Empire of the Mind

A Clockwork Orange is closer to reality than many people realize. It's often said that the films of Stanley Kubrick deal with the dehumanization of human beings. They give us a picture of what a person looks like when their humanity is stripped away. Nowhere is this more explicit than in his film A Clockwork Orange, where, as the title indicates, a human is made into a metaphorical machine—a mechanical fruit. The startling assertion is that human identity, selfhood, and one’s very being are not immutable characteristics. It is possible for another person or group of people to destroy our humanness. Not only does A Clockwork Orange claim to show us how this is possible, but perhaps more than any other Kubrick film, it shows that this a real problem for us in modern times: experimentation on the minds and bodies of criminals and mental health patients is not merely a problem of the distant past, nor merely a future possibility: it’s a real possibility for us right now, because experiments like this actually happened in real life within living memory. In this video I’m going to be breaking down some of the real life history behind A Clockwork Orange, as well as examining it’s themes of human nature, free will, and the human sense of justice. SOCIAL MEDIA LINKS Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/empire_of_the_mind/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Empire-of-the-Mind-102111168633434/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/_empireofmind RUMBLE: https://rumble.com/c/c-1405986 PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/EmpireoftheMind Email: theempireofthemind@gmail.com CHAPTERS 00:00 The Horrific Reality Behind A Clockwork Orange 1:50 Aversion Therapy: What Is It? 4:28 Freedom of Choice: What Makes Us Human? 10:12 Real Life Clockwork Oranges: Aversive Conditioning Experiments in U.S. Prisons 17:49 The Most Important Philosophical Question of Our Time? 20:01 ACT III: The Dire Consequences of Tampering With Human Nature 24:09 Revenge Vs. Rehabilitation: What is Justice? 25:55 A Warning About the Dangers of Progressivism 28:02 The Tricky Balance Between Freedom & Limitation SOURCES / FURTHER READING Kubrick on A Clockwork Orange: An interview with Michel Ciment www.visual-memory.co.uk/amk/doc/interview.aco.html Kubrick Tells What Makes A Clockwork Orange Tick by Bernard Weintraub www.archiviokubrick.it/english/words/interviews/1972clockworktick.html Nice Boy From the Bronx? By CRAIG MCGREGOR https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/library/film/013072kubrick-profile.html “Legislating the Control of Behavior Control: Autonomy and the Coercive Use of Organic Procedures,” https://books.google.com/books?id=yIHhIcMJge0C&pg=PA784&lpg=PA784&dq=Conditioning+and+Other+Technologies+Used+to+Treat+Rehabilitate+Demolish+Prisoners+and+Mental+Patients&source=bl&ots=VPK_I7mN1u&sig=ACfU3U2dPoFW0jxbbQyMhbqy8kR5LvtP9w&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjTvuHklNT7AhUvHzQIHd5wBUUQ6AF6BAgaEAM#v=twopage&q&f=false “Erasing Minds: Behavioral Modification, the Prison Rights Movement, and Psychological Experimentation in America's Prisons, 1962–1983” Journal of American Studies https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-american-studies/article/abs/erasing-minds-behavioral-modification-the-prison-rights-movement-and-psychological-experimentation-in-americas-prisons-19621983/169B471EFF8A2F71D736CF8C90D771ED “Behavior Modification: Legal Limitations on Methods and Goals,” Notre Dame Law Review https://scholarship.law.nd.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2748&context=ndlr “Behavior modification” National Institute of Corrections https://nicic.gov/tags/behavior-modification “Cognitive Behavioral Therapy,” National Institute of Corrections https://nicic.gov/projects/cognitive-behavioral-therapy “Inmate Behavior Management: Brazos County Jail Case Study,” National Institute of Corrections https://nicic.gov/inmate-behavior-management-brazos-county-jail-case-study

One of the strangest protagonists in film history is Alex Delarge from Stanley Kubrick’s film adaptation of A Clockwork Orange. He is a violent criminal who does unspeakably horrific things to innocent people. Yet we are meant to sympathize with him when he is victimized by the state. We’re left wondering how he has become such an iconic figure. Why is he so fascinating? In this video, I explore what makes passionately evil people so interesting as characters. We'll talk about the music of Beethoven, which plays a significant role in the film, as well as the philosophy of Friedrich Schiller, whose poem "Ode to Joy," is equally significant to Alex's personality. Finally, in a spill-over from my last video, we'll compare and contrast Alex with a character from Aldous Huxley's Brave New World—maybe it can shed some light on the nature of individuality and why mere morality (as modernity conceives of it) is so underwhelming. CHAPTERS 00:00 Alex DeLarge: The Strangest Protagonist in Film History 00:58 Alex's Inspiration: Beethoven, Passion, & the Romantic Movement in Music & Philosophy 05:35 The Philosopher Behind the Film: Friedrich Schiller's Theory of Characters 9:35 The Dilemma: How Do We Become Passionate? 12:54 The Energy of God: Brave New World & the Elevating Power of Worship 20:05 The Magnificent Paradox: Finally Learning to Be Alive SOCIAL MEDIA LINKS Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/empire_of_the_mind/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Empire-of-the-Mind-102111168633434/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/_empireofmind PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/EmpireoftheMind Email: theempireofthemind@gmail.com FURTHER READING Kubrick on A Clockwork Orange: An interview with Michel Ciment www.visual-memory.co.uk/amk/doc/interview.aco.html Kubrick Tells What Makes A Clockwork Orange Tick by Bernard Weintraub www.archiviokubrick.it/english/words/interviews/1972clockworktick.html ‘A Clockwork Orange’: Kubrick and Burgess’ Vision of the Modern World https://cinephiliabeyond.org/clockwork-orange-kubrick-burgess-vision-modern-world/

