Splash at Northwestern
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Splash at Northwestern: May 25th, 2024!


NU Splash Biography

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JAKE MILENDORF, Practical Philosopher




College: Northwestern University

Major: Cognitive Science

Year of Graduation: 2024

Picture of Jake Milendorf

Brief Biographical Sketch:

Heyo! My name is Jake and I aspire to bring love, curiosity, and adventure into everything I do. I believe that an amazing teacher is like an amazing doctor. An amazing doctor does not want their patients to come back. If they come back they have not been healed. Similarly, I believe an amazing teacher does not want their students to come back. Otherwise, they have not inspired been inspired. So I invite you to come and hang out with me. If you are enticed by what I say, you are welcome to stick around. But hopefully I give you reason enough to go forth into the world and live.



Past Classes

  (Clicking a class title will bring you to the course's section of the corresponding course catalog)


X670: Death, Consciousness, Meditation, and Enlightenment in Splash Spring 2024 (May. 25, 2024)
Every individual has the potential to realize their highest potential, beyond their wildest imaginations. Philosophies of the East, including Hinduism, Buddhism, and Taoism, have critical teachings to offer Westerners, that they cannot get anywhere else. Unlike religions of the West, the Eastern traditions do not focus on dogma, but rather on methods of liberation: liberation from suffering. This means they are concerned with transforming states of consciousness through forms of meditation. Together, we will explore the Eastern approach to life, as well as the simple meditation practices that can bring about transformative and life-changing mystical experiences. This class can touch on math, physics, biology, and/or psychology, as they relate to spirituality, depending on the interest level of students.


X646: Why The Universe Is Magic and Death Doesn't Exist in Splash Spring 2023 (May. 27, 2023)
It is the most fascinating thing that we all wake up in this universe never having gone to sleep. How is this possible? What's more, there is a paradox at the very heart of reality. You cannot bite your own teeth, you cannot taste your own tongue, and you cannot look into your own eyes. This class will finally get at the heart of reality and answer the question of existence in a way that should be more satisfying than any explanation you have received in the past. This course will feature introductory logic, philosophy, and linguistics to unravel the mysteries of the universe.


X602: What Makes a Good Life? in Splash 2022 (Apr. 02, 2022)
Every day we struggle with deciding how to make a day worth it. What do I have to accomplish today for it to not have been a waste? The answers are quite simple, but everything in today's society points away from the right answers. In this course we will be discussing concrete steps that you can take to change your life rooted in psychology and philosophy. Topics of discussion will include mindfulness, Stoicism, the science of happiness, minimalism, and the modern state of our society as a whole.