The gentle art of sanity amidst civilization
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Last week I ran into a few online discussions about those big, big questions that often come up in late-night conversations: Why are we here? What is our purpose? Strictly speaking, as members of the human species we do have a purpose. But we didn’t choose it, and it might not be us who stands [...]
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There is a quote, much celebrated by activists, cynics, and political science students the world over, that I think could use a second look: “It is no measure of good health to be well-adjusted to a profoundly sick society.” ~Jiddu Krishnamurti I like Krishnamurti, and I think he’s being misunderstood here, but I’ll get to [...]
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This week celebrated physicist Stephen Hawking suggested that alien life almost certainly exists, and humans should do everything we can to avoid contact with it. He reasons that contact with aliens would probably be fatal to us, likening it to the European conquest of the New World: “If aliens ever visit us, I think the [...]
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There is a pile of filthy pots and pans in the corner of the kitchen, and it’s tearing us apart. For six weeks I have been living in a hostel in Te Puke, New Zealand, the kiwifruit capital of the world. Te Puke is not a tourist attraction, so travelers generally only come here to [...]
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If there’s one thing Friedrich Nietzsche did well, it’s obliterate feel-good beliefs people have about themselves. He has been criticized for being a misanthrope, a subvert, a cynic and a pessimist, but I think these assessments are off the mark. I believe he only wanted human beings to be more honest with themselves. He did [...]
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New Zealand is a black sheep among nations. Having spent the last 60 million years isolated from the rest of the continents — longer than any other major land mass — life has had a long time to do its own thing here. The vast majority of native trees and animals are found nowhere else. [...]
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Despite the earnest efforts of sixty years of Miss USA contestants, world peace has not arrived on our doorstep. The UN has not managed it, nor did John Lennon or Oprah or The Secret. Religion sure made a mess of the effort altogether, and I don’t hold high hopes for China to pull it off, [...]
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I forged my own blade yesterday, from an unassuming piece of plain steel. With some expert instruction, I pounded it on an anvil, ground the blade down, fitted it with a brass hilt, polished and sharpened it. The handle is made out of native timber that was salvaged from a dismantled insane asylum.
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Though the hysteria surrounding the H1N1 flu has left the entirety of the news-watching world with the encouraging habit of frequent handwashing, it is hard to call it anything but an overreaction. Not to dismiss the crushing impact of even one person’s death to their loved ones, but when we venture into the realm of [...]
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“I hate the person who invented Mondays.” I saw that phrase on someone’s Facebook status a week or two ago, and it made me smile. It’s definitely an understandable sentiment. I remember miserable grade-school mornings, being dragged out of bed by my mom. All I could do was grumble bitterly, “I hate the person who [...]
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