Crossing the Rubicon
We may sometimes feel confident enough to cross a line beyond which there is no return. But what is the actual relation between confidence and success? Can we r...
Author: Ludvig
The Flame of Life
While contemplating the incredible accomplishments of the Roman leaders who had fought for the Republic throughout its history, Sallust wrote that there was a &...
The Strangeness of Tenochtitlan
The Aztec capital, Tenochtitlan, was built on a series of islands in what was once a huge lake in the Valley of Mexico. The first time the Spanish saw the city,...
The Limits of Conscious Awareness
The Ancient Greek temple of Apollo at Delphi had an inscription in its forecourt that read γνῶθι σεαυτόν meaning “know thyself.” The inscription implies that mo...
On Vulnerability
In his book A Fragile Life, the philosopher Todd May offers a highly interesting perspective on the different schools of thought at the heart of Stoicism, Buddh...
On Temperance
For the ancient Greeks, sôphrosune (σωφροσύνη) or temperance was a key virtue. The ancients understood that our emotions and desires can be excessive, and that ...
Slave of the Passions
Can we really trust our emotions? The world seems full of people who end up tortured by their feelings. Can’t we just get rid of all that anger and sadnes...
Two Modes of Living
There is likely no experience more human than that of feeling trapped by one’s circumstances. How people deal with this experience seems to vary enormousl...
Learning from the Extreme
When he was fourteen years old, the Norwegian painter Edvard Munch witnessed the death of his older sister Sophie from tuberculosis, at a time when there was no...
The Evolution of Mediocrity
Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution has for a long time been the most widely accepted secular explanation for how living organisms change over time. In t...