Jack's Academy of Ideas
SELF-ACTUALIZING RESPONSIBLE FREEDOM
SELF-ACTUALIZING RESPONSIBLE FREEDOM -- ONLINE, ONGOING PHILOSOPHY COURSE
Mondays and Fridays, 9PM New Zealand time--Free and Freeing, Everyone Invited.
Hello those Interested in Freedom, this is Responsibly Free Jack in Auckland, New Zealand.
In this Time of the Coronavirus and its enabling of the worldwide Totalitarian Takeover Attempt, I hope you are safe, but more, I hope you are free.
For me, to be free is to be responsible for your freedom. To become fully responsible for your freedom means you must be your own ultimate Authority. That is what I call, using Maslow’s term, “Self-Actualized”.
This education to be Self-Actualized as Responsible Freedom is not generally taught anywhere and it does not come naturally. We are born to conform to the Authority of our parents which is transferred to our governments, religions, cults or other ideologies. Very few of us ever become our own Authority.
To disable the default setting of Obedience to Authority is why I have created this online, ongoing philosophy course.
The course consists of 50 videos from the Academy of Ideas (www.academyofideas.com).
I hope you will join the course at 9PM (New Zealand time) and invite all your friends to join you. It is free, no charge; and hopefully, freeing. There is no commitment required. The sessions last around one hour and take place every Monday and Friday at 9PM (NZ time) unless otherwise notified.
The course is ongoing in sequence, 1 through 50. The only thing I require is that you enter the Zoom session, preferably around 8:55 to 9PM. I will close entry to the session around 9:10PM. YOU WILL BE RECORDED WITH THE POSSIBILITY OF THE VIDEO BEING PUBLISHED. You can have your video and audio on or not if you want some degree of anonymity. You can leave the session whenever you want without notifying me. You can participate to whatever degree you wish including remaining silent and simply watching. You will be allowed to record each session to appear on your device after the end to watch again.
Always use this URL and ID number to enter the Zoom session:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/8245320024
Meeting ID: 824 532 0024
I would appreciate a response letting me know if you will attend the first of the forty-eight sessions and succeeding ones as we go along—although this is not necessary. You can just drop in unannounced if you want.
Here is an explanation of the materials and how I present them.
THE MATERIALS
The “Academy of Ideas” is a Canadian based (two brothers) Voluntaryist Education service with some 200 YouTube videos on all aspects of Philosophy, especially as they relate to Responsible Freedom and Self-Actualization. Each video is between 8 to 12 minutes and includes beautiful, classical paintings to illustrate the ideas presented as well as many focusing quotes from a variety of modern to ancient existentialist philosophers (those concerned with living the morally good life and not abstruse academic arguments). There are transcripts as well as copies of the paintings, so you can prepare ahead or explore more afterwards.
Each video explores and explicates a set of ideas on a central topic or theme.
For example, the first of the fifty videos is titled “The Benefits of Reading Great Books”. The theme is how the body (the canon) of cultural classics of both the East and the West including literature, music, philosophy and works of art can help us become Responsibly Free and Self-Actualise.
These quotes give the flavor of the video:
“Books are the best of things, well used; abused, among the worst. What is the right use?...They are for nothing but to inspire.” Ralph Waldo Emerson
“We need to learn not simply to read books but to allow ourselves to be read by them.” Mark Edmundson
And the Brothers’ script and the concluding quote:
“And if we decide to be one of the few to make reading great books a priority what we are likely to discover is that as we become more fixated on the wisdom contained in them, the pull of technology and the white noise of culture around us, will lose its grip on our mind. For as Edmundson explains: ‘People who have taught themselves how to live — what to be, what to do — from reading great works will not be overly susceptible to the culture industry’s latest wares. They’ll be able to sample them, or turn completely away—they’ll have better things on their minds.’”
HOW THE COURSE IS PRESENTED
I play the videos showing the English subtitles (for non-native English), stopping often to give my explanations and interpretations of ideas I find inspiring or to clarify words and ideas I think might be challenging to understand. I invite your responses--comments and questions--as we go, asking you each to speak to the rest of us sometimes about your understanding of the ideas being discussed.
My aim is to facilitate--make enjoyable and useful—your exploration of the ideas presented, adding my own comments as we go that I hope will deepen your understanding.
Before, during and after our seminars I also mention or give/play for you books, articles and videos (as well as URLs) so that you prepare for or review and add further to your exploration and understanding.
I have put these 50 videos into a specific sequence that I think will be progressively accumulative and synergetic and lead you at the end to knowing what I consider it means to live Responsibly Free as a Self-Actualizing person.
