Eric DodsonTable of Contents: 0:28 - Philosophy's project: Love of Wisdom 1:51 - Wisdom is often born in our shadows 3:16 - When knowledge and intelligence aren't enough 6:22 - There are many paths toward wisdom 8:15 - The big questions of life 9:48 - Our world's imbalance: Fixating on the trivial 11:28 - Paradox: It would take wisdom to realize that we lack wisdom 12:52 - Why government & politics won't make us wise 14:00 - Why education won't make us wise 14:53 - Critical thinking... and what's wrong with the world 17:01 - Taking responsibility for the quality of our lives 18:35 - The art of allowing 19:53 - The only way our world changes... is when we ourselves change 21:01 - Well... why not?
Philosophy and Love of Wisdom: A DefenseEric Dodson2020-02-26 | Table of Contents: 0:28 - Philosophy's project: Love of Wisdom 1:51 - Wisdom is often born in our shadows 3:16 - When knowledge and intelligence aren't enough 6:22 - There are many paths toward wisdom 8:15 - The big questions of life 9:48 - Our world's imbalance: Fixating on the trivial 11:28 - Paradox: It would take wisdom to realize that we lack wisdom 12:52 - Why government & politics won't make us wise 14:00 - Why education won't make us wise 14:53 - Critical thinking... and what's wrong with the world 17:01 - Taking responsibility for the quality of our lives 18:35 - The art of allowing 19:53 - The only way our world changes... is when we ourselves change 21:01 - Well... why not?Why is life so hard?Eric Dodson2023-06-16 | 0:00 – Why does it have to be this way? 0:54 – Born to a tragic lot 1:42 – Our cosmological suppositions 3:05 – What's making life so hard? 4:00 – Hell on Earth... and human history 6:18 – The problem of self-awareness 8:50 – The problem of responsibility 11:16 – Politics & false empowerment 13:33 – The problem of authenticity 16:19 – Wisdom and expanded consciousness 18:07 – A final benedictionViolence and MeaningEric Dodson2023-05-22 | 0:00 – The emptiness of our souls 0:59 – The problem with political “solutions” 2:16 – The nature of meaning 3:10 – Creating a sense of purpose 4:20 – Violence as a failure of meaning 5:19 – Psychological abundance vs. destitution 7:02 – Meaning in our 2-dimensional world 8:12 – Mass-media & our reptilian brains 9:33 – Selling a simplified world 11:05 – Selling schadenfreude & blood 12:55 – Power's investment in violence 14:26 – Emptying our minds of bullshit 15:55 – Becoming agents of the infinite 17:18 – A final benedictionWisdom and The Depth of LifeEric Dodson2023-03-11 | 0:00 – Introduction 0:32 – Our Mostly 2-dimensional World 1:49 – Life's Depth-dimension 2:12 – Spiritual and Religious Experience 3:07 – Self-actualization and Authenticity 5:00 – Our World's Problems: 3 Types 6:28 – Our Lack of 3-Dimensional Wisdom 8:01 – The Power of Distraction 9:13 – The Logic of Seduction & Addiction 10:11 – Evolution & Consummating Our Existence 11:43 – What's Standing in Our Way? 12:12 – #1: Our Prevailing Cultural Practices 13:58 – #2: Institutionalized Power 16:47 – #3: Wisdom's Paradoxical Nature 17:25 – #4: Addiction to Self-importance 19:08 – Summary of Obstacles to Wisdom 19:49 – Cultivating Humility 20:14 – Cultivating Self-awareness 22:18 – Cultivating Courage 23:36 – Summary of Prescriptive Suggestions 24:30 – All apologiesWhy is the world so weird?Eric Dodson2022-06-07 | 0:00 – Matrix reading 0:28 – Introduction 1:48 – The irrationality of rationality 3:06 – Four examples 7:44 – The problem with non-holistic reason 9:16 – Living in a 2-dimensional world 10:15 – The sense of spiritual depth 12:41 – Speaking prosaically in a poetic world 13:50 – Why real understanding is rare 15:08 – Ideological divisiveness 16:06 – Why I believe in free thinkers 17:28 – Summary 18:39 – Hope... and