self-honesty

Who are you? (Part II)

I tried pointing out in Who are you? (p.504) how civilization plays a major role in educating its citizens as to who they are and who they should be. This contrasts sharply with the natural intuitive way that our ancestors acquired a secure sense of self. Religious stories, central to every civilization, are humanity’s attempt […]

Alone with Thought

Two Science News reports touch on what is probably humanity’s most serious problem. As chapter 71 puts it, “Realizing I don’t’ know is better; not knowing this knowing is disease.” Google [Hallinan Kidding Ourselves] for a rational anthropological view of self-deception. Also, google [People will take pain over being left alone with their thoughts] for […]

Hold the Knowable

In my previous, Good Enough Is (p.356), I suggested that we have an innate need to pursue an important goal… something to hold in mind, to hunger after, and fill our mind space. I also put forward the view that this was an emergent property (p.121) of the basic hunter-gather instinct that drives life to […]

It Began Now

The Science News book review, Games Primates Play, is worth reading. It is short so I’ll paste the whole review below first, and then add my tangential two cents. Games Primates Play: An Undercover Investigation of the Evolution and Economics of Human Relationships Even decked out in cultural finery, people make monkeys of themselves. Maestripieri, […]

Seat of Consciousness

I recently received a kind email from someone who ended with this: Lastly, from reading Lau Tzu and Chuang Tzu, do you agree that it would seem that they would likely favor vegetarianism? I am becoming vegetarian myself, but it seems that eating clams and mussels might be possible, because they have no brain, and […]