Tag: Human

  • Who’s to Blame? Political Action, Personal Accountability, and Human Nature

    [A version of this essay was presented at the Taos Community of Love service on October 19, 2025.] I know this isn’t a conventional church service, but I would like to start with scripture: “The moral high ground is a dangerous place to stand, even when it’s warranted.” That’s not really scripture but rather a sentence […]

  • The Collective Creativity of Workers, Part II

    The Collective Creativity of Workers, Part II

    Orientation Summing up Part I My purpose in this two-part article is to show how creativity can be understood not only at the micro level of the individual artist, but also at the macro level of world history. I began in Part I by describing the ways in which the individual artist is different from […]

  • Last Rites for a Dying Civilization

    Last Rites for a Dying Civilization

    When the Black Death struck Europe in the Middle Ages, the fundamental values that held society together broke down. Husbands and wives abandoned each other and mothers abandoned their children. This void of ethics that overtook the population is described in Boccaccio’s The Decameron, considered a masterpiece of Italian prose and a documentary of life […]

  • Empathy or Anthropomorphism

    Empathy or Anthropomorphism

    Words don’t mean anything, people do. Much of the conflict we experience, observe or imagine arises from the problem every human and arguably most other mammals confront from the moment they become distinct beings—animals. While I never studied classical languages, I believe the very term “animal” designates a being, an entity, endowed with a soul. […]

  • Returning to the 11th Century

    Returning to the 11th Century

    Technology fetishism and dogmatic irresponsibility Without the use of digital devices, instead mainly that analog apparatus known as the pen, I have managed to retain meaningful recollections and engage in analytical reflection for the better part of sixty two years. The manner in which I have worked since the earliest moments I can remember has […]

  • Against the Cult of the Child

    I recently witnessed the birth of one of my relative’s daughter. The entire event was bathed in a spiritual halo. The relative’s tormented screams – likened by a person to an animalistic agony – were supposedly neutralized by the prayer which she was loudly reciting. When the baby finally came out, everyone was thankful to […]

  • Collectivist, Individualist and Communist Selves, Part I

    Collectivist, Individualist and Communist Selves, Part I

    Medieval alchemist working in his laboratory Orientation Preliminary social psychology questions and answers People’s identity can be made sense of as existing in the cross-fire between our biological, psychological and social lives. This helps us to understand the differences between someone’s temperament, personality and self. Among social psychologists such as George Herbert Mead, the species […]

  • Hindutva and the Politics of Maternal Subjectivity

    On June 7, 2023, the Gujarat High Court cited the casteist and gender-biased Hindu text Manusmriti during a case involving a minor rape victim who was seven months pregnant. The court argued that historically, it was considered normal for girls to marry early and have children by the age of 17, while also asserting that […]

  • A Challenge to Environmental Activism

    Looking at the world with perspective, it is clear that there are an overwhelming number of issues of concern needing general recognition and action. Most often, people moved to action by these concerns see the immediate need or danger with clarity: people are hungry, give them food; people are sick, give them medical care; a […]

  • Evolved Homo Sapiens (and the frustrated “ID”)

    As we move further into the 21st century, shared delusions about human complementarity with robots, “artificial intelligence”– or even the bizarre fantasy of a forthcoming “trans-human” fusion with AI (Ray Kurzweil’s “Singularity” 1 ) — are becoming all-pervasive.  In a previous article, “Homo Sapiens: Not a Machine!,” I offered a trenchant critique of this growing […]

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