take care of your soulDealing with rejectionEric Dodson2022-05-18 | 0:00 – Introduction 2:10 – #1: Recognizing its inevitability 5:37 – #2: Considering the source 6:14 – .....when people don't understand us 7:35 – .....when people do understand us 8:57 – #3: Bettering ourselves 10:50 – #4: Authenticity & integrity 13:33 – .....confronting our mortality 15:23 – #5: Finding our spiritual family 17:16 – .....waiting for a sign from one of our kind 18:32 – .....deepening our consciousness 20:51 – #6: Forgiving & moving on 21:38 – .....the selfishness of forgiveness 22:53 – .....forgiveness & self-defense 24:09 – .....letting go of self-importance 26:37 – Summary of 6 strategies 28:14 – Take care of your soulWisdom & DiscomfortEric Dodson2022-04-15 | 0:00 – Wisdom's Paradoxical Nature 1:14 – A Working Definition 2:34 – Encountering our shadows 3:50 – Paring away distractions 6:42 – Facing our mortality 9:57 – Becoming ourselves 13:13 – Letting go of our addictions 16:16 – Decisions & honesty 18:43 – The meaning of commitment 23:21 – Summary 25:16 – Take care of your soulMy Approach to YouTube (40K special)Eric Dodson2022-03-09 | 0:00 – Introduction 0:36 – I don't beg 2:31 – I don't waste time with fancy graphics 3:21 – I don't pan-handle 6:34 – I don't do social media 8:06 – Speaking the truth as I see it 8:25 – Giving to other people 9:00 – Giving back to YouTube 10:00 – Self-discovery 10:45 – Creativity 11:49 – Who do I think you are? 12:54 – Captaining your own ship 14:00 – The importance of passion 15:06 – Opening the wings of our souls 16:12 – Thanks for being born to this worldWhat I Believe... (part 2)Eric Dodson2022-02-26 | 0:00 – Awakening, waiting & moderation 1:13 – Wounds, destiny & danger 2:16 – Needs, limitations & childhood 3:20 – War, hatred & privilege 4:47 – Growth, entropy & dying 5:27 – Stupidity, gratitude & change 6:24 – Silence, arguments & crowds 7:22 – Fear, freedom & potentialWhat I believe...Eric Dodson2022-02-19 | 0:00 – Human nature 4:53 – Our world's problems 5:47 – Life generally 6:40 – Politics 7:21 – Our dictatorial desires & projects 9:21 – Humor & laughter 10:08 – Teaching, learning & wisdom 11:18 – FinaleThe Seducer Archetype (and why our world needs it)Eric Dodson2022-02-09 | 0:00 – Introduction 1:29 – Some basic definitions 2:20 – Seduction is all around us 3:00 – Understanding seduction 4:03 – Our dark, forbidden desires 6:08 – Appealing to our hidden impulses 9:33 – How self-awareness protects us 12:27 – Self-awareness & the nature of trust 16:21 – We're creatures of desire, not reason 19:39 – Summary 21:41 – Sometimes we need to go astrayThe Sage Archetype (and why our world needs it)Eric Dodson2022-01-29 | 0:00 – Introduction 1:03 – Defining archetypes and sages 2:24 – Wisdom vs. intelligence 3:47 – Wisdom as holistic 5:36 – Our world's problems: 3 categories 7:06 – Problems relating well to each other 9:13 – Problems relating well to ourselves 10:49 – Problems relating well to the world 12:47 – Becoming aware of wisdom as a value 15:17 – Changing our lives 19:28 – Some representations of the Sage Archetype 20:59 – Wisdom & the task of consummating our livesThe Hero Archetype (and why our world needs it)Eric Dodson2022-01-20 | 0:00 – Why so few heroes among our leaders? 2:06 – Preliminary 1: Basic definitions 3:08 – Preliminary 2: Courage 4:33 – Preliminary 3: The Hero's Journey 5:19 – Descending into the underworld 6:54 – Actualizing what's powerful in our souls 8:00 – Honoring our suffering 9:13 – The problem with Mary-Sue's 11:59 – Our resistance to the heroic 14:36 – Our fear of responsibility 17:03 – Our fear of alienation & rejection 18:50 – Our fear of our own souls 20:14 – Our addiction to self-importance 23:13 – Summary of 8 main points 25:31 – Reclaiming ancient wisdomThe Trickster Archetype (and why our world needs it)Eric Dodson2022-01-13 | 0:00 - “One must still have chaos within oneself...” 