What’s the meaning of life?
This is the wrong question to ask. It’s like asking “what’s the meaning of water?” So there’s no meaning to life, because life can’t have a meaning. But you can live a meaningful life. What meaning you give your life is not only up to you, it’s what you have to live with.

What’s the best philosophy for life?
The best philosophy for life is your own philosophy for life. Take inspiration from others, but make your own way for yourself, don’t mindlessly follow a pack.

Should I have children?
For me, this is the ultimate…

On August 15, 1998, an explosion hit the small town of Omagh in Northern Ireland.

The terrorist attack took the lives of twenty-nine people at a time when the “troubles” of Northern Ireland were believed to be over. Lasting peace was taken for granted, and the bombing was a reminder that shocking violence was never far away.

It’s hard to watch crying children holding flowers at funerals, but that was the 24-hour news cycle at the time. It was a sobering moment — grief mixed with anxiety.

But there’s something else that stayed with me. News reports of the bombing…

“I think the people of this country have had enough of experts.”

So said a British government minister on the eve of Brexit. The minister in question was an architect of the so-far-so-bad act of self-harm that the British public brought on itself, despite warnings from experts.

The break with Europe was the long-fought-for victory for the so-called “Euroskeptics”. This formerly fringe coalition of nationalists and libertarians gained mainstream traction as Britain became mired in economic and political crises from 2008 onwards.

We’re now at peak skepticism it seems. It leaves society pallid with the sickness of wilful ignorance. A…

Yoga is not sunset asanas on Bali beaches, nor is it retired ballerinas in $100 leggings scratching their heads with their toes.

Yoga is a practical way to sharpen your mental health whilst building strength, flexibility and balance. You don’t have to be a yogi to reap the benefits either. Simple sequences can help us counteract the forces of modern life that pull our body and mind out of shape.

During the pandemic many of us have been desk-bound at home. We’ve been called on to improvise our working environment while juggling working with all the other stresses of isolation…

The idea of a “medium” is that it’s a carrier for something else. Like a canvas on which you paint, it shouldn’t be visible. Blood is a medium too. If you notice it, something is very wrong.

And yet Medium’s tribulations have bled all over the platform, culminating in a clutch of news articles in the last 24 hours. As a Medium reader and writer I feel invested, and a little annoyed by the snarkiness of some of the coverage, which belittles Medium’s championing of ordinary bloggers.

Readers like me, who hand over $5 a month, will not be surprised…

Why do things change?

It’s an odd question, isn’t it? But it’s also an oddly obvious question to ask. Most people would understand change to be a fact of life that we’d never hope to understand. But if we come somewhere towards a theory of why things change, we may come close to how change can be harnessed positively.

Why things change has been a matter of speculation for thinkers since the beginning of western philosophy. Parmenides (born circa 515 BCE) believed that change is an illusion, that all things are one and the same. …

Eloquence. What a beautiful word. Here’s how to achieve it as a writer.

The problem most novice writers have is as follows. You’re a hive of ideas and energy, you want to write about what you love. Who doesn’t? But you’re failing at something because the readers aren’t arriving. Your hard work, your great idea, and, most importantly, your passion isn’t being received. Nobody reads, nobody comments, nobody seems to care.

What’s happening? Well, the question should be “What’s not happening?” The answer is usually “eloquence.”

Steve Martin joked, “Some people have a way with words, other people not have…

So this is interesting.

Another article about the “Stoicism” of a historical figure. Fine, whatever floats people’s boats. Each to their own.

Then read the comments and things explode. This dead pale male, as significant as he was, wasn’t the most exemplary human being to make a representative of philosophy.

The “hero” of this story, “Josh 12”, points out in the comments that Jefferson hypocritically ignored his own “life advice” in the article.

Then Josh gets to the main point: It’s better to read the philosophy itself than to put people on pedestals as exemplifying a philosophy:

“I’d rather go…