Adding philosophical depth to anything and everything
My most popular Medium article, at least for now, is “Buddhism Is Wrong.” It was inspired by my spouse who sent to me a video of a lecture from a Hollywood celebrity. The article received many great, thoughtful, and supportive comments. It also received some rude and insulting comments. The […]
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I recently edited a long article on Buddhist canonical history by a junior scholar. It is an interesting study on how the early Buddhists debated the meaning of the earliest Buddhist writings and what texts should belong in the canon. Common among all of those involved in the debates was […]
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Deteething an old saw. I don’t have a dog in this fight, but that the fight continues still slightly mystifies me. The classic “problem of evil” is a philosophical quandary for religious people and a weapon for anti-religious people in their attack on religion. Whether the “problem” is an actual problem […]
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Okay, that headline is unfair because “Buddhism” is not a discrete entity but has many forms. However, that is part of my point. Read on, please. I saw a video address using a Hollywood celebrity to promote a particular school of Buddhism. “I realized all my thoughts are illusions,” said […]
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My personal very nonmedical advice on dealing with this real fear. I don’t remember exactly when I first heard of someone being afraid of success, but I remember scoffing at the idea. How could someone feel anything but happiness about their successes? Growing up in a family in which silent misery […]
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How much can you change your life? How much can you change who and what you are? It’s complicated. Let’s insert some philosophy into this topic. Reality Exists Between Extreme Viewpoints On the one hand, I get crap from some of my professor colleagues because I acknowledge human free will. […]
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Space for difference “The test of faith is whether I can make space for difference. Can I recognize God’s image in someone who is not in my image, whose language, faith, ideals, are different from mine? If I cannot, then I have made God in my image instead of allowing […]
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The Creator of the Universe It is impossible for me to believe that the Creator of all of the Universe is even remotely bothered by what we eat, how we dress, how we dance, or who we love. It is not there are no rules. It is that most rules […]
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People Are People First I have studied and taught about religion for decades. What has leapt out at me time and time again as I look at the religions of the world are their similarities. Sure, religions are different. They have different creeds. Different practices. But there is a basic […]
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Gyalwang Karmapa said: There is wisdom in this quote. However, like much of current Buddhist philosophy, it attempts to overcompensate for the Western propensity toward excess individualism with excess denial of the individual. The truth lies somewhere between the views of a Cartesian view of Self as a detached observer […]
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