1:30 - Defining archetypes 3:15 - Carl Jung & Joseph Campbell 5:53 - Liminality: Fools, creativity & progress 11:31 - Resisting dictatorial tyranny 14:05 - Tricksters & wisdom 19:38 - Infinite games & having fun 24:22 - Summary 25:56 - The terrible blood-wound of lifeSoul-work & psychopompsEric Dodson2022-01-07 | 0:00 – Comedic invocation 1:08 – What is a psychopomp? 2:34 – Losing the sense of soul 3:50 – Reclaiming the sense of soul 7:52 – Psychotherapy as soul-work 9:21 – Teaching as soul-work 11:25 – Comedians, poets & oracles 14:43 – Psychopomps in everyday lifeWhy is life unfair?Eric Dodson2022-01-03 | 0:00 – Introduction 0:24 – Reason 1: Life's logic isn't about fairness 3:37 – Reason 2: There's no definitive reference point 5:22 – Our personal view of fairness isn't the only one 8:05 – What we desire vs. What is real 11:16 – Unfairness, misery & letting go of entitlement 14:08 – The illusion of needing things before we can start 17:19 – The illusion of faux empowerment 19:35 – Resenting other people's good fortune 22:09 – More on luck & unfairness 24:19 – Moving from resentment to enjoyment 26:41 – Fortune favors equanimity & being sanguineWhy are we here?Eric Dodson2021-12-29 | 0:00 – Introduction 0:50 – Why bother asking why we're here? 1:53 – Reason #1: Enhancing our experience of life 3:15 – Reason #2: Discovering our deeper possibilities 4:50 – The anxiety of confronting life's uncertainty 6:53 – The anxiety of deviating from social norms 9:19 – Deferring to religious belief-systems 12:41 – The narcosis of commodity/entertainment culture 15:06 – My answer: Phenomenological holism 16:27 – My answer: Riding the wild stallion of life 18:14 – My answer: Becoming the artists of our answers to life's riddleSeeing Public Figures as Human BeingsEric Dodson2021-12-06 | 0:00 – Introduction 2:00 – How we're all composites of good & bad 4:00 – Judgment vs. understanding 5:33 – Humility & our fragile egos 7:03 – Our addiction to self-importance 8:48 – The problem of confirmation-bias 10:07 – Seeing Joe Biden as stupid 14:00 – Seeing Donald Trump as an arrogant jerk 17:30 – Letting go of our demonizing rhetoric 18:47 – Letting go of our self-importance 20:01 – Becoming a conduit for compassion & freedomHolism, Addiction & WisdomEric Dodson2021-12-01 | 0:00 – Invocation 1:14 – Holism as relational 3:12 – Holism as contextual 4:22 - How life resists reduction 5:59 – The dark side of life 8:50 – How holism includes anti-holism 12:16 – How holism alters thinking itself 14:29 – What is wisdom? 15:53 – Addiction & self-importance 19:38 – Accepting things as they are 20:59 – Wisdom & humility 22:31 – Humanity's evolutionary struggle 23:45 – An exercise you can try at homeThe Value of HumorEric Dodson2021-11-17 | 0:00 - Introduction 2:24 - Qualifier 1: The issue isn't a matter of absolutes 3:21 - Qualifier 2: My own, personal biases 4:25 - Value 1: Humor is a way of experiencing the joy of life itself 6:19 - Value 2: How humor expands our awareness 7:32 - Value 3: How humor fosters wisdom by deflating our self-seriousness 9:04 - Value 4: How humor fosters the humility to perceive reality as it is 11:47 - Value 5: How humor loosens social repression and fosters honesty 13:33 - Value 6: How humor safeguards a space for chaos, magic and the Dionysian 15:07 - Summary 16:34 - Humor's power to unsettle and challenge us 18:24 - Our eagerness to take offense... and our dictatorial impulses 19:59 - How free are we really? The Emperor's shlong is flopping in the wind!What Makes Life Worthwhile?Eric Dodson2021-11-06 | 0:00 - Introduction 2:03 - The