For a hundred years now, we have been fascinated by DYSTOPIAS: nightmare-visions of environmental disasters, squalor, societal decline, or tyrannical governments maintaining complete control over a society—whether through brute force, propaganda, censorship or denial of free thought, brainwashing, or all of the above, leading to the complete loss of individuality. But in this ever-expanding genre, there is one dystopian film that stands out as horrifyingly unique, breaking the mold, and creating a dystopian world unlike any other—except maybe, potentially, our own. Stanley Kubrick’s 1971 film adaptation A Clockwork Orange follows the deviant peregrinations of a young criminal named Alex Delarge, as he navigates a dystopian of version of London, England. This video explores the nature of crime, government, and culture. Why does authoritarianism fail to create safety and prevent crime? Can democracies be totalitarian? What makes policing ineffective? How do liberals respond in a world where liberalism is falling out of favor? How does culture, art, and architecture reflect the character of a society? Are their similarities between A Clockwork Orange and Aldous Huxley's Brave New World? If so, what do these classic novels have to say about our own societies? SOCIAL MEDIA LINKS Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/empire_of_the_mind/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Empire-of-the-Mind-102111168633434/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/_empireofmind PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/EmpireoftheMind Email: theempireofthemind@gmail.com CHAPTERS Chaotic Totalitarianism: A Dystopia Unlike Any Other 00:00 Corruption of Police & Politicians 6:12 How Liberalism Betrays Itself 10:03 Failing Families: Society's Poisoned Well 14:45 The Precursor of a BRAVE NEW WORLD 19:36 Modern Art: the Décor of Dystopia 23:50 BRUTALISM: the ARCHITECTURE of Dystopia 26:55 Synthetic Pop Music: Rhythm of the Subjugated 29:15 Misery Through Avoiding Struggle 31:29 FURTHER READING "A Clockwork Orange," The International Anthony Burgess Foundation (“‘the dream of liberalism going mad’.”) https://www.anthonyburgess.org/a-clockwork-orange/ Kubrick on A Clockwork Orange: An interview with Michel Ciment www.visual-memory.co.uk/amk/doc/interview.aco.html Kubrick Tells What Makes A Clockwork Orange Tick by Bernard Weintraub www.archiviokubrick.it/english/words/interviews/1972clockworktick.html ‘A Clockwork Orange’: Kubrick and Burgess’ Vision of the Modern World https://cinephiliabeyond.org/clockwork-orange-kubrick-burgess-vision-modern-world/

SOCIAL MEDIA LINKS Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/empire_of_the_mind/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Empire-of-the-Mind-102111168633434/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/_empireofmind PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/EmpireoftheMind Email: theempireofthemind@gmail.com CHAPTERS 0:00 The Atomic Bomb: the Old Story of Mankind 4:28 The Humor of Horrors & the Comedy of Contradictions 10:10 The Truth of Fiction & the Horrifying Facts of Dr. Strangelove 27:25 Modernity is Impotence: A Parable of the Helpless Human in the Modern World 39:16 The Fallibility of Man & the Determinism of Survival 44:23 Philosophy From the Ruins: The New Problems of Modernity from the Perspective of Japanese Philosophers 49:46 Technology Always Has Consequences: Prometheus & the Fire that Burns Friend & Foe 56:04 Living in a World of Shallow Connection: the Symbols of Dr. Strangelove 1:07:27 Learning to Love the Bomb: Finding Freedom in Contradiction & Self-Sacrifice SOURCES/FURTHER READING Stanley Kubrick A Life in Pictures | Filmmakers Behind the Scenes | Warner Bros. Entertainment https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ApEh9Sm4BR0&t=22s&ab_channel=WarnerBros.Entertainment Inside the Making of Dr. Strangelove https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJ6BiRtGTAk&ab_channel=TobyRoby "Best Manhattan project documentary" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8dtIyz9HD2o&t=1583s&ab_channel=SophiaDresden First Nuclear Reactor, U.S. Department of Energy https://www.osti.gov/opennet/manhattan-project-history/Events/1942-1944_pu/cp-1_critical.htm Almost Everything in “Dr. Strangelove” Was True https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/almost-everything-in-dr-strangelove-was-true The Half-Century Anniversary of “Dr. Strangelove” https://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/the-half-century-anniversary-of-dr-strangelove Curtis Lemay Victor Davis Hanson, “The Soul Of Battle: From Ancient Times To The Present Day, Three Great Liberators Vanquished Tyranny” https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/books/first/h/hanson-battle.html Col Phillip S. Meilinger, USAF, Retired, How LeMay Transformed Strategic Air Command https://www.airuniversity.af.edu/Portals/10/ASPJ/journals/Volume-28_Issue-2/V-Meilinger.pdf V-2 Rockets “Biography of Wernher Von Braun,” NASA https://www.nasa.gov/centers/marshall/history/vonbraun/bio.html “V-2 Missile, National Air and Space Museum https://airandspace.si.edu/collection-objects/missile-surface-surface-v-2-4/nasm_A19600342000 “V-2 Rocket, Britannica https://www.britannica.com/technology/V-2-rocket

Evil doesn't always look the way we expect it to. Lolita is a 1962 dark comedy directed by Stanley Kubrick and based on the 1955 novel of the same title by Vladimir Nabokov. Stanley Kubrick A Life in Pictures | Filmmakers Behind the Scenes | Warner Bros. Entertainment: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ApEh9Sm4BR0&t=1s&ab_channel=WarnerBros.Entertainment SOCIAL MEDIA LINKS Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/empire_of_the_mind/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Empire-of-the-Mind-102111168633434/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/_empireofmind PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/EmpireoftheMind Email: theempireofthemind@gmail.com

