To address climate change we must transform the way we think. Nowhere is there a need to openly explore our concepts and values more than in relation to the current environmental issues we face collectively. The drastic reduction of biodiversity, accelerating overpopulation, and the marching onslaught of climate change threaten to destroy the planet’s current ecosystem once and for all. We require a new understanding of reality. Nothing short of changing our understanding of reality and existence, our way of thinking, and our collective values vis-à-vis the environment are required to avoid extinction of the biosphere as we know it. Deep Ecology Deep ecology is an environmental philosophy that argues for a radical change to the way we think of and interact with the environment. Deep ecology asserts the inherent worth of all life irrespective of its instrumental … [Read more...]
Present Bleak
Ode to those weak moments when I would think of Trump as something more than a distraction… I tripped the wire, you can see it in my eyesSold my dreams to a tyrant in disguiseAll behind me now, straight ahead murky waysI’ve been a romantic fool, dystopian wiseFrom wrong springs right, the truth dripping liesNow I’m standing at the fork, with nothing left to saySomeday somewhere a new sun may riseA constant source we can’t kill or buyMy past is fiction, my memory’s meekFuture uncertain, the present bleakMy heart’s still strong, but my mind is getting weak A prison cell inside and outNo words to scream, no lines to shoutTry to find the will, but I’m feeling only fearAll my dreams turned galactic dustMy soul condemned to scientific rustTime’s flying past, but I’m still standing hereA sentence set for no crimeA solitary confinement of my mindMy only guide a distant lightI’m blind to … [Read more...]
Time as Pure Creativity
To transform our lives we require a new understanding of time. Time as a Straight Line We think of time as a linear progression of moments. We have inherited our sense of time from science. In all scientific pursuits, time is the independent variable. Time is the dimension over which we have no control. Time is a straight line marching forward, with or without us. Scientific time measures changes in space, but it fails to capture movement itself. Think of an old-fashioned reel of film. Each image is a moment in time. But each image in scientific time fails to capture the movement in between. No matter how thinly you slice up scientific time, actual movement is never captured. But our lives are all about movement, change. We measure our lives in terms of change. Our memories and plans hinge on significant moments when change occurs. We run after the clock daily, but … [Read more...]
Can Judges Be Impartial in a Polarized Society
Revisiting the Powell Memo: has the judicial system become irredeemably marred by ideological bias? The Rittenhouse murder trial and the Charlottesville civil case have brought the question of judicial impartiality back into full relief, the question being whether the courts will be an effective means for addressing ultra-right violence. Many suspect not. On September 12, 2021, Amy Coney Barrett delivered a speech at the University of Louisville’s McConnell Center in which she expressed concern at the rising impression of the Supreme Court as partisan. Barrett asserted that judges must be “hyper vigilant to make sure they’re not letting personal biases creep into their decisions, since judges are people, too.” Given the circumstances of Barrett’s confirmation, led by Mitch McConnell, many might have found her comments on the importance of impartiality in that particular setting … [Read more...]
The Dawn of Everything and Fascism in Society
Graeber, Wengrow and the radical freedom to change. Inequality is not the inevitable outcome of civilization. In a nutshell, this is the thesis presented by David Graeber and David Wengrow in their new book, The Dawn of Everything: A New History of Humanity. The central theme of the book is that the accepted story of the rise of mankind and civilization, a linear story of man’s progress from primitivism to modern society, is not accurate and is just that, a grand narrative, perhaps the grandest of all. The strength of the evidence presented will be hotly debated for years to come, as technology progresses, and further light is shed on the early evolution of our social interactions and political formations. But the importance of their thesis is undeniable: for it highlights the dangers of elevating a narrative to objective truth, and opens wide the possibility that we can … [Read more...]