Sun - August 14, 2005

Transcendent Values 


"I believe that imagination is stronger than knowledge, that myth is more potent than history, that dreams are more powerful than facts, that hope always triumphs over experience, that laughter is the only cure for grief, that love is stronger than death." 

Posted at 06:58 p.m.     Read More   | |

Sat - June 4, 2005

On the Seat of the Soul 


As digital technology begins to approach the information density of DNA, individuals will record their entire lifetime experience and pass that down to their descendants, along with their written interpretations of it and their learned lessons. 

Posted at 09:40 a.m.     Read More   | |

Mon - March 21, 2005

One Planet, One People 


Coon posed the entirety of human history as cultural evolution, with expansion of "us", and corresponding reduction of "them", beginning with the individual and nuclear family, gradually extending to the tribe, the neighborhood, the parish, the city, the feifdom, the state, and the nation. 

Posted at 10:01 p.m.     Read More   | |

Fri - December 31, 2004

Seeking the Hand of God in the Waters 


It's reminiscent of the Susan Sontag obituaries, with reference to her book, "Illness as Metaphor", where she argued that sickness (like disaster) is simply a fact of life and in no way a divine judgment of the sufferer. 

Posted at 08:54 a.m.     Read More   | |

Tue - December 21, 2004

'Twas the Night Before Anything 


Helium, hydrogen, the mountains and seas, The chicken, the egg, the birds and the bees, Yesterday's newspaper, tomorrow's burnt toast, Protons and neutrons, your grandma's pork roast. 

Posted at 08:36 p.m.     Read More   | |

Sat - November 13, 2004

Everyday Pro-Health Engineered Ethics 


Since we do not allow individual discretion in judgment calls involving life trades, there appears no ethical basis for granting individual rights to lethal weapons, unless on a controlled basis, for hunting or other unusual self-defensive reasons. 

Posted at 02:05 p.m.     Read More   | |

Sun - October 31, 2004

The Ten Bright Ideas 


A joke I attribute to Garrison Keillor says that, if Unitarians had an equivalent of The Ten Commandments, they would refer to them as "The Ten Suggestions". In this year of judge Charles Moore of Alabama, when the posting of The Ten Commandments in public buildings has been so controversial, I offer you this collection of "Ten Bright Ideas", which are sufficiently secular to be posted anywhere without violating the separation of church and state. These are inspired by a combination of the belief statement of World Pantheism, the Desiderata, and other secular life principles that I've been collecting from Pythagoras, Alan Watts, Carl Sagan, my High School English teacher, Mr. Hull, and others more anonymous. I'm calling these "Bright Ideas" in recognition of the Brights.  

Posted at 11:54 a.m.     Read More   | |

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