perspectival nature of the question and its possible answers 4:29 - Answer #1: Pleasure & happiness 5:25 - Problem: Times when suffering makes life worthwhile 7:33 - Problem: The interdependency of pain and pleasure 9:57 - Answer #2: Aesthetics & wisdom 13:26 - Answer #3: Sociality... giving & receiving 16:52 - Answer #4: The adventure of transcendence 18:06 - Danger, fear and the prospect of annihilation 20:42 - Transcendence requires no special occasion 24:04 - The necessity of cultivating a strategic sense for danger 25:32 - Practicing self-awareness 29:53 - Summary & conclusion
Here's a link to my earlier video on anti-natalism and efilism, which has to do with the question of what makes life NOT worthwhile: youtube.com/watch?v=xFzxgZq6Vcc&t=2sWhy we dont trust the newsEric Dodson2021-10-22 | 0:00 - Introduction 0:42 - Distrusting the news media's ideological biases 2:33 - The news and The Boy Who Cried, 'Wolf!' 6:12 - The news foments division in our world 8:16 - The news compromises its own credibility & generates chaos 11:36 - Factual news & the task of living in a representative democracy 12:25 - Appealing to the lower brain 16:27 - Outrage, hatred and the quest for identity 18:23 - Our resistance to change, and to assuming responsibility 19:41 - Profit and the cerebral cortex 20:42 - Who's to blame? No one and everyone 25:55 - What to do? Starting with the man in the mirrorMeditation and EmpowermentEric Dodson2021-04-20 | 0:00 - Introduction 1:34 - Empowerment and hierarchies of advantage 3:02 - The illusory nature of hierarchical empowerment 7:27 - Empowerment that keeps us disempowered 8:46 - Introducing meditation: Presence, awareness & mindfulness 10:14 - The power of silence: Uncommon sanity... and contact with reality 12:57 - Self-awareness 16:08 - Understanding other people 18:50 - The failure of today's prevailing vision of empowerment 21:55 - The art of allowing: The power to accept things as they are 25:27 - Generating a divided, resentful world (like ours) 27:31 - A portrait of empowerment from a meditative perspective 30:42 - The automaticity of genuine empowermentExistentialism and EmpowermentEric Dodson2021-03-31 | 0:00 - Introduction. Empowerment means... 1:13 - (1) learning to live authentically 6:35 - (2) assuming personal responsibility for the quality of our lives 9:21 - (3) wanting what we get, rather than getting what we want 12:06 - (4) improving ourselves, rather than blaming others 13:16 - (5) realizing that no one ever empowers us, other than ourselves 15:00 - (6) becoming a free thinker and a free agent 17:01 - (7) realizing that change happens as a function of acceptance and patience, rather than spiritual bypassingHauntology and hauntingsEric Dodson2021-03-05 | 0:00 - Introducing hauntology 1:10 - Jacques Derrida and post-structuralism 3:52 - Marxism's graveyard 5:02 - Forgetfulness and the reanimation of cruelty 6:39 - Hauntology and music 7:22 - Nostalgia: The steampunk and retro movements 8:41 - A personal anecdote: Coin collecting 10:09 - A personal anecdote: Learning Latin 11:09 - Hauntology and regret 13:19 - Hauntology and unrealized possibilities 14:54 - Finding value in our imperfections 16:24 - Learning to love the fugitive spirits that fill our hearts & minds