Humanity fluctuates with power, morality, and truth. There’s more than one way to be objectified. Paths of Glory is a 1957 anti-war film co-written and directed by Stanley Kubrick. Set during World War I, it tells the story of a French regiment which refuses to continue a suicidal attack and its commanding officer, Colonel Dax (Kirk Douglas), who defends three of his men against charges of cowardice in a court-martial. SOCIAL MEDIA LINKS Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/empire_of_the_mind/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Empire-of-the-Mind-102111168633434/ Twitter.com/_EmpireofMind PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/EmpireoftheMind Email: theempireofthemind@gmail.com

Agriculture is the greatest source of power for any individual or nation—a fact which is easy to forget when farmers are constantly caricatured and mocked in media and entertainment. This is how an Empire was defeated by men and women who worked the land. SOCIAL MEDIA LINKS Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/empire_of_the_mind/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Empire-of-the-Mind-102111168633434/ PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/EmpireoftheMind Email: theempireofthemind@gmail.com FURTHER READING From Benjamin Franklin to ———, 28 November 1768 https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Franklin/01-15-02-0155 From Benjamin Franklin to David Hartley, 3 October 1775: extract https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Franklin/01-22-02-0136 From Benjamin Franklin to George Washington, 5 March 1780 https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Franklin/01-32-02-0024#BNFN-01-32-02-0024-fn-0006 “Antaeus” Britannica https://www.britannica.com/topic/Antaeus George Washington, March 24, 1783, General Orders https://www.loc.gov/resource/mgw3g.007/?sp=99&st=text (“A Farming Society,” Encyclopedia.com) https://www.encyclopedia.com/history/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/farming-society When everything changed: the US & UK economies in World War II https://www.rapidtransition.org/stories/when-everything-changed-the-us-uk-economies-in-world-war-ii/ MUSIC Saint-Saens, Symphony No. 3, mov. III Michael Giacchino, Manor House Rally Beethoven, Piano Concerto 5, mov II Beethoven, Symphony 9, mov II Haydn, Symphony 100, mov I Haydn , Symphony 104 mov I Beethoven, Symphony 7, mov I

One day a mysterious man stepped onto the world scene and, working behind the scenes with a fake name, tried to stop the American Revolution. But just as quickly, he disappeared… and we still don’t know his identity. A true story of bribery and intrigue. And yes, it has something to do with agrarianism, demonstrating how the *ideas* of an agrarian philosophy are just as important and powerful off of the farm as they are on it. SOCIAL MEDIA LINKS Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/empire_of_the_mind/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Empire-of-the-Mind-102111168633434/ PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/EmpireoftheMind Email: theempireofthemind@gmail.com FURTHER READING To Benjamin Franklin from “Charles de Weissenstein,” 16 June 1778 https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Franklin/01-26-02-0574#BNFN-01-26-02-0574-fn-0004 From Benjamin Franklin to [“Charles de Weissenstein”], 1 July 1778 https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Franklin/01-27-02-0002 “The Strange Case of Charles de Weissenstein,” Journal of the American Revolution https://allthingsliberty.com/2018/05/the-strange-case-of-charles-de-weissenstein/ CLASSICAL MUSIC Mozart, Fantasia in Dm, K. 397, perf. Stefano Ligoratti https://musopen.org/music/27883-fantasia-in-d-minor-k-397/ Beethoven, Piano Sonata no. 8 in C minor 'Pathetique', Op. 13 - I. Grave - Allegro di molto e con brio Saint-Saens, Bassoon Sonata, Op.168 - Allegro scherzando. Perf. Charles Kaufmann https://musopen.org/music/8935-bassoon-sonata-op-168/ Dvorak, Symphony no. 9 in Em, 'New World' - II. Largo

What is ‘Authenticity?’ I argue that the movie It's a Wonderful Life straddles two opposite poles of authenticity: on the one hand, it has the honesty to express the depths of bitterness, disappointment, and despair we might reach (thus making it one of the most relatable films of all time), while, on the other hand, it also shows us that our feelings about life might be wrong. Ultimately this films wants to show us what life really is: the authentic vs. the counterfeit. SOCIAL MEDIA LINKS Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/empire_of_the_mind/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Empire-of-the-Mind-102111168633434/ PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/EmpireoftheMind Email: theempireofthemind@gmail.com MUSIC Archangelo Corelli, 12 Concerti Grossi, Op. 6 - Concerto no. 8 in G minor (Christmas Concerto) Archangelo Corello, 12 Concerti Grossi, Op. 6 - Concerto no. 4 in D major - I. Adagio – Allegro Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Suite No.1 in D minor - II. Divertimento P.I. Tchaikovsky - Symphony No.5 in E minor Op.64 - II. Andante cantabile Symphony No. 6 In B Minor, Op. 74, 'Pathetique' - I. Adagio, Allegro Non TroppoSaint-Saens: Symphony No. 3 "Organ" - Finale

Dune is a layered and symbolically rich novel, and Denis Villeneuve's new adaptation is as sophisticated as Frank Herbert's original work. In this video, I peel back some of the layers to mine the depths of meaning underneath both. Dune is a 2021 science fiction film directed by Denis Villeneuve and written by Villeneuve, Jon Spaihts, and Eric Roth. Based on the 1965 novel by Frank Herbert, it follows Paul Atreides and his family, the noble House Atreides, as they are thrust into a war with the Harkonnens for the deadly and inhospitable desert planet Arrakis. SOCIAL MEDIA LINKS Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/empire_of_the_mind/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Empire-of-the-Mind-102111168633434/ PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/EmpireoftheMind Email: theempireofthemind@gmail.com “What I Found in My Pocket,” by GK Chesterton https://www.gutenberg.org/files/8092/8092-h/8092-h.htm#link2H_4_0016

