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The problem Since the rise of modern self-help culture, fiction is often looked down upon. It’s frequently seen as a waste of time, as lacking practical value, or as something purely meant for entertainment. I personally believe that this is wrong, and that fiction is highly beneficial. Furthermore, I suspect that it would be profoundly detrimental to the human species if the importance of great fiction were forgotten. That’s why I want to make a case for the value of fiction and explore how it actually benefits us. ...

One of the major questions in the field of philosophy is: “What moves people?”. One would think that there should be a clear answer, since we are the subject of the question. This doesn’t seem to be the case. Many philosophers have attempted to give a full, complete answer. Some have said that we are driven by the pursuit of fulfilment and the good (e.g., Aristotle). This argument is often supported by the Christian theologians, like Aquinas and Augustine, who argue that this fulfillment is ultimately found in the pursuit of God. Others argue we are ruled by emotion, fear, and pleasure (e.g., Hobbes). Some claim that beneath everything lies a blind will or drive for power (e.g., Nietzsche). And others insist that what truly moves us is a need for meaning, or responsibility (e.g. Kierkegaard, Viktor Frankl). ...

Almost everyone with the slightest interest in philosophy has heard of famous Stoics like Marcus Aurelius and Seneca, but what is Stoicism really? The Stoics wanted to lay out what it means to live according to nature, expanding and clarifying in their own terms what Heraclitus, Socrates, and the Cynics had already begun. Their question was simple: “How do we live a virtuous, good life?” Heraclitus gave them the metaphysical foundation: the cosmos has an order, it’s rational and alive. Socrates provided the example of living according to one’s philosophical wisdom. From the Cynics, they took the idea that virtue is the only true good, and that freedom comes from within, which the Stoics softened with reason, duty, and social responsibility. ...

The wonder with which a child views the world, the beauty with which a poet can describe it, when did we forget how beautiful the world can be? Beauty isn’t just a human opinion, it’s a window to the divine. It’s why we stand in awe before a mountain, a melody, a painting. Beauty is the cultivation of everything good in general experience; it embodies harmony, balance and proper order. ...

We live in a world that fetishises the image, status and prestige over reality. We’ve created a second world, the ‘spectacle’ as Guy Debord called it. A world we feed with our praise of the image. And unconsciously, we are compelled to live up to its ideals. As a consequence, we’ve not only kept this world an idea, but we’ve started to live in it. We start to associate people and interact with them through a collection of these images. We discover this through introspection. Think of someone you know, what comes to mind about them? Their job, appearance, and maybe subconsciously their status? Is this truly what the person is? ...

Our society is brilliant at producing, but unnatural in what it demands of us. It has built an atmosphere where endless output is the norm, and where we treat distraction as medicine for its effects. Of course, I don’t see another way society could have grown this much, and I wouldn’t desire it to be any other way. But we can’t ignore the consequences: the toll on its people and their minds. ...

People treat “purpose” like magic. Like one day it’ll just click. That’s childish. Purpose is found through action. Most people who say they don’t know their purpose or feel lost, have done almost nothing to find it. Purpose hides inside your talents and interests, but it won’t show itself until you work for it. Explore: read books, take courses, try things that interest you. Act: turn curiosity into work. Write, create, volunteer, build. ...

People called Socrates the wisest man in Greece. Instead of smiling, he asked: “Is that true?” He went on a quest to disprove the oracle of Delphi. He spoke to politicians, poets, craftsmen — the ones everyone thought were wise. What he found shocked him: They were clever, but too arrogant to see their own ignorance. Each believed they knew far more than they did. And that’s when Socrates understood: True wisdom is knowing you are not wise. ...

We spend hours fighting over headlines, arguing about scandals and so-called “pressing social issues”. It feels urgent — but most of it changes nothing. Meanwhile, the most important question is rarely asked: “How do we build a country where people are safe and can truly prosper?” Plato wasn’t wasting his days gossiping about Athens. He asked: What is justice? What is the good society? Who should rule? That’s why we still read him more than 2,000 years later — while today’s news will be forgotten next year (if not next week). ...

A man rides his chariot into the realm of a goddess. She tells him: humans think in a mortal, limited way. They don’t see the truth — you must look beyond. Let go of your thumos, the impulses and passions of mortal life. The gods, being immortal, see beyond such drives. Clinging to them keeps you bound to the conventions of men. The goddess speaks of two roads: the path of aletheia (pure reason), where being simply is and cannot not-be, and the path of doxa (opinion), where mortals wander with illusions, mixing being with not-being. ...