Here's a video that contains a lot of hauntology music youtube.com/watch?v=EYBOOKtzTfYThe Meaning of Commitment: A Few ThoughtsEric Dodson2021-02-18 | 0:00 - Introducing commitment 0:30 - Commitment involves difficulty and pain 1:47 - Commitment involves being "half-sure, but whole-hearted" 3:58 - Commitment involves integrating our hearts and minds 5:40 - Commitment involves self-awareness 7:07 - Commitment involves authenticity 9:14 - The struggle to lay claim to our lives 11:52 - Consummating our existence itselfWhen our dreams destroy us...Eric Dodson2021-02-06 | 0:00 - Introducing the Icarus Complex 1:17 - Example 1: Addictive behavior 2:59 - Example 2: Crash-and-burn love relationships 5:00 - Example 3: Celebrity flame-outs 6:28 - Example 4: Cults & genocidal social movements 7:57 - The role of hubris 10:32 - The problem with deviating too far from reality 13:18 - A corrective: Learning to inhabit the present moment fully 14:57 - Daedalus's secret: Balance 15:57 - Finale: Navigating between truth and desireThe Source of our Fears: An ExplorationEric Dodson2021-01-26 | 1:24 - The problem with a narrowly scientific approach 2:49 - The problem with trying to see what we don't want to see 4:19 - Our fear of non-existence 6:08 - Our fear of the unknown 9:00 - Our fear of change & letting go of attachment 10:32 - Our attachment to suffering & misery 12:17 - Our fear of the reality of life & death 15:10 - Soren Kierkegaard's concept of dread 18:48 - Humanity's appetite for destruction 20:43 - Our desire for what we fear: The darkness within ourselves 23:23 - The project of living past our fears 25:12 - Why there's no shame in cowardice 27:18 - My own journey...Courage, Fear & DangerEric Dodson2020-10-24 | 1:11 - Courage isn't about a simple absence of fear 3:14 - Courage is a capacity we develop over time 4:47 - Why life itself is already dangerous, and calls for courage 7:25 - Developing a taste for strategically dangerous experiences 9:58 - Developing the courage to be what we are 11:06 - The cold caress of death 13:31 - Facing our most primitive fears: Death, suffering & rejection 16:04 - Our paradoxical fear of being brilliant & powerful 19:07 - What's really the alternative to becoming courageous? 20:20 - Learning to choose growth over fearHaving Compassion for our EnemiesEric Dodson2020-10-05 | Table of Contents: 0:54 - Why bother having compassion for our enemies? 3:33 - So called “Idiot Compassion” 5:27 - Compassion as "suffering with" 6:51 - Justifying our enmity through our perceived moral superiority 7:40 - The selfishness of forgiveness 10:22 - Letting go of our superficial self-importance 12:51 - Developing self-awareness 15:10 - Developing courage and a taste for authentic existence 16:35 - Experiencing danger, and transcending the limits that define usGratitude vs. EntitlementEric Dodson2020-09-30 | Table of Contents 0:45 - Our tendency to focus on the negative 1:59 - An example: How we see our bodies 4:08 - Cultivating an awareness of the gifts we're receiving 5:18 - Addiction to suffering... and the Attitude of Entitlement 7:33 - How entitlement toxifies our world 9:31 - How gratitude enhances our world 11:09 - Perceiving beauty: Openness, vulnerability & safety 13:12 - Becoming intimate with danger: Choosing between love & fear 15:17 - How to change the world through gratitude 17:18 - Why love wins in the endConfirmation Bias and Meditative ConsciousnessEric Dodson2020-09-20 | Table of Contents 0:44 - What is Confirmation Bias? 2:17 - The difficulty of perceiving reality accurately 3:39 - An Example: Confirmation Bias and the nightly news 4:48 - The thrill of feeling superior to other people 6:15 - The problem of stagnating in our own echo-chambers 8:20 - Perceiving the world in terms of our personal investments 10:24 - "It's all bubbles..." Introducing Buddhist meditative practice 12:04 - Holding onto our attachments loosely 14:39 - Deepening our awareness by practicing mindfulness 16:00 - Freeing ourselves from the prison-house of our desires 19:17 - Don't take my word for it. Experience it for yourself.How the world changes (and how it doesnt)Eric Dodson2020-09-12 | This video is about how change in our world occurs across the personal and social dimensions.
