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Many people wrote to say how much they liked last week’s article on romanticynicism-the merging of romanticism and cynicism-but the article left me wondering what I really meant by it. I said I’d prescribe romanticynicism to anyone, but the more I think about it the more it seems that romanticynicism is a question, not an…
Some people don’t feel safe in love unless it’s complete, absolute, and unconditional. Others (me, for one) only feel safe in love when it isn’t. I feel safest when I, and those who love with me, know that love can never be complete, absolute, and unconditional, that unconditional love is only unconditional under certain conditions….
Both science and religion spring from the same inner urge to understand and unravel the mystery of the existence of a world with all its splendor, and of a mind that reflects, a heart that feels, and a spirit that experiences it all. Science and religion once went hand in hand: The same people who…
Sounds like a good thing, doesn’t it? Being present, not thinking about the past or the future, just being here now. Being present has long been touted as a healthy state—if not the healthiest state of all. I think what people call “being present” is really two opposite states confused with one another. Being in…
In a recent New York Times webcast, Thomas Friedman (The World Is Flat; 3-time Pullitzer prize winner), Joseph Stiglitz (Nobel Prize, Economics, 2001), and Ted Koppel discussed globalization and how it is changing the world. The excellent discussion ranged from international politics to economic development. Through a panorama of disciplines and perspectives, it was not…
The contemporary encounter between science and religion is intrinsically one of the most fascinating conversations going on in this corner of our galaxy. It may also be one of the most important for our future well-being.
“What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matterscompared to what lies within us.” Oliver Wendell Holmes The convergence of evidence is striking in support of the hypothesis that benevolent emotions, attitudes and actions centered on the good of others are contributory to happiness, health, and even longevity in the agent of…
This paper was prepared for “Continuity + Change: Perspectives on Science and Religion,” a program of the Metanexus Institute, June 3-7, 2006, in Philadelphia, PA. Abstract: Heraclitus (c. 500 BCE) suggested that the entire “world” is in a state of perpetual flux, and that nothing remains the same for any length of time except for the…
Examining how Paul Tillich’s life experiences encouraged him to valorize mysticism and to construe the mystical in the manner he did.
The logic of war always undermines the just war doctrine, because winning by whatever means necessary becomes the precondition for survival in armed conflicts. The history of warfare in the 20th century points ever more to the harsh logic of war.