Featured
You’re Unhappy Because You Focus on What You Can’t Control
If you succeed in shifting your goals internally, you'll be happier, because what other people do is largely beyond your control.
Competition is Bad for Families but Good for Societies
Local competition—including that among siblings or neighbors—stymies cooperation and social capital, whereas global competition fosters both.
Loss of Indigenous Languages Limits Our Insights from Nature
Language loss can be considered as extreme as the extinction of a plant or an animal—regarding indigenous languages in particular.
News-fatigued? Read Stoic Philosophy and Poetry Instead
Reading the news feels awful but ignoring it doesn’t feel right either. A stoic mindset shields us from catastrophy—and inspires action.
Saudade: Happy Melancholy, Nostalgia for What Is Absent
Portuguese speakers commonly boast that "saudade" is untranslatable. Does that mean certain emotion experiences can be unique to a particular culture?
An Experience is ‘Interesting’ But the World is Not
Examining the ways in which we use the word 'interesting' unlocks a key understanding about human existence and how we experience the world.
Why Losing a Dog Can Be Harder Than Losing a Loved One
The dog is the only animal that has evolved specifically to be our companion—and has a unique ability to meet our needs.
Religion is About Emotion Regulation and Shared Experience
Religion is a social glue that unifies individuals into cooperative social groups and helps us regulate our emotions—even if it can't explain nature.
Montessori Schools Let Kids Choose Their Own Work
Montessori schools maintain that children who freely chose their activities build their self-discipline and ability to concentrate.
‘Awakening the Soul’: One Man’s Challenge to the Post-truth World
A new book protests the postmodernist refutations of shared truth and grand narratives—we struggle because we lack story and soul.
Free-range Parenting Has Protection in Utah, Many Battles Ahead
Free-range parenting gains momentum in Utah, but families nation-wide still face threats to their autonomy from intrusive governments.
Infantilization of Western Culture: Adults No Longer Adult
College students aren't the only ones embracing infantilization, but what happens when an entire society succumbs to childlike behavior?
Is ‘Know Thyself’ The Greatest Delphic Maxim We Know?
We're familiar with 'know thyself' as one of the highest commands of philosophy, but we'd be remiss if we ignored the other Delphic maxims.
Depression Isn’t Caused by a Chemical Imbalance
The prevailing theory for depression focuses on an alleged chemical imbalance in the brain—meta-researchers are now dispelling this narrative.
Shared Reality and Truth Are Losing Ground to Tribalism
People turn to tribalism for a sense of certainty, as trust in institutions and commitment to truth erode. Instead, we need to restore a shared reality which builds common ground, regardless of identity group.
Steiner Schools Foster Creativity, Capability, and Resiliency
Steiner schools, known for their artistic and holistic approach to education, are expanding all over the world, but are they as effective as traditional schools?
The Brain Can Be Rewired Through Meditation and Mindfulness
Neuroscience increasingly validates Buddhist practices, like meditation, which unlock the ability of the mind to change the brain.
Cult, New Religious Movement, or Minority Religion?
We need to change the language we use when talking about religion, starting with the word "cult."
True Happiness Means Embracing Sadness and Pain
We are often sent messages that we shouldn’t feel negative emotions, so people are highly conditioned to want to change or get rid of their emotions, which leads to suppression, rumination, and/or avoidance—thus impeding our happiness.
Truth Is Not Absolute, But That Which Works
A common view of truth aims for that which corresponds with reality. Left with nothing but our own interpretations of the world, Pragmatists, like William James and Charles Peirce, argue that the best we can do is to hold to that which works.
Meaning of Life No Longer Matters to Philosophers
Professional philosophers rarely ask 'What is the meaning of life?' and when they do, they often dismiss it as nonsense.
Chaosmos and How We Survive Tragedy Together
James Joyce's concept of living in the time of chaosmos provides a powerful insight into our ability to survive, relying on both tough-minded and tender-hearted individuals. .
Comfort with Solitude Comes Before The Ability to Think
Freedom entails the capacity to think and to judge in private, where solitude empowers the individual to contemplate their actions and develop their conscience, to escape the cacophony of the crowd. Solitude precedes moral thinking.
Economists with Physics Envy Are Harmful
Observing the acclaim physics was having, economists embraced a physical view of human behavior hoping to replicate similar success. However, unlike physics, the social nature of human beings makes any laws of behavior tentative and contextual.
Self-Esteem, Self-Compassion, or Self-Indifference? Which is Best?
Millennials are the generation who came of age during the self-esteem movement. The concept of self-esteem is losing it's currency, but are self-compassion or self-indifference better frameworks for emotional health?
The Spell of Whiteness
The notion of whiteness and the use of color as a primary aspect of identity arose out of a particular cosmological trick.
‘Enlightenment Now’ Demands A New Romanticism
There are many who say that Romanticism is dead. But the tensions between Romanticism and the soldiers of the original Enlightenment are rising up again.
Earth’s Carrying Capacity for Human Life Is More Than You Think
The claim that earth has a carrying capacity of 7 billion is based on old concepts—misunderstanding how fertility rates and consumption work.
In Physics, Beauty Doesn’t Equal Truth
Most of physics' beautiful ideas are hard or impossible to test. When we try to rectify a perceived lack of beauty, we waste time on problems that aren’t really problems. Physicists must rethink their methods, now.
‘History of White People’ and Dealing with Race Theorists
Nell Irvin Painter's book identifies some of the roots of the inequality we see today, which are based on the antiquated "science" of race theory. We can use the social construct of race to address social injustices, but what do we do with the mixed legacies of race theorists?