1:15 - Allowing vs. forcing: The paradigm of pregnancy 4:34 - The problem with spiritual bypassing 6:24 - The self-defeating nature of today's activism 8:34 - How our opponents choose their champion 9:47 - Denial and blame-shifting: How we deal with defeat 12:28 - Changing our lives: Becoming the change we want to see in the world 15:40 - Dropping our self-importance and ideological pretensions 18:37 - Cultivating patience, tolerance, acceptance, and a loving relation to life 21:04 - Assuming responsibility for ourselves, and giving up blame-shifting 24:04 - Allowing people to be what they are 25:54 - Our better and deeper destiny in this life...Leaving the work-world: The meaning of retirementEric Dodson2020-09-03 | 1:28 - Becoming the captain of our own ships 3:25 - The quest for meaning 6:25 - Choice, freedom and intrinsic motivation 8:24 - Sartre on Bad Faith and the horror of freedom 10:00 - Money, debt and how we enslave ourselves 12:33 - Our desire to be more than one-trick-ponies 16:38 - Interlewd: We are all whores 18:27 - Temporal regulation in the work-world 21:02 - Slowing down and living in temporal abundance 22:55 - Retirement as an intimation of deathMessage to a Young MillennialEric Dodson2020-08-24 | Table of Contents 0:57 – Andrew's message and how I understand it 3:23 – Three positive signs 5:56 – Living a meaningful and satisfying life 7:54 – Responsibility: Sailing into the storm that scares us 10:50 – The trickiness of meaning 12:28 – What's getting in your way? 13:08 – Finances? 13:27 – Family and/or friends? 13:57 – Self-doubt? 15:52 – Impatience? 16:58 – Addictive behavior? 18:11 – Becoming strong: Letting go of addictive behavior 21:53 – Discovering your power 23:55 – Dealing with a crisis of imagination 26:29 – Finale: Affirming the value & validity of your struggleAn Introduction to My ChannelEric Dodson2020-08-06 | This short video is about my YouTube channel, which I'm going to be revamping and expanding pretty soon. I also have a second YouTube channel, which is devoted to more formal academic lectures. Here's a link to that channel, if you're interested: youtube.com/channel/UCPNNoDL-z-qLcc7lF5bsWGABecoming a Free ThinkerEric Dodson2020-08-05 | Table of Contents: 1:24 - Two personal motivations 2:54 - The problem with today's politics 4:53 - Avoiding advocacy 8:07 - Avoiding critical douchebaggery 9:10 - Embracing traditional wisdom 10:51 - Creativity and originality 11:37 - Seeing things from multiple perspectives 12:16 - Transcending defensiveness and territoriality 13:30 - Humor and playfulness 15:10 - Becoming a passionate thinker who doesn't cling too tightly 16:36 - The trap of becoming dependent on the idea of independent thinking 17:48 - Revisiting the stuff in the beginning of this video 18:53 - A message to you viewersAddiction To DistractionEric Dodson2020-06-09 | Table of Contents 1:20 - Why addiction is mostly about distraction 2:22 - Why news is mostly about distraction 5:08 - Why Outrage™ is mostly about distraction 8:15 - Why commodity-culture is mostly about distraction 10:31 - Our distracted consciousness 12:25 - Why we need vacations from ourselves 15:26 - The road to recovery 18:53 - Acceptance as a gateway to wisdomAnti-natalism & Efilism: Is Life Affirmable?Eric Dodson2020-05-24 | Table of Contents: 1:29 - Definitions 3:09 - Avoiding the trap of obstinate closed-mindedness 4:22 - The disproportionate amount of suffering in life 8:09 - Why meaning falls short 12:06 - Why believing in God falls short 13:53 - Why the narcosis of commodity-culture falls short 15:29 - Nietzsche and aesthetics 17:18 - The immediacy of aesthetic experience 18:11 - The transformative power of aesthetic experience 20:21 - What anti-natalism and efilism offer usFinding our Best Path in LifeEric Dodson2020-05-15 | Table of Contents: 0:40 - Individual variability 1:58 - The clarity of hindsight 4:20 - The urgency of the present moment 5:36 - Authentic existence vs. Inauthentic existence 8:03 - The price of inauthenticity... from the perspective of death 9:21 - Sculpting away the inessential 12:33 - Who are we really? 