@philosophyminis: Kafka once wrote a short story called The Burrow, about an animal that became obsessed with protecting itself against imagined threats. It burrows down, it builds up walls, and it stays up day and night, waiting for this imagined threat which never comes. But of course, the story isn't about the animal. It is about you and me. Most of what we defend ourselves against will never arrive. A break-in, a betrayal, a diagnosis, a redundancy. We build up these walls and we brace ourselves. We constantly wait in anxious anticipation for a fear that never manifests. And so we become obsessed and trapped because our mind cannot differentiate between a real and imagined danger. Kafka's burrow is terrible in two ways. The first is that we can never hope to win a war against an imagined enemy. We cannot hold what we do not know, and we cannot overcome that which exists only in a nightmare. And the second, as the Stoic Seneca put it, we often suffer more in the imagination than in reality. We catastrophise and we exaggerate. Our nightmares take on an entire weight of their own. And so the burrowed animal spent so long in their paranoid fortress that they forget how to live life. They are constantly worried about an imagined danger just over the horizon, that they forget to leave their home and enjoy the life they have to actually live. Because sometimes the only thing we have to fear is fear itself. And sometimes we have to step out of the burrow if we are to live at all.

Satire Boy :

David Aronson :

I am still gonna put on my seatbelt

Plop :

When I first read Kafka on the Shore by Murakami, I remember being so engrossed in it and at the end I felt so deflated, like what? That's it? And i felt anger towards the book, what was the point of all that? I remember hours later it clicked, the entire point was how made up all that anxiety was, the entire story runs like your mind does in situations, only for them to end up in the most mundane way. Most times nothing happens. There's no grand tragedy nor a grand victory. For people who grow up in grand tragedies the world is always on fire, it's an unfortunate outcome. I have cptsd. I didn't realise till before EMDR how mudane life actually is. How even the worst of times are just a passing and you see more solutions when your mind isn't seeking emergency exits all the time

euda.j :

ironically (again), this is such a huge part of who kafka simply was, as an individual and a writer. a pulsing, neverending anxiety.

limak🇪🇺🇵🇱 :

Sometimes I wonder how on Earth I'm learning more on philosophy and life on the app with stupid, short videos than I did in my whole school life.

Hadingdong :

there is a third view, and that is that the fear never manifests because we obsess over it manifesting, the thief watches me lock my door every day, leading to him not robbing me.

Mr Vanilly :

Yes, I really should get out more👍

$? :

I'm going to cancel my car insurance 🤞

aman :

Mr. Thompson, I am so glad that I came across your page. I love your content very much, your philosophical analysis and the way you explain it. Many of your videos just hit on spot, help me to unravel my daily struggles and answer me a questions. And I thank you for that.

isabelferreira5836 :

The anticipation of what can realy never hapens, is my reality.

rosavitae :

“What you fear, you can’t escape.” - old romanian proverb;

sila☆ :

ok cancelling applecare+ right now

dams.mchl :

“I’ve had a lot of a worried in my life, most of which never happened”

M D :

Your contributions are excellent. Dr. Marc Dietrich

anth73 :

Kafka and the insurance industry in cahoots?

Larrssa :

‘Isn’t it Ironic’, Alanis Morrissette xx

D-don :

Most problems we have in the world is that we tend to live for the future. we forget we are in the present moments. Once you live in present you will enjoy the beauty of life.

Tiroyamodimo :

same applies to imagined benefits.

David Balfour178 :

na I provide myself security then I go out

Dunsuppin :

That's why insurance companies are so profitable.

Mariano :

Book lover🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 :

Risk assessments have a place!

Luna Emmyson :

There's a wholesome animation about this! I think it was a mole 🤔?