Benützer: philosopher8 |
Live Call From Right-Winger I have noted that people who support right wing ideas are often mistaken about what they are supporting. Also, their "picture" of the facts is generally wrong. (Of course, there is always the possibility that one's own "picture" of the facts is wrong.) The best way to clear up false "pictures" is for people from either side of the divide to talk to each other. Here is an example of two fair-minded people doing just that. Tags: right wing government politics unity |
Benützer: philosopher8 |
Disassociation Dear John, Many observers, noting a lack of a moral response to the horrors of the Iraq war, assume Americans are morally deficient. This is wrong. It is not that Americans lack moral feelings but that they have disassociated from them in order to avoid feeling the painful dissonance between what they believe about their nation and the truth of what it is doing. Unfortunately, their disassociation is allowing the evil to continue because in order to overcome evil, it first has to be named. Tags: philosophy politics religion and psychology |
Benützer: philosopher8 |
A Belief is Not a Belief System Dear John, I have noticed that conservatives sometimes respond to challenges by claiming their belief system is being attacked. A belief system is not something one believes but a conceptual construct that organizes and interprets experience. Liberals are tolerating fraudulence and empowering ignorance thinking they are supporting diversity. Tags: philosophy politics culture and psychology |
Benützer: philosopher8 |
Flying Saucer.... Dear John, Religious people in your country are wrong in many ways. The drama of life is never a simple struggle between belief and unbelief because there is also such a thing as false belief. Nothing is more destructive of truth and goodness than false belief. Indeed, it was false belief that led many American Christians to support an illegal, immoral, and thoroughly unchristian war on the Iraqi people. Tags: philosophy politics religion and psychology |
Benützer: philosopher8 |
Inner Light.... Dear John, Humans must learn the art of inner awareness. You see, each human has the inner light of truth in them. When they recognize truth in a text or a person, it is the inner light of truth that does the recognizing. But they also have in them the shadow of ego, the stumbling blocks of pride, and the deep black hole of delusion. To add to the complexity, these shadings of darkness can fake luminosity.... Tags: philosophy politics religion and psychology |
Benützer: philosopher8 |
Empathy.... Dear John, I have discovered that a capacity for empathy is hard-wired into humans. This means they are designed for goodness and effective moral choices. The only trouble is that political and religious ideology can be used to override natural empathy. Humans then can be led to hate, kill, and destroy in the name of God. Tags: philosophy politics religion and psychology |
Benützer: philosopher8 |
Swarming Behavior.... Dear John, Even though the entire thrust of human evolution is towards greater freedom, individuation, and moral autonomy, the swarm response (in which humans cease to think independently and simply follow the leader) can be triggered in them by fear. This is what happened after 9/11/.... Tags: philosophy politics religion and psychology |
Benützer: philosopher8 |
Colonizing American Minds.... Dear John, Your minds are being colonized by economic, political, and religious special interests. