On the fifth episode of the “What is a Good Life?” podcast, I am joined by James Cussen, the Creator at The Living Philosophy.
I discovered James’ work through his well-received YouTube channel of the same name, The Living Philosophy. I’d strongly recommend this to anyone with a curiosity for philosophy or a desire to broaden their thinking.
Since devouring a copy of Albert Camus’s The Outsider as a teenager, philosophy has taken James on a journey from despair to immense purpose. His content, guidance, and ideas, have a strong emphasis on the importance of embodying the wisdom of philosophy and learning the art of the good life, so naturally I felt he’d be an ideal guest for this podcast.
In this podcast we discuss discovering purpose, focussing on the collective’s well-being as well as our own, building your own personal philosophy, the role of curiosity in James’ personal philosophy, and the considerable significance of family and close relationships in experiencing a good life.
Running Order:
00:01 Introduction
01:50 How James discovered philosophy
06:52 Focus on the collective
11:26 Balancing self-work and helping society
14:13 Preconventional, conventional, postconventional morality
18:10 Using my work to bring everyone to the table
21:20 Processes for self-development
28:10 Acknowledging what could be beyond the material
32:30 Racing to enlightenment!
37:50 Simple doesn’t mean easy
42:40 Simplicity or complexity
45:35 Deeper understanding
48:35 Building your own philosophy
53:30 A tool for cataloguing ideas / thoughts / dreams
55:58 Gardening my thoughts
58:53 Curiosity is a golden virtue
1:01:30 The more I know, the less sure I am
1:09:00 What is a Good Life for James?
1:11:44 The importance of relationships
For further content and information check out the following:
- For the podcast's YouTube page: https://www.youtube.com/@whatisagoodlife/videos
- My newsletter: https://www.whatisagood.life/
- My LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-mccartney-14b0161b4/
- The Living Philosophy YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheLivingPhilosophy
- The Living Philosophy Website: https://www.thelivingphilosophy.com/
- The Living Philosophy newsletter: https://thelivingphilosophy.substack.com/
Subscribe for weekly episodes, every Tuesday, and check out my YouTube channel for daily clips and weekly reflections.
What is What is a Good Life??
This isn’t a podcast about fixing you. It’s about living life more fully.
What Is a Good Life? is a long-form conversation project exploring how people actually live, feel, and make meaning of their lives.
Over the past four years, I’ve sat with more than 300 people — artists, parents, executives, wanderers, therapists, and strangers — and invited them into a simple but profound inquiry: What is a good life for you?
These conversations aren’t about advice, formulas, or self-improvement. They explore presence, paradox, uncertainty, and the moments that quietly shape a life — love and loss, trust and fear, clarity and not knowing. It’s an invitations to slow down, to listen deeply, and to bring you into conversation with your own life.
New episodes weekly.