An unexpected message from an unexpected source: Pope Francis tele-presented at this year’s TED conference on the topic of inclusion and social responsibility and used the parable of the Good Samaritan to underscore his points. The more powerful you are, the more your actions will have an impact on people, the more responsible you are to […]
The consequences of belief
Last fall, I learned from Professor Jean Sheldon about why it’s important to be choosy about one’s ideals, mentors, models, and gods. “The picture I have of God today,” Sheldon wrote, “is the photograph others will take of me tomorrow.” People may well rise to the level of their gods. We only rise higher or stretch further when extremely […]
In a world of matter, you can’t live on ether
In the misty Grecian past, philosophers imagined that the perceptible world was composed of five elements: earth, air, fire, water, and ether. Ether, or quintessence, was said to fill the realm in which the gods lived. In our time, most people no longer build our understanding of things on four or five elements. But we do still work […]
