plus 2 can equal 4, just as there is more than one right way to happiness. Start by not looking for it.”

“You are at war with yourself. Your personality is home to two warring egos, one is evil and imprisoned in the shadows, and the other is good and free in the light. Inside sanity is madness.”

“Life’s most precious gifts are not found by searching and struggling, but by waiting. Surfers don’t make waves. They just wait, and the waves come to them.”

“Why is fast good and slow bad? Why is new good and old bad? Why is forward good and backward bad? Why is tomorrow good and yesterday bad?”

“Are you afraid of who you really are? Do you fear life? Do you fear death? Are you afraid of being afraid? Fear not!”

“Do you fear freedom, conformity, individuality, personhood, or parenthood? Fear not!”

“Our mind deceives us. What we refer to as the present is really the past. Prayer is unnecessary, since even before we pray, our prayers already have been answered.”

“In a game, winning is everything. But how does one win at life? The game of life is filled with suffering, the future is uncertain, and things just happen for no reason.”

“Solipsism is so convincing, there should be more solipsists. What you think, becomes. Nothing exists separate from the awareness it appears within. You are the only consciousness that you can be sure of. For all practical purposes, you are God.”

“What must you do to be a good person? You cannot apply one ancient rule to everything that happens to you, no matter how golden it is. Figuring out right from wrong is complicated. It’s up to you. Do nothing that does not agree with your reason, wisdom, and experience.”

“Do you live in a just world? Is your life fair or unfair? We must believe in a just world or life is not worth living. Yet, it is nonsense to ask questions that lie outside the world as these are unaskable and unanswerable.”

“Time passes differently as we age. Time seems to pass more slowly when we are young and speed up as we enter adulthood. Why, and what is the effect on human behavior and on how we choose to live?”

“It is better to roll the stone up a hill only for it to roll down every time it nears the top, than to just stop pushing. Surrender and be unhappy, or suffer with purpose and be happy!”

“Human behavior happens for no reason. So, to appear logical and rational, your life is either/or and must be either half-full or half-empty, good or evil, happy or unhappy.”

“Truth is not determined by the individual, by many people, or by most people. It is not what we don’t dream or make up, or what is left after we go away. Belief is easy, but truth is hard.”