The Varieties of Human Experience
Can our advancing knowledge of biology lead us to a better understanding of religion?
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Star Maker (excerpt)
Chapter 1 – The Earth THE STARTING POINT ONE night when I had tasted bitterness I went out on to the hill. Dark heather checked my feet. Below marched the suburban lamps. Windows, their curtains drawn, were shut eyes, inwardly watching the lives of dreams. Beyond the sea’s level darkness a lighthouse pulsed. Overhead, obscurity….
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Plastic Monks Reflecting on Pratitya-samutpada
©2007 William Grassie I was in Bangkok to give a lecture at Chulalongkorn University for the Thousand Stars Foundation, one of our Metanexus’ partners. Among other activities, Thousand Stars is unique in building bridges between Theravada and Mahayana Schools of Buddhism. The conference was attended by Buddhists from China, Vietnam, Laos, Sri Lanka, India, and…
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The Uniqueness of Giambattista Vico’s Poetic Philosophy
Giambattista Vico’s New Science begins with an image, a frontispiece which Vico placed there so that the reader could recollect, at a glance, the whole opus. That image was not placed there for mere aestheticism. It informs the whole of Vico’s poetic philosophy. The art of memory and recalling is indeed fundamental for a proper…
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Rather Partial: The delicate art of clinging right
I’ve been a parent for twenty-seven years—but for the past ten, you could say I’ve been a partial parent. Since my divorce my ex-wife and I have each had the kids half-time, so I’ve altered between being the one parent on the scene and in effect hardly being parental at all. The other day I…
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Shades of Determinism and Levels of Reality
Determinism refers to a particular feature of the world by which every event that occurs is the inevitable outcome of precisely operating physical laws on simple and complex systems. Many arguments and misunderstandings arise from not recognizing that there are different shades of determinism which are applicable to different levels of physical reality. First there…
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Youjustifications: Why are we fighting? Let me not count the ways
Youjustifications: I’m right because you just… Again, he’s ready to leave for an event and she’s not. He asks her how long she’ll be, honestly, because once he knows, he can adjust, do something to pass the time, manage his impatience with distractions. It’s just the uncertainty that irritates him. To appease his impatience she…
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Prediction in physics
A ball projected in the air moves in accordance with the laws of gravity, but the particular path it follows depends very much on the speed and angle of projection. Calculating physicists can predict the precise spot where a missile will land when it is fired in a particular way from a particular place or…
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Prophesy: Religious and otherwise
Another technical meaning of revelation is the unveiling of a momentous event or events to occur in the future. It is in this sense that the term is used in the Christian Book of Revelation. Here it is declared that there will come a time when people of evil nature “shall have their part in…
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Down & Out, Up & Out, Out & Out: Reading between the lines on “Fine”
“Fine.” A single syllable, so rich in possible meanings–does it mean fine as in “You’re right,” as in “You’re wrong,” as in “I fold,” or some complex blend of the three? Conflict within a relationship often leads to reflection about the relationship. Saying “fine,” we step out of the conflict for a little perspective. Psychologically…