On Purpose

The desire to develop a purpose and/or meaning to one’s life is not a necessary requirement to living that life.  Even if life has no meaning, it does not mean you don’t get to live it.  All 7 billion of us have already hit the genetic lottery by simply being born into the dominant species [...]

“I see”, said the blind man.

I see a fantastically complex universe that is endless in beauty, fascination and awe.

I see a delicate song and dance amongst a seemingly endless variety and interaction of life.

I appreciate harmony and peace in life from witnessing death and destruction.

I’ve seen worlds collide and heavens explode.

I see order and structure alongside chaos.

I see underlying layers [...]

The achievement of happiness with Flow

In 1990, Mihalyi Czikszentmihalyi published a book titled, Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience.
The book oddly enough started off as an attempt to answer the question, “What is the meaning of life?” He found that for many the meaning of life was intrinsically linked to the question, “What makes you happy?” Or put another way, [...]

What’s so bad about Oprah anyway?

Oprah Winfrey has taken a few knocks lately with a major expose in Newsweek, appropriately titled Why Health Advice on ‘Oprah’ Could Make You Sick. That’s a pretty gutsy move taking on The Oprah in a major way.
I’ve always had my opinion of Oprah and for all of her faults (and who doesn’t have them) [...]

Affirmations of Secular Humanism – #3

Democritus

(This post is the third in a series discussing the affirmations of secular humanism. The introduction to the series can be found here, the first post here, the second here.)

We believe that scientific discovery and technology can contribute to the betterment of human life.
As he often did, perhaps Carl Sagan said [...]

Affirmations of Secular Humanism – #2

(This (long overdue) post is the second in a series discussing the affirmations of secular humanism. The introduction to the series can be found here, the first post here.)
We deplore efforts to denigrate human intelligence, to seek to explain the world in supernatural terms, and to look outside nature for salvation.

The [...]

What’s for Dinner

levitating apples

I am a human, and I am an omnivore. I eat both plants and animals. Recently, some of the other FFW bloggers and I were discussing the ethics of eating animals, so I thought I would tackle this in one of my increasingly rare blog posts. Let me start by saying that I am [...]

Freethinker’s Toolkit: Fallacies, Part I

The last few threads have been impassioned, which, I think, makes for fun reading. One thing that I think would make some of these conversations more efficient, though—and is just a useful skill in reading and unpacking just about any rhetoric you’ll hear in life, ever—is a sound understanding of some basic logical fallacies. [...]

Unitarian Pleads for Tolerance

Last summer, a man who had been brainwashed by right wing rhetoric shot up a Tennessee Unitarian congregation and killed two people. He’s currently awaiting trial. (Click here for my original blog post from July of 2008.)
The minister of the Unitarian congregation wrote a great “My Turn” essay for Newsweek recently. I think it’s wonderful [...]

Prayers for Bobby, a Reflection

Prayers for Bobby

SPOILERS: Do not read this post if you have not yet seen the movie.
I just watched Prayers for Bobby on Lifetime.
My first thoughts are a little about housekeeping. The film is far from perfect. The props are very anachronistic. The punctuation for the television commercials made the pacing of the film far too [...]