Essays Archives

An illustrated enso circle foregrounded in the middle of the Arizona desert.

Bringing meditation techniques into his new role as a middle school teacher, a former academic finds some resolution despite a new crisis.

Essays Religion

Your Job and Cancer Are Nothing: Part III

March 17, 2023March 17, 2023 11 min read Donovan Irven Buddhism, Children, Emotional Well-Being

Bringing meditation techniques into his new role as a middle school teacher, a former academic finds some resolution despite a new crisis.

A zendo in the middle of the Arizona desert.

As a recently laid-off academic becomes more immersed in a sangha, he tries to reconcile his newfound zazen practice with his western background.

Essays Religion

Your Job and Cancer Are Nothing: Part II

March 10, 2023March 17, 2023 11 min read Donovan Irven Buddhism, Community, Emotional Well-Being, Suffering

As a recently laid-off academic becomes more immersed in a sangha, he tries to reconcile his newfound zazen practice with his western background.

A middle-aged man in jeans and a button-up shirt sits in the lotus position in the Arizona desert.

Faced with his wife's cancer diagnosis, a lack of affordable housing, and losing his job in academia, Donovan Irven turns to Zen Buddhism to resolve his depression.

Essays Religion

Your Job and Cancer Are Nothing: Part I

March 3, 2023March 17, 2023 13 min read Donovan Irven Buddhism, Death, Emotional Well-Being, Loss, Suffering

Faced with his wife’s cancer diagnosis, a lack of affordable housing, and losing his job in academia, Donovan Irven turns to Zen Buddhism to resolve his depression.

An oil painting of Charlotte Brontë as a robot writing a novel while surrounded by stacks of leather-bound books.

A humanities researcher puts AI bot ChatGPT through a few tests, with mostly laughable results and one promising potential use.

Essays Science & Tech

A Wise Thing Bearing Gifts: My Conversations with ChatGPT

December 22, 2022December 22, 2022 13 min read Walter Horn Artificial Intelligence, Christmas

A humanities researcher puts AI bot ChatGPT through a few tests, with mostly laughable results and one promising potential use.

A romantic oil painting featuring the pragmatist philosophers John Dewey and Richard Rorty sitting next to gentle streams multiplying away from them into the background.

Contrasting with hope in a fixed or eternal order, pragmatists John Dewey and Richard Rorty connect hope to continual growth and conversation.

Essays Philosophy

Dewey and Rorty: Sending Pragmatist Hopes in New Directions

November 3, 2022March 6, 2023 18 min read Nick Gall Hope, John Dewey, Meliorism, Pragmatism, Richard Rorty, William James

Contrasting with hope in a fixed or eternal order, pragmatists John Dewey and Richard Rorty connect hope to continual growth and conversation.

A romantic oil painting of three Victorian women overlooking majestic mountain peaks.

While pragmatists accept the tragic and boundless nature of a constantly changing and foundationless reality, William James offers hope in a naturalized theism.

Essays Philosophy

What Can Pragmatists Hope for in a Boundless World?

October 27, 2022March 2, 2023 20 min read Nick Gall Charles Sanders Peirce, Chauncey Wright, Hope, Meliorism, Pragmatism, William James

While pragmatists accept the tragic and boundless nature of a constantly changing and foundationless reality, William James offers hope in a naturalized theism.

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