Darshniks

Old Wisdom for Modern Problems

New pressures, old answers

The technology is new; the troubles underneath it are not. Each page takes one everyday problem and sets out what the great traditions actually said about it — with sources — plus one practice you can try today.

Everyday struggles

Overthinking and Anxiety

Seneca, Epictetus and the Buddha’s “second arrow” on the mind that won’t stop.

Your Phone and Your Attention

Seneca, Pascal, William James and Simone Weil on a scattered mind.

Anger

Seneca’s delay, the Dhammapada, the Gita and Aristotle’s “right anger”.

Heartbreak and Letting Go

Impermanence, Epictetus’s “given back”, Rumi and Nietzsche’s amor fati.

Comparison and Envy

Epictetus’s lettuce, Bertrand Russell and the Buddhist practice of mudita.

Money and Enough

Seneca, Epicurus, Diogenes’ cup, Laozi and Chanakya on wealth.

Loneliness

Aristotle and Epicurus on friendship, and Tillich on loneliness versus solitude.

Bigger questions of our time

Artificial Intelligence

Can machines think? Old questions about mind and consciousness in new clothing.

Mental Health

Understanding the mind, and where ancient practices like mindfulness fit in.

Work–Life Balance

Burnout, the 9-to-5 and what philosophers said about leisure.

Social Justice

Fairness, rights and Rawls’s veil of ignorance.