Hacker News Reader

Not at all astonishing. :-) Modern cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) originates[1] from the 2000-year-old work of Epictetus. Cicero memorably called philosophy as "the medicine of the mind". Going back to Socrates and Epictetus, philosophy was "a way of life", and not tying clever knots in thin air and untying them.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rational_emotive_behavior_ther...

> It is astonishing how closely intertwined philosophy and psychology turn out to be.

It’d be surprising if they weren’t, if you think about it. :)

Very much so. My early studies of Taoism were affected heavily by the notion that the philosophy was a response to an unknown cataclysm of some sort, I just wish I could track down the original source on that idea. Jung’s investigation into Aion is also connected somehow to this but it is an area I need to research further.

Felt the same too. Concepts like wu wei are clearly related to flow. And Taoism has a lot of stories that relate to flow, my favorite being Cook Ding cutting up an ox.