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Amazon mother

Google [CBS News From Amazon to Garden State] for a story that perfectly exemplifies observations I’ve made on civilization over the last few decades. To be clear, I’m not pro or anti civilization; I simply wish to comprehend its full impact on humanity. Despite the obvious downsides of civilization, we’re never going to turn back […]

Cultivating Character

I’ve found that some people in Taoist circles have passionate ideals about cultivating one’s character. Seen from a symptoms point of view, passion stems from the mother of need — fear. The visceral fear arising from feeling little control over life drives a need to do something… such as cultivate character. Chapter 54 has the […]

Cultivating Ego

Google [Rats Experience Feelings of Regret] for research discovering that when a rat realizes it made a mistake, its body and brain show signs of regret (1). Research like this challenges the beliefs of human exceptionalism we’ve been cultivating to support our “illusion of self”— humanity’s collective ego, so to speak. Sure, we are different […]

Passing judgment is healthy if…

Okay, first we need to stipulate that passing judgment is an innate part of any social animal’s nature… and most especially human animals. I say “most especially” because we lug around many preconceptions that worm their way into our imagination.

Necessity is the Mother

If you’re unfamiliar with the neuroscience behind the illusion of free will, YouTube [Sam Harris on Free Will]. He does a good job of addressing the idea of free will, and points out enough compelling evidence that proves that free will is an illusion. Next, please YouTube [Sam Harris on His Debate with Daniel Dennett […]

Practice what you preach

The saying, “practice what you preach” makes for an appealing ideal, or for a good put down. Taking it deeper, the idea becomes a source of internal strife. We are capable of imagining ideal behaviors that are completely out of reach… even to the point of being humanly impossible. Yet, we dream away, expecting ourselves […]

Of Mountains, Molehills and the Supernatural

I’ve noticed how our species appears to have a universal sense of the supernatural. Now, I know science types and atheists will probably dispute that, at least as far as universal applies to them. They’ll claim they don’t believe in the supernatural. Fair enough, so let me rephrase this… Supernatural essentially amounts to our mind’s […]

Civilized Insanity

Cults like ISIS and the Nazis help define true human insanity. Ironically however, the tribal instinct driving such insanity is both sane and universal. It arises in all of us to various degrees. So, what drives the fanatic ISIS or Nazi follower to go over the edge? And what is is the best way to […]

Ancient Signs Of Modern Behavior

The gravest existential issue that ancient man’s thinking confronted was death. Once symbolic thought evolved, humanity stepped out of the spontaneous conscious experience other animals likely benefit from. Once we acquired an objective sense of past and future, we could worry about death and other virtual losses beyond a moment to-moment experience. For worrywarts, that […]

The Good Old Days

Some profoundly pivotal points in human existence go back at least 3+ million years. First, let’s review major pivotal points in the order they occurred to provide context for genetic research covered later in this post. 1) The beginning of the Stone Age (3,400,000+ years ago). Technological innovation began here with the development of stone […]

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