“Of all the pursuits open to men, the search for wisdom is most perfect, more sublime, more profitable and more joyful.” Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274) Italian Dominican Friar and Philosopher

AN OPPORTUNITY FOR DAILY REFLECTION BROUGHT TO YOU BY THE SCHOOL OF PRACTICAL PHILOSOPHY

BY ROB BREZSNY | MAY 21, 2024 (NewCity.com)

Photo: Norbert Braun

ARIES (March 21-April 19): In the coming weeks, you will experience uncomfortable weirdness if you do the following: 1. Meander without focus or purpose; 2. give yourself permission to postpone, procrastinate and engage in avoidance behavior; 3. ignore the interesting though challenging truths that are right in front of you; 4. hang out with people with mediocre ambitions. But you will experience healthy, uplifting oddness if you do the following: 1. Trust your instincts and intuitions; 2. authorize your spontaneity to invigorate and guide you; 3. take the straightforward path that gets you to the destination most efficiently; 4. be crisp and nimble.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Mysterious energies will soon begin healing at least some of the wounds in your financial genius. As a result, I predict new powers of attraction will awaken in you, making it likely you will add to your wealth in the coming months. To synergize these happy developments, I recommend you give yourself permission to have joyous fun as you lust for more cash. More good news: I will supplement your good fortune by casting a benevolent spell to boost the flow of riches into your bank account.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): When I first got my job writing a horoscope column, I wasn’t looking for it. It found me. My bike had been stolen, and I was looking for a new one in the classified ads of the Good Times, the local Santa Cruz newspaper. There I serendipitously spied a “Help Wanted” ad. The publisher of the Good Times was hiring a new astrology writer to replace Robert Cole, who had just quit. I quickly applied for the gig and got it. Ever since, Robert Cole has been a symbol for me of an accidental and unexpected opportunity appearing out of nowhere. I mention this, Gemini, because when I meditate on you lately, I see the face of Robert Cole.

CANCER (June 21-July 22): In myths and legends, the consummate spiritual goal has various names: the Holy Grail, philosopher’s stone, pearl of great price, nirvana, alchemical gold, key of life, and many others. I appreciate this profusion of sacred symbols. It encourages us to not be too literal about identifying the highest reward. The old fables are equally equivocal about where the prize can be found. Is it in an empty desert or dark forest? In the deepest abyss, on a mountaintop, or in the backyard? I bring these thoughts to your attention, Cancerian, because the coming months will be an excellent time to conduct a quest for the marvelous treasure. What do you need most right now? What’s the best way to begin your search?