15:08 - Knowing who we are... is challenging 16:13 - The task of cultivating self-awareness 17:27 - Emptying ourselves... and learning what silence is like
Here are some longer lecture videos I did on Heidegger: youtube.com/watch?v=EJpFJUe6be0 youtube.com/watch?v=u8oULtomILA youtube.com/watch?v=5EqUTvX2zxA youtube.com/watch?v=Lw2C1C1CTJg youtube.com/watch?v=jyazvLR-MpM&t=419sThe Limits of DebateEric Dodson2020-05-12 | Table of Contents: 0:52 - A qualifier: Why debate is still important 1:43 - Debate in politics, academia & everyday life 3:37 - Surprise! Debate hardly ever changes anything 5:05 - The desire to feel like we're right, and hence superior to others 6:49 - Resistance to changing our minds 8:15 - Interlude: A rant about Internet Flame Wars 10:27 - Summary 11:20 - 3 easy rules for determining if people are actually thinking 12:33 - Winning a debate vs. Seeking the truth 14:19 - Why our reason is subservient to our desire 18:43 - The hidden language of desire: An alternative paradigm 21:55 - Opening the wings of our souls: A final exhortationBurnoutEric Dodson2020-04-12 | Table of Contents: 1:09 - A working definition 2:04 - Three primary causes 2:42 - 1. Exhaustion 3:47 - The role of self-awareness 5:24 - Learning to say, "no." 7:11 - Recognizing when we need a new type of life 8:07 - 2. When the world carries us away from what we love 8:42 - An ode to carbon tetra-chloride 11:09 - What price are we willing to pay? 12:04 - 3. Repetition and boredom 13:58 - Burnout: A friend disguised as an enemy 15:06 - What meditation has taught me about repetition & boredom 17:12 - A crisis of the soul... revolution in our perception & values 19:08 - Finale: Developing a helping relationship with ourselvesRespect: What is it?Eric Dodson2020-03-07 | Table of contents: 0:28 - High regard and esteem 0:57 - The self-referential and transformative side of respect 1:55 - "Respect" that takes the form of hierarchical dominance through fear and obedience 2:56 - Unconditional respect vs. Conditional respect 4:01 - Why unconditional respect isn't realistic 6:38 - Why insisting on unconditional respect is self-defeating 8:38 - Why people insist on unconditional respect 10:29 - How earning other people's respect solves a lot of problems 12:11 - Respect and authenticity: The problem of pretending 15:41 - Respect and happiness: How to consummate our existenceCreativity: Facing our fearsEric Dodson2020-01-18 | Table of Contents 0:00 - Summary of previous video & introduction 2:31 - Assuming responsibility for our existence 4:15 - The seduction of conformity & obedience 6:16 - Growing sick of enslavement 8:02 - Addiction, bottoming-out... and learning to live our own lives 10:50 - Making friends with failure... and the sensation of danger 13:25 - Swimming in the seas of chaos 14:43 - On being a destroyer 17:24 - Becoming intimate with death 19:28 - Opening ourselves to change 22:35 - Summary: Seven recommendations 23:50 - A final exhortation
