Imagination

It is wonderful that so many children have the innate ability to transform their lives with the simplest of objects. A girl is transformed into a princess by simply picking up a strip of brightly colored cloth that is, no doubt, nothing more than a scrap. A young boy becomes a brave knight the moment he picks up a stick, a fallen branch that his father has not yet found time to discard because of his busy schedule. But adults,we constantly need more and more. Neither the discarded sash, nor the broken branch offers us meaningful diversion anymore. And it is a shame that we dream the dreams given to us by television advertisers while sitting on our sofas watching the game in peace as long as the children stay outside and leave us alone.

Teaching

The best thing about teaching is not necessarily found in the curriculum. It is found in the interactions between students and teachers.

Education Question

What constitutes a good education, and how should it transform students?

21st Century Enlightenment

There is a real need to invigorate a 21st century Enlightenment because, I fear, that we are slipping closer and closer toward a new Dark Ages. The persistence of anti-intellectualism, the increasing prevalence of blind faith, and the overall lack of curiosity to understand the complexities of the modern world are astounding. When there are people dedicated to exploring the human condition through literature, we begin to replace the canon with non-fiction texts in our schools. We are given almost no exposure to philosophy beyond a few select pieces of Plato. Science is challenged at every corner by zealots clinging to their ignorance. History is restricted to a superficial monolithic account that intentionally ignores the stories of millions. And those who challenge these notions are not celebrated; instead they are ridiculed and called elitist as if being knowledgeable about the world is a curse. Sure, it is expected that there should be some fertilizer when cultivating the intellect, but those searching for deeper knowledge should not be expected to nearly drown in the effluence of intentional ignorance while on their journey.

Of Peace and War

We cannot expect government to produce lasting peace or wage a meaningful war when it is so intertwined with corporations, for the interests of corporations lies primarily with money which has no real interest in morality or ethics. Those endeavors belong to people, and until the people become engaged in social, political, and economic affairs there will be no real justification for either peace or war beyond the facade of capitalist greed.

Drinking champagne is like drinking a shot of bad Holloween candy. 3/18/00

Just when I started to get comfortable, they kick me out.  3/8/01

It is one thing to show the path.  It is entirely something else to show someone how to walk it.  3/17/01

It is one thing to wake up with the blues, it is something altogether different to wake up with the blues for weeks on end.

Selling a house that you love is like putting down a faithful dog because you now have a new puppy.

School might be where many of us are introduced to basic academic knowledge, but how we choose to live our lives determines how knowledgable we actually become.

Freedom

It is quite apparent in the realm of political and social discourse that when a person or group claims to support freedom and liberty, they are not referring to self-rule or allowing people to make their own decisions about their actions. They generally want to usurp one form of regulations and replace them with another. The idea that we maintain our freedom by relinquishing our civil rights is absurd; the idea that we replace secular law with religious law is absurd; and the idea that we relinquish civil discourse based on verifiable facts in favor of irrational groupthink is absurd. What is even worse is that those who preach these absurdities have followers who are so ignorant that they will pound their chests and pound the pavement in an attempt to force rational people to submit to these forms of despotism cleverly mislabeled as freedom.

Mystery

For something to be mysterious does not necessarily make it mystical. To claim that something is mystical means that you don't understand and that you don't want to understand. To say that something is mysterious is to say that you have the capacity and the desire to learn the verifiable truth. One cannot scrutinize the mysterious with the mystic, it can only be scrutinized with verifiable knowledge.

School might be where many of us are introduced to basic academic knowledge, but how we choose to live our lives determines how knowledgable we actually become.

I understand that people need to cling to something bigger than themselves. I get it. What I don't get is why billions of people choose to cling to fictions instead of looking at the amazing realities of truth. Fiction is not easy; I know because I hold two English degrees. Understanding the fictions that help us define our humanity is painfully difficult. But they admittedly are fictions based on the reality of human experience as filtered through the perceptions of fallibly mortals. Once you take those fictions and call them fact, or try to build a society based on fictions then there is a problem. I don't know whether to simply dismiss those people as ignorant, to pitty them for their gullibility, or curse them for their laziness. None of the above, I guess. I know some fine people who believe some silly things, but that's part of being human. I can't understand how kneeling to a fiction can make you love the world, and they probably can't understand how realizing that I an just a small part of billions of years of cosmic activity makes me more wonderful than any god because I am real. And I not only come from the stars, i am the human incarnation of them.

Replace the words , "God wants" with the words , "I want" and see if if the desire is still true. Chances are, it is. Be your own God. Or at least have the guts to admit your own true desires.

It is very important for people to realize that everyone else's beliefs and perspectives are born out of a combination of individual and collective experiences. This does not make these beliefs right or wrong, they are merely the effect of a lifetime of being influenced by parents, friends, school, religion, and individual occurrences. If you want to truly engage a person in meaningful conversation, or if you truly wish to teach a person something they are resistant to knowing, then you must first understand that person's perspective on the world; in essence, you must first understand that person's life. Then, after careful consideration and a lot of learning on your part, you will be much better equipped to deal with the meaningful issues at hand. Just keep in mind that everyone is the expert in regard to their own life, so if you want someone to see the world through your eyes, you must first be willing to see the world through the eyes of another. This crucial component is often lacking in contemporary discourse and we are living the dangerous results of its omission.