THE 50 VIDEOS WE WILL ENCOUNTER AND ENGAGE, EXPLORE AND EXPERIENCE
1.The Benefits of Reading Great Books
https://academyofideas.com/2019/03/benefits-reading-great-books/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pScJa4ZbYo0
2.Suffering and the Meaning of Life
https://academyofideas.com/2012/11/suffering-and-the-meaning-of- life/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1MYqi3dyr0&t=40s
3.Ernest Becker and the Fear of Death
https://academyofideas.com/2013/09/ernest-becker-and-the-fear-of-death/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qWNT3NYmeEI&t=3s
4.What is Religion
https://academyofideas.com/2012/09/what-is-religion/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SLbw-OfIewk&feature=emb_logo
5.Nietzsche and the Death of God
https://academyofideas.com/2012/11/nietzsche-and-the-death-of- god/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rFyolMWU2pY&feature=emb_logo
6.Introduction to Nihilism
https://academyofideas.com/2012/08/introduction-to-nihilism/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Ajv-RrQs4o&feature=emb_logo
7.Overcoming Nihilism
https://academyofideas.com/2012/11/overcoming-nihilism/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-_nLCZ3LKus&feature=emb_logo
8.Nietzsche and Morality--The Higher Man and The Herd
https://academyofideas.com/2017/01/nietzsche-and-morality/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tE67Ye91Ii0
9.Abraham Maslow and the Psychology of Self-Actualization
https://academyofideas.com/2018/05/abraham-maslow-psychology-of-self- actualization/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ipA_XU-fsS4&feature=emb_logo
10.Life as a Quest
https://academyofideas.com/?s=Life+as+a+Quest+- +The+Antidote+to+a+Wasted+Existence
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z9vMczQ3jiM&feature=emb_logo
11.Philosophy as a Way of Life
https://academyofideas.com/2015/03/philosophy-as-a-way-of-life/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wRINedMTPHY
12.Diogenes the Cynic
https://academyofideas.com/2013/05/diogenes-the-cynic/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o2ctYfy7-Ec&t=429s
13.The Ideas of Socrates
https://academyofideas.com/2013/04/the-ideas-of-socrates/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uvY3VWe4O4k
14.Epicurus and Ethics
https://academyofideas.com/2013/03/epicurus-and-ethics/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7R6BYr0nMP8
15.Introduction to Stoicism & Stoicism vs. Epicureanism
https://academyofideas.com/2014/04/introduction-to-stoicism/
https://youtu.be/o0MzQZ_eFEY
16.Ralph Waldo Emerson and The Psychology of Self-Reliance
https://academyofideas.com/2018/01/ralph-waldo-emerson-psychology-of-self-reliance/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PLPazL-wcwM&feature=emb_logo
17.Introduction to Existentialism
https://academyofideas.com/2012/11/introduction-to-existentialism/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ilg7PiDD8yY&feature=youtu.be
18.Introduction to Ethics
https://academyofideas.com/2013/08/introduction-to-ethics/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3_t4obUc51A&t=1s
19.Frans de Waal and Our Inner Ape
https://academyofideas.com/2017/08/frans-de-waal-inner-ape-evolutionary-origins- war-peace/
https://vimeo.com/229028630#_=_
PW: innerape83
20.The Psychology of Conformity
https://academyofideas.com/2017/06/psychology-of-conformity/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ARGczzoPASo&feature=emb_logo
21.The Psychology of Authenticity
https://academyofideas.com/2017/12/psychology-of-authenticity/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pa2PT6Sm20Q
22.Why You Should Strive for a Meaningful Life, Not a Happy One
https://academyofideas.com/2019/01/strive-for-meaningful-life-not-a-happy-one/
https://youtu.be/wIXtN2S2d2w
23.Social Media and the Psychology of Loneliness
https://academyofideas.com/2018/08/social-media-psychology-of-loneliness/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FQ40hdQVndI&feature=youtu.be
24.Performing Therapy On Yourself--Self-Knowledge and Self-Realization
https://academyofideas.com/2018/09/performing-therapy-on-yourself/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BHsJGkGP77I&feature=youtu.be
25.Existential Psychotherapy--Death, Freedom, Isolation, Meaninglessness
https://academyofideas.com/2016/08/existential-psychotherapy-death-freedom- isolation-meaninglessness/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nhqc5MD6qV0&feature=youtu.be
26.Collectivism and Individualism
https://academyofideas.com/2013/03/collectivism-and-individualism/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GdPyrKVFMpA
27.Fear and Social Control
https://academyofideas.com/?s=Fear+and+Social+Control
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_ybzC2wP7Q&feature=emb_logo
28.Machiavelli--The Rulers vs The Ruled
https://academyofideas.com/2019/08/machiavelli-the-rulers-vs-the-ruled- struggle-for-power/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DpwwwDqyRlc