Here's a link to the previous video in this series: youtube.com/watch?v=70n_8wpcOU0&t=73sCreativity: Where does it come from?Eric Dodson2020-01-15 | Table of Contents: 0:51 - The idea that creativity comes from God 1:53 - The idea that creativity comes from the principles that govern the universe 3:03 - Problem: Confirmation bias 4:43 - Problem: The assumption that creativity has to come from somewhere 5:52 - An alternative: Creativity as an manifestation of impermanence 7:04 - An illustrative example: "You can't step in the same river twice" 9:58 - The Jonah Complex: Why life doesn't seem creative 11:57 - The ghosts that haunt us: Facing our fears
Here's a link to the next video in this series on creativity: youtube.com/watch?v=1fTAO7_2k5A&t=55sSearching for the ProfaneEric Dodson2019-12-15 | Table of Contents: 0:48 – Why should we explore the Profane? 2:23 – Everyday profanity: Cussing and swearing
4:13 – The triviality of everyday profanity
6:31 – Intentional rebellion against the sacred
8:04 – Moby Dick: Hating what's behind “the unreasoning mask”
9:19 – Rebelling against the suffering side of life
12:15 – Satan's motivation: Pride, envy, ambition and hubris
14:57 – Satan's motivation: Freedom and enslavement
17:47 – The Profane... and the ecstasy of liberation
19:07 – Summary
20:19 – Understanding the Profane... and the value of compassion
1:01 -- What does the Sacred feel like? 5:28 --- Holism and the Sacred 9:51 – The Age of Distraction 11:26 -- The post-modern fourfold 12:44 -- Comedic interlude 14:59 -- "What are poets for in a destitute time?" 16:04 -- Politics: A strategy that doesn't work 18:59 -- Activism: Another strategy that doesn't work 20:40 – Becoming a secret agent 24:10 – The task of re-sanctifying all of life 25:47 – Gratitude... and remembering what we really areSuccess in Love-relationshipsEric Dodson2019-10-28 | Table of Contents: 0:47 - Disclaimer 1:32 - Trust & trustworthiness 2:38 - Earning trust: Words are cheap 4:00 - Understanding 7:50 - Acceptance 9:54 - Honesty 11:08 - Kindness 12:58 - Compromise & communication 14:29 - Sharing experience 15:45 - Expressing appreciation & gratitude 17:03 - Bringing out the best in each other 18:17 - Summary 19:17 - Cultivating the personal qualities that breed success
Here's a link to my video on why love-relationships fail: youtube.com/watch?v=4Mfql9rtbnk&t=300sWhy Love-relationships FailEric Dodson2019-10-13 | Table of Contents: 0:45 - Why the question is important 2:34 - Discovering our partner's faults and foibles 4:42 - The changing nature of our real selves 5:27 - Our desires: Carnality, companionship and spiritual transcendence 7:10 - When our desires change over time 8:44 - Boredom and our unfulfilled “what if's” 11:30 - Boredom and our fundamental discomfort with ourselves 12:52 – Impermanence and the illusion of failure 15:00 – Gratitude for what we've gained along the way 17:15 – Our attraction to darkness 19:43 – Loving each other requires the best and bravest parts of us
Six reasons why our love-relationships fail: 1. We start to discover who our partners really are, and we don't like it 2. Our partners change, and we don't like who they've become 3. Our desires shift over time, and become incompatible with our partner's 4. We become bored because we're wondering what else is out there that we haven't experienced yet 5. We become bored because we're fundamentally uncomfortable with our lives and ourselves 6. We're secretly attracted to the kind of darkness that will undo our relationshipsOn Becoming a TeacherEric Dodson2019-09-14 | Table of Contents:
0:35 - The mechanics of teaching 1:28 - Passion and commitment 3:23 - Cultivating humility 4:49 - We teach best what we most need to learn 6:09 - Remembering what it's like to be young 6:59 - Beckoning our students toward the beyond 7:41 - Participating in the raging magnificence of life 8:43 - Teaching as a spiritual, sacred calling 10:41 - The evanescence of information 11:44 - What endures???.... the lessons that burn