“I think that critiquing the myths of our society and helping people find their way through them is a very important thing. It's a theme that goes through all of my work.” PeopleThinkingWayImportantHelpingImportant ThingsMythThemeOur SocietyHelping People Author:Sam Keen
“Aristotle said that philosophy begins in wonder. I believe it also ends in wonder. The ultimate way in which we relate to the world as something sacred is by renewing our sense of wonder. That's why I'm so opposed to the kind of miracle-mongering we find in both new-age and old-age religion. We're attracted to pseudomiracles only because we've ceased to wonder at the world, at how amazing it is.” WorldWayBelieveKindSaidEndsPhilosophyAgeI BelieveWonderUltimateMiracleSacredOld AgeRelateNew AgeSense Of Wonder Author:Sam Keen
“It's perfectly possible to spend forty hours a week on a job that's meaningless, as long as you know what your real vocation is and find some way to express it. Then you won't confuse your job with the meaning of your life.” KnowsWayLongRealJobsHoursWeekFortyMeaninglessVocation Author:Sam Keen
“I think it's increasingly hard to have deep self-knowledge without entering the darkness in some way.” ThinkingWaySelfHardDarknessSelf KnowledgeEntering Author:Sam Keen
“To a large extent, the aged in our society are ghettoized. Old people are seen as useless, bypassed by history, old-fashioned, in the way. So, not surprisingly, when we reach the official mark of old age, we're supposed to go gently into that good night, to get off center stage and hand over the spotlight. Old age is also surrounded by shame - the myth of impotence and inability.” PeopleWayHandsAgeNightStageMarkShameMythOld AgeUselessOfficialsOur SocietyOld FashionedOld PeopleInabilitySpotlightGood NightImpotenceCenter Stage Author:Sam Keen
“The spiritual journey is one that we must take "alone together," in the same way that a good marriage involves a dance between solitude and communion. The life of the spirit entails a continuous alternation between retreating into oneself and going out into the world: it's an inward-outward journey. There is a solitary part to it, but that solitude helps us to develop richer and more in-depth relationships with our friends, our children, our community, and the political world.” WorldWayChildrenHelpingTogetherSpiritualPoliticalSpiritCommunityJourneySolitudeOur ChildrenDepthOneselfSolitaryInwardGoing OutCommunionOur CommunitySpiritual JourneyGood Marriage Author:Sam Keen
“In a way, human beings have never been part of the natural order; we're not biological in the normal sense. Normal biological animals stop eating when they're not hungry and stop breeding when there is no sense in breeding. By contrast, human beings are what I think of as "biomythic" animals: we're controlled largely by the stories we tell. When we get the story wrong, we get out of harmony with the rest of the natural order. For a long time, our unnatural beahvior didn't threaten the natural world, but now it does.” ThinkingWorldWayHumansLongDoeStoriesOrderNaturalHuman BeingsAnimalNormalEatingLong TimeHarmonyHungryControlledContrastNatural WorldUnnaturalBreedingNatural Order Author:Sam Keen
“If we had a better understanding of the ways we think about enemies, we might be able to think of more rational ways of settling conflict.” IfsThinkingWayMightAbleUnderstandingEnemyHeroConflictRationalSettlingHeroic Author:Sam Keen
“Burnout is nature's way of telling you, you've been going through the motions your soul has departed; you're a zombie, a member of the walking dead, a sleepwalker. False optimism is like administrating stimulants to an exhausted nervous system.” WaySoulWalkingMembersOptimismNervousYour SoulExhaustedZombieNervous SystemBurnoutDepartedStimulantsWalking Dead Author:Sam Keen
