The discoveries of these 4 great thinkers have changed my life — I hope they do the same for you
The discoveries of these four thinkers have a similar message that runs through them:
You matter, perhaps more than you’ll ever know.
They have directly helped me:
- Shed anxiety.
- Gain self knowledge.
- Take my ideas and feelings seriously.
- Find comfort in massive uncertainty.
- Face and subvert attacks from others.
- Fight the hardest battle against each of our final enemies- ourselves.
- It’s my hope that they provide the same, and more, for you.
1. Alice Miller
Wikimedia Commons"Genuine forgiveness does not deny anger but faces it head-on."
An entry point into Miller's discoveries might be that she:
Taught how to explore, understand, and study your personal history as a child. This has always been an area where we’re told to not look, as it doesn’t matter. But examining this area is crucial in order to gain compassion for yourself, learn to love yourself, understand others, and find and connect more deeply with those you love (or want to love).
Her work is also central in encountering and coming to terms with anger and aggression. Society would have us believe that these are base emotions, never to be encountered and if you ever feel them, then something is wrong with you.
In reality, these are often the starting point of self knowledge and accurate thought. To build a more peaceful world, the individual must come to terms with, and transmute, that aggression.
Two of her recommend works to start with are:
One of the ideas that illuminates the reason so much of the world is trapped in a dystopia is childism. The fact that this isn’t considered a word or real “ism” is a strong reason to support this idea.
The horrible truth of her works is that nobody cares about you as much as you must learn to care for yourself. Nobody will have the enthusiasm you need. Nobody will have the patience with you that you must develop for yourself.
In a way, it’s the most invisible “ism” that plagues us, causing violence and strife, but the spotlight on evil never seems to start with childhood where it’s often perpetrated. Alice Miller offers an incredible micro analysis of this, and for a macro analysis, I’d recommend the work of Rene Girard.
2. Joseph Campbell
By Joan Halifax - flickr_url: [1], CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=17242629Jordan is a psychologist, writer, and professor of psychology.
His work helps turn the discoveries of everyone we’ve mentioned before into practical steps that anyone can take to help heal themselves. You can’t find meaning if you start by working to improve everyone else in the world.
Meaning only arrives when you begin to work on yourself, and Peterson’s work offers you step by step instructions, and helps remind you of truths you know, but forgot. Plato said that all learning is remembering, and Peterson’s work helps accelerate this anamnesis or remembering.
Instead of viewing the modern society and culture as simply unjust or a lie, his work helps show exactly how to stop complaining and start improving it.
“I don’t think that you have any insight whatsoever into your capacity for good until you have some well-developed insight into your capacity for evil.”
“If you fulfill your obligations everyday you don’t need to worry about the future.”
― Jordan B. Peterson
Two entry points into his works are his free book, Maps of Meaning and his video lectures on YouTube.
3. Carl Jung
Associated Press“Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes.”
Carl was a Swiss psychiatrist and psychoanalyst who founded analytical psychology.
His work is deep, and a careful expedition into it quickly leads you to a dark sea where you may stumble onto a startling truth that you contain multitudes.
Exploring his work will help you internalize the idea that YOU matter, and that there is a hidden purpose and reason for who you are and where you’re at, and that with hard work, you can find it.
You, your inner world, and perhaps the collective unconscious are all far more interesting than any garbage currently circulating on the news or masquerading as entertainment. Your thoughts will become filled with meaning the moment you think they are.
Two of his recommended readings include:
His autobiography and Modern Man in Search of a Soul.
If you want to go deeper past Jung, you might be crazy, so be careful! But for a starting place, I’d recommend Terence McKenna.
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