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  • Understanding the Nature of Self

    Our culture is founded upon the assumption that reality consists of two essential ingredients: mind and matter. In this duality, matter is considered the primary element, giving rise to the prevailing materialistic paradigm in which it is believed that mind, or consciousness — the knowing element of mind — is derived from matter. How consciousness…

  • What Does a Religion of Peace Look Like?

    It is often argued whether this is a religion of peace or that is a religion of peace. We come up with different answers. However, when it is pointed out that there are specific doctrines in almost all major religions which support violence, in one form or another, we start talking about the context. Then…

  • Xuanzang in India: The Travels of the 7th-century Chinese Scholar

    Xuanzang, also known as Hiuen Tsang, was a seventh-century Chinese Buddhist monk, scholar, traveler, and translator. He came to India along the Himalayas into the rich plains of the Punjab, a land watered by five rivers. Two days out of Rajouri, he crossed the river Chenab. This section of his journey closely followed India’s present-day…

  • Is Your Job Bullshit?

    Before we get to that question, let’s discuss what we mean by a bullshit job. The defining feature of a bullshit job: one so completely pointless that even the person who has to perform it every day cannot convince himself there’s a good reason for him to be doing it. He might not be able…

  • How the Bible was Written

    The earliest portions of the Old Testament are held to date from the tenth or eleventh century BCE, while the latest (the book of Daniel), comes from the Maccabean period of the second century BCE. The time-span for the New Testament is much shorter. The earliest of Paul’s letters stems frok C.50 CE; the majority…

  • Why Westerners Are WEIRD People

    Who are you? Perhaps you are WEIRD, raised in a society that is Western, Educated, Industrialised, Rich, and Democratic. If so, you’re likely rather psychologically peculiar. Unlike much of the world today, and most people who have ever lived, we WEIRD people are highly individualistic, self-obsessed, control-oriented, non-conformist, and analytical. We focus on ourselves —…

  • How to Raise a Child with a Temperament

    Parental horror stories about placing difficult children are all too common. But in most cases, where effective understanding and intervention starts early it need not come to that. As National Institute of Mental Health psychiatrist Stanley Greenspan shows us in his book The Challenging Child, parents can actually help their children make the most of…

  • Tibet: A Rare Non-violent Political Struggle

    In the late 1980s the big news was that peace was breaking out in Asia. One after the other, from Afghanistan to Cambodia, the killing fields happily reverted to their traditional role of feeding people. And Asia — or those regions racked by invasion and civil war — prepared for a long break from slaughter.…