Thanks for this shot in the arm of positivity. Jobhunting at the moment - more than jobhunting really, new-life-shaping-from-scratch - and need all the can-do spirit I can get.
I'd just add that while I basically agree with everything here, if you go a little more ancient than the era of classical philosophy things seem to get significantly grimmer, at least in some cultures. The pre-classical Greeks and ancient Norse didn't see the majority of people enjoying a truly blessed afterlife, and Hebrews pre-apocalypticism don't seem to have had much of a defined theory of the afterlife at all (something that still characterises a lot of Judaism today). A lot of mythology has a pretty fatalistic worldview.
Thanks for this shot in the arm of positivity. Jobhunting at the moment - more than jobhunting really, new-life-shaping-from-scratch - and need all the can-do spirit I can get.
I'd just add that while I basically agree with everything here, if you go a little more ancient than the era of classical philosophy things seem to get significantly grimmer, at least in some cultures. The pre-classical Greeks and ancient Norse didn't see the majority of people enjoying a truly blessed afterlife, and Hebrews pre-apocalypticism don't seem to have had much of a defined theory of the afterlife at all (something that still characterises a lot of Judaism today). A lot of mythology has a pretty fatalistic worldview.
Nice read! N.S. Lyons linked to your substack so you may see quite a larger number of readers soon