Denis Villeneuve’s Dune (2021) tried to accomplish something new in the world of mainstream, big-budget Hollywood movies. Namely, it pushed the boundaries of what it means for a film to be an immersive experience. Through cinematography and sound design tailored specifically for IMAX Theaters, Dune does what no other film has done: it tells a story which can only be experienced in the IMAX setting. In this video, I discuss why this is both awesome and frustrating. SOCIAL MEDIA LINKS Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/empire_of_the_mind/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Empire-of-the-Mind-102111168633434/ PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/EmpireoftheMind Email: theempireofthemind@gmail.com

What's the difference between horror films that are good, great and forgettable? It's not emotion, jump-scares, adrenaline, or disgust. It's about logic, rules, and a compelling scenario. Enduring emotion must enter through the mind, rather than bypassing it. SOCIAL MEDIA LINKS Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/empire_of_the_mind/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Empire-of-the-Mind-102111168633434/ PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/EmpireoftheMind Email: theempireofthemind@gmail.com MUSIC Ghost Story by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Source: http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/index.html?isrc=USUAN1300034 Artist: http://incompetech.com/

I can’t believe more people haven’t analyzed Stanley Kubrick’s film The Killing (1956). It’s an early work and not as ‘deep,’ ‘profound,’ or labyrinthine as some of his later films, but it is still more layered than most other films of the period, to say nothing about films made today. In this video I discuss the themes that I haven’t seen discussed anywhere else. SOCIAL MEDIA LINKS Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/empire_of_the_mind/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Empire-of-the-Mind-102111168633434/ PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/EmpireoftheMind Email: theempireofthemind@gmail.com

Stanley Kubrick’s films are horrifying. All of them. While Kubrick only made one film that is technically a horror film, there seems to be something about his style that, even in his war films, comedies, film noir, and science fiction, plays on the human sense of dread. This video is the first in a series, beginning with 2001: A Space Odyssey, that will analyze all of Kubrick’s films, their themes, style, and philosophy. Kubrick interview on the ending of 2001: A Space Odyssey https://youtu.be/er_o82OMlNM SOCIAL MEDIA LINKS Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/empire_of_the_mind/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Empire-of-the-Mind-102111168633434/ PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/EmpireoftheMind Email: theempireofthemind@gmail.com

In which I combine history, philosophy, and politics (just like they did in the old days), using original historical sources to tell an important story, one that has been too-long forgotten and which involves topics we are dealing with today: The Limits of Power, Free Speech, Economic Re-sets, Self-Sufficiency, and How to Make Real Change. Gaze into this mirror, my friends, and enjoy my latest absurdity of a video. 00:00 A Shocking Series of Events 2:28 The First Act of American Rebellion: Why the Revolution Began 7:33 TOWNSHEND vs. BARRÉ: Is The Stamp Act Tyrannical or Fair? 12:19 A Tax on Printing: How the Stamp Act Would Restructure Colonial Society 15:25 JOHN ADAMS & the Right to KNOWLEDGE: Information Highways & Civil Liberty 23:05 JOHN MILTON: FREE SPEECH is the Root of All Civil Liberty 32:57 BENJAMIN FRANKLIN: Optimism & Patient, Peaceful Political Strategy that Works 42:40 Repeal & Self-Sufficiency: How Agrarian-based Mercantile Boycotts Effected Repeal 51:19 No Liberty Without Knowledge & Self-Sufficiency SOCIAL MEDIA LINKS Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/empire_of_the_mind/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Empire-of-the-Mind-102111168633434/ PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/EmpireoftheMind Email: theempireofthemind@gmail.com SOME SOURCES John Adams “A Dissertation on the Canon and the Feudal Law,” No. 1, 12 August 1765 https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Adams/06-01-02-0052-0004 “A Dissertation on the Canon and the Feudal Law,” No. 3, 30 September 1765 https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Adams/06-01-02-0052-0006 “A Dissertation on the Canon and the Feudal Law,” No. 4, 21 October 1765 https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Adams/06-01-02-0052-0007 Instructions Adopted by the Braintree Town Meeting, 24 September 1765 https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Adams/06-01-02-0054-0003 Humphrey Ploughjogger to the Boston Gazette, 14 October 1765 https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Adams/06-01-02-0057 Benjamin Franklin Silence Dogood, No. 8, 9 July 1722 https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Franklin/01-01-02-0015 Letter From Benjamin Franklin to Charles Thomson, 11 July 1765 https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Franklin/01-12-02-0103 Letter From Benjamin Franklin to John Hughes, 9 August 1765 https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Franklin/01-12-02-0123 From Benjamin Franklin to Jane Mecom, 1 March 1766 https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Franklin/01-13-02-0055#BNFN-01-13-02-0055-fn-0004 Examination before the Committee of the Whole of the House of Commons, 13 February 1766 https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Franklin/01-13-02-0035 Deborah Franklin Letter To Benjamin Franklin from Deborah Franklin, 22 September 1765 https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Franklin/01-12-02-0145 John Milton Areopagitica (1644) https://en.m.wikisource.org/wiki/Areopagitica_(1644)

