Showing results for "Illusion" in Philosophy

This podcast starts with a deep examination of Richard Bach's book "Illusions," which made a profound difference in my life. And then we will launch from there into a deep dive into the philosophical, spiritual, metaphysical, and mystical aspects of our world. Along the way, we will explore and test the lessons in the book, the wisdom of the ancients, and the metaphysical implications of much modern science.

Alan Watts discusses the Indian philosophy of the world as maya - under its multiple meanings as illusion, art, magic, creative power, measure, etc. Various techniques in the arts are used to illustrate the delicate and vibrational character of the material world, and to suggest a new approach to the old philosophy that the universe is "mind" only.

In Beyond Biocentrism, acclaimed biologist Robert Lanza and astronomer Bob Berman take the listener on an intellectual thrill ride as they reexamine everything we thought we knew about life, death, the universe, and the nature of reality itself. The first step is acknowledging that our existing model of reality is looking increasingly creaky in the face of recent scientific discoveries.

This book explores how meaning, often assumed to be a stable or innate feature of reality, is in fact a constructed phenomenon — shaped, transmitted, and manipulated through language, cultural systems, economic structures, and ideology. Drawing on thinkers such as Wittgenstein, Lacan, Orwell, and contemporary cultural critics, the text unpacks how language limits thought, how culture recycles and fossilizes symbolic forms, and how capitalism turns meaning into a consumable commodity.

The death toll in Gaza continues to rise―a cold, lifeless number representing entire communities crushed under the weight of settler colonialism. What remains of the theories we use to understand our world? With lyrical and lucid fury, Hamid Dabashi exposes the racist roots of Western philosophy, demanding that listeners overcome its pernicious phantom of relevance. Rather than perceiving "the West" as giving carte blanche to Israel, Dabashi insists that Israel must be understood as its quintessence.

In this sweeping philosophical work, Amartya Sen proposes that the murderous violence that has riven our society is driven as much by confusion as by inescapable hatred. Challenging the reductionist division of people by race, religion, and class, Sen presents an inspiring vision of a world that can be made to move toward peace as firmly as it has spiraled in recent years toward brutality and war.

Discover the Second Edition of A World of Illusions—newly enhanced with insights and updates reflecting the events of 2024, making it more relevant than ever!

We can’t avoid the persistent questions about the meaning of life—and the nature of reality. But science is the only means of answering them. So declares philosopher Alex Rosenberg in this bracing, surprisingly sanguine take on a world without god. The science that makes us nonbelievers, he demonstrates, tells us the nature of reality, the purpose of everything, the difference between right and wrong, how the mind works, even the direction of human history.

Reality Is an Illusion is a profound journey across science, spirituality, philosophy, and lived human experience. In this groundbreaking work, Dr. Bhaskar Bora—physician, survivor, seeker, and author—explores one of the oldest and most unsettling truths: that the reality we cling to may be nothing more than a shimmering veil.

"Future of an Illusion," authored by Sigmund Freud in 1927, embarks on a critical examination of religion, articulating it as a psychological construct born from humanity's deep-seated needs for protection, moral guidance, and understanding of the universe.

Every king is eventually replaced. Every CEO is eventually forgotten. Every worker who gives twenty years to a company is eventually shown the door while someone else sits at their desk on Monday morning.

Do we have free will? And if we don’t, why do we feel as if we do? In a godless universe governed by impersonal laws of cause and effect, are you responsible for your actions? Former evangelical minister Dan Barker and author of God: The Most Unpleasant Character in All Fiction unveils a novel solution to the question that has baffled scientists and philosophers for millennia.

Liberty X Happy Hour is a podcast, livestream, and live conversation space built around four simple words: Faith, Hope, Purpose, and Courage. We bring together authors, podcasters, influencers, independent voices, advocates, and everyday Americans for real conversations about the issues shaping America. Our show is rooted in meaningful dialogue, honest questions, personal stories, and the belief that people do not need permission to use their voice. Liberty X Happy Hour is not about scripted talking points. It is about real people, real conversations, and real stories that encourage listeners ...

Money is the most successful hallucination in human history. We eat it, breathe it, kill for it, and die without it—yet no one alive can say with certainty what it actually is. In The Invisible Leash, Boris Kriger pulls at the collar that economics has fastened around our necks and asks the questions polite society would rather avoid. Were we ever truly free before we invented currency? Is Adam Smith's "invisible hand" guiding us toward prosperity—or pushing us off a cliff?

This book advances the Principle of Anti-Symmetry: the claim that symmetry has never existed in nature as more than a cognitive projection. What science repeatedly reveals as “symmetry breaking” is not the loss of an original balance, but the disclosure of reality’s true structure—irreducible imbalance.

What if every truth we hold began as a beautiful mistake? This book is a meditation on the nature of illusion—not as deception, but as one of the mind’s essential ways of knowing. Here, illusion is not debunked or dismissed; it is explored as a bridge between ignorance and understanding, a necessary fiction through which humans reach toward the incomprehensible.

You Are Not Alive: The Illusion of Consciousness and Free Will A dark, blisteringly honest philosophy book that dares to say what the self-help aisle never will. What if everything you believe about yourself—your identity, your choices, your soul—is a lie? What if consciousness isn’t magic, but math? Not light, but glitch? Not purpose, but pattern? In this provocative philosophical manifesto, philosopher Jason Ostendorf dismantles the comfortable illusions of modern life—free will, morality, meaning, even love—and offers something more brutal, more beautiful, and far more liberating: truth.

The Unified Field of Meaning by Jay Nuzum is a sweeping exploration of science, philosophy, spirituality, and myth that asks whether all of reality, matter, mind, meaning, and consciousness, arises from a single underlying truth. Blending modern physics with ancient wisdom and contemporary human experience, the audiobook invites listeners to rethink what it means to know, to believe, and to be connected in an uncertain world.

Imagine this: You’ve just hired someone for a job, but instead of showing initiative, they spend more time scrolling on their phone, wondering why they’re not the boss yet. Or perhaps you’ve seen a viral video of someone celebrated for doing… absolutely nothing. Meanwhile, your own hard work feels undervalued in a culture that rewards mediocrity. Sound familiar? In today’s world, intelligence, skill, and grit seem to take a back seat to viral fame and unearned entitlement. You’re left wondering: When did ambition become a dirty word?

Ortega’s unique passion for and leadership in publicizing the truth about human will comes across throughout the book’s devastating, yet accessible, explanations of why free will is impossible, and in its descriptions of the harm free will-belief causes us personally and societally. What also sets Ortega’s work apart from refutations by others is his strong recognition that humanity’s overcoming the belief in free will is an historic evolutionary leap in human consciousness.