Cynicism is the bravado of the faint-hearted, the strut of the weak-kneed, the battle cry of a feeble voice. This negative mentality, while self-defeating for its practitioners, seems to be gathering like storm clouds in the West. Barack Obama delicately brought this dysfunction … [Read more...] about Cynicism: The Battle Cry of the Wimp
self-knowledge
Our Global Strategy for Self-Defeat
Is it possible we're acting out a Global Strategy for self-defeat, creating a world of such complexity that we're finally overwhelmed and destroyed by it? The possibility makes sense considering the human capacity for folly and self-defeat. Science fiction has certainly … [Read more...] about Our Global Strategy for Self-Defeat
The Meaning of Evolved Consciousness
Growing our consciousness is the most direct path out of suffering and self-defeat. Yet a lot of people believe that human nature, like the Ten Commandments, is set in stone. They say one’s human nature is a granite-like formation that resists appeals to virtue and reason, … [Read more...] about The Meaning of Evolved Consciousness
The Temptations of the Injustice Collector
In matters large and small, we all want to see justice done. A lot of us, though, suffer greatly—more than actual situations call for—in seeing injustice, or what we identify as injustice, being done to others and in feeling it being done to ourselves. We magnify … [Read more...] about The Temptations of the Injustice Collector
Mark Twain’s Mysterious Misery-Machine
We all like to think we’re motivated by self-interest, self-protection, and self-love. Consciously, we are. Unconsciously, though, we operate a misery-machine inside us that churns up self-defeat, self-damage, and self-rejection. A reference to a misery-machine is made by … [Read more...] about Mark Twain’s Mysterious Misery-Machine