This video went out of control, because apparently I'm unable to control myself. On the positive side, this may be my most layered piece of writing yet, containing the kernels of what I believe about everything. There is plenty of meaning playing out in the open for everyone to see, but the deeper meanings often like to hide out of sight in the shadows and bushes; some camouflage themselves with other pieces of scenery. Keep your eyes peeled for them. We’ll touch on a ton of topics like: Should we focus on death or on life? What is the nature of the space which we call a ‘bedroom?’ I’ll broadly scan the body of work by Dutch Golden Age artist Pieter De Hooch (1629-1684). Most all of the paintings in the video, unless otherwise indicated, are by De Hooch . Hopefully, you’ll be able to recognize his distinctive style after watching this video. We’ll attempt to get inside de Hooch’s mind, discussing the epistemology of ‘seeing’: how light and shadow reveal truth and tell stories and how light creates value. There is a relationship between our subjective feeling and the motion of the planets. Finally, we’ll ask what the meaning of life is. If an artist was willing to put so much time and effort—HOURS of meticulous labor—into painting scenes like these, and if people were willing to pay to have paintings like these, it must give us a clue as to what these people found meaningful. The meaning of life is to create and to take action. Reason and verbal articulation alone are insufficient to discover what life is. Only when we take action can we truly ‘see’ and understand in the first place. SOCIAL MEDIA LINKS Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/empire_of_the_mind/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Empire-of-the-Mind-102111168633434/ Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/EmpireoftheMind Email: theempireofthemind@gmail.com

In which I explain the vision I have for this channel and the philosophy behind it. I've been trying to put this into words for a long time; this is my latest attempt. My life has been shaped by this vision for several years now. Given how powerful it has been for me, I hope some of it will resonate with you. SOCIAL MEDIA LINKS Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/empire_of_the_mind/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Empire-of-the-Mind-102111168633434/ Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/EmpireoftheMind Email: theempireofthemind@gmail.com TABLE OF CONTENTS 00:00 What's This Crazy Channel All About? 1:05 Seneca's Empire of Ideas 6:25 CS Lewis: Reading Is An Expansion of BEING 10:15 Plato: Logos as the Development & Invigoration of Soul 15:35 Seneca & Kierkegaard: Thinkers Live the Richest Lives 22:18 Every Philosopher a King: Being a Free & Useful Person

The 1981 German film Das Boot follows the crew of a German U-Boat during WWII at a time when there is already a sense that the Germans are on the losing side of the Battle in the Atlantic. More and more U-Boats are being sunk or captured, and U-96 is just one of the dwindling number of U-boats that sets out to sea again. We watch as they suffer through many things, even conquering seemingly impossible obstacles, and returning to port as changed men. Thematically, Das Boot is really about suffering, portraying an ‘experiment to sound out the limits of a person’s ability to suffer,’ specifically in the form of suffering that was actually experienced by men living and fighting aboard a German U-Boat. SOCIAL MEDIA LINKS Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/empire_of_the_mind/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Empire-of-the-Mind-102111168633434/ Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/EmpireoftheMind Email: theempireofthemind@gmail.com

In honor of July 4th, I thought I’d make a Revolutionary video. We begin with the English Civil War, in which the writer and poet John Milton played an important part in the cause of the Common Wealth of England by defending principles of liberty, popular sovereignty, and limited government. But it was his greatest work, Paradise Lost, that had perhaps the most powerful ongoing political influence. Attempting to tell the story of the world in microcosm, Milton’s epic of the fall of man makes liberty fundamental to human nature. A century later Milton’s writings, the drama of the garden of Eden not least among them, would go on to influence colonial Americans, including the philosophy of American founders such as Adams, Jefferson, Madison, who along with George Washington were all (surprisingly?) avid gardeners in their personal lives and strong advocates of agriculture in their political lives. As a symbol, the liberalism of the Original Garden meant that colonial cries for liberty were not merely the pangs of discontents, but the outworking of the grand cosmic story. Milton establishes the agenda of liberty not just in an adolescent desire to do whatever one wants, but firmly within the framework of the grand meta-narrative of mankind. As a pragmatic instrument, the garden proved itself to be essential in securing the external conditions of a liberal society. If we want to understand free societies, how they work, and how they can CONTINUE to work, we have to look to the garden, symbolically and practically. SOCIAL MEDIA LINKS Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/empire_of_the_mind/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Empire-of-the-Mind-102111168633434/ Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/EmpireoftheMind Email: theempireofthemind@gmail.com VIDEOS MENTIONED IN THIS ESSAY The Garden of Man https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DkOI2K_Bh4I&ab_channel=EmpireoftheMind Hell and Heaven Within Us | Paradise Lost & John Milton's Metaphysical Philosophy of Happiness https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DwYsi7bpJak&ab_channel=EmpireoftheMind A LAZY, NON-FORMATTED BIBLIOGRAPHY BOOKS John Adams: Revolutionary Writings, 1775-1783 edited by Wood John Milton: Complete Poems and Major Prose edited by Hughs Thomas Jefferson’s Garden Book annotated by Betts Thomas Jefferson: Writings edited by Peterson Founding Gardeners: The Revolutionary Generation, Nature, and the Shaping of the American Nation by Andrea Wulf Oxford Handbook of Milton, edited by McDowell and Smith Walt Whitman: Poetry and Prose edited by Kaplan WEBSITES Revolution Wilson, A. 2019. Revolution. In The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Anthropology (eds) F. Stein, S. Lazar, M. Candea, H. Diemberger, J. Robbins, A. Sanchez & R. Stasch. http://doi.org/10.29164/19rev https://www.anthroencyclopedia.com/entry/revolution Revolution Classical And Christian Conceptions https://science.jrank.org/pages/11147/Revolution-Classical-Christian-Conceptions.html American Revolution Two Founders, One Book https://exhibits.stanford.edu/american-enlightenment/feature/two-founders-one-book Tanner, John S., and Justin Collings. "How Adams and Jefferson Read Milton and Milton Read Them." Milton Quarterly 40, no. 3 (2006): 207-19. Accessed June 28, 2021. http://www.jstor.org/stable/24465010. https://www.jstor.org/stable/24465010 (Re) Reading Milton https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1094-348X.1998.tb00596.x Milton Lewalski, Barbara Kiefer. ""PARADISE LOST" AND MILTON'S POLITICS." Milton Studies 38 (2000): 141-68. http://www.jstor.org/stable/26395791.