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): I have good news for any Leos who are devoted to pragmatism and rational analysis. Just this once, my horoscope will offer no lyrical teasers or mystical riddles. Your pressing need for no-nonsense grit has moved me to offer straightforward, unembellished counsel. Here it is, dear: Cultivate connections that will serve your passionate ambitions. Make vigorous use of your network and community to gather information that will serve your passionate ambitions. Meditate on what course corrections might be necessary to serve your passionate ambitions.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): For many of you Virgos, your health seems chronically unsettled. You may be constantly hyper-vigilant about the next glitch that could possibly affect your well-being. There’s a problem with that approach: It may intensify your fear of frailty, which in turn saps your vigor. But I’m happy to report that in the coming months, you will have an enhanced power to break out of this pattern. To get started, try this: Every morning for four minutes, picture yourself overflowing with vitality. Visualize every part of your body working with joyful heartiness. Send streams of love and gratitude to all your organs. Do this for the next twenty-one days.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): Many people regard the word “faith” as referring to delusional hope or wishful thinking. But I ask you to rethink its meaning—and consider the possibility that it could be an empowering force in the coming months. How? Imagine a faith that’s earthy and robust. You actually feel it vibrating in your heart and gut. It literally alters your brain chemistry, fortifying your natural talents and attracting needed resources. It liberates you to feel pragmatically excited as you pursue your goal of fulfilling your soul’s code.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): When I was born, my parents gave me the name “Robert.” It’s derived from an Old North French word meaning “shining” and “bright with glory.” In Middle English, though, “robert” was a designation for “a wastrel, a marauder, a good-for-nothing.” I use this dichotomy as a reminder that my own nature is a mix of brightness and darkness. A lot of me is shining and inspirational, but there’s also a part that’s ignorant and confused. And what’s true about me is true about everyone else, including you: We are blends of the best and the not-so-best. Now is a good time to draw strength and wisdom from meditating on this reality. Your shadowy aspects have important and interesting truths to reveal to your brilliant aspects—and vice versa.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): Here are some meditations on emotions. They are as key to our intelligence as our thoughts! But it’s crucial that we distinguish between emotions generated by delusions and emotions that are responses to true perceptions. Let’s say I get angry because I imagine a friend stole money from my room while visiting, but then later I put on my vest and find the supposedly stolen cash in the vest pocket. That is a delusional emotion. But if I am sad because my friend’s beloved dog is sick, that is emotion based on an accurate perception. I bring this to your attention, Sagittarius, because I believe it is essential that in the coming weeks you discern between the two types.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): As an adjunct to the Ten Commandments, I have formulated the Ten Suggestions. Here’s Suggestion #1: Wash your own brain at least three times a year. I’m speaking metaphorically, of course. What I mean is that like me and everyone else, you are always accumulating junky thoughts and useless feelings. Some are generated by our old, conditioned responses, and some pour into us from the media and entertainment industries. And it’s best to be proactive about the toxic build-up—not allow it to become monumental. In my astrological opinion, now is an excellent time for a regular mind cleanse.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): So many writers have said terrible things about our existence on planet Earth. “Life is a disease,” wrote George Bernard Shaw. “Life is a bad dream,” declared Eugene O’Neill. Life is “a vast cold junkpile,” according to Stephen King. There are thousands more of these unnuanced disparagements. Why? Here are the facts, as I see them: As tough as it can be to navigate through problems and pain, being alive in our miraculous bodies with our dazzling awareness is a sublime gift. We are all blessed with a mysterious and fascinating destiny. In accordance with the astrological omens, Aquarius, I invite you to celebrate being alive with extra gratitude and ebullience. Begin the jubilee by feeling amazement and awe for your mysterious and fascinating destiny. Second step: Identify five sublime gifts in your life.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): In the coming weeks, I ask you to refrain from indulging in extreme nostalgia. On the other hand, I encourage you to explore the past and sift through memories with the intention of clarifying what really happened back then. Pluck new lessons from the old days that will help you forge smart decisions in the near future. Use your history as a resource while you redefine the meanings of pivotal events. For extra credit, create a new title for the book you may someday write about your life story.

Homework: Read and hear free excerpts from my book: tinyurl.com/BraveBliss

Fatma Karume | TED Democracy

• November 2023

Democracy may be an abstract concept, but it holds the very essence of our autonomy and humanity, says lawyer and human rights advocate Fatma Karume. Sharing her journey navigating a tumultuous political transition in Tanzania that put her life at risk, she highlights the importance of speaking truth to power and fighting for a brighter democratic future.

• Politics
• Social Change
• Africa
• Future
• Democracy

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About the speaker

Fatma Karume

BarristerSee speaker profile

Fatma Karume advocates for democracy and rule of law.

Wendy Cicchetti

Sagittarius Full Moon

The Sagittarius Full Moon spotlights issues of freedom, expansion, and exploration, together with attitudes of faith and optimism. In many ways, Sagittarius expects the best from the world and other people, and it can refuse or fail to see the clouds and the darker side. There is something touching and noble about this stance. And yet, this can lead to difficulties, especially when one is past the innocent or ignorant stages and simply unable to engage with complex aspects of reality.

The tension inherent in the Full Moon setup of Sun opposite Moon is more powerfully underlined this month with an entourage of planets just behind the Gemini Sun, but in the preceding sign of Taurus. This makes the opposition of Venus–Jupiter to the Moon dissociated and out-of-sign, bringing in an extra, complicating factor. Tension is there and we sense it, but the cause may not be quite so obvious, nor might we be as in-touch with a clear solution as usual. This doesn’t make the situation impossible, so much as difficult, at least for the time being.

What might help us is to consider the Venus–Jupiter conjunction’s anaretic Taurus degree, which points to a sense of urgency from its opposer. We might remember what Taurus stands for in this scenario: security, stability, satisfaction, and enjoyment. This is a sign that wants quality of experience over quantity, and which seeks to find comforting repetition and consistency over the stimulation of the new. So, instead of the normal tension of a Sagittarius–Gemini opposition of the Lights — the difference between a macro and micro perspective, variations of far and near — we have a fundamental thirst for excitement on the one hand and for constancy on the other. No wonder the elements of a situation could seem decidedly at odds!

