Posted on April 14, 2020
BLACK DEATHCulture
As I write this, the world is in the grip of the COVID-19 pandemic. Life has been deeply altered and one wonders if things will ever return to the way they were. Read more
Posted on February 25, 2020
DECONSTRUCTING POPEYECulture • For Kids
As a boy growing up in the 1950’s, Popeye the Sailorman was a major cultural influence. Read more
Posted on February 10, 2020
THE MEANING OF MUSICCulture • God
(This essay is dedicated to Gary Crispell who taught me everything I know about music.)
“There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy. Read more
Posted on January 17, 2020
TOWER OF BABELCulture
Most of us are familiar with the Biblical story of the Tower of Babel (Genesis 11: 1-9). Superficially, its meaning seems obvious. Read more
Posted on April 30, 2019
WHERE THE TIME GOESCulture • Eschatology • Time
Who Knows Where the Time Goes? Written by English folk-rock singer and songwriter Sandy Denny, this late ‘60s anthem was popularized by American folk singer, Judy Collins. Read more
Posted on April 5, 2019
COMMUNISM OR SOCIALISM?Culture • Politics
The terms, ‘communism’ and ‘socialism’ are often used interchangeably. Yet in some respects, they are more like antonyms than synonyms.
Most Americans abhor communism. Read more
Posted on July 4, 2018
WHY IS THERE SOMETHING...Being • Culture • God • Parmenides • Time
In 2012, renowned physicist and cosmologist, Lawrence Krauss, published A Universe from Nothing. The purpose of the book was to debunk the idea that some sort of transcendent entity (e.g. Read more
Posted on June 16, 2018
AMERICAN HISTORY REDUXCulture
(Note to high school and college students: If you are surfing the web, looking for an essay to plagiarize, I don’t recommend this one…at least not if you want to get a passing grade. Read more
Posted on October 15, 2017
SEVEN WORDSAnaximander • Being • Culture • God • Time
Being
Good
Beauty Truth Justice
Love
Presence
Every important branch of philosophy focuses on one or more of these seven words and/or on the relations... Read more
Posted on October 2, 2017
HOWs and WHYsCulture
Science and religion – complementary disciplines or mutually exclusive world views? Prior to 1700, science and religion for the most part complemented each other:
Parmenides (5th century BC), s... Read more
Posted on June 27, 2017
WHY WE HAVE NO CLUEBeing • Culture
A 5 year old grandson of mine explained the difference between immortality and eternity in a way that would have made Augustine of Hippo cry. Read more
Posted on June 23, 2017
SAINT SARTRE?Being • Culture • Existentialism • God
Jean-Paul Sartre, existentialist philosopher, prolific from 1938 to 1980, is not often linked with Leo XIII, Pope of the Roman Catholic Church from 1878 to 1903. Read more
Posted on February 16, 2017
MYTHOLOGY TODAYCulture • Science • Time
According to a popular conception of intellectual history, mythology is characteristic of human pre-history. Read more
Posted on February 8, 2017
MORALS AND VALUES IN JOBCulture • God
The Old Testament Book of Job is thought to be a meditation on the so-called problem of evil: “Why do bad things happen to good people?” (Rabbi Harold Kushner)
It is odd then that the book prov... Read more
Posted on January 27, 2017
BEATITUDESBeing • Culture
Reading Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount is a bit like going down a rabbit hole or passing through the looking glass. Nothing is as it should be; everything is turned around or upside down. Read more
Posted on January 11, 2017
MORALS OR VALUESBeing • Culture • Existentialism • God
For most of us, our first encounter with “morality” comes through our parents (or parent figures). Read more
Posted on November 14, 2016
THIS IS USCulture • Science • Time
The fall of 2016 saw a new comedy series, This is Us, added to the NBC line-up. Read more
Posted on October 22, 2016
OUR TWO PARTY SYSTEMCulture • Politics
No two national political systems are ever the same, but in our era at least they all do have one thing in common: they all want to be thought of as ‘democratic’. Read more
Posted on September 18, 2016
SHAKESPEARECulture • Eschatology • Whitehead
Machiavelli, Nietzsche, Duchamp, Camus, Ionesco, Beckett – these are names that come to mind when one thinks about nihilism... Read more
Posted on August 5, 2016
EDUCATING CHRISTIANSChrist • Culture • John & Paul • Science • Time • Trinity
We are good parents. From infancy we teach our children ‘the facts of life’ –how the world came to be the way it is and how it works. We certainly mean well. But do we do well? Let's see. Read more
Posted on November 20, 2015
COMPETING CREEDSCulture • Eschatology • God
The Nicene Creed is the foundational statement of belief for most Christian churches. To the casual reader, some of its assertions may seem difficult and, well, in-credible. Read more
Posted on May 27, 2015
THROUGH THE LOOKING-GLASSCulture • Time
Lewis Carroll’s second novel about his young heroine, Alice (you know Alice…of Wonderland fame), is titled Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There. Read more
Posted on February 9, 2015
GOLDEN RULECulture • Existentialism
