What if meaningful jobs get payed badly?
I am a relatively qualified academic with a doctorate in astrophysics and writing a second dissertation in philosophy. Job-wise I am stuck as a financial services consultant for banks and insurances simply because it is getting payed great and I want to provide a solid financial basis for my (future) family. My job is truly not what I would consider very meaningful to me. But everything I consider meaningful is very poorly paid and offers little perspective. Do you have a suggestion how to solve this conflict between fulfilling my duty as a family man and doing a meaningful job in a wider academic sense?
What is mental illness
How can we determine what mental illness is? I guess the idea is that, if an individual is suffering, then it requires some attention in one way or another. And, fair enough. But when does pain become illness? It seems so strange to me that arbitrary people decide arbitrary rules about human existence and call that medicine. I hang out with people who have been diagnosed with BPD, whatever that means, because I like them and I feel I am like them. But I get annoyed when they talk about their "illness" because it doesn't make any sense to me. I'm aware this kind of medical self-deprecation existed in the past. Did we learn anything? I'm curious to hear your thoughts on the topic. Respectfully. Caroline
The "heavens" opened to me. What now?
I had an inexplicable experience about six months ago while I was in knee-deep in your biblical series. It was not of this earth and lasted for a few hours, yet it felt like only one. My pupils became fully dilated though I was completely sober. At first, I was sure it was God, but then I began to doubt myself after some time passed. Why has this not happened to anyone else? I scoured the internet, but nothing. The only logical explanation I could conceive was that this was a bi-polar manic episode. A few months later I came across one of your podcasts where you described a similar experience. You said that the "heavens" opened to you while you were absorbed creating a work of art. If this isn’t an isolated incident, then what was it? Understandably I've been left with a million questions! I’m sure that it’s impossible to have a definitive answer, but can you shed some insight? Do you know of anyone else that this has happened to? Has there been any research about this? Can you recommend any authors? Is this what prompted you to want to enter the field of psychology? I’m sure the bible has some answers but it’s a vast ocean. I was hoping that there might be some answers uncovered within the past few centuries. I’m 95th percentile in trait openness, that might be useful information to add.
Jung's Ideas on Educational Psychology
I teach life span classes at the University of Wyoming. We study many ed psych theorists, including Jung, but his work focused mainly on adulthood. How in your view did Jung influence ed psych generally and more specifically on the K-12 crowd of children?
The problem of perception
In part of your last Joe Rogan conversation, you addressed the truth of the Bible. Joe asked what you meant by "the precondition for the manifestation of truth." But just before that, you said, "I think that this is not only literally the case, factually, I think it can't be any other way. It's the only way we can solve the problem of perception." Would you please say more about solving the problem of perception?