What is a Good Life? #5 - Building a personal life philosophy with James Cussen

On the fifth episode of the “What is a Good Life?” podcast, I am joined by James Cussen, the Creator at The Living Philosophy. I discovered James’ work through his well-received YouTube channel of the same name, The Living Philosophy. I’d strongly recommend this to anyone with a curiosity for philosophy or a desire to broaden their thinking. Since devouring a copy of Albert Camus’s The Outsider as a teenager, philosophy has taken James on a journey from despair to immense purpose. His content, guidance, and ideas, have a strong emphasis on the importance of embodying the wisdom of philosophy and learning the art of the good life, so naturally I felt he’d be an ideal guest for this podcast.  In this podcast we discuss discovering purpose, focussing on the collective’s well-being as well as our own, building your own personal philosophy, the role of curiosity in James’ personal philosophy, and the considerable significance of family and close relationships in experiencing a good life.Running Order: 00:01 Introduction01:50 How James discovered philosophy04:55 Finding purpose06:52 Focus on the collective11:26 Balancing self-work and helping society14:13 Preconventional, conventional, postconventional morality18:10 Using my work to bring everyone to the table21:20 Processes for self-development23:20 Ayahuasca28:10 Acknowledging what could be beyond the material32:30 Racing to enlightenment!35:15 Anthony DeMello37:50 Simple doesn’t mean easy42:40 Simplicity or complexity45:35 Deeper understanding48:35 Building your own philosophy53:30 A tool for cataloguing ideas / thoughts / dreams55:58 Gardening my thoughts58:53 Curiosity is a golden virtue1:01:30 The more I know, the less sure I am1:05:12 Well-being and truth1:09:00 What is a Good Life for James?1:11:44 The importance of relationshipsFor further content and information check out the following: - For the podcast's YouTube page: https://www.youtube.com/@whatisagoodlife/videos- My newsletter: https://www.whatisagood.life/- My LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-mccartney-14b0161b4/- The Living Philosophy YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheLivingPhilosophy- The Living Philosophy Website: https://www.thelivingphilosophy.com/- The Living Philosophy newsletter: https://thelivingphilosophy.substack.com/Subscribe for weekly episodes, every Tuesday, and check out my YouTube channel for daily clips and weekly reflections.Keywords: Meaning of Life Interviews | meaning of life conversations | exploring life | big life questions | meaning of life discussions | creating a meaningful life​