40: Introducing The Portal Essay Club - What if everyone is simply insane?

If you have ever wondered whether you were crazy when everyone else claims to see things differently than you do, this is the episode for you.Book clubs are everywhere and we are always asked for book recommendations. But what about the great Essays, Interviews, Conversations, Aphorisms, Shaggy Dog Stories, Lyrics, Courtroom Testimonies, Poems, Movie Scenes, Jokes and the like? Sadly, there is almost never a club in which to discuss them. Yet there are Essays and offerings in other intellectual formats that are just as profound and meaningful as any book while having the advantage of being much more in keeping with modern attention spans. The Portal seeks to fill this obvious lacuna. We thus finish out the regular first year of the Portal Podcast with an inaugural episode of an experiment: The Portal Essay Club. In this episode Eric reads aloud an astonishing essay from 1944 by Arthur Koestler which changed his world. In the essay, Koestler wrestles with a difficult question that has plagued independent thinkers for ages: what if everyone who is supposedly 'normal' is actually a maniac living in a dream world? What if the only sane ones appear crazy just as the crazy appear sane? During the episode, Eric first reads aloud the essay "The Nightmare That Is A Reality." and then discusses paragraph by paragraph what makes this one of the most profound yet often forgotten essays to have appeared within the twilight of living memory (1944 as it happens). We hope you will enjoy this experiment and let us know what you would like to see appear next in this series. Thanks for a great first year. Thank You From Our Sponsors Mack Weldon: For 20% off your first order visit www.mackweldon.com AND ENTER PROMO CODE: PORTALExpressVPN: Protect your online activity today at www.expressvpn.com/PORTAL and get an extra 3 months FREE on a one-year package.NetSuite: Receive your FREE guide – “Seven Actions Businesses Need to Take Now” and schedule yourFREE Product Tour at www.netsuite.com/PORTAL Unagi Scooters: Get $150 off your own Unagi E500 electric scooter while supplies last at www.unagiscooters.com PROMO CODE PORTAL See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Om Podcasten

The Portal is an exploration into discovery, including conversations with thought leaders. Host Eric Weinstein, Managing Director of Thiel Capital, brings his unique expertise and diverse roster of guests for a wide range of discussions, including science, culture, business, and capitalism. The show will feature people whose lives demonstrate that portals into what we would normally consider impossible, are indeed possible.  Guests include presidential candidate Andrew Yang, NY Times bestselling author Sam Harris, and retired Navy Seal and creator of the hit business podcast Jocko Willink.