occasional reflections on culture & politics
I get it. Covid sucks, and we all – including myself – would like to return to normality. After all, don’t we have vaccines and treatments? Doesn’t psychological damage count too? How about the economy, about our democracy? Can’t we just say, this is it? Reality is what it is no matter what you wish… Continue reading #194: No, the Pandemic is Not Yet Over
Aren’t we focused a bit too much on identity lately, or rather, on a very narrow definition of it? What does identity even mean? Who we are always depends on several factors, only part of which is controllable by ourselves. We may want to be seen a certain way, but we cannot change how others… Continue reading #182: Reflections on Identity, Purpose, and the Active Life
Putin has declared that there is no such thing as Ukraine or Ukrainians. He denies their existence, their culture, their very lives. We are seeing it happen today in real time. This war has been planned deliberately, executed since 2014, and there is no sign of stopping. President Putin has made clear what his aim… Continue reading #149: As Putin Is Orchestrating to Commit Genocide…
We all die. It will probably happen sooner than we would have hoped. As Aristotle has made clear, every story has a definitive beginning (before which there was nothing relevant to the story), a middle, and an end, a conclusion, a destination, a telos which concludes this one specific story. Now, I am not sure… Continue reading #137: Live Every Day in Love
I am old. If you don’t believe me, I am going to prove it to you with this text. Correction: I am not that old, mid-40s, but I am old enough to not quite fit in with this world anymore. I am no stranger to computers. While in East Germany, we could not easily get… Continue reading #132: My Tablet Told Me to Try a Bedtime Alarm to Get More Sleep
Most people who live with pets are able to somehow communicate with them. It’s not difficult. They teach you: all you need to do is to recognize that there is a little person in your animal just as much as there is in you. That little person speaks a different language than you, but you… Continue reading #129: Pets Teach Empathy and How to Live
For the first time in my life, wishing others a “Happy New Year” feels weird. Maybe never before has it seemed so inappropriate, so hollow, so somehow sarcastic to make such a pronouncement. Or maybe not. I have hesitated each single time. Last year, we thought the pandemic would be over with vaccines available. Well,… Continue reading #124: Happy New Year 2022!
Restless Tail Syndrome: I think that is a thing! And it wiggles! Almost always!
The basis of religion is a deep sense of trust in the universe. It is not just hope, but a sense of confidence that things will eventually work out. Whatever bad things may happen, we are not alone, we are not merely random souls that do not matter in the larger scheme of things. If… Continue reading #116: Religion Is Trust in the Universe
I know, this is probably a very strange question, but I have been pondering on this a while. Are we anthropomorphizing human beings? Typically, those who really care about animals and claim that they are feeling, intelligent beings not so dissimilar from us, are being admonished not to anthropomorphize animals, not to treat them as… Continue reading #115: Are We Anthropomorphizing Human Beings?
Erratic Attempts 