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
Philosophical Quote From Philosophical Novel
This is a short quote from Jean-Paul Sartre's novel "Nausea", thought by the novel's main (and practically only) character, a disillusioned historian. "I am beginning to believe that nothing can ever be proved. These are reasonable hypotheses which take the facts into account: but I am only too well aware that they come from me, … Continue reading Philosophical Quote From Philosophical Novel
Philosophical Brief: Unexperienced Experience
How can there be an 'unexperienced experience'? Isn't it an impossibility, a contradiction? Not according to the philosopher Jacques Derrida. He uses the term ‘unexperienced experience’ when discussing the experience of imminent death (that is there in suspension and not in actual fact - all simultaneously) in Maurice Blanchot's narrative “The Instant of my Death”. … Continue reading Philosophical Brief: Unexperienced Experience
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’
Poem for Thought
This is a short excerpt from Lawrence Ferlinghetti's poem "What is Poetry?" "Poetry is the Unknown Guest in the house. Poetry is the Great Memory, every word a live metaphor. Poetry the eye of the heart, the heart of the mind. ... Poems are e-mails from the unknown beyond cyberspace. Poetry is the ultimate inner … Continue reading Poem for Thought
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
Quote for Thought
Here is a brief quote as some food for thought. Do you agree? It certainly puts the high-performer, striver and ambitious go-getter culture into a different perspective, doesn't it? keep exploring! P.S. Thank you for visiting me here on the humanfactor.blog! If you enjoyed this post and are interested in more philosophical content, I invite you to explore the … Continue reading Quote for Thought
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