A large number, maybe even the majority of us are managing unhappiness from day to day. We have hope that the script will flip and we’ll break through to something more satisfying, but the wheel turns again and we find ourselves in the same old cage as before. By god, we want to be happy,Continue reading “The Enjoyment of Wellbeing”
Tag Archives: politics
Fuel, Food, and Faith: A Meditation on Our Human Future
As our presidential candidates lay out their visions and identify what they believe are the major issues on our national and global horizons, I thought I would publish a short list of my own. Obviously there are many, many things we could be doing differently – and many different things we probably should be doing – asContinue reading “Fuel, Food, and Faith: A Meditation on Our Human Future”
Ethical Calculus (and the Next Election)
I’ve made the argument – whether successfully is for my reader to decide – that the question “Who am I?” is rather superficial when compared with the question “What am I?” Of course, my ‘who’ is much more interesting since it involves my unique personality: my individual preferences, idiosyncrasies, quirks and convictions – all those things thatContinue reading “Ethical Calculus (and the Next Election)”
Humanism in a New Key
My recent reflections on the cultural shifts in the West over the past 2500 years or so has started to uncover the real essence of the post-theistic movement overall. Whether it was the breakthroughs in natural philosophy (science) and politics (democracy) back in fifth-century BCE Greece, or the breakthrough in morality represented in Jesus’ radicalContinue reading “Humanism in a New Key”
What is Post-theism?
The representation of god in myth and belief has served three key functions over the long course of history: as (1) the hidden agency behind the forces and events of nature, (2) the transcendent legitimation of political authority, and as (3) the advancing ideal of our moral development as a species. In some cases, theseContinue reading “What is Post-theism?”
The Usefulness of Untruth
Nietzsche: “To recognize untruth as a condition of life: that, to be sure, means to resist customary value-sentiments in a dangerous fashion; and a philosophy which ventures to do so places itself, by that act alone, beyond good and evil.” Nietzsche’s suspicion that all we have is the finite life we are living now andContinue reading “The Usefulness of Untruth”
A Matter of Perspective
Nietzsche: “Perspective [is] the basic condition of all life.” To see anything involves observing from a specific vantage point. The philosophical worldview called postmodernism got a big push in motion by Nietzsche’s challenge to the long-standing (mythological) idea that humans – especially those who believe in God – have a view on reality that isContinue reading “A Matter of Perspective”
A Conversation Across Time
Recently I was browsing the bookstore (an actual one, with books!), when my eyes fell on three of my favorite authors. Like a spark across the gap, my mind was inspired. Months ago I had chosen a blog domain name “Tracts of Revolution,” with a vague intention of what I would do with it. RevolutionContinue reading “A Conversation Across Time”
Tracts of Revolution 