I spent a lot of time playing video games as a teenager and young adult—enough that I felt guilty at times & worried I might be wasting my time. I had trouble defending video games against people who made such accusations. But in recent years I've come around to making sense of video games, putting words to the intuitive 'goodness' I sensed when I sat down at a keyboard or controller. And I think it has everything to do with DREAMS. In this video, I try to elucidate that connection. I believe that video games are good, legitimate, and healthy because dreaming is good, legitimate, and healthy. Video games can be used in waking life, as dreams are used in sleeping, to further satisfy as well as augment the natural, necessary function of entering—entering as completely as possible—into imaginary worlds. Like all good things video games can be abused (of course) which only means we should learn to use them well rather than not at all. Of course they can be misunderstood and maligned by those to whom they are foreign, which only means we should try to understand the dreaming mind. Of course some video games are trash, which only means that we should encourage good games to be made, as well as further teasing out the relationship between dreams and video games, in order to maximize the latent potential at our disposal in the gaming industry. SOCIAL MEDIA LINKS Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/empire_of_the_mind/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Empire-of-the-Mind-102111168633434/ Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/EmpireoftheMind Email: theempireofthemind@gmail.com RECOMMENDED READING "Beyond the Wall of Sleep" by H.P. Lovecraft Man and His Symbols by Carl Jung The Complete Poetry of John Donne Byron: Poetical Works The Novel of the Future by Anais Nin SOME SOURCES Dreams: Why We Dream and How They Affect Sleep https://www.sleepfoundation.org/dreams Experimental research on dreaming: state of the art and neuropsychoanalytic perspectives https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2011.00286/full Why Your Brain Needs to Dream https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/why_your_brain_needs_to_dream Dreaming of a learning task is associated with enhanced sleep-dependent memory consolidation https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20417102/ Cognitive flexibility across the sleep-wake cycle: REM-sleep enhancement of anagram problem solving https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12421655/ Some stock footage from videvo.com yadayada

A Cadaver Monument (or tomb) is a kind of monument in which a skeleton or corpse, even a severely decomposing body, is sculpted in effigy to serve as a reminder of death, the transience of life, and the vanity of the body. Such monuments form a subcategory of ‘memento mori’ art, which reminds us of our unavoidable fate. SOCIAL MEDIA LINKS Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/empire_of_the_mind/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Empire-of-the-Mind-102111168633434/ Support me & the channel on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/EmpireoftheMind Email: theempireofthemind@gmail.com WORKS OF ART REFERENCED Masaccio, “The Holy Trinity” Monument of John FitzAlan, Arundel Castle, Sussex Cadaver Tomb of René of Chalon, church of Saint-Étienne at Bar-le-Duc MUSIC Bach, Mass in B minor - Et incarnatus est Bach, Art of Fugue Bach, Mass in B minor - Et exspecto resurrectionem

It seems to be generally true that anytime you encounter a religion, you will find at some point within its vast and complex framework of metaphysics, morality, and rituals, a place in that framework that seeks to come to terms in some way with death and to remind people of the basic fact of death. When you encounter a culture in which religion has become foundational, you will find artistic representations of these metanarratives of life and death, begging and end, and the (often transitory) nature of reality. I mentioned Buddhist sand mandalas in my video on Unus Annus. There’s also Japanese death poems and the Mexican day of the dead. Artifacts and festivals of this nature are found the whole world over. But In this video I want to focus on European art, particulaellu on Vanitas Paintings. A vanitas painting is a work of art that highlights the transitory nature of the things or people that it portrays in order to remind us of the brevity of life and bring us into greater harmony with the nature of life, which for humans is fleeting. The term Vanitas comes from the Latin translation of the Hebrew book of Ecclesiastes, which translates the Hebrew word ‘hebel’ (‘breath’) as vanitas, which Many English translations render as the word vanity. "All is vanity,” says Ecclesiastes. Everything is like breath. The Hebrew word ‘hebel’ here is pregnant with meaning and can indicate that everything is meaningless, or that everything is obscure or mysterious, that everything is absurd, or that everything is as brief as a single human breath. For our purposes, we'll focus on this latter meaning. Various objects are used to symbolize the brevity of life: bubbles might represent the shortness of play, flowers the shortness of beauty, with skulls representing the shortness of life itself. Globes highlight the transitory nature of the world itself. The volume of objects alone can indicate how easy it is to become distracted by all of these things in life. The end of pleasure is represented by silent musical instruments, scattered playing cards, pipes, or empty, upended goblets, indicating that someone’s drink has been interrupted. The vanity of wealth is symbolized with jewels or coins. The brevity and emptiness of knowledge itself is symbolized by books. It’s worth bearing in mind that these painting would likely be displayed in a person’s home. These were not meant strictly for churches or public spaces but for private houses—a bit morose. But it also reflects an everyday symbolic sophistication that I think is largely lacking in the modern world. Our homes, our dwelling places, are not as symbolically rich and layered as even pagan dwellings with household gods. SOCIAL MEDIA LINKS Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/empire_of_the_mind/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Empire-of-the-Mind-102111168633434/ Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/EmpireoftheMind ART IN ORDER OF APPEARANCE Vanitas Still Life with a Tulip, Skull and Hour-Glass Giclee Print by Philippe De Champaigne St. Jerome in His Study by Albrecht Dürer (1521) Flammarion Engraving Harmony of the spheres showing the conformity between the world and planets, including the sun and the moon: "De anima mundi et de concordia planetarium" La Calavera Catrina or Catrina La Calavera Garbancera ('Dapper Skeleton', 'Elegant Skull') (1910–1913) Still Life: An Allegory of the Vanities of Human Life' by Harmen Steenwyck Large Vanitas by Pieter Boel King Solomon and the Iron Worker' by Christian Schussele, 1863 Allegory by Karel Dujardin 1663 A boy blowing soap bubbles by Caspar Netscher, 1679 Two Boys blowing Bubbles by Caspar Netscher Soap Bubbles ca. 1733–34 by Jean Siméon Chardin Flower Still-Life with Curtain by Adriaen van der Spelt Vanitas painting, selfportrait most probably Clara Peeters Vanitas still life with a globe, sceptre, a skull crowned with straw by Hendrick Andriessen Allegory of Charles I of England and Henrietta of France in a Vanitas Still Life by Anonymous Vanitas-Still Life, Oosterwijck Vanitas still life with a skull, sheet music, violin, globe, candle, hourglass and playing cards, all on a draped table by Cornelis Norbertus Gijsbrechts A Vanitas by Edward Collier Vanitas by Harmen Steenwijck, circa 1640 Vanitas - Still Life with Bouquet and Skull by Adriaen van Utrecht Grande Vanité by Stoskopff Pieter Claesz, Vanitas Still Life, 1630 Pieter Claesz, Vanitas with Violin and Glass Ball Jan Steen - Fantasy Interior with Jan Steen and the Family of Gerrit Schouten Michael Sweerts, Self Portrait 1660 Jan Miense Molenaer Self Portrait 1640 Young Man with a Skull, Frans Hals Thomas Smith, Self-Portrait, about 1680 Merry Trio by Judith Leyster The Last Drop by Judith Leyster FURTHER READING Philadelphia Museum of Art entry on “The Last Drop”: https://publications.philamuseum.org/entries/102220

