The Power of Ecstasy - Jules Evans

Jules Evans is Policy Director at the Centre for the History of Emotions at Queen Mary, University of London and a leading researcher into ecstatic experience. He also runs the world's biggest philosophy club, the London Philosophy Club, which has over 6,000 members. Jules’ first book, Philosophy for Life and Other Dangerous Situations was published in 19 countries and was selected by Matthew Syed as a Times Book of the Year. He has written for The Times, Financial Times, Guardian, Spectator and WIRED and is a BBC New Generation Thinker. He has just published 'The Art of Losing Control - A Philosopher's Search for Ecstatic Experiences.' In the book, Jules goes on a journey to discover how people find ecstasy in a post-religious culture, how it can be good for us, and also harmful. Along the way, he explores the growing science of ecstasy, to help the reader – and himself – learn the art of losing control. In this short interview, we discuss: * Why Jules wrote this book * How Jules' 'messed himself up' as a teenager doing drugs * How he recovered from anxiety, depression and post traumatic stress using CBT, philosophy and psychology * How ecstatic experiences has always been a fundamental part of human culture * What Greek philosophy missed out on * Jules' personal experiences with ecstasy * PTSD vs Post Traumatic Growth * The different ways people have ecstatic experiences in modern society * The influx of Eastern traditions into Western Culture You can get tickets for Jules' talk here: http://bit.ly/2qz6CI6