Tagged: God

Our Freedom

We have cast off all the gods and their tyrannical ways, and hence all need of submission. Thus we define our freedom. And thus, having rejected the notion that there are gods, which is to say aspirations and ideals beyond our present limits, we happily submit to our own chains, rejecting all thought of anything beyond ourselves, which is to say beyond our...

A Little Stock-Taking

For decades, we all tried to deny this looming cloud to some degree in order to carry on with our daily lives and interests. Some even tried to deny the threat outright, on the grounds that they could still carry on with their daily lives — as though “daily life” were evidence of freedom. This year, however, denial has become impossible: You live...

What I Do Not Believe

I do not believe that some people being egregiously wrong implies that anyone who happens to disagree with those people is right. We may call this the Law of Imbalance. I do not believe that I have to show compassion for, or even interest in, humans who have forfeited their humanity to the vices of existential cowardice, petty survivalism, and the sub-infantile willingness...

Making Amends

Democratic Congresswoman Ilhan Omar, from the U.S. state of Little Somalia (the former People’s Republic of Minnesota), has officially apologized to American Jewish groups for her many statements which might have given the (correct) impression that she harbors anti-Jewish paranoia and blames Israel for every world problem and essentially wants all Jews removed from politics and decent society. Always nice to see peace...

The Problem of Evil

I received an e-mail the other day from a former student who continues to keep in touch due to a mentoring relationship we developed while she was in university. This most recent exchange, though personal in its focus, highlighted a human tendency that has universal implications, as it opens out on nothing less than a traditional ethico-theological quandary, the problem of evil. This...

Addendum on Being Tired of Humans

Recently, I offered a somewhat optimistic reflection on the condition of humanity (some may have regarded it as pessimistic, but I thought I was being rather generous), entitled “When You’re Tired of Humans.” The gist of it was that the human race is, as far as one can tell, the only species that, on a species-wide level, consistently acts against its own natural...