Welcome to the Dojo!

In the modern world, there is a void…

For all the benefits of science, the scientific worldview cannot offer us guidance on how to live a Good Life? Who we should be? And how to find meaning and wisdom?

John Vervaeke has called this void: ‘The Meaning Crisis’.

The Wisdom Dojo aims to support those who are overcoming the meaning crisis and returning to the real world, which is the goal of true philosophy:

"What is at issue is the conversion of the mind from the twilight of error to the truth, that climb up into the real world which we shall call true philosophy." Plato, The Republic (514a-520)

The reason the Substack is a “Dojo” is from my lifelong experience in martial arts, attaining a black belt in Bujinkan Ninjitsu and being both a fighter and coach in traditional Muay Thai and Western Boxing. While I love martial arts, the real fight at the moment for most people are the various existential crises which categorise the modern world, like nihilism, despair, alienation, addiction, loneliness, meaninglessness etc. The Wisdom Dojo is a space for the philosophical and psychological training necessary to fight these opponents and live a good life in the strange modern, digital world in which we find ourselves in.

Topics explored include virtue ethics and virtue traditions, religion, attention, ancient myths and stories, human nature, psychology, technology and artificial intelligence, and cognitive science.

If this sounds like something you want, then subscribe below and receive the welcome email with more information 👇

Who am I?

My name is Mahon. I am an Irish Philosophy doctoral researcher, part-time lecturer, writer and Bujinkan Ninjitsu black belt.

Day to day, I am a Philosophy Doctoral Researcher in Ethics and New Technologies and part-time lecturer in philosophy. I won DCU’s School of Theology and Philosophy Scholarship 2022 to study the ethical issues of Social Media Companies commodifying users' attention and am currently completing my Phd thesis. However, I regularly share philosophical insights from my research through the essays and podcasts, which have featured top-ten self-improvement and education in Ireland and top one hundred in Sweden, Spain, Italy, Denmark, Finland, Belgium, Turkey, and Pakistan.

Academically my BA is in Philosophy and Economics from University College Dublin, but my Master’s is in Creative Writing from Queen’s University Belfast. This is because after my BA I became disillusioned with academic philosophy (before I properly re-discovered Plato and ancient philosophy as a way of life) and so turned to literature and mythology to understand the human condition and the meaning crisis.

I studied Carl Jung and Joseph Campbell and saw how one of the key drivers of the meaning crisis was the lack of a “living myth” for modern people. In my own creative writing, I have explored this lack and tried to provide some mythic maps for people in the same predicament. Here are a couple of the writing projects so far:

• My first stage play, “Waiting for The Offo”, was awarded the Dublin Fringe Festival’s Fringe Lab fifty in 2020 and debuted to a sold-out audience in Templebar’s The New Theatre in 2023.

• A collaborative project with Conan Mcivor entitled “The Estate” about nihilism and addiction in young men in Belfast during the pandemic, was awarded the Lyric Theatres “Live-to-digital” in 2021 and went on to be exhibited in Pallas studios and Dumbworld in Dublin City.

• My collection of short stories, ‘The Man with a Mirror Face,’ debuted in the top one hundred on Amazon short stories category and is currently ranked 4.9 stars, which explores maturation and psychological development.

• Finally, my journey to find a living myth has led me to write a novel entitled “The Cave”, based on Plato’s Cave, which will hopefully be finished and available on the Dojo in the coming years.

In conclusion, the future of the Dojo will seek to address the educational gap created by the meaning crisis and the digital transformation and to bring the complex ideas coming from the digital intellectual frontier to the majority of people in an understandable way. This will include essays and podcasts and philosophy courses but also more reading groups and in-person collaboration, in the vein of a martial arts gym but for philosophy.

If this sounds like something you want to be a part of then join up now 👇

I want to keep the majority of essays and podcasts and courses free on the Dojo but there is an option to become a patron if you agree with and want to support the philosophical mission 👇

Patron

What do you get with a subscription?

One podcast and one essay on the second Thursday of every month.

• Essays filled with actionable insights (over 10k readers in the first year)

• Podcast interviews with world-leading experts like Iain Mcgilchrist, John Vervaeke and Dr Anna Lembke (top-ten Self-improvement and Education in Ireland)

• Philosophical courses on the great texts like the Plato’s Republic course.

• And, oh yeah, it’s free? So there’s that.

Contact: writing@mahonmccann.com

Testimonials:

“Mahon McCann is a remarkable individual.  He is an original thinker, full of passion for his subjects and determination to contribute to our culture.”- Jimmy McAleavey, Award-winning Belfast playwright and Abbey Theatre Resident artist.

“Think of Roddy Doyle, with the somber outlook of a millennial whose experiences have been shaped by previous generations. Add a smattering of Hunter S. Thompson and you have Mahon McCann.” - Paddy H, English Teacher.

“There’s a new Irish writer of perception, intelligence, and wit in town”

- Randall S, Reader of TMWM

Check out my other channels here.