Loneliness is a vulnerability we all, as human beings, are exposed to. While there are different ways each of us experiences loneliness, what we all share is the risk of feeling lonely. Perhaps it is an unavoidable risk, as much as we might want to escape it. But loneliness is not a single kind of … Continue reading Spreading the Word: Feeling Lonely When Not Alone
Spreading the Word: Philosophy’s Role Today
What is the role of philosophy in our modern age? We no longer believe in grand narratives (for the most part!), and empirical sciences seem to hold the keys to all existing and future knowledge. So what about philosophy - is there any place for it left? Although one of the oldest of disciplines that … Continue reading Spreading the Word: Philosophy’s Role Today
Spreading the Word: Grappling with Relativism
If we construct our ethical reality and the way we construct it varies across cultures and times, then what is to keep us from falling into paralysing relativism where anything goes or reacting radically by positing a universal moral law? Freelance writer and philosopher Daniel Callcut explores this question in his recent article for Aeon. … Continue reading Spreading the Word: Grappling with Relativism
Spreading the Word: Walking With Forest Spirit
Up a steep trail into the deep forest until you reach a tree thousands of years old. If it sounds like a fairy tale or fantasy, it's not. Take a walk in the ancient forest of Yakushima with filmmaker Steve Atkins's short video. Who knows, maybe you will spot kodama - the spirit of the … Continue reading Spreading the Word: Walking With Forest Spirit
Spreading the Word: How Events ‘Sink In’
What do we mean when we say that something important that happened to us has not yet 'sunk in'? What does this dynamic and extended process of 'sinking in' reveal about the nature of our emotional experiences? These are some of the fascinating questions that Matthew Ratcliffe (professor of philosophy at the University of York … Continue reading Spreading the Word: How Events ‘Sink In’
Spreading the Word: Reading for Unfamiliar
When we read a text looking for what is familiar (feels safe) to us, we run the risk of missing that which can expand our worldviews. How can we approach the unfamiliar in our reading practice? What can we reveal by venturing into the overlooked, underexplored, and, admittedly, sometimes intimidating aspects of books we read? … Continue reading Spreading the Word: Reading for Unfamiliar
Spreading the Word: Opening for Truth
The question of collective guilt is a thorny one. If I have done nothing wrong, personally, then how can I be guilty of something others did, even if I share a part of my social or cultural identity with them? But what is the content of this shared identity? Could it be the case that, … Continue reading Spreading the Word: Opening for Truth
Spreading the Word: All Intelligence Is Collective
"All intelligence is collective intelligence" according to the developmental biologist Michael Levin. Listen to this short video where he explains more. Enjoy! "It's never a question of: Is something physics and chemistry, or is it cognitive? The question is: What kind of cognition, and how much?"Michael Levin from the video Link to the video: The … Continue reading Spreading the Word: All Intelligence Is Collective
Spreading the Word: Tangled Business of Desire
It's great knowing what you want and going after it. But sometimes, perhaps more often than we care to admit, it is a too-good-to-be-true sort of story. I don't mean it just in the sense that it can be very difficult or even impossible to get what you want. There is a more surreptitious side … Continue reading Spreading the Word: Tangled Business of Desire
Spreading the Word: Thinking When Reading and Listening
Have you noticed a difference in your thought process when reading and listening? Recent research suggests there is indeed a difference. We tend to think more intuitively, more automatically when we listen to something and more deliberately and analytically when we read something. While it is not entirely clear why this is so, one possible … Continue reading Spreading the Word: Thinking When Reading and Listening
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