With the 29th degree of any sign, we experience a do-or-die attitude, where someone may put pretty much all their energy into making a point or trying to get a result. This can feel like quite a force to contend with. Yet maybe we can bear in mind that Venus and Jupiter are traditionally the “good guys” in the cosmic story, representing forces that intend to deliver blessings, prosperity, kindness, and peace. Sometimes it isn’t possible for us to access or offer all of these, due to various limitations. Our task at this time might be to work out how extensive we are prepared to be — and to observe where our requests or actions may overly intrude on others. Certain adjustments are likely to be required under this tense opposition, but we can surely find a way through if we look for it.

The Moon will eventually make a trine to Mars, helping us to cut through any fog. But some haziness may be oddly comforting for a while, given that the Moon is in an out-of-sign trine to Neptune in Pisces, also at the anaretic degree. Perhaps it simply amounts to a little forgetfulness around certain events, allowing the mind and nervous system to rest and recuperate. A therapy that helps to rebalance the nervous system or the chakras might be just the ticket, especially if it focuses on the feet! This could soothe us from the “fight” mode of the opposing planets to a more elevated state, from which we can see the facts but not be absorbed in the conflict around them.

Jupiter is conjunct Uranus, and although Uranus is in a wide out-of-sign opposition to the Moon, it is somewhat still drawn into it through the conjunction. This may mean that we continue through a process of detachment from something or someone, or that we recognize more about the need to make a change in the future. With Uranus in Taurus, we hammer away at the alterations in a steadfast manner, whenever we find the focus and energy to do so.

This article is from the Mountain Astrologer by Diana McMahon Collis

SUNDAY MEETING MAY 26

Richard Hartnett, H.W., M. Exploring Cosmic Intention, Part 2 (second of a three-part series) Come join Richard Hartnett as he explores the question Is there a Cosmic Intention? in this exciting new Sunday Meeting series! Did you miss the first part of the series? You can listen to Exploring Cosmic Intention, Part 1 on the Prosperous Audio Center. Click here for further information  SUNDAY MEETING May 26, 2024 11:00 am Pacific/Noon Mountain/1:00 Central/2:00 Eastern Join Sunday Meeting By contribution.  Please click here to contribute: Contribute!

(Astrobutterfly.com)

On May 23rd, 2024, we have an auspicious Full Moon in Sagittarius.

The Full Moon is at 2° Sagittarius, sextile Pluto (at 2° Aquarius), trine Neptune (at 29° Pisces) and opposite Venus and Jupiter in Taurus. 

One notable aspect of this lunation is that its ruler, Jupiter, is conjunct Venus. 

Venus conjunct Jupiter is one of the most auspicious and sought-after transits. This is one of those 5-star events astrology enthusiasts look for when planning significant occasions like a wedding, launching important projects, or making major life decisions. 

Why is Venus conjunct Jupiter so beneficial? 

Venus is our values – what we like, what we find appealing and beautiful, what feels right. 

Jupiter is our beliefs. While similar to Venus, Jupiter operates on a more meta-level. Our beliefs (Jupiter) are based on our deep rooted values (Venus). 

Jupiter is our inner compass. When we have the occasion to steal with 100% certainty of not getting caught, and we don’t even consider doing it, that’s Jupiter at work. Jupiter means living aligned with our internal moral compass. 

Full Moon In Sagittarius – Think BIG

The Full Moon is in Sagittarius – the sign of vision, optimism, and adventure. Sagittarius encourages us to think BIG. For a fire sign, thinking big is not about following  ‘calculated’ paths of success, like becoming a lawyer or buying a big house. 

Sagittarius asks: What’s your vision? What would make the world a better place? How can you contribute to this future vision?

Sagittarius is that feeling when we look at the night sky and we feel part of something greater than ourselves. It’s about witnessing the aurora and being in awe of being alive. It’s about that inspiring story that moved you. 

Everything in this world started with a Sagittarius vision. 

