What is a Good Life? #80
Finding & Following Your Path with Jonny Thomson
On the 80th episode of the What is a Good Life? podcast, I am delighted to introduce our guest, Jonny Thomson. Jonny was a teacher for over a decade before he turned to writing full-time. He is a columnist at Big Think, where he writes primarily about philosophy, theology, and psychology, and is the author of three books. His first book, Mini Philosophy, is an award-winning international bestseller and has been translated into more than 20 languages. Jonny also runs the popular social media account Philosophy Minis, with a quarter of a million followers on Instagram, where he explains philosophical ideas in short, accessible digests. He lives in a village in North Oxfordshire with his wife and two sons.
In this engaging conversation, Jonny shares his thoughts on contemplating death and how it can guide us in living a good life. We discuss the importance of finding meaning beyond our own lives and moments of feeling part of something bigger. We also explore the potential impact of AI and what it reveals about being human. While Jonny reflects on his shift towards a Daoist perspective and how this has influenced both his path and sense of purpose.
Throughout the conversation, Jonny highlights essential components of contemplation and ways of engaging with life that can bring greater purpose, contentment, and meaning. If you feel that your life needs a change or that it feels somewhat stifled, this episode will provide much to consider.
The weekly clip from the podcast (4 mins), my weekly reflection (3 mins), the full podcast (58 mins), and the weekly questions all follow below.
1. Weekly Clip from the Podcast
2. My weekly reflection
In this interview, Jonny shares how starting his Instagram page led to a book deal and a career change from teacher to writer. He felt he was following a path that was emerging, aligning with Daoist sentiments that have increasingly resonated with him in recent years.
The expression he used in the video above, “giving the horse its head,” is a lovely metaphor for the process. It evokes the idea of letting life run more freely while still observing and paying attention to the opportunities that life presents.
Earlier in the interview, he also mentioned his regular contemplation of death—not in a morbid sense but as a regular check-in for how he is living his life. This practice helps him distill and recognise what is most important, what has meaning, and what truly brings fulfilment.
Reflecting on his process, Jonny also acknowledges the importance of nature and listening to potentially hear a voice or guide to what our path may be.
My intention with this podcast and newsletter is not to distill top 5 lists or key actions for you or me to take. Yet, the more people I interview, the more I notice guests emphasising the significance of listening rather than imposing our will on life, and recognising a path as it emerges rather than having a fully formed plan from the start.
Listening and observing become our compasses on this emerging path, rather than having milestones and checkpoints to follow, giving senses and approximations of what to do next without dictating exactly what it is or how it will look.
Modern society presents many obstacles to following our own path from a number of perspectives.
Firstly, we often pretend to know more than we do and act as if we have it all together. In boardroom meetings, I've heard "experts" deliver paragraphs of information to demonstrate knowledge without addressing the actual question, instead of simply saying, "I don't know.”
We struggle with any path of not knowing, or better put, with consciously acknowledging our not knowing.
On CVs and LinkedIn, we present ourselves as always progressing to bigger and better things, with a linear line, ignoring our frailties and constructing stories of logical moves and foreknowing futures. While generally we hide our inner experiences from colleagues, friends, and loved ones to appear strong and avoid vulnerability.
We also tend to over-plan and theorise, coming up with five-year or even ten-year plans with specific figures, as if the future is fully within our intellectual grasp by simply observing present trends and projecting them forward.
Life's apparent busyness, highly correlated with our technology use, fills us with distractions, leaving little time to hear, listen, or notice signs or opportunities. We rarely spend time in nature to unwind naturally, instead directing our attention to consuming more information and expert opinion, more processes and to-dos, distancing ourselves further from the lived experience of life or our inner wisdom.
We fear death and our mortality, rarely approaching it with curiosity to distill what matters to us and therefore steering our lives towards what is most important, instead we consume ourselves with what others expect or suggest.
Finding our path isn't as complicated as we make. Our attachments, lack of subtlety, and receptivity to life are the greater obstacles. Subtlety involves deciphering signs, energies, and feelings, sensing what aligns with our nature in the moment, or what is alive.
This involves a regular noticing as well as paying attention to several significant moments, energetic experiences, deep realisations, dreams, an inner voice or guide, a sense of awe or synchronicity, and even a clear "NO, not this," that can offer a new path with each step taken in another direction. It may take months or years for something concrete to materialise from this repeated noticing, I would caution anyone against demanding a timely outcome.
For me, one considerable moment was lying on a bed the weekend before starting a new job. A bolt of energy ran through me, and though it wasn't accompanied by words or clear instructions, I knew I had to quit that job and industry without a vision of what would come next.
I have yet to interview anyone whose significant moments mapped out their entire life; they mostly provided enough clarity or confidence to take the next step, to understand the next chapter. While It doesn't have to mean tearing up your present life script; it can be significant shifts born of smaller ones. For Jonny, it was starting an Instagram page while still teaching.
Each step tempts us to revert to old ways or cultural norms, telling others we've figured it out and know exactly how it will unfold. But this betrays the nature of life we're attuning ourselves to in this noticing.
Life unfolds before us, one step into the dark after another. Scary in our know-it-all culture, yet incredibly enlivening and life-affirming when connected to the lived experience of life.
Someone asked me this week, upon hearing of my various projects, "So Mark, where are they all going?" I responded, "I absolutely have no idea, but I am absolutely sure of it!"
When we realise our own path conviction and not knowing can go hand in hand. The peace is found more in the sense of our being rather than in planning and mitigating any potential future risks. A freedom to naturally evolve and exist as you are. When we experience that I don’t think it matters too much where it is going.
3. Full Episode - Finding & Following Your Path with Jonny Thomson - What is a Good Life? #80
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4. This week’s Questions
Are there any opportunities or energies emerging at the moment that feel like an invitation to your own path?
What do you feel connected to that feels bigger than your own life?
About Me
I am an artist based in Berlin, via Dublin, Ireland. I left behind a 15-year career in Capital Markets after I became extremely curious around answering some of the bigger questions in life. I started this project in 2021, for which I’ve now interviewed around 200 people, to provide people with the space to reflect on their own lives and to create content that would spark people’s own inquiry into this question. I am also trying to share more genuine expressions of the human experience, beyond the facades we typically project.
If you would like to work with me to explore your own lines of self-inquiry, experiences I create to stimulate more meaningful group conversations and connection, or you simply want to get in touch, here’s my email and LinkedIn.