29. The Crowd: A Study of the Popular Mind – Gustave Le Bon
https://academyofideas.com/2013/07/the-nature-of-crowds/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bCAhKGhYzh0
30.Eric Hoffer--The True Believer and The Nature of Mass Movements
https://academyofideas.com/2014/01/the-nature-of-mass-movements-2/
https://youtu.be/rfEAhUlMjfo
31.Edward Bernays and Group Psychology
https://academyofideas.com/2017/07/edward-bernays-group-psychology- manipulating-the-masses/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lOUcXK_7d_c&t=25s
32.Introduction to Propaganda
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-WpFzTplp28&feature=emb_logo
33.What is Brainwashing?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8isH2un-B-s&feature=emb_logo
34.Do We Live in a Sick Society
https://academyofideas.com/2020/06/do-we-live-in-a-sick-society/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YH07l10BbZY&feature=emb_imp_woyt
35.Public Schools, the Fixation of Belief, and Social Control
https://academyofideas.com/2016/12/public-schools-fixation-of-belief-social-control/
https://youtu.be/kyWFpsAnVuI
36.Why Public Schools and the Mainstream Media Dumb Us Down
https://academyofideas.com/2019/03/public-schools-mainstream-media-dumb-us- down/
https://youtu.be/6CDaflxJJ0g
37.How We Enslave Ourselves
https://academyofideas.com/2018/03/how-we-enslave-ourselves/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PBsA7S8jxfU&feature=emb_logo
38.The Psychology of Obedience and The Virtue of Disobedience
https://academyofideas.com/2017/03/psychology-of-obedience/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OWMkmljltvo&feature=emb_imp_woyt
39.How the Greater Good is Used as a Tool of Social Control
https://academyofideas.com/2020/09/greater-good-tool-of-social-control/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gvPKTVK10JE
40.George Orwell and 1984: How Freedom Dies
https://academyofideas.com/2017/12/george-orwell-1984-how-freedom-dies/
https://youtu.be/37N0aFmO19o
41.Aldous Huxley and Brave New World
https://academyofideas.com/2018/06/aldous-huxley-brave-new-world-dark-side-of-pleasure/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tGkymdspups
42.Democracy and the Road to Tyranny
https://academyofideas.com/2016/12/democracy-road-to-tyranny/
https://youtu.be/aGrGIhKjVRw
43.Spontaneous Order vs. Centralized Control
https://academyofideas.com/2016/03/spontaneous-order-vs-centralized-control/
https://youtu.be/iQhkrYqA7S4
44.Why We Can’t Vote Our Way to Freedom
https://academyofideas.com/2018/05/why-we-cant-vote-our-way-to-freedom/
https://youtu.be/n8ETV2MzHuY
45.The Individual vs. Tyranny
https://academyofideas.com/2017/01/the-individual-vs-tyranny/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sNB38U04sNM
46.How Civil Disobedience Safeguards Freedom and Prevents Tyranny
https://academyofideas.com/2020/12/how-civil-disobedience-safeguards- freedom-and-prevents-tyranny/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=gnodcLLEZw4&feature=e mb_logo
47.The Psychology of Power – How to Dethrone Tyrants
https://academyofideas.com/2020/07/the-psychology-of-power-how-to-dethrone-tyrants/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KHiZckM-Wuo
48.Freedom vs. Force--The Individual and the State
https://academyofideas.com/2020/08/freedom-vs-force-the-individual-and-the- state/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kURsX5fq3CM&feature=emb_logo
49.How to Fortify the Mind in Times of Crisis
https://academyofideas.com/2020/03/how-to-fortify-the-mind-in-times-of-crisis/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NPyH7lRMbOY
50.How to Be Free in an Unfree World
https://academyofideas.com/2020/04/how-to-be-free-in-an-unfree-world/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CIpKz7YCoNQ
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QUOTES THAT SUM SELF-ACTUALISING RESPONSIBLE FREEDOM
“Freedom is the will to be responsible for ourselves.” Friedrich Nietzsche
“Liberty is the prevention of control by others.” Lord Acton
“The highest activity a human being can attain is learning for understanding, because to understand is to be free.” Baruch Spinoza
“Meaning and morality of your life come from within yourself. Healthy, strong individuals seek self-expansion by experimenting and by living dangerously. Life consists of an infinite number of possibilities and the healthy person explores as many of them as possible. Religions that teach pity, self-contempt, humility, self- restraint and guilt are incorrect. The good life is ever changing, challenging, devoid of regret, intense, creative and risky.” Friedrich Nietzsche
"The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself." Rudyard Kipling
“The only way to deal with an unfree world is to become so absolutely free that your very existence is an act of rebellion.” Albert Camus
“You are only as free as you take the responsibility to be.” Jack Carney