While Art Unites, Beauty Transcends
The failure to distinguish between art and beauty has caused much confusion. Art and beauty have two different but overlapping trajectories–one toward union and the other toward transcendent reality.
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Essays
Kierkegaard: The Responsible Philosopher?
Kierkegaard’s ambition is for the self to become itself—even if such a mode of existence will question the moral norms and values of society.
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René Girard’s Map to Meaning: We’re All Victim(izer)s
As we try to align ourselves closely with the true victims, René Girard shows how the ancient scapegoat ruse leads us to meaningful compassion.
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Unlearning Our Western Mindset Through A Child’s Eyes
An over-reliance on our Western Mindset creates several obstacles to human flourishing—informing agriculture, education, work, and parenting.
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A Progressive’s Take on Ron Chernow’s ‘Grant’
Individuals don’t make history but there are the “best of us” people, like Grant, who withstand the crushing pressures of their times.
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Why D&D Is a Popular Form of Communal Therapy
Dungeons and Dragons, the popular tabletop role-playing game challenges players to improve their moral character, emotional intelligence, and social skills.
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Michel Serres, A Poetic Philosopher
Michel Serres was a life-affirming philosopher whose emphatic style humanized science, encouraged empathy, and accepted our chaotic origins.
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Love in the Hands of Hate Groups: The Marketing of Bigotry
Hate groups have undertaken modern marketing practices to more effectively recruit—dressing up their message in more universal language.
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Play Is the Metaphysics of Becoming
Play is a matter of life and death, and it differs from games in a fundamental way—but it is also a metaphysical activity.
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Populism Trumps Policy: The Veering Politics of Bernie Sanders
Bernie Sanders traffics in populist rhetoric, making muddled thinking about good intentions more important than sound policy.
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Wanderlust Is a Vice, Not a Virtue
Critiques of wanderlust by Ralph Waldo Emerson and the Stoics have far-reaching consequences for our ability to lead meaningful lives.
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Transparency Is the End of Trust
Transparency might appear to be a morally upright aim but it is just another way of controlling human beings and hereby, rather paradoxically, undermines morality.
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If It Looks Like a Duck and Quacks Like a Duck…Is It a Religion?
Critics of intersectionality now refer to it as the “social justice faith,” highlighting the religious zeal and dogmatism of its advocates. As religion retreats, its qualifications have widened, continuing the ideologically-motivated practice of redefining what constitutes a religion.
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A Revolution Built on Eye Contact
Cutting through the small talk and reviving a familiar ethos, Authentic Relating aims to supercharge the way we experience each other.
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Why Demoniac Forces Are the Best We Can Hope for
This isn’t about the salvation of the demoniac but an observation about the hope we can find in the demons which show up in our mundane lives.
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Let a Thousand Green New Deals Bloom
We don’t need a Green New Deal so much as many green new deals.
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Interoception Can Enhance the Depth of Our Emotions
Interoception offers us insights into “gut feelings,” revealing how bodily signals can guide emotion and cognition—to help us feel intensely.
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Honeybees and Zen During Ecological Collapse
Honeybees don’t only inform us of further ecological collapse but invite us into being more mindful: present and compassionate.
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Global WEIRDing Threatens Cognitive Diversity
Human cognitive diversity joins a number of other forms of diversity that are disappearing. Diversity of mammals and plants, of languages and cuisines. But the loss of cognitive diversity raises issues all its own.
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What Earthquakes Teach Us About Embracing Uncertainty
For natural disasters large enough to reshape society, Dr. Lucy Jones explains, “The best fit to the data is that it’s random. And we hate it. Random makes people really upset.” But such uncertainty doesn’t have to leave us feeling helpless—we should embrace the inherent chaos of the universe.
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‘Schools of Character’ Demonstrate a Path to Education Reform
In the wake of the Sandy Hook shooting, a grieving parent becomes an education reformer, champions “Schools of Character.”
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How ‘Silent Night’ Went from Humble Hymn to Holiday Staple
Translated into over 300 languages, it originates in a small Austrian village, having been written for a poverty-stricken and traumatized congregation.
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Ecstatic Experience: How the West Can Find Itself by Losing Control
In the West, we resist ecstatic experience, fearful of losing control—this hyper-rationalistic mindset excludes us from crucial paths to insight and connection. But there is a dark side to ecstasy.
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A Tough President and an Unsettled Nation
While the most violent mood in recent history settles over the nation, can we blame it on Donald Trump and his aspirations to be “tough?”
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How CBT Strengthens Political Life and Untruths Which Weaken It
Many in the US are experiencing emotional unwellness, while our foundational institutions are rattling. CBT can help with both.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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‘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?
