Review of The Consolations of Philosophy - Alain De Botton

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota

After seeing and being mightily impressed with Alain De Botton at the Guardian Hay Festival (see my review) and his ability to engage with a crowd about philosophy in a digestible way, I decided to read his book 'The Consolations of Philosophy'.

Previously Alain had released the novels Kiss and Tell, Essays in Love and The Romantic Movement, before dropping the storytelling model with How Proust can change your life. ADB has kept his faith in telling it how he sees it with The Consolations of Philosophy.

As someone who likes a challenging read from time to time I was a little sceptical about this book after reading that it was somewhat dumbed down philosophy. But then again I've always felt that the upper echelons of philosophical debate is afflicted with a tendency to turn said debate into an exercise in etymological prowess. The beauty of this book is De Botton cuts to the chase with excellent clarity of meaning mixing old thought with the anxieties of modern culture.

I enjoyed his unapologisingly negative opinion of Friedrich Nietzsche and his influence over Hitler's anti-semitic ethos. His comparison of Socrates as an unpopular outcast who maintained his own beliefs gives the reader hope of triumph under adversity and his analysis of Seneca and how his heartbreak philosophy can help our own understanding of our own romantic anxieties was nostalgically thought provoking.

Looking back over time philosophical thought has stimulated and hence shaped the pinnacles of modern thought and spread to more people who in a previous age would never have had the opportunity to learn from the great thinkers. Yet many folks believe philosophy is only for the elite largely because they are still segregated by modern professors of thought who appear to surreptitiously hide away from trying to educate the masses like Alain De Botton is trying to do. Maybe it's pretentiousness, maybe it's arrogance or maybe they don't want to stick their neck out for want of failing a popularity contest like Socrates.

Alain in my opinion is getting just rewards for his persistence, I highly recommend this book and I'm keen to see where his thoughts take him to next.

My whole philosophy is be your best self, it's what I do for a living at Leicester Hypnotherapy & Peak Performance Coaching.

So be your best self.

Book Review - The New Earth By Eckhart Tolle

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota

'The New Earth' is Eckhart Tolle's second book, which also became a bestseller. Even though it takes time to digest and understand Tolle's language his book has stirred up a lot of insight and awareness in me. It has been showcased in Oprah's book club, which was followed by a 10 weeks online seminar in 2008. Find out if this book is worth adding to your 'want to read' pile.

Summary

Eckhart Tolle's second book is a follow-up to this first book 'The Power of Now'. Whereas his first book was in the format of questions and answers, this book is more like a long essay. Tolle's book follows the intent to create an awaking and a shift in people's consciousness and not to add to any one's beliefs.

The New Earth was published in 2005, has reached the New York bestseller lists in 2008 and has sold over five million copies in English.

More in details

'The New Earth' touches on various topics, starting with an analogy for transformation in human consciousness that Tolle sees is about to occur and has already begun in the world: the flowering of human consciousness (chapter one). He refers to earliest spiritual messengers like Buddha, Jesus and Laozi and that their message was not fully understood in their time.

Tolle goes into more depth about the term 'ego', which he started elaborating on in 'The Power of Now'. His definition of the term 'ego' is 'an illusory sense of self based on one's memories and thoughts'. Chapter two to four go into more details about the way we have identified with our thoughts and emotions (=ego). He also elaborates more on how we have become obsessed with and attached to things which, in his words, creates an ego that we didn't normally have.

In the following chapters, five and six, he describes the human tendency to carry around a collection of old emotional pain, which he calls the 'pain body'.

I really enjoyed the chapters towards the end (seven to ten), where he explains the difference between objects of consciousness and the space of consciousness, between outer and inner space and outer and inner purpose. In regards to consciousness he enlightened me through his insights of the three stages of inner consciousness: acceptance, enjoyment and enthusiasm, which stands very much in alignment with my view of self-development.

About the author

Eckhart Tolle was born in 1948 in Germany. He is a writer, public speaker and spiritual teacher and has written two bestsellers: The Power of Now and The New Earth. Nowadays he lives in Vancouver in Canada.

Recommendation

This book is for you if you have enjoyed the previous book (The Power of Now) and feel ready for some more confusing language, which will enter into your sub conscious mind and transform your awareness in a way that you cannot conceive with the conscious, rational mind.

Remember that you need to give yourself time to read this book. This will not be one to be read in a few days.

Want to know more? Have a look at my blog.

Nathalie Himmelrich is the founder of 'Reach for the Sky Therapy' on Sydney's Northern Beaches and specialises in 'relationship related issues'. She is working with individuals and couples using techniques ranging from Counselling, Neuro Linguistic Programming to Journey Therapy. She supports clients in their personal growth in a supportive and professional environment.

Visit my website: http://www.reachforthesky.com.au/ or visit my blog: http://reachforthesky.wordpress.com/ and sign up for our newsletter today.

Mediocristan Vs Extremistan

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota

In his book The Black Swan, Nassim Taleb develops two ideas, Mediocristan and Extremistan, to help explain his Black Swan Theory.

Mediocristan is where normal things happen, things that are expected, whose probabilities of occurring are easy to compute, and whose impact is not terribly huge. The bell curve and the normal distribution are emblems of Mediocristan. For those not very familiar with statistics, the bell curve represents the normal distribution, where small, low-impact changes have the highest probabilities of occurring, and huge, wide-impact changes have a very small probability of occurring.

Nature is full of things that follow a normal distribution. People's heights follow a normal distribution. Imagine yourself walking down the street. If you see ten people, the odds are that most of them will be very close to average height, with only a small number being very short or very tall. This is a normal distribution.

Mediocristan therefore constitutes the normal, the easy to predict, the expected, the small impact, the mundane.
Exstremistan is a different beast. In Extremistan, nothing can be predicted accurately and events that seemed unlikely or impossible occur frequently and have a huge impact. Black Swan events occur in Exstremistan.

Think of income distributions. Most people make close to an average salary, some people make less, but a few people make a huge amount. If you tried to calculate an average salary, the highest incomes (the million dollar salaries) would have a disproportionate effect on the average. To illustrate further, imagine a room full of 30 random people. If you asked everyone their salary and calculated the average, the odds are the average would seem pretty reasonable. However, if you added Bill Gates to the room and then calculated the average salary, your average would jump up by a huge margin. One observation had a disproportionate effect on the average. This is Exstremistan.

Things like book sales, whether a movie becomes a hit, or a viral video on the internet all have similar characteristics, and therefore reside in Extremistan.

You may be thinking, so what? Well, the problem is that people tend to think that most things fall into the Mediocristan category, that they are normal, can be predicted and have a regular, known probability of occurring, and will not have a drastic impact. We have a tendency to think that change occurs smoothly and incrementally. This is Mediocristan.

Taleb believes that the most important events, the ones that weren't expected and have a huge impact (Black Swan events, basically), fall into the Exstremistan category, and these events happen much more often than people realize. If you think about it, there are plenty of things that fit this idea. The financial crisis, the housing crash, and major worldwide historical events like 9-11 all fit the mold. People tend to think that these types of changes happen slowly and smoothly, but in reality, they can happen very suddenly, without warning, and can have a drastic impact that is felt everywhere.

Taleb uses these idea of Mediocristan vs Exstremistan to illustrate the importance of Black Swan events. The Black Swans are not predictable, but they have a huge impact and they happen much more often than most people realize. The more quickly you understand the importance of Exstremistan and Black Swan events, the more protected you can become from their negative consequences.

The Black Swan by Nassim Taleb is one of the most influential books of our time. Find out about this amazing, thought-provoking book at http://www.black-swans-explained.com/.