This video is about faces and bodies and how we move them, which is far, far more important than we realize. This crazy journey beings with Audrey Hepburn, runs through German and Chinese philosophy, and, by various and sundry routes, arrives back at each and every one of us. Grace is beauty of movement. And moving beautifully matters. For example, we know that our human relationships (with with parents, children, family, friends, strangers, and enemies) are foundational for our lives, but we often don’t appreciate the fact that the WAY we move our bodies in respect to those people forms the baseline for the quality of those relationships. So much of our broader moral interaction comes down to facial expression, to tone of voice, to the way we look at people—whether in a restrained, graceful, dignified way, with clear-eyed, confident respect, or in a cowardly, aggressive, lewd way. Grace and dignity are what make for better lives, a better society, and a better world. TABLE OF CONTENTS Intro 00:00 Grace 1:21 Movement and Meaning in Life 3:44 Taoism: Be Like Water 5:47 Dignity 17:40 The Completion of Human Nature 20:28 Graceful and Dignified Reformation 26:45 SOCIAL MEDIA LINKS Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/empire_of_the_mind/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Empire-of-the-Mind-102111168633434/ Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/EmpireoftheMind MUSIC Mahler, Adagietto from Symphony No. 5 Debussy, La Mer, 1. "De l'aube à midi sur la mer" Beethoven, Egmont Overture Schubert, Serenade SOME SOURCES FRIEDRICH SCHILLER Aesthetical and Philosophical Essays: https://www.gutenberg.org/files/6798/6798-h/6798-h.htm Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy: https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/schiller/ AUGUSTINE OF HIPPO, Confessions TAOISM & TAI CHI Tao Te Ching, Translated by Stephen Addiss & Stanley Lombardo The Complete Works of Zhuangzi, Translated by Burton Watson The Tao of Tai Chi Chuan, featuring Taoist Priest Zhou Xuan Yun: https://www.brown.edu/about/administration/international-affairs/year-of-china/tao-tai-chi-chuan-featuring-taoist-priest-zhou-xuan-yun The Harvard Medical School Guide to Tai Chi: 12 Weeks to a Healthy Body, Strong Heart & Sharp Mind by Peter M. Wayne, PhD, with Mark L. Fuerst ARISTOTLE, NICOMACHEAN ETHICS ALFRED ADLER Social Interest: A Challenge to Mankind What Life Should Mean to You Some stock footage from Videvo.com yadayada