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LGBTQ…P? Polygamy in the Era of Marriage Equality
Same-sex marriage was legalized in 2015. Ever-individualized notions of love, sexuality, and gender identity broaden our definition of family—but will we make room for polygamy? Should we?
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Agape Restaurants Could Revive Toleration and Multiculturalism
Debates surrounding tribalism and bigotry abound, many focused on biased media or public policy. Agape Restaurants conceptualize food as a cultural force for realizing toleration and nurturing community—all while dining with strangers.
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Urban Youth Use Myths and Drums to Become Men
Drawing power from mythological stories and self-disclosure, this award-winning mentoring program transforms teens into community leaders.
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Funerals Are Vital Spaces for Emotional Learning
We dishonor a person’s memory and do ourselves a disservice when we don’t also acknowledge the dead person’s flaws, faults, or missteps—in other words, embrace their whole humanity. Whether we want it or not, funerals are spaces for emotional learning, not just grieving or reinforcing cultural norms.
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First Impressions of an Unschooling School
Envision a school that is not compulsory or coercive, that is a completely student-directed educational environment, whose primary aim is to develop emotionally intelligent children who can live meaningful lives.
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As Atheists and Believers, We Need Deeper Reverence for Mystery
Throughout most contemporary discourse about God and practiced religion, God is conceptualized as a literal being, leading believers to harm, vilify, and limit the potential of other people. While atheists ridicule the religious for believing in such a temperamental God, they have also limited their own potentials.
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Unconditional Cash Transfers Can Fix Foreign Aid
Foreign aid in the form of conditional cash transfers between governments tends to be abused by corrupt regimes, and rarely makes it into the hands of those in need. UCTs are a way to bypass that, and reinforce personal freedom.
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Is Jordan Peterson an Antidote Against the Pitfalls of Postmodernism?
Berated by the progressive-left and criticized by academics for his imprecise conceptualization of postmodernism, Jordan Peterson attempts to counter the excesses he sees rampant in an age of grievance hysteria.
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For Love’s Sake, Let’s Reclaim the Manic Pixie Dream Girl
The Manic Pixie Dream Girl is a deservedly maligned Hollywood trope. But, she hearkens to an ancient archetype which can unlock a deeper understanding of love.
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A Divided World Needs to Make God a Useful Idea, Again
In his newest book, God: A Human History, Reza Aslan seeks to provide an explanation for this rise of what he refers to as “the humanized God.” He proposes a more pragmatic idea of god, instead.
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Building a Faith Community Without Belief in God
Tranquil chaos surrounded me, but I fervently believed that the humanities could offer answers to the big questions. Could a commonwealth of non-believers offer the same benefits of a faith community?
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Why Do We Think the Working Class is Less Intelligent?
Traditional methods of measuring IQ suggest that a correlation exists between intelligence and social class. This outdated view of intelligence, among other social and environmental factors, perpetuates a stigma and enlarges a widening intelligence gap.
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How the Toothbrush Mirrors Societal Progress: An Oral History
Just as simple technologies have been abandoned for more beneficial advancements, so should we jettison institutions, laws, philosophies, and cultures which no longer incubate human flourishing.
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Medicine Alone Can’t Beat Diseases. We Need Stories too.
In joining the fight against the Ebola outbreak in Sierra Leone, one graduate student discovers the psychological power of proper stories, and how their equally impressive ability to challenge practices, were essential to improving medical outcomes.
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Overcoming Childhood Trauma and Other Heroic Lessons from The Dark Knight
Not only is the Dark Knight Trilogy a cinematic masterpiece, but it’s also a plat du jour of insight into the consequences of empathy and emotional resiliency.
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Geek Culture is Mainstream, but Geek Girls Remain Left Behind
Geek girls are vying for top-billing in a culture that used to ignore them and now frequently makes self-deprecating jokes about male geeks’ inability to coherently talk to women. Female representation is diversifying as women continue to grow as a consumer block, but women and girls deserve more.
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The 3 Faces of Political Incorrectness
There are three distinct types of anti-PC rebels. Two of them serve a valuable social function. The third is a menace and should be treated as such.
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Peter Pan, Existentialist Fairy Tale?
For all its silliness and sentimentality, Peter Pan serves as a precautionary tale for those who fear the responsibilities of living, and the uncertainties of dying.
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What the Covered Bridge Reveals About Our Struggle Against Nature
All important technologies must be granted the option of becoming passé. In fact, the goal behind any technology should be for it to serve well and to die young.
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How to Keep Jews Jewish by Being More Like the Amish
A Jewish version of Rumspringa offers a proactive and holistic approach for developing religious identity in youth, while respecting individual autonomy.
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Ayn Rand in the Age of Anti-Intellectualism
Regardless how one may feel about Ayn Rand, her “philosophy,” or her generally unpleasant demeanor, she does comprehend at least one underpinning truth of our species.
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