Growing up, we all learned the Golden Rule (all of us, that is, except Peter Pan): “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Read more
Posted on December 12, 2014
YELLOW SUB HOLY GRAILCulture • Yellow Submarine
In the intellectual tradition of the Western world, no theme is more ubiquitous, or enigmatic, than that of the Grail. Read more
Posted on November 20, 2014
MARX & THE REPUBLICANSCulture • Politics
In a previous article in this collection (“One Party Rule”), we discovered that there is really only one true political party in the United States today, the Democratic Party. Read more
Posted on October 12, 2014
ONE PARTY RULECulture • Politics
Ask most any American high school student to describe the political system in the United States and she’ll almost certainly mention our “two party system”. Read more
Posted on October 2, 2014
TWO ROADS DIVERGED?Culture • Whitehead
Ask anyone passingly acquainted with American poetry to tell you the title of his favorite Robert Frost poem and you might expect to hear, “Two roads diverged in a wood”. Read more
Posted on September 2, 2014
ROBERT FROST – QUANTUM MECHANICChrist • Culture • Eschatology • Existentialism • Science
Robert Frost’s 1916 poem, The Road Not Taken, appears to be a comment on existential angst and the human condition; and on one level it is no doubt just exactly that. Read more
Posted on August 11, 2014
RERUM NOVARUM – THE PLAYCulture • Politics
(The text of this one act play is taken from Pope Leo XIII’s 1891 Encyclical on The Condition of the Working Classes, Rerum Novarum. Read more
Posted on July 28, 2014
LEGO & BELL'SCulture • Science
It begins as a typical children’s cartoon movie: a struggle between good and evil, mildly interesting characters trying to overcome personal insecurities to ‘be all that they can be’, a love tri... Read more
Posted on July 2, 2014
THE LEGO MOVIE written by David CowlesCulture • For Kids • Science
(Note: Toward the end of the movie, Finn explains to his dad that Legos are for kids ages 8 to 14. It says so on the box. But Dad says, “That’s just a suggestion!” Same here. Read more
Posted on March 26, 2014
OWL AND PUSSYCAT written by David CowlesCulture • Eschatology
No, our title does not refer to a pub in London…though if it did, I would certainly be having a pint there. Read more
Posted on January 22, 2014
NORSE MYTHOLOGY written by David CowlesCulture • Eschatology • Pound & Joyce • Trinity • Whitehead
Beyond the works of Wagner (The Ring),Tolkien (Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit) and, of course, Marvel Comics, most of what we know about Norse Mythology comes from just two sources: The Elder Edda, ... Read more
Posted on December 13, 2013
MYTHOLOGY written by David CowlesCulture • Whitehead
Language, the principal medium of human reason, comes in three voices: systematic, poetic and mythic. Read more
Posted on October 20, 2013
MAX HEADROOM & DEMOCRACYCulture • Politics
In the late 1980’s, cult television brought us Max Headroom, a futuristic series whose eponymous hero, an artificial intelligence, a dissipitive bundle of code, lived in cyberspace and interacted wi... Read more
Posted on September 2, 2013
ONTOLOGICAL DEMOCRACYBeing • Culture • Pound & Joyce
What is real…and what isn’t? It seems at times that this question defines the entire project of our lives. As very young children, we accept everything as real. Read more
Posted on August 25, 2013
BEAUTY AND THE TRUTHCulture • John & Paul • Whitehead
“Beauty is truth, truth beauty, that is all
Ye know on earth and all ye need to know. Read more
Posted on January 2, 2013
THE MANY WORLDS INTERPRETATION OF NOHCulture • Eschatology • Heraclitus • Pound & Joyce • Science
"You do not dip twice in the river/Beneath the same tree's shadow/Without bonds in some other life."
Heraclitus? No. Read more
Posted on December 4, 2012
MARY POPPINS, SUFI MASTERCulture • God
How does one come to know the mind of God? From reading a children’s story? Maybe!
In 1934, P.L. Travers, an Australian, wrote one of the most famous children’s books of all time, Mary Poppins. Read more
Posted on November 25, 2012
THE REALISTIC MANIFESTOBeing • Culture • Heraclitus • Politics • Time
It’s 1920. The glow of the Russian Revolution is everywhere and dialectical materialism is the philosophy de jour. Every aspect of life in Russian society is undergoing radical transformation. Read more
Posted on November 25, 2012
HENRY MOORE AT ST. PAUL'SBeing • Christ • Culture • Eschatology • God • Time
If you want to understand what’s special about the Christian world view, travel to London and visit St. Paul’s Cathedral. Read more
Posted on September 27, 2011
THE PHILOSOPHY OF EMOAnaximander • Culture • For Kids • John & Paul
In his master work, I and Thou, the existentialist philosopher, Martin Buber, wrote “In the beginning is the relation.”
This was not a new idea. Read more
Posted on June 27, 2011
KANDINSKY...AND THE OTHER WORLDCulture • Parmenides • Time
From the dawn of philosophy, thinkers have speculated that the world of space & time, matter & energy, objects & sense perceptions, the world in which we seem to live, may not be the only ... Read more