“Trumped-up” (adjective): spuriously charged; fraudulent; fabricated. What happens to the moral fabric of society when members make misleading claims or lay false charges against one another? What becomes of social trust when leaders intentionally misrepresent the reality of what’s going on, so as to exploit the fear, uncertainty, or idealism of the people they haveContinue reading “Trumped-Up”
Tag Archives: belief
What Made America Great
The recent assassination of conversative activist and influencer Charlie Kirk has once again stoked the fires of opposition in American society. Some who stood with Kirk on the same moral, religious, and political issues, believe that his murder was an attack on the truths they hold dear. Others, who regard him as a right-wing extremistContinue reading “What Made America Great”
Back on the Way
Ever feel anxious? How about lonely? Depressed? Have you been there before? Maybe you’re there now. It may bring a bit of relief to learn that anxiety, loneliness, and depression have been the dark shadow of human consciousness for thousands of years. You’re not the first, and you’re not alone. As human consciousness evolved, theContinue reading “Back on the Way”
Hero’s Journey
Let’s get “mythological” for a few minutes. You are the hero on a journey to find your true self. (Why you would have to go anywhere to find your true self is not something you pause to really think about.) On the way, you enter a bazaar where all kinds of costumes are available forContinue reading “Hero’s Journey”
Can You Believe It?
It’s amazing to think that humans are the only species on Earth that will kill and die not just for territory, food, mates and offspring, but even for our beliefs. Indeed the greater proportion of damage and death caused by humans over our relatively short history has been for the sake and in the nameContinue reading “Can You Believe It?”
Idols, Pacifiers, and Demons
In a post entitled Out of Depression I proposed a kind of psychospiritual developmental map, composed on the foundational theory of human intelligence as comprised of four distinct “threads” – visceral (VQ), emotional (EQ), rational (RQ), and spiritual (SQ). This “quadratic” (fourfold or four-dimensional) intelligence is complex in nature, with each thread engaged with itsContinue reading “Idols, Pacifiers, and Demons”
Understanding Spiritual Frustration
One of the great ironies, which is quickly metastasizing into a tragedy of catastrophic dimensions these days, is in our certainty that taking control and pinning things down will solve the major problems that beset us. By major problems I don’t only have in mind the national and global challenges of poverty, racism, and theContinue reading “Understanding Spiritual Frustration”
Bringing Up a Racist
If you really want to raise your child to be a racist, referring to someone who regards skin colors and ethnicities other than one’s own as inferior, untrustworthy, and in more extreme cases even subhuman, then it will help to know something about how such beliefs get established. It won’t work to sit your childContinue reading “Bringing Up a Racist”
Sophia Perennis 2.0
If we think of religion as a tree, then we can appreciate how its essential nature is rooted in mystical experience, channels this experience into an organizational structure, and expresses it outwardly in the distinctive virtues of ethical life. In a condition of systemic health, religion serves the vital function of integrating these mystical, institutional,Continue reading “Sophia Perennis 2.0”
Reality, Truth, and the Things We Believe
The favorite location of ego is in the silo “observatory” of our logical mind – in the head, in other words. This is the place where self-consciousness takes, or can take, its perspective on reality, engaging in the work of constructing and maintaining a world, which in this context refers to the construct of meaningContinue reading “Reality, Truth, and the Things We Believe”
Tracts of Revolution 