The Inspiring Work of Helen de Cruz

One of my all time favourite philosophers, Helen de Cruz, passed away recently. I wanted to write a little something to honour their memory, and especially to highlight one striking feature of their philosophy: how inspiring it is, and how it is meant to inspire.  

Helen de Cruz’s work covers a lot of areas, and I shall not pretend to be very familiar with all of this. So I am not offering to do a full retrospective, or to measure the extent of their life's work. If you want some idea of how broad their interests were, and how much they accomplished professionally for the sake of the philosophical community: take a look at this lovely tribute, which covers a lot more ground than I will. Though I think everyone agrees that any tribute about them is only very partial.

Instead, I shall focus on only one aspect of their work, which is this call that they put out there, this call for self-actualization. Their declining health gave them a sense of urgency that prompted them to articulate precisely what they wanted to do with philosophy, and this topic of self-actualization came up a lot. In that state of mind, they wrote a Manifesto for a future philosophy 

In this manifesto, they write:

 “I've been developing a philosophy in which wonder, delight, joy and interdependence are at the heart of humanity. Where, to borrow from Lorde and Spinoza, you have to realize yourself. You should realize yourself fully, and not see yourself as this instrument for a further end (even a further end you find good, such as some noble cause). That is, I want for all of us Lordean survival, not the mere safety of having only your material needs (barely) met while you spiritually whither. In Wonderstruck, I hoped to get people out of their rut and to bring them into a hopeful, philosophical state by which they become more open to the world and not just what we are fed through the various channels of outrage politics and the like. It's basically a kind of philosophical therapy based on Descartes's Passions of the Soul.”

I especially love that last sentence. Helen de Cruz was hoping to lead as many people as possible to a happier, more philosophical life. I think they were very invested in creating concrete paths for people to follow and realize this ideal. Indeed, I can think of several instances when Helen de Cruz promoted and made accessible various philosophical exercises that were meant to precipitate exactly that change in our lives. You can measure the influence that Helen de Cruz had on my thinking by the amount of philosophical exercises they delved into which ended up making appearances on this blog. Here are a few examples:

- They articulated the practice of Friendship with the Ancients, 

"The set of creative practices and engagements with works of deceased authors that allows us to imagine them as friends and to enter into a parasocial relationship with them.”  I think this article is a great boon for the domain of Philosophy as a Way of Life since it describes a practice that people had in the past, but also one that we still engage in today when we do history of philosophy! It recognizes our shared nerdiness and playfulness in a way that I think is actually vital for the philosophical community as a whole. I sat down to practice this exercise with Zhuangzi , whom Helen de Cruz inspired me to discover (more on that below). I really cherish that memory.

- In their book, Wonderstruck, they talked about all the resources that people created to practice the exercise of the View from Above: images, technologies, theories of the universe, thought experiments, science fiction, etc. They were very well-read and could cite so many delightful examples of the great ingenuity humankind employed to tap into awe and wonder at the great cosmos.

- They advocated for the reading of big transformative books such as the Ethics of Spinoza. On the internet, they documented the joy that they had reading this mountain of a book seriously for the first time. As such, they promoted spinozist metaphysical deduction as a worthy exercise, in spite of how unfashionable it may sound (as unfashionable as reading a big old book). But they also did the same for the metaphysical theories of other authors, such as Leibniz. 

 - They created illustrations for the Zhuangzi and also for the Blazing World of Margaret Cavendish, in the hope of making these works as accessible as possible to many people. I think this was part of an effort that recognizes the importance of philosophical thought experiments and speculative fiction for philosophy. (See their work on Philosophy Illustrated) Perhaps, it wouldn’t be a stretch to say that they viewed thought experiments and ingenious images as some kind of philosophical exercise. At the very least, they defended that project as a genuine part of philosophy, and not as a mere “luxury” for the sole purpose of having pretty illustrations.

Helen de Cruz made people discover so many cool things. That short list is only a small taste. I am so delighted that their legacy goes on and that I still have to explore some of the things they pointed us towards. The two things that jump to mind for me are, firstly, magic as an art form (a cultural practice meant to induce awe & wonder, they argued), and secondly, the long lost tradition of the cabinet of curiosities, which I cannot think about without thinking about Helen de Cruz.

                            Domenico Remps: Cabinet of Curiosities, 1690 (Wikimedia commons)

It was customary to own a cabinet of curiosities. A collection of marvels meant to produce wonder. Importantly, this collection was idiosyncratic. Even though the oddities collected were often scientific marvels, whose significance was explained by science, it was still very much a personal collection; one that didn’t need to submit to a clean and convenient categorization scheme. It was a treasure hoard!

In Wonderstruck, Helen de Cruz convincingly shows that this tradition is exemplary of a beautiful way of relating to the world, full of awe and wonder. I cannot think of the treasures of the cabinet of curiosities without thinking about how Helen de Cruz tackled the intellectual life. They had this lively engagement with so many books and so many disciplines, in such an idiosyncratic way, in the service of their very own self-realization, and yet in a way that benefited the community as a whole. I find this truly admirable.

Hopefully you now understand what I mean when I say that their work was so inspiring and very obviously meant that way.

Not long ago, I used to jokingly say “Helen de Cruz is who I want to be when I grow up”. I still feel that way. 

When we talked briefly, they were very nice to me, and they took a chance on me when they didn't have to. I'll never forget it.

PS: Please consider donating to this fundraising effort (here) to support Helen de Cruz’s family.

(26/06/2025)

Pierrick Simon

my email: lemiroirtranquille@outlook.fr

(do not hesitate to reach out)

Bluesky: @pierricksimon.bsky.social

Twitter: @PhiloTranquille