A case for science

When I applied to graduate school, I was often asked what I was interested in studying. Initially, being naïve and uneducated about the nature of (graduate) education, I often answered the truth and began to enumerate the endless list of my interests: I am interested in studying humans, our psychology, our belief systems, how we operate, how we think, what we mean by soul, how religions affect our life, behavior, decisions, and actions, how compatible philosophy…
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A sketch on racial hysteria

Having attended U.S. educational programs for the past few years, it became clear to me that in racial issues, this nation is completely upside down at a system level. I have never seen as much artificial, unnatural, forced, and pathetic effort to love, respect, accept, and include minorities as in this country. As if Americans, troubled and ashamed by their racist history, today wanted to compensate for the past by pushing ethnic minorities into the…
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Culture-Christianity

– Are you a Christian? – I’m a culture-Christian. – What do you mean by that? – Well, if you ask me whether I believe, accept, and follow what the different Christian churches teach, I am certainly not a Christian. But if you are asking me whether I internalize and follow the most fundamental principles of the Judeo-Christian civilization, then I am very much Christian. – But that doesn’t mean to be a Christian, does…
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Beyond perfection

A few days ago, I stumbled into the live broadcasting of a traditional Catholic Latin mass on Facebook. Without specifics, let it suffice that this type of structured liturgy specifically stipulates when silence must be observed and when music is to be sung. The broadcasting choir director, however, did systematically stop singing before the music was supposed to end, causing long periods of awkward, liturgically inappropriate silence. As the show was publicly broadcast, I did…
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The best pizza place in town

Today a man stopped me in the street asking me whether I was from around here. I said I was. He then asked me where he could find a great pizza place. I had no idea what to recommend him. I wondered why he asked me about a good local pizza place knowing that I was from the area. The fact that I am from the area means that I have a home in the…
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Democratic doubts

Most people have serious difficulty paying attention to the detail and putting bits of information together into one coherent, meaningful train of thought. Rather, they fill the gaps with imaginary data that will lead to frustration and failure. One of my most recent, simple examples: – When can I meet you? – On Fridays at 4 p.m. in the office. (detail) – If I can’t make it, would the weekend work? – On Sundays at…
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Meditations II

We obsessively strive for objectivity. We say that objectivity is the guarantee of the most accurate definitions, findings, and conclusions. How true is this? Science is so obsessive with objectivity that if you are not absolutely objective, you are directly labeled unscientific, in other words, an unreliable and unserious liar. Whence this objectivity-issue? For long centuries, Western thought was strongly biased, and excessively subjective. Whatever we thought, concluded, or said, was filtered through the current doctrines of Christianity….
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Meaning

Every religion is characterized by the presence and ultimate influence of the religion’s deity or deities. These deities or gods show different characteristics, depending on the religion’s cultural background. But despite this variety of divine characteristics and religious aspects, one common theme emerges among all religions and all gods: meaning. Even though different gods display different characteristics and do different things, they all provide an ultimate meaning to those who believe in them. Thus, human…
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The dangers of professionalism

What possible dangers may professionalism – this virtue that Americans so much admire, idealize, and yearn – have? Indeed, professionalism seems to be the most perfect way to deal with things in life. It is protective, unquestionable, safe, and impeccable. Professionalism, however, despite all of its strength and protective factors, can easily turn into an evil tool if not balanced with a sufficient does of humanism. Professionalism operates on the basis of blindness: it is…
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Education of what exactly?

The three major weaknesses of most American educational models: They do nothing to make students master as many languages as they can. They avoid high-quality training in arts, music, and philosophy. They despise and reject everything that is not quantifiable. As a result, up-growing generations are hermetically cut off from true human growth. Rather, they are offered a math-and-reading-based pseudo-education which is good for nothing but to be quantified.

The map of afterlife

If I were to ask a representative sample of all peoples of the world about their beliefs concerning the afterworld, they would most likely give me an answer based on their religious convictions. Consequently, if then I were to draw a map of the answers, a fairly clear geographical distribution of otherworldly beliefs would emerge on the paper. Roughly, it would appear that what happens to people after their death depends on where exactly they…
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