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214 pages

English

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'Naked Thoughts' is an engaging, provocative, challenging, controversial and deeply illuminating book that combines personal experiences, comments on current affairs and reflections on diverse media publications. This remarkable book provides an entertaining reflection on the human condition at all levels of the emotional scale; at times witty or highly personal, drawing on diverse philosophies, religion and ordinary human affairs, without trying to be judgemental or taking specific sides. Touching on subjects like freedom, God, anxiety, death, and all the intriguing issues of human life, Naked Thoughts does not shy away from focusing on the weaknesses of humanity, modern-day addictions and the epidemic spread of romantic illusions.

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Philosophie et théologie

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Publié par	Distributed by eBookpartnership
Date de parution	10 octobre 2022
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9781839785436
Langue	English
Poids de l'ouvrage	2 Mo

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0200€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

Extrait

Naked Thoughts
Michael Chapus

Naked Thoughts
Published by The Conrad Press Ltd. in the United Kingdom 2022
Tel: +44(0)1227 472 874
www.theconradpress.com
info@theconradpress.com
ISBN 978-1-839785-43-6
Copyright © Michael Chapus, 2022
All rights reserved.
Typesetting and Cover Design by: Charlotte Mouncey, www.bookstyle.co.uk
The Conrad Press logo was designed by Maria Priestley.

Dedicated to my friends who made publicising this book possible

About the author
M y name is Michael Ernest Wilhelm Chapus and I was born in the eastern part of Germany to a German mother and a French father in the early 1950s.
My birthplace was a small medieval settlement surrounded by hilly woodlands. I remember those places as my childhood paradise, my fantasies and dreams cradle.
In the early 1960s, my family emigrated to the western part of Germany.
After finishing high school, I embarked on an apprenticeship in cabinetmaking. These three years were the most challenging in physical and mental terms. But the most formative years in my educational history! My master, a man of exceptional integrity, set me on my path of being critical of people who avoided the truth for financial gain.
I proceeded with a short stint in the national service at the beginning of the 1970s. Sharing a room with eight other privates for more than a year taught you about human nature.
Studies in engineering and architecture followed. It was a time of unrestrained freedom, meaningful friendships and a new intellectual awakening. Berlin, I have arrived! Initially, life in a big city is challenging for the mind, body, and spirit! I embraced the abundance of culture with all my heart.
The architect's career was short but intense. After having entered the fray with enthusiasm, my idealism withered quickly. I was suffocated by competing egos, corporate greed and being witness to unrestrained corruption. At thirty-two, after having suffered suicidal tendencies for two years, I left Germany in 1984, never to return.
Australia felt like home from day one! The sun and its people were essential to my healing process.
My new goal was to achieve a life that offered maximum freedom, simplicity, meagre possessions and no reliance on securities!
It did not take long to realise the only existence a society can accept without looking down on you was to be an artist! Allowing you to think freely, read as much as you like, and experiment without the restraints of society's convention. Without hesitation, I chose my new direction, embarking on an artist's career.

