Welcome to Issue #79 of ThinkSpace Thursday
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đ Light Reading
The quiet threat of 'covert' narcissists in the workplace
The braggy colleague, the boss who hogs credit for the team's work, the connection who constantly shows off work achievements on social mediaâwe all know a narcissist when we see one. Or do we? Not all narcissists are egoists clamouring for the spotlight, it turns out. There's also a stealthier, friendlier version: the covert narcissist.
Happiness as an act of resistance
If we care about our happiness, we must fight against beasts such as apathy. Sabotaging our own happiness helps no one. And passivity corrupts our lives and deadens our experiences. Wilful ignorance is comforting, but it gives us a false view of our situations. To disregard the real context of our existence is to be in what Simone de Beauvoir called bad faith, a kind of self-deception that subverts freedom.
William James on the psychology of habit
The pioneering psychologist and philosopher William James wrote Habit in 1887âa short treatise on how our behavioral patterns shape who we are and what we often refer to as character and personality.
đ Study of the Week
People are better at decoding emojis compared to real facial expressions
A study conducted in Italy found that people are better and faster at recognising the emotions displayed by emojis compared to real facial expressions. Fear was the most challenging emotion to identify in both emojis and real faces.
đş Video of the Week
Ludwig Wittgenstein was a philosopher obsessed with the difficulties of language who wanted to help us find a way out of some of the muddles we get into with words. (6 min.)
đ Podcast Episode
Danny and I delve into the brilliant TV show that is Mr Inbetween. We explore how it relates to themes like morality, authenticity, and absurdism and ask why we love the characters in shows like this and The Sopranos, The Wire, and Breaking Bad so much.
đŁ Quote of the Week
âThe main difficulty that faces us in the development of a scientific knowledge of the world lies not in the outside world but in our own emotional life. It is the desire to retain beliefs to which we are emotionally attached for some reason or other. It is the tendency to make the wish father to the thought... If we are to be scientific in our thoughts⌠we must be ready to subordinate our wishes and desires to the nature of the world⌠Reason demands that our beliefs should conform to the nature of the world, not the nature of our hopes and ideals.â
â John MacMurray (1891-1976)
đ Perception Watch
Itâs the street thatâs sloped, not the building.
đ˛ WTF
A ball that can be cut into a finite number of pieces can be reassembled into two balls of the same size.
The Banach-Tarski paradox relies on a lot of the strange and counterintuitive properties of infinite sets and geometric rotations.
đ In the Memetime
đ Book Club
People often live in a state of indecision in a misguided attempt to keep their options open. This provisional way of livingâalways looking elsewhere, to the future, to other people, to other ways of being, and never committing to what one has or, alternatively, putting in the time and energy to achieve what one wantsâis a big mistake. This book tells us how to avoid this trap.
đ¤ Contemplation Corner
đ§ The Song of the Week
Richard Hawley - Not The Only Road
Listen to the ThinkSpace Thursday playlist on Spotify.
đ§ Go Deeper with ThinkSpace
Join a vibrant community of thinkers who share a passion for mastering the art of living well. Every month, we explore the wisdom of a different philosopher and deepen our understanding of ourselves and the world. Click here to learn more.
Some insights from yesterdayâs July Masterclass:
đ Thanks for Reading
As always, if you enjoy ThinkSpace Thursday, Iâd love it if you shared it with a friend or two. If youâre not finding it valuable, please consider unsubscribingâno hard feelings!
Live well, and Iâll see you next week.
John