The Art of Losing Control : A Philosopher's Search for Ecstatic Experience

The Art of Losing Control : A Philosopher's Search for Ecstatic Experience
ISBN: 9781782118688
Publication Date: 4 May 2017

How mastering the art of losing control can help us live a better life: a wise, witty and dynamic guide to the philosophy of human ecstasy.

Jules Evans is lying at the bottom of a mountain after a skiing accident. But he's not thinking about his broken femur. He's having an ecstatic revelation. Jules's brush with ecstasy leads him on an investigation: why have we been happy to accept Greek philosophy's attitude that rationality is the highest part of human nature for so many centuries, when we are capable of so many more states of experience? On his way, Jules discovers that by mastering the art of losing control, we can liberate ourselves from toxic habits and lead a better, deeper life.

Balancing personal narrative, interviews, and readings from ancient and modern philosophers,

The Art of Losing Control is a fascinating, funny and thrilling guide to the different ways we can experience ecstasy and how it can motivate us, heal us and set us free.

About the Author

Jules Evans is policy director at the Centre for the History of Emotions at Queen Mary, University of London. He is the author of

Philosophy for Life and Other Dangerous Situations, which was published in 19 countries and was a

Times Book of the Year. Jules has written for

The Times,

Financial Times,

Guardian,

Spectator and

WIRED and is a BBC New Generation Thinker. He also runs the London Philosophy Club, the world's biggest philosophy club.