Elijah Oxford

Posts

Philosophy of Epictetus and how he taught some of the toughest people

Rubin Carter, a top contender for the middleweight boxing title, at the height of his career was all of a sudden wrongly accused of being involved in the murder of three people in the mid-1960s. He went on trial, where he got a biased verdict, condemning him to three life sentences, totalling, up to 90 years in prison overall. A tragic incident for anyone to go through, but especially for Carter as he had just risen to success and fame, which was a reality, that had become a dream again overnight. As you can imagine, this was crippling. But he did not plan on taking this defeat anytime soon. He turned up to prison in an expensive, tailored suit, wearing a $5,000 diamond ring and a gold watch. Whilst waiting in line to be entered into the prison ecosystem, he requested to speak to someone in charge. Looking the Warden who came to meet him in the eye. He informed him and the guards, that he knew they had nothing to do with his injustice that had lead to him being put in jail, and is wi

Friedrich Nietzsche: The Misunderstood Genius That Solved Everything

Nietzsche is considered to be one of the greatest and most daring philosophers of all time, and for good reason. His work changed philosophy forever, and improved the lives of millions, with his ideas aiming to re-evaluate all values. One of which, outlined the process on how to reach a “superhuman” state, which is the most ideal way for someone to live, putting you above social norms and constraints that are placed onto us by the modern world. Whilst also famously stating that “God is dead”, and we are the ones that have killed him. To better understand these philosophies, we must first start at the beginning. Nietzsche lived for the most part, a lonely and depressive life, being born in the year 1844, into a family devoted to Christianity. A faith that he soon began to question as he grew up due to many tragic events unfolding in his life. His father, a man committed to praising God, got diagnosed with a terminal brain disease, causing him to suffer in pain for a year, after which

Miyamoto Musashi: Freedom in Loneliness

Miyamoto Musashi was a Ronin, being a samurai that was outcast from society, made to live a life separate from everyone else, having no master and living alone. Musashi is perhaps the most famous Ronin for his skill in sword fighting, winning a total record of 61 duels to the death. Not only was he masterful samurai, but also an artist and perhaps most importantly, a philosopher, writing many of his ideas onto paper, forever solidifying his place in history. His work is still used in today’s society, as much, if more then it was when he wrote them. Leaving behind 21 of the most core principles he lived by, and everyone should strive to live by too. Withstanding the test of time, having survived for nearly 500 years now. The first five of these principles will be covered in this video, with the others covered in future videos, allowing for a more in-depth look into each one. Rule 1 - Accept Everything Just The Way It Is This precept encourages acceptance and mindfulness of the world

OUTWORK Everyone By Being Bored

Have you ever found yourself, sitting down to do some work and no matter how hard you try, you just can’t seem to focus, you keep looking out of the window, checking your phone and 10 minutes feels like an hour Fortunately there is a solution to help you fight procrastination and achieve a state of deep flow in work you may not even enjoy doing. Unfortunately, most people won’t do it. So what is this miracle cure? Boredom. A heavily neglected and stigmatised part of modern society, acting as both the problem and the solution. Hear me out. Social psychologist Timothy Wilson conducted a study, placing volunteers in a room with nothing but a button. If pressed they would receive an electric shock. After 15 minutes of sitting in an unfurnished, completely empty room alone, 67% of males and 25% of females chose to willing electrocute themselves over doing nothing, with some participants deciding to press the button multiple times. It is also worth pointing out that the volunteers had

Why No-One is Authentic Anymore

One of the greatest philosophical questions that many have sought out to answer, is what is it to be? The German philosopher Martin Heidegger based a large amount of his life to answer this question. His book “being and time” that took a deep dive into this question, would later get viewed as one of the most profound written texts of European philosophy ever. Heidegger was born on September the 26th, 1889, with his philosophical development being ignited after reading the works of Aristotle and Brentano, with Aristotle’s ideas of metaphysics, to know what it is that unites all possible modes of being that started Heidegger’s obsession of what is was to be a human. Heidegger would spend many years teaching, one of the University’s he taught at, was that of Marburg, these were described as brilliant years by the people of University, building up a strong reputation as having an excellent mind. After his teaching years, he started to write his book, seeing the state of ‘being’ as someth