Malala Yousafzai grew up in Pakistan, facing the Taliban’s ban on girls’ education. Despite threats and violence, she continued to speak out about the importance of education for girls. 

In 2012, she was shot by a Taliban gunman but survived. Instead of being silenced, Malala’s resolve grew stronger. She co-authored the memoir “I Am Malala” and co-founded the Malala Fund, which advocates for girls’ education worldwide. Her vision for universal education continues to impact millions of girls across the globe.

William Kamkwamba, a young innovator from Malawi, is a powerful example of turning a Sagittarius vision into reality. During a famine in 2001-2002, his family couldn’t afford to send him to school. 

Despite this, William was determined to learn. He read books from the local library and taught himself how to build a windmill using scrap materials. 

This windmill generated electricity and pumped water for his family’s farm, transforming their lives and eventually inspiring others in his village to pursue education and innovation. His story is detailed in the book and film “The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind”.

A vision (Sagittarius) that is aligned with our values (Venus) and greater social context (Jupiter) is the most powerful force of the universe. 

With Venus conjunct Jupiter (29° Taurus) sextile Neptune (29° Pisces) anything is possible. Right now, we all have the potential to turn our visions into reality. But we have to seek that spark of inspiration. We have to find that inner alignment. 

Full Moon In Sagittarius, Venus Conjunct Jupiter – The Law Of Attraction

Venus conjunct Jupiter embodies the law (Jupiter) of attraction (Venus). 

The key principles of the law of attraction are very Sagittarius, Venus conjunct Jupiter-like:

• Like attracts like: similar thoughts and energies attract similar results
• A mindset shift is the first step; this includes cultivating a positive attentive and being optimistic about your life and future
• Remove negativity: remove negative thoughts, people, and things from your life to make space for positivity 

The law of attraction is powerful. But it’s not about wanting something and then waiting for it to magically happen. 

There is a commitment to be made. “I’m in”. When Venus joins Jupiter, the vision is no longer ‘just a vision’ that ‘might happen’. It requires a personal investment. 

When our values (Venus) meet our beliefs (Jupiter), we have to put our money where our mouth is. 

With Sagittarius (and with fire signs in general) it’s very important for things to ‘feel right’ and be inspiring. 

The Fire element is often associated with passion, but passion is not necessarily inherent to fire signs. As Bruce Springsteen says, “You can’t start a fire without a spark”.

Sagittarius – and fire signs – need to feel that spiritual alignment. Need to feel ‘right’ about something. This alignment will then fuel their drive and passion. 

At the Full Moon in Sagittarius, listen to your intuition. Listen to that part of yourself that is naturally wired toward expansion and growth. 

Pay attention to that Sagittarian spark of inspiration, to the kindling fire that ignites your inner drive. Just like the mutable fire of Sagittarius, that spark will expand, growing into a powerful flame of purpose and passion.

Collector’s Library of the Unknown

Mental Radio

Upton Sinclair

Upton Sinclair is primarily known as the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Jungle , Oil , and Dragon’s Teeth , and as a fiery advocate of social justice and reform. Few know, however, of Sinclair’s deep interest in, and connection to, psychic research. Sinclair’s own wife, Mary Craig Kimbrough, claimed to have “mind reading” or telepathic abilities, and asked Sinclair to help her better understand these abilities. He devised a fascinating series of 300 tests that incontrovertibly proved the reality of telepathy while revealing the vast, untold powers of the mind. In one room, Sinclair would make a drawing and place it into a sealed envelope, while in another, Mary would “tune in,” retrieve the image, and make her own copy. Or she would record a telepathic message sent from someone far away. Her accuracy rate was astonishing, leaving no room for random chance as an explanation, as they continued to collect scientific data over three years. In Mental Radio , Sinclair describes remarkable experiments, comparing telepathy to radio broadcasting, with one brain sending out a “vibration” and another picking it up. The results convinced Sinclair that telepathy is real, that it is unaffected by distance, that it can be cultivated, trained and–most importantly–can be verified and studied scientifically. For the first time in many years, here is the complete text of Mental Radio , including Mary Craig Kimbrough’s well-tested instructions on how to learn the “art of conscious mind-reading.” Here is the classic book that impressed Albert Einstein who, in his preface to Mental Radio , praises Sinclair for being a conscientious observer and writer and for his good faith and dependability in reporting paranormal research. William McDougall, known as the “Dean of American Psychology” at the time, was so inspired by Sinclairs’ work that he established the parapsychology department at Duke University, which went on to become, for a time, the country’s premier paranormal research institution.

