Academy of Ideas

“Today we come across an individual who behaves like an automaton.”   Erich Fromm, Escape From Freedom In video games, an NPC, or non-player character, is a background figure who is governed by the programming of the game and capable only of performing assigned actions and repeating prewritten lines. An NPC is also a metaphor for […]

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It is common to believe that when we die, we cease to exist. Yet some people who have come close to death, or who have been revived following a clinical death, have reported intensely lucid and profound experiences, known as near-death experiences. Near-death experiences, or what are called NDEs, raise the possibility that personal consciousness […]

The post The Mystery Science Can’t Explain — Near-Death Experiences first appeared on Academy of Ideas.

“In society you will not find health, but in nature. Unless our feet at least stood in the midst of nature, all our faces would be pale and livid.”   Henry David Thoreau, A Natural History of Massachusetts A growing body of research shows that spending time in nature elevates our mood, reduces stress, enhances […]

The post The Cure for the Sickness of Modern Society – Henry David Thoreau first appeared on Academy of Ideas.

“In every walk of life, we assume the expression and appearance of the person we want others to believe we are. Hence, we may say that this world is a world of masks.” François de La Rochefoucauld, The Moral Maxims and Reflections Most people claim that their motives are good and pure, yet their actions […]

The post Dark Psychology – The Hidden Motives of Social Life first appeared on Academy of Ideas.

“One third of all the sorrow I must endure is unavoidable. It is the sorrow inherent in the human condition, the price we must pay for being sentient and self-conscious organisms, aspirants to liberation, but subject to the laws of nature and under orders to keep on marching, through irreversible time, through a world wholly […]

The post How to Escape a Meaningless Life first appeared on Academy of Ideas.