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Life is complicated. It is afflicted with more big questions than big answers. As one is tested by the suffering and irrationality of life, the questions become more compelling and imperative, and the answers become more urgent and necessary in order to be a good person and to live a happy life. What does it mean to be a good person? What is a happy life? What is love? Who am I before I was told who I am? Why haven’t I found myself yet? Why do I have regrets? Is the world just? Everything seems to have been figured out, except how to live. In this podcast, we will ask and answer the hard questions, and we will question the simple answers, the answers you’ve been told to believe almost from the moment of birth. Think for yourself. There is no feeling like it, and it really is the only good fight left. You may not be rewarded for your wisdom, but you will be rewarded by your wisdom. “The Laughing Philosopher” is Robert M. Khoury, Ph.D., a scholar and writer with a lifetime of teaching and learning at the intersection of sociology and philosophy.
Welcome home to philosophy! Where we wonder about everything and anything is possible! I’m Dr. Robert Khoury, The Laughing Philosopher. Life is complicated. The world is complicated. And you are complicated. Figuring out how to live a happy, meaningful life guided by wisdom and reason is not easy. Is life a game? What is love? Should I fear death? Is this a just world? Almost from the moment of birth, you’ve been told how to behave, how to fit in, and how to fulfill other people’s expectations. You fear that you will lack importance or cease to exist in the lives of others if you think for yourself and question the rules and roles you’ve been told define you. Wisdom and reason will remove this illusion so you can live authentically in the world around you, find your true purpose, and become your real self.
New Episodes Published Twice a Month on Thursdays!
Click Here to Subscribe to The Laughing Philosopher Podcast.
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Thursday Nov 09, 2023
Thursday Nov 09, 2023
Thursday Nov 09, 2023
The illusion of selfhood is holding you back. You are more than who you think you are. Selflessness will free you to try new paths to self-improvement. You will be less obsessed with other people’s acceptance and approval. You will be more humble and compassionate. You won’t need to choose between your well-being and the well-being of others. The self is an empty costume, and it’s time to undress it, and live better!
Thursday Oct 19, 2023
Thursday Oct 19, 2023
Thursday Oct 19, 2023
Carl Jung describes the Shadow as the repressed half of yourself assembled from features of your personality judged to be unacceptable. The Shadow is the other self you must hide from others to achieve their approval because it does not conform to their expectations of who you ought to be. To reunite the Shadow with the conscious self is essential for true happiness and wholeness. Achieving your full potential is only possible by embracing everything about yourself you’ve been told to deny.
Thursday Sep 28, 2023
Thursday Sep 28, 2023
Thursday Sep 28, 2023
You are a stranger to yourself. The self you know and experience is partial and incomplete. Who you think you are doesn’t match who you really are. The unconscious Shadow is your creative self, the source of your individuality and originality. So long as the Shadow is not integrated with the conscious self, you are broken and will never achieve your creative potential. Wholeness is your first purpose in life!
Thursday Sep 07, 2023
Thursday Sep 07, 2023
Thursday Sep 07, 2023
How can we free ourselves from life’s chaos? While kayaking across a lake, your best friend is killed by a swan after getting too close to the bird’s nest. Your only child is wounded in a school shooting. At the Grand Canyon, your older brother jokingly pretends to fall to his death, then loses his footing and falls to his death. At the airport where he works, your husband dies after being sucked into a jet engine. Sudden and extreme chaos cannot be avoided or escaped from. You cannot prepare for the unpredictable. You can, however, outflank it. You just don’t know how yet!
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Thank you for listening. I hope that what you’ve learned will help you to be a better person and live a better life. Think for yourself! Question everything. Accept nothing that does not agree with your own wisdom, experience, and good sense. In this crazy world, the good are wise, the wise are virtuous, and the virtuous are happy.
Be good.