Our world seems in the grips of a strange personality cult: it used to be kings and queens – now it’s all about movie and rock stars called “celebrities”. We constantly hear of their escapades and are supposed to care about their daily drama. While in previous decades there were at least some iconic personalities in…
In our society, every person is supposed to operate under a strangely assumed “law of purpose”. That means we expect everything to be useful, effective and serving an important purpose – which in turns validates us as “responsible beings”. Not doing anything – or creating anything without purpose strikes us as a “waste of time”,…
Sometimes when I hear or see a horrible, brutal thing, it usually involves human behavior. I wonder how humans can commit such an act. Thinking about it, I try to look beyond the moral judgments of “bad” and “evil” that limit my perspective while trying to understand the actual motivation behind the act. In…
In the news I heard today about the loss of “innocent life”. It made me think: what is innocence? Are trees innocent that we cut down? Is a cow innocent that we slaughter for food? Are children innocent by their very design, even if they kill classmates? Is there really virtue in innocence (which stems from…
In the moment I’m editing a book of a man who has done horrible things in his life: he probably killed a few people, raped women, hurt and stole from hundreds. He is now off drugs and says he’s come “clean” since a few years. He sits in front of me, smiling at me with friendly…
