First of all, thank you for your continued patience. Work on my book has been taking the majority of my free time. Consequently, I’ve not been focusing on my blog. That said, I recently sent the latest draft off to a proof reader and have some time to focus on writing this article about modern myth. My book is shaping up well, so keep an eye out some time in the not so distant future.…
Atheists love to bring up the evils of religion. As soon as they get chance to flaunt their high-level analysis, the Spanish Inquisition is summoned, the Crusades get flagged down and Islamic terrorism is drafted in. And of course, these are all stains on their respective religions. However, what is often ignored is technology and culture; how atheism and rationalism have also caused terrors and harms throughout the world. Now, I don’t want to turn…
In the past, when I was an ardent atheist, I regularly uttered the phrase ‘I believe in the power of The Universe.’ I look back on this now with new eyes and realise this declaration is an act of faith. Yet if you had asked me “do you believe in a ‘higher power?’” I would have scoffed at such foolishness. This is a pretty common pattern of thinking in modern life, yet it is entirely…
Something has been growing inside me, bubbling away in my subconscious, for a little while now. I’ve been unaware that I’d been mulling it over, but yesterday the insight broke surface and popped into my conscious mind. What was it? The lack of importance the Western world attaches to symbolism. This trend of trivialising symbolism is linked to the demise of faith and pre-eminence of rationality within our culture; both of which I discuss here.…
Before reading this, I would recommend taking the time to peruse the article I wrote for my friend BenjaminGJW on his blog (@BenjaminGJW on Twitter). It’s not required reading, but the ideas here are linked to, and an extension of, those in that piece. That aside, let’s start. Contentment It’s essential we find contentment. Without it, life is incomplete. And an incomplete life breeds misery. How contentment is found varies from person to person, but…