Essays on Direction

By Dr Neel Burton — Psychiatrist, philosopher, and wine writer; Fellow of Green Templeton College, University of Oxford; author of over twenty books.

A person can succeed brilliantly at the wrong life.

We tend to think of success as getting what we want: wealth, status, attachments. Failure, correspondingly, is not getting it. But this assumes that we wanted the right things in the first place.

We can pursue ambitions that were never truly ours, or sacrifice the things that matter most for futilities. Conversely, what looks like failure—a disappointment, rejection, or crisis—can carry us closer to the true value of life.

This page brings together my essays on direction.

The Conventional Life

Are You Keeping Busy to Avoid Yourself? — The Manic Defence: Why You Can’t Bear to Stop

The Ambition Trap — The Psychology and Philosophy of Ambition

Fame and Fortune Are Not Proper Ends — What the Stoic Seneca Knew About Ambition, Success, and Happiness

Why Snobbery Is Self-Defeating — The Psychology of Snobbery

Has Marriage Had Its Day? — A Philosophical and Feminist Critique

Should People Have Children? — What Would the Children Say?

Inside a Tyrant’s Mind — Why the Tyrant Is the Unhappiest of People

Adversity, Loss, and Return

The Root of All Anxiety — The Deepest Cure for Fear and Anxiety—No Prescription Required

What Depression Is For — My Philosophy of (Most) Depression

Labyrinths and Mazes: What They Really Mean — The History and Psychology of Labyrinths

The Myth of Orpheus and Its Meaning — A Psychiatrist and Philosopher Interprets the Myth of Orpheus and Eurydice

Why We Weep for Odysseus’ Dog — Recognition, Memory, and the Need to Find our Way Home

Breaking Free

What If My Life Is Not Mine? — Sartre, Bad Faith, and the Freedom We Deny

The Philosopher Who Took Philosophy Too Far — Diogenes the Cynic and the Philosophy of the Dog

Why You Should Always Be Eight Minutes Late—And Not One More — The Psychology and Philosophy of Lateness

How to Go from Lazy to Idle — The Psychology and Philosophy of Laziness

The Joy of Being Alone — The Psychology and Philosophy of Solitude

Mortality and Choice

Yes, You Should Be Afraid of Death — But You Mustn’t Be

Should You Want to Live Forever? — Odysseus, Calypso, and the Philosophy of Immortality

Why Socrates Chose to Die — Plato’s Apology: Why the Father of Philosophy Refused to Save His Own Life

The Myth of Er: Plato’s Most Beautiful Myth — Given the Choice, Who Would You Be in Your Next Life?

Finding a Direction

What Is the Meaning of Life? — Purpose, Freedom, and the Search for Meaning

The Psychology and Philosophy of Wisdom — Ever Met a Clever Fool? Why Intelligence Alone Is Not Enough

A Life in Ideas: Viktor Frankl — One Man’s Search for Meaning

The Odyssey Is About Becoming Ourselves — Why Odysseus’ Journey Is Also Our Own

What Is Hypersanity? — There’s More to Life than Mere Sanity

Freedom and Self-Overcoming

An Outline of the Problem of Free Will — With an Account of How Freedom Might Sometimes Be Possible for Some

God Is Dead. Now What? — How Would You Respond to Nietzsche’s Madman?

Are You Ancient or Christian? — Nietzsche on Master and Slave Morality—and Why You May Be Both

Nietzsche’s Prophetic Vision of the Last Man — And His Challenge to Us: The Übermensch

Nietzsche, the Stoics, and Eternal Return — What If You Had to Live Your Life Again?

The Good Life

What If We’ve Got Happiness Wrong? — Why Eudaimonia Is Better Than Happiness

Epicurus and the Arithmetics of Pleasure — Learning to Master the Hedonistic Calculus

What Is Ataraxia? — And Why Ataraxia Is the Ultimate Cool

The Metaphor of the Stoic Archer, Explained — Why the Stoics Believed Success Is Not the Measure of a Good Life

A Third Way Between Family Life and Loneliness — Monasteries Are Dying: Time to Bring Them Back in Some New Form?

Aristotle on Friendship — Why Friendship is Essential to the Good Life

Continue Exploring

Explore more subjects in the Index Scriptorum.

See the Bigger Picture