Reading Time: 5 minutes When the world seems dark and hanging on to optimism is a challenge, here are some suggestions for renewing the wellspring of happiness and calm in your life.
philosophy
Posted inFilm/TV
Can any civilization ‘Lift Us Where Suffering Cannot Reach’?
Reading Time: 9 minutes There are many useful narrative structures for humanist stories, and all tend to get airtime in classic Star Trek series. Some involve a juxtaposition of multiple storylines, to hold different crises and outlooks in tension. Others present the full problem early on, allowing different perspectives and conflicts to emerge as characters struggle to find a […]
Posted inFilm/TV
Strange New Worlds: Star Trek’s return to humanist form
Reading Time: 9 minutes I almost didn’t watch Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, which started airing this month. I’m glad I did: it’s deservedly being called the best of the recent Treks, and there’s a lot to be said about this series as a humanist. I had reason to be reluctant. The franchise hasn’t been in great shape for […]
Posted inCulture
If you can, read this: The hidden wisdom of bumper stickers
Reading Time: 4 minutes In my years researching and writing “If You Can Read This: The Philosophy of Bumper Stickers,” I discovered one thing to be true: bumper stickers have the potential to really rile people up. And it should be no surprise. These stickers essentially do what we’re encouraged to avoid at polite gatherings such as dinner parties […]
Posted inPsychology
Sports are for losers: On unavoidable suffering and learning to flourish
Reading Time: 5 minutes The recent Olympic Games, the ensuing NCAA March Madness Tournaments, and all other competitions produce an exorbitant amount of one category of athlete: losers. All told, the 2022 Winter Olympic Games alone sent home more than 2,000 losers. Sports and competition itself is a uniquely unforgiving institution. It’s designed so a large majority of participants lose […]
Posted inHuman Story podcast
The apple and the river | Jonathan MS Pearce
People are different. That’s a good thing. But in recent years, it feels like some differences have deepened to the point that we look at friends and family on social media, or even across the dinner table, saying and believing things that are just baffling to us. And we wonder: how did you get that […]
Posted inCulture
Hey curling, it’s not you, it’s us: The silliness and seriousness of sports
Reading Time: 4 minutes OnlySky · Hey curling, it’s not you, it’s us | Jack Bowen One of my favorite diversions during the Winter Olympics involves tracking the popular opinion of curling…in the United States. The overriding conception seems to be that it’s just plain silly. A New York Post article deems curling the “weirdest” Olympic sport and a Google […]
Posted inCritical thinking
Atheology is intellectual, respectful, and apolitical, but not perfect
Reading Time: 5 minutes A new generation is taking over the online discussion of god and faith, and mostly it’s a welcome change—improving the quality of atheist arguments. Many atheists, of course, have no interest in apologetics (aka the use of reasoned arguments to justify a religious view). To them, the non-existence of God is simply a given—an assumption […]
Posted inPhilosophy
The rational fanatic: Is there such a thing?
Reading Time: 4 minutes As I watched the baseball playoffs this past season and then pivoted to the NFL, it turns out I’d unknowingly entered a laboratory exploring the human condition. Sports serve as a great catalyst for such explorations and the Red Sox, Dodgers, and Cowboys all provided such a spark: in this case, exploring the ongoing battle between […]
Posted inReligion
A brief prehistory of Hell
Reading Time: 7 minutes Today, let’s talk about the prehistory of the Christian notion of Hell.