Portrait of British philosopher Jules Evans. Self-transcendence can bring more openness and kindness.
Jules Evans is a British philosopher who writes books and gives lectures on self-transcendence. I was very inspired by this radical thinking, loving heart philosopher. He told me he had a near-death experience while he was 16 and that experience made him see the shining light inside of him which showed him to find happiness within instead of worrying about how other people perceive him. He changed his beliefs multiple times, from believing in Christianity to Stoicism to Buddhism. Now he is working on making people’s world better by helping them work on their beliefs. From my understanding, his self-transcendence research has two main purpose: 1. remove our sense of self-importance and be more open and kind to others. 2. encourage us to look at things outside our own mind and examine how our beliefs shape our realities, therefore gain more pure knowledge of the bigger world. I chose the grasshopper green as his main color because he is brave, open, friendly, and curious to gain new knowledge.
While I finishing that sketch of him at the cafe, he was reading a book about the history of China. He told me that he’d never been there and it was hard to imagine what China was like from reading. Then I told him I was originally from China and I received education in Beijing before the age of 17. He seemed more interested in reading that book than listening to me talking about what China is like.
I think intellectual honesty is among the most important virtues a public intellectual should have. Some intellectuals avoid sharing details of their own experience or using vague words to make themselves sound interesting. Jules shared as many as he can with details and elaborate thoughts. He wasn’t afraid to talk about margin topics such as mythicism, psychedelic drugs, counter culture, and sexual liberation.
I met him at his lecture on the life of Aldous Huxley. Aldous is the author of the brave new world. He had a very interesting personal life. Jules gave us a very comprehensive summary and shared some inspiring quotes. I wrote down the last quote he shared with us from Huxley: “It’s a little embarrassing that after 45 years of research & study, the best advice I can give people is to be a little kinder to each other.”
My name is Lihui. I am the creator and storyteller at CounterReality.
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