Introduction
T his book intends to introduce subjects that thinkers have contemplated over the last four millennia without using specialist terminologies or claiming to be comprehensive.
The reader will find ideas and concepts that might lead to solutions to problems posed by our day-to-day challenges ranging from the ordinary to the highly personal.
As people interested in philosophical writings might have experienced, recent comments on the meaning of life often verge on the border of comedy or are simply indigestible for most laypeople.
Plato, Descartes, Bacon, Locke and Voltaire did not use cryptic or specialised vocabulary. They wrote in basic Greek, French and English and intended to be understood by the ordinary reader of their time. Their writings were concise and poetic and did not shy away from amusing.
In contrast, today's writing on philosophy appears only to be addressed at the initiated few! Their language seems alien to the laypeople interested in reading philosophy for their pleasure. Furthermore, even the translation of those original texts is now under the spell of appearing indigestible by those who intend to study philosophy for professional reasons.
This book does not intend to follow a specific philosophical direction, and there is no claim to adherence to a particular school of thought.
These short articles are meant to show no satisfying answers and that what works for one of us does not necessarily stop others' minds from thinking further.
However, the question of individualism underlines these short paragraphs' general concept, which can be read in combination or individually.
Besides, the paragraphs of the chapters are listed randomly and are not related to each other.
This book is for people thinking about topics like the functioning of the mind, how to interpret reality, questions about truth, freedom, consciousness, identity, how we perceive others, belief systems, creativity, God, religion and many other issues concerning the human condition.
These comments are not unique; they represent the questions humanity faces daily and how we think about our world.
For example, what kind of responsibilities and challenges arise when we observe ourselves in the context of reality?
These thoughts are collections of the human condition, snippets and debris, noted down over time, especially in the wee hours of the morning at sunrise.
Authentic writing should deal with and engage with the current issues of the day and not be ashamed to ask uncomfortable questions.
Some of us are predestined for existence on the ‘outside’. However, before accepting the inevitable destination the individual’s life must take, one tries to adjust until one realises the futility of the intended compromise.
Apart from learning how to satisfy our basic human needs, the time will arrive for everyone to find the answers to questions such as, what does it mean to live a conscious life?
These days it is all about the relentless demands for success and rising through the ranks! In this context, one will not be accepted if one has nothing to show other than claiming to be involved in exploring the mind.
Society does not react kindly to eccentricities, especially when presented by someone young, deemed to become ‘somebody’.
For example, in the arts, one is forced to fight for glory, as if this position was the only acceptable goal.
Fortunately, it is in the arts where one can acquire a reasonable amount of inalienable freedom, space and time to think and act on one's ideas when trying to influence the world around us.
However, living with a ‘diet’ of wandering thoughts is one thing, but learning to capture these abstract images will take many years of practice.
This book aims to understand and critique the structures on which today's societies are built and how they are interconnected. Change is constant and inevitable. New interpretations of ideas are formed and applied with relentless speed, and we are expected to react and adapt equally.
The resulting consequence is that most of us are increasingly overcome with the anxiety of being left behind; too exhausted by the daily challenges, we are unable to resist, letting ourselves be manipulated into a future pathway not necessary to our choosing.
As members of the general public, we now experience the new terminology of specialisations in all fields of society as a severe attack on our languages and shared understanding.
For example, the debate between political science and sociology is increasingly incomprehensible to anyone outside of these subjects.
We are all curious to find answers to why we, as human beings, feel the need to reflect on ourselves.
For example, in our position, in reality, the continuously arising challenges about our self-understanding or our struggles when prompted to supply a meaningful answer.
Do we know what we are saying?
Do we believe what we say is objectively true or a subjective construct to serve our self-interests?
How can we learn how to think and know how to analyse our thought processes without lengthy studies of philosophical theories?
What is the point of all this thinking, contemplating and navel-gazing? Can't we do what it takes without pushing our minds beyond the necessity of paying the bills, buying a house, raising children and retiring?
Do we avoid political disputes and try to agree with everyone? It may be an attractive dream to enjoy while one is young, but how will it affect societies proceeding towards the future.
Of course, the demands of life are relentless; however, the questions about self-
awareness are undoubtedly vital to living a fulfilling life and are addressed to everyone.
The alternative of fatalism may increasingly paralyse societies thinking and, therefore, their responses. The choices made under such circumstances will lead to a life of unconscious servitude.
What about our motivation for each other? Or is it all about competition and our self- interests? The choices made under such circumstances will lead to a life of unconscious servitude.
Beliefs are contagious; people can make others believe in almost anything. We are usually willing to accept that our ways, convictions, religion, and politics are better than theirs or that our divine rights are above criticism. After all, these ideas can instigate hatred and the willingness to kill each other.
Some people are afraid that their ideas do not have the long-lasting influence on society as they would like when they begin to contemplate their achievements. They begin to avoid criticism, demonising opponents, raising the standard of nationalism, racism, and the glory of tradition.
The aim of those belief systems is to control the individual and society. Self-reflection can be equated with a creative existence and freedom and will be rejected as it can interfere with the doctrines of the day.
This book intends to raise awareness against modern, especially postmodern critiques, and the new wave of scepticism, criticism against the values of philosophy and common sense. The New Liberals are driven by distrust against the value of reflection on reality.
The paragraphs of this book ar