For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.
Here’s the thing: no matter how appealing or fascinating we might find other cultures, no matter how alluringly they might present themselves to us, the fact is that people do not – by and large – change cultures. Our understanding of what culture is does not allow it. We do not possess a conception of... Continue Reading →
Like so many other important wisdoms, we have read it on the backs of sugar packets or pasted onto nauseating memes so many times that we tend to overlook the truth the statement contains: life is a journey. The important things in life are always journeys, not events. The events may mark milestones along the... Continue Reading →
I find prayer difficult, I will admit. But I suspect it is because for too long I have misunderstood its point. For much of my life, prayer functioned as a mechanism to try to get the universe to work in my favour, all the while trying to concede that if it didn’t work out, God... Continue Reading →
Alexei Yurchak, in his book Everything was Forever, Until it was No More: The Last Soviet Generation, describes what it was like to live in the Soviet Union prior to its collapse. He argues that its flaws were readily apparent to everyone, and that people could see that the system was failing them. But because... Continue Reading →
One of my favourite television series is The Big Bang Theory. If you are unfamiliar with the programme, one of its central characters, Dr Sheldon Cooper, is a freakishly intelligent physicist who has absolutely no social skills. As brilliant as his mind is, he simply cannot relate appropriately to other people. Sheldon regulates his relationships... Continue Reading →
During the Gold Rush in California, untold numbers of Native Americans were forced off their land or murdered. In 1851-52, the US government signed 18 treaties with the indigenous people of California, which essentially allowed the government to take all of the land except for the reservations, which served as homelands for the indigenous people.... Continue Reading →
The very fact that we think of our relationship with God in terms of a covenant is proof that the god we worship is a man-made construct. I realise that this is somewhat of an inflammatory statement, but bear with me: this thought has a ‘good news’ ending. It was Mark Rowlands’ The Philosopher... Continue Reading →
Vapors In The Wind 