The Metaphysical Society - Arthur Schopenhauer

Arthur Schopenhauer

Publisher: Blackstone Audio Inc.
Author: Dr. Mark Stone
Narrator: Charlton Heston
Length: 2 hours (Unabridged)
Download Price: $8.99
Format: Encoded Windows Media
© 2006 Blackstone Audio Inc.

Arthur Schopenhauer was the most articulate and influential pessimist in the history of human thought.

He was convinced that the space and time of ordinary life is an illusion, that the world consists of two aspects: representation (visible appearances) and will (hidden reality).

Will is a unitary, blind, irrational force underlying all nature and expressing itself throughout it. Since human actions are blindly propelled by this will, not reason, prescriptive ethical rules have little force.

We flourish only at each other's expense; evil, pain, and suffering are not aberrations, but express the inner nature of the world. Our will to live is a continuing cycle of want, temporary fulfillment, and more want. New desires replace any satisfied ones, so no lasting happiness is possible.

There is no overall end or purpose of life; our will to live is doomed ultimately to fail, and we die.

"The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and all science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead: his eyes are closed."
-- Albert Einstein

"Seek and 'ye shall find, knock and the door will be opened, ask and it shall be given unto thee."
--A Biblical Passage

"The true understanding of both the Creator and the creation is considered to be the transcendental or metaphysical knowledge."
-- Bhagavad Gita

"For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction."
-- Isaac Newton