I’m gearing up for my 100th Episode. Not the episode itself, really, but what will happen AFTER the episode. I’m gearing up for KEW episodes 101-200. The next few Episodes leading up to 100 are building up to a massive idea that has arisen from the first 100. Kind of an integration and a revelation. I will introduce the main ideas in episodes 99 and 100. Then the fun begins. But to explain the title…
Definition of authentic (Taken from Merriam-Webster) 1 a: worthy of acceptance or belief as conforming to or based on fact paints an authentic picture of our society b: conforming to an original so as to reproduce essential features an authentic reproduction of a colonial farmhouse c: made or done the same way as an original authentic Mexican fare 2: not false or imitation: REAL, ACTUALan authentic cockney accent 3: true to one’s own personality, spirit, or character is sincere and authentic with no pretensions 4 aof a church mode : ranging upward from the keynote— compare PLAGAL sense 1 b…
This Episode started out examining the different kinds of shoulds. Some shoulds come from extrinsic sources like my dad telling me I needed to get a job and not study philosophy in college, or your church telling you not to be gay. Extrinsic shoulds can be pretty easy to identify because they are often things we rebel against, are mean, or are even evil. Intrinsic shoulds can be complicated. Some are good. We tell ourselves…
I’ve been talking a lot about how change is a FUNDAMENTAL ELEMENT OF LIFE. Biological entities have DNA which builds our bodies and defines our unique abilities and deficiencies. But more than that, DNA is the mechanism that perpetuates and propels species through TIME by allowing adaptation to changing environmental conditions. The universe is always changing and anything wishing to persist needs a way of dealing with those changes. Biological things, like humans, have DNA…
Last week I introduced a few examples of the Are vs. Should problem. One of the most obvious examples comes up when we think about our careers. When we’re young people ask us what we want to be when we grow up. As adults, many of us wonder what became of those childhood dreams when we find ourselves doing jobs we don’t like. And I’ll argue it’s because we listen more to our Shoulds than…
Many people try to define and argue about what a ‘self’ is, or even whether or not we have one. I’m not too worried about getting it right, but I do think it’s worthwhile to ponder the concept of self. Basically, it’s a ‘Who Am I’ question, or part of that thought process. Some people spend a lot of time on that question, others don’t understand why anyone would waste their time asking it. I…
In this Episode I tried to get at what our ‘soul’ is. I’m not sure I succeeded, but I think we all can agree that there’s a part of us that can’t really be identified. The soul is not our mind, it’s not our brain, it’s not our ‘self’ (whatever that is, see Episode 34 for my attempt at defining Self), it’s . . . something else. Sometimes I think the soul is real, other…
In hindsight the title of this Episode might not have been the best idea, but my intentions are good. Here I share with you some of my imperfections and struggles in hopes that you can relate. We are so good at beating ourselves up, but here I try to view my flaws with compassion and to be held accountable for my self improvement. Most of us are on some sort of journey toward becoming better…
Because I grew up without religion, I always thought faith was something you only had for religion things. Later I came to understand faith is something we have when we don’t have enough information. Or we don’t know the outcome, but we desire a certain outcome. Faith is believing. When I was becoming a scientist, I realized that faith even had a place in that world. Because science rarely proves anything, the people must decide…
Eliza Schuyler finally tells her husband’s story in Lin Manuel Miranda’s “Hamilton”. But we’ll never really know Hamilton’s story, because he isn’t around to tell it. And, really, did he even know his story? Do you know yours? Here I argue that it is an important goal of human life to understand who we are and why we do things. To ‘know thyself’ by the time we die. No one else can know us as…