About the author

Upton Sinclair

714 books1,049 followersFollow

Upton Beall Sinclair, Jr. was an American author who wrote close to one hundred books in many genres. He achieved popularity in the first half of the twentieth century, acquiring particular fame for his classic muckraking novel, The Jungle (1906). To gather information for the novel, Sinclair spent seven weeks undercover working in the meat packing plants of Chicago. These direct experiences exposed the horrific conditions in the U.S. meat packing industry, causing a public uproar that contributed in part to the passage a few months later of the 1906 Pure Food and Drug Act and the Meat Inspection Act. The Jungle has remained continuously in print since its initial publication. In 1919, he published The Brass Check, a muckraking exposé of American journalism that publicized the issue of yellow journalism and the limitations of the “free press” in the United States. Four years after the initial publication of The Brass Check, the first code of ethics for journalists was created. Time magazine called him “a man with every gift except humor and silence.” In 1943, he won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.

Sinclair also ran unsuccessfully for Congress as a Socialist, and was the Democratic Party nominee for Governor of California in 1934, though his highly progressive campaign was defeated.

(Goodreads.com)

New Thinking Allowed with Jeffrey Mishlove • May 21, 2024 Davis K. Brimberg, PhD, is a clinical psychologist. She has also studied dance and theater extensively as an adolescent and young adult. She is author of Teachings From the Gatekeeper: A Memoir and Journey into Parapsychology. Her website is https://www.drdaviskbrimberg.com/ Here she explore the significant male relationships in the life of the great Swiss psychiatrist, Carl Gustav Jung. 00:00 Introduction 03:05 Jung and Freud 09:46 A paranormal conflict 14:40 The breakup of Jung and Freud 19:37 Jung and J. B. Rhine 24:21 Theory of synchronicity 28:31 Jung and Einstein 31:19 Pauli’s quest to understand mind and matter 35:17 Jung’s extramarital affairs 41:37 Emotional intimacy 46:37 Conclusion Edited subtitles for this video are available in English, French, German, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Russian, and Swedish. New Thinking Allowed host, Jeffrey Mishlove, PhD, is author of The Roots of Consciousness, Psi Development Systems, and The PK Man. Between 1986 and 2002 he hosted and co-produced the original Thinking Allowed public television series. He is the recipient of the only doctoral diploma in “parapsychology” ever awarded by an accredited university (University of California, Berkeley, 1980). He is also the Grand Prize winner of the 2021 Bigelow Institute essay competition regarding the best evidence for survival of human consciousness after permanent bodily death. (Recorded on March 19, 2024)

(PBS.org)

Link to video Decoding the Universe: Cosmos

Decoding the Universe: CosmosExplore big discoveries that have revolutionized our understanding of the universe.

(Contributed by Ben Gilberti,, H.W., M.)

[This post about emerging fascism in our country was removed by Facebook from our BathtubBulletin page because it violated their community standards. Sounds pretty fascistic to me. –Mike Zonta, BB editor]

A Q&A with a leading Arendt scholar adapts the philosopher’s ideas to today’s politics.

Illustration by Bill Kuchman/POLITICO (source images via Creative Commons, AP, Getty Images)

By JOANNA WEISS

05/19/2024 (politico.com)

Joanna Weiss is a writer in Boston and a contributing writer for POLITICO Magazine.

A growing body of research warns that the United States is experiencing a loneliness crisis. The U.S. surgeon general has cited loneliness as a public health risk. Researchers have found that loneliness makes people more likely to be angry and resentful, and more vulnerable to extremism.

Loneliness could represent a political threat, as well: a pathway to demagogues, mobs and destructive ideologies. That was an argument the German-born philosopher Hannah Arendt made in 1951 in The Origins of Totalitarianism, which examined the social elements that led to Stalinism and Nazism. And it’s an argument that some readers and scholars of Arendt are recirculating today.