Star Wars is one of of the most popular cinematic series of all times, going beyond box office success, and changing lives. But why is it so powerful? I think the success of the saga can be traced back to a single four minute scene in the first film, A New Hope. In Obi-Wan Kenobi’s house on Tatooine, we are introduced to the intriguing, almost mythical back-story of Darth Vader, Anakin Skywalker, and the Clone Wars that would eventually become the prequels—a story which, coming from the enigmatic wise man, ushers us into a living world of mystery and adventure that existed long before the beginning of the film, and will go on long after it is finished. Here also we are introduced to the Lightsaber and the Jedi and the mysterious energy field they able to tap into: the Force. Such things appeal, both in old and new ways, to the primal human instinct for power, which is perhaps most influential when we are children, making us wish that we had Lightsabers, that we were Jedi who commanded the power of The Force. In the words of Austrian Psychologist Alfred Adler, ““The fundamental law of life, therefore, is that of overcoming.” “The goal of the human soul is conquest, perfection, security, superiority.” “Put under the spell of the ‘must’ of life, he is drawn on by his constantly increasing longing for a final goal of superiority over the earthly lot that has been assigned to him, with all its unavoidable demands. And this goal that draws him on takes tone and colour from the narrow environment in which the child struggles for conquest.” “...there is something inherent which is part and parcel of life itself, a struggle, an urge, a self-development, a something without which life cannot be conceived. To live means to develop oneself” (Adler, 1938). Both Adler and Star Wars teach us that power is not always evil, but can be good as well. Indeed power, strength—a kind, benevolent mastery over one’s environment and circumstances—are necessary in order to become a well adjusted individual. Hence the role of the archetypal wise man, played by Alec Guinness, who exists to spur young men (in this case, Mark Hamill’s Luke Skywalker) on to power. Adler also realized that when faced with the inevitable and universal problems of life, people naturally prefer to avoid those problems, to make existence easier, throwing the load on the shoulders of other persons, obtaining our goals, if possible, without any cost, which, says Adler, is in fact not possible. So we often choose to pay no cost at all, and consequently achieve no goal. The wise man does not tolerate the young man’s self-destructive weakness. With the eyes of wisdom, time, and experience, he pierces into the deepest desires of the youth, the desires the youth dare not admit even to himself, the desires he dare not hope may be possible. The wise man understands that the desires of the youth lie down the hard, narrow path, which weakness shies away from. Because of his expanded relationship with time, the wise man knows that the young man has a destiny, a destiny perhaps unknown even to the young man at present. And if the young man avoids that destiny, he will regret it, and the world will be the worse for it. Ultimately, the wise man leaves the decision up to the young man. Because the responsibility lies with the young man alone. He must choose. No one can choose for him. In Star Wars, the young man does choose his destiny. He sets out, not necessarily with the goal of saving the world, but with the simple goal of becoming like his father, which should be the preliminary universal goal of all men. Even though his father is imperfect (to say the least) Luke fulfills his destiny through the ultimate power of the Light: he goes beyond merely imitating his father and ultimately redeems his father. SOCIAL LINKS Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/empire_of_the_mind/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Empire-of-the-Mind-102111168633434/ Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/EmpireoftheMind RECOMMENDED READING C. S. Lewis Reviews The Hobbit, 1937: https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2013/11/19/c-s-lewis-reviews-the-hobbit-1937/ Thus Spake Zarathustra by Friedrich Nietzsche Social Interest: A Challenge to Mankind by Alfred Adler The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri RECOMMENDED VIEWING/LISTENING Academy of Ideas: The Psychology of Alfred Adler: Superiority, Inferiority, and Courage The Psychology of Alfred Adler: Superiority, Inferiority, and Courage https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t3TbSjZ_fxc&ab_channel=AcademyofIdeas Philosophize This! Nietzsche, The Will to Power: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PDNFH-ZNvyw&ab_channel=PhilosophizeThis%21 George Lucas Interview on the Mythology of Star Wars: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WzP_fQW4bZc&ab_channel=illusionautics

In a world of extremes, the ancient symbol of the garden represents the ideal balance between ‘nature’ and ‘nurture’ where the individual flourishes and grows. The garden is nature that is not wholly wild, a walled-off, tamed wilderness where you can live with mitigated fear and danger, and without being burnt out, consumed by stress, anxiety, and depression like people who are always hustling and networking and climbing the social ladder. These two facets of cultivation and guardianship are presented as the purpose of human beings by texts like the Hebrew Bible—the meta purpose which encompasses all other aims and goals. The purpose of human life is cultivate: to organize and nurture Being into a state of becoming, for the sake of its own flourishing. John Milton’s famous extra-biblical poetization of the Genesis events in Paradise Lost, presents the work of Adam and Eve in this way: “On to their morning’s rural work they haste Among sweet dews and flow’rs; where any row Of fruit-trees overwoody reached too far Their pampered bows, and needed hands to check Fruitless embraces: they led the vine To wed her elm; she spoused about him twines Her marriageable arms, and with her brings Her dow’r the adopted clusters, to adorn His barren leaves.” (Paradise Lost, V.215-219) Marriage in Paradise Lost is a concept that goes far beyond the man and woman and sinks its metaphorical roots into the natural world, where man and woman are to act as kinds of priests or pastors of nature, cultivating nature by uniting its disparate elements—on the principle that fruitfulness, growth, and new birth only spring from a kind of union. Our actions and lives feel meaningful primarily when they have this ineffable sense of fullness, or dare we say, pregnancy. We are only satisfied when we see our lives bearing some kind of fruit, whatever we take that to mean, whether it be a string of consequences that have positive ramifications, making art, having children, or making some mark on the world. We have a fundamental intuitive understanding of the concept of fruitfulness: of growing as opposed to withering, of phenomena that carry on life, reproducing rather than fading—of thoughts, words, and actions that nourish and strengthen as opposed to weakening. Through cultivation, and guidance, and wisdom we seek to make ourselves and the things around us fruitful, nourishing, reproductive, eternal. Long before modern biology, Aristotle speculated that the reason we want to have children is because we have an instinct for immortality. “For any living thing that has reached its normal development and which is unmutilated… the most natural act is the production of another like itself… in order that, as far as nature allows, it may partake in the eternal and divine. That is the goal towards which all things strive, that for the sake of which they do whatever their nature renders possible.” On the Soul, 415a25-415b1. The goal of life should be to establish a garden, firstly, in the metaphorical sense, viewing your life as something to cultivate, but also looking to unselfishly cultivate the world around you. Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/empire_of_the_mind/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Empire-of-the-Mind-102111168633434/ Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/EmpireoftheMind