The Theist (Western) There is a compassionate God who cares about you. Happiness comes from love, service, and surrender to God. (But, according to many Christians, God is vengeful and jealous and may torture you if you disobey Him.) The Theist (Eastern) Your Higher Self (atman) is identical with God (Brahma). Purify yourself, meditate and […]
Life
On forgiveness, self-esteem, and auto-immune diseases of the mind
There’s something that’s always perplexed me about forgiveness, and I finally think I’ve figured it out. Most people who talk about forgiveness say that it requires a change in our attitude towards the offending character. They also say that by forgiving that person for what they did we can free ourselves from the pain of […]
On walkable cities
“Walkable City: how downtown can save America, one step at a time”, by Jeff Speck, was exciting to read. Speck presents all sorts of evidence and arguments that walkable downtowns — designed for people, not cars — increase real estate values, increase tax revenue, improve health, attract businesses, and make for fun places to live. […]
How much can we tell about a person by how they look?
I tend to think that personality and intelligence manifest in looks. For example, you can see kindness and intelligence and grace in a person’s face. So I ask: Can looks alone reveal a lot about a person? I asked this question on facebook. Chris Tombrello posted a link to the largely discredited idea of physiognomy […]
Life Skills 102
Schools sometimes offer “home economics” courses. And there’s the book Life Skills 101: A Practical Guide to Leaving Home and Living on Your Own, which concentrates mostly on financial matters. I suggest a course, for high school seniors, called Life Skills 102. It would cover topics such as: How to deal with stress. How to […]
Christopher Kennedy Lawford: the pain of addiction, the hope of recovery
Credits: womensconference.org As a thirteen-year-old with great expectations, he aspired to follow the life trajectory of his uncle: attend and excel at a prestigious university; engage in a distinguished military career; publish an award-winning book at a relatively young age; pursue a successful path in politics; and, naturally, become President of the United States. If […]
Value of Community
The term community has two distinct commutative meanings: 1) Community usually refers to a social unit larger than a small village that shares common values. The term can also refer to the national community or international community, and 2) in biology, a community is a group of interacting living organisms sharing a populated environment. In […]
We are bringing Dr. Parenti to Olympia in October
I am pretty excited about having Michael Parenti do the keynote speaking event for the Fourth People’s Movement Assembly. Will post more about that soon, but for now, just want to share this Parenti video for folks who are not familiar with Dr. Parenti’s work. Enjoy!