Samantha Rose Hill is a professor at the Brooklyn Institute for Social Research and a leading interpreter of Arendt’s thinking, particularly as it relates to loneliness. She notes that The Origins of Totalitarianism became a bestseller in 2016 because it helped explain an aspect of Donald Trump’s election: how economic and social conditions create feelings of loneliness and rootlessness and lead people to seek out belonging and meaning in political movements. Today, Hill says, Arendt might have connected loneliness not just to the rise of Trump, but also the actions of groups like Moms for Liberty on the right and the fervor of identity politics on the left.

Arendt described loneliness not as a physical or emotional state but as a state of mind, Hill says. It’s an inability to question our beliefs or adjust our thinking to reflect our own experience and the experience of others — a kind of mental isolation and rigidity that one can observe, for instance, in today’s social media pile-ons and pressures for ideological conformity. “Arendt says that wherever people desire simple solutions to complex problems, totalitarianism will always be a threat,” Hill says.

We discussed Arendt, modern politics and social media over email and Zoom from Paris and London — where Hill, who authored an Arendt biography and edited a book of Arendt’s poems, has been working on a book about loneliness for Yale University Press. This interview has been condensed and edited for clarity.

Arendt defines loneliness differently from the way we often think of it. Can you talk about the German word that she used, verlassenheit? What’s the meaning of that word and what did she mean by it?

Hannah Arendt doesn’t talk about feelings, in the sense that we would talk about loneliness as a feeling. She’s talking about loneliness as a way of thinking. Verlassenheit, which there is no good English translation for, literally means a sense of “abandonness.” Of feeling abandoned in the world. She says that it is “the closing of thinking.”

Loneliness, for Arendt, is the closing of the mind. That’s how she relates it to isolation: in that very literal sense of the mind being isolated, and that it does not move.

So how, in Arendt’s thinking, would this sense of loneliness or “abandonness” lead to totalitarianism?

The definition of loneliness today, in the social scientific literature, is about being physically isolated from others and having few or no close meaningful relationships. This corresponds nicely with Arendt’s understanding of loneliness as isolated thought. When a person feels isolated, a political movement offers them a sense of belonging, purpose and meaning.

This is why totalitarian movements have to first succeed in destroying the fabric of society by which we take our bearings of being in the world with one another. Because it is only then, when there is no longer basic kindness, trust and human decency, and people feel thrown into the world to make it on their own, that they will go looking for a movement to belong to. A movement invites one to not just belong to something bigger than themselves, but to become a part of history.

How would Arendt have looked at a phenomenon like MAGA?

Arendt did not like political movements, left or right. In Origins she argued that Stalinism was a more advanced form of Hitlerism. She placed the emphasis on the word “movement” itself in her critique. To be part of a movement is to be caught in a tide, an ideological tide, which has the effect of divorcing thinking from experience by creating an alternate reality — and that teaches people that they don’t have to think for themselves. The point of ideology is to tell people what to think — not to teach them how to think, or offer them alternative ways of thinking. Ideology demands conformity.

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Can you clarify what you mean by “alternate reality”? What would that look like in a real-life scenario?

Ideology teaches people that there is a truer reality beyond reality. Think of QAnon, Pizzagate and the many Americans who believe Donald Trump won the last presidential election. Another example that comes to mind is Trump’s inauguration. It was very clearly raining. You could see the rain. People were holding umbrellas. And yet, Trump said, “It isn’t raining.” Many people affirmed his statement, because the point of the statement wasn’t to reflect upon the experience as it was, but to assert his ideology of dominance.

The movement also gives people a prefabricated response — determined by the leader — to any political issue or question, without needing to think on their own, so they always have something to say backed by a source of authority.

When people object to Trump or a politician like him, it seems what they’re often concerned about is authoritarianism, as opposed to totalitarianism. What’s the relationship between the two? Does totalitarianism lead to authoritarianism? Or is it the other way around?

In Arendt’s account, it would be the other way around. She distinguishes between authoritarianism, fascism, tyranny and totalitarianism. Totalitarianism, she argued, depended upon the radical atomization of the whole, the absolute elimination of all spontaneity. One lived in absolute fear all the time, even those in the party, and the aim of totalitarianism was total world domination.

Within an authoritarian system, you still have limited political freedom. There isn’t a totalizing state of fear, but there is domination: domination that aims at political control within a state, without the means of persuasion. So if we were to think of Trump trying to overturn the election results of 2020, that I think we can read as a kind of authoritarian grab.

