Academy of Ideas

“The self-handicapper reaches out for impediments, exaggerates handicaps, and embraces any factor reducing personal responsibility for mediocrity…”  Steven Berglas and Edward Jones, Drug Choice as a Self-Handicapping Strategy Rather than simply contending with external obstacles to success, many of us actively collaborate in our own defeat. We are our own worst enemies and our inability […]

The post Why We Sabotage Ourselves – The Psychology of Self-Handicapping first appeared on Academy of Ideas.

“Rudeness is the weak man’s imitation of strength.” Eric Hoffer, The Passionate State of Mind The internet has connected the world, but it has also unleashed a torrent of hostility. The primary source of this hostility is the online hater. Hidden behind a screen and protected by anonymity, these individuals mock and insult creators, podcasters, online personalities, […]

The post The Psychology of Online Haters – Nietzsche’s “Poisonous Flies” first appeared on Academy of Ideas.

“The difficulties of our psychotherapeutic work teach us to take truth, goodness, and beauty where we find them. They are not always found where we look for them: often they are hidden in the dirt or are in the keeping of the dragon.” Carl Jung, Collected Works Volume 16 We all possess what Carl Jung […]

The post Why we Fear our Highest Potential – The Jonah Complex first appeared on Academy of Ideas.

The modern West is in decline. Economic stagnation, rising tax burdens, moral disorientation, political corruption, bloated bureaucracies, and soaring levels of poverty, drug addiction and homelessness, all point to a faltering civilization. While many agree that the West is faltering, explanations as to why vary; some blame the collapse of religion and the loss of […]

The post Why Weak People Create Hard Times – The Biological Decline of the West first appeared on Academy of Ideas.

“Many are born; few live. Men without personality are innumerable and vegetate molded by their environment, like melted wax.” José Ingenieros, The Mediocre Man In the early-20th century, the Argentinian philosopher, physician, and essayist José Ingenieros wrote a book titled The Mediocre Man. In it he explores what distinguishes the mediocre masses from those who […]

The post Escape Mediocrity – How to Stop Wasting your Life first appeared on Academy of Ideas.