Are there other politicians or phenomena you see today that raise similar concerns about authoritarianism or totalitarianism?

Ron DeSantis, and the book bans in Florida and the laws that he has attempted to pass to regulate what students can and cannot study in college. And Moms for Liberty in the same vein. I think this trend in American politics emerges out of the cultural conservative movement of the 1980s, which targeted multiculturalism, liberalism traditionally defined, while raising a moral panic about communism and the left and socialism.

I don’t think that lays the groundwork in itself for totalitarianism. There’s a nice quote buried in Arendt’s correspondence from the 1970s where she says something like, “let us not jump to totalitarianism too quickly.” This is not 1933. The phrase “it can happen here,” assumes an identifiable “it.” There is no identifiable “it.” Our world today is remarkably different from the world of the mid-20th century. It has been radically reshaped by technology and trade. If and when a form of fascism emerges in America, it is not going to look the same as it did in Europe.

Would Arendt be concerned about phenomena we’re seeing on the left, as well? Are there other orthodoxies of thought she would be worried about?

Those arguing against identity politics — or what I would call the tyranny of individualism — are not wrong to point out the ways in which forms of hyper-individualism destroy the common fabric of humanity. At the same time, these arguments are also fodder for MAGA politicians, and they are helping them to win elections while fueling real political violence.

At the end of the day, I’m not sure that MAGA supporters are any more tribal than liberals. One of the identifying features of tribalistic thought is believing one is absolutely on the right side of history. And to believe that is to believe that the other side is absolutely wrong.

MAGA is a reflection of very real political problems: economic stagnation, loss of mobility, alienation from the Democratic and Republican parties. Arendt says that wherever people desire simple solutions to complex problems, totalitarianism will always be a threat. That’s what we’re experiencing now. We’re also experiencing the collapse of the Democratic and Republican parties as we’ve known them in our lifetimes. Historically, this is not exceptional, but politically, right now, it is destabilizing. Many people don’t feel like they can look to a party to represent their interests, and so movements are appearing in those cracks.

Want to read more stories like this? POLITICO Weekend delivers gripping reads, smart analysis and a bit of high-minded fun every Friday. Sign up for the newsletter.

Would you agree that people are becoming more tribal and ideological than ever before, because they’re living in these self-reinforcing filter bubbles?

I wouldn’t say the problem is bubbles. I would say it’s appearances. Technology has transformed the nature of appearance and being in the world so that one’s everyday experiences are mediated through some form of device or apparatus, which creates a baseline level of alienation.

The other side of this is a loss of privacy. Even when one is alone, they are never really alone, and this means that the space necessary for thinking is lost. And when one loses that space for thinking, one is driven further away from themselves and more likely to get carried away by the tide.

The social media mob is another modern phenomenon where we see people carried away. How does that connect to Arendt’s warnings? Does a lack of thinking make people susceptible to joining an online mob?

Sometimes social media mobs are mobilized by ideological political movements. Sometimes they’re mobilized by what we might want to call an ideology. Sometimes they’re a collection of isolated individuals who find some pleasure, excitement or relief from the boredom of everyday life in collectively ganging up on someone for no particular reason.

I might argue that the phenomenon of social media mobs is a prelude to joining a political movement. There’s an interesting fact in the data on social media and loneliness: the more time someone spends on social media, the more likely they are to report feeling lonely. At the same time, the more time someone spends on social media, the more likely they are to participate in a real-life political movement.

We recently emerged from a strange social experiment in which we experienced physical isolation at the same time political and cultural forces were leading us toward single-minded thought. Did the pandemic make our loneliness problem worse?

Maybe this is a good place to distinguish between solitude and loneliness. Solitude is the pleasurable experience of keeping company with oneself. Solitude is a retreat from the world of appearing before others. The phone is off, the computer is off, the television is off, the company is gone and one is actually alone with themselves.

The pandemic worsened an already dire mass addiction to technology. The average American spends 7 to 8 hours a day with the television on and another 5 to 6 hours a day in front of a computer screen. There is constant noise. Loneliness is very loud. People often turn on the TV or reach for the phone to avoid the voice in their head, but it is that voice that allows one to think for themselves, hold themselves accountable and make changes where changes need to be made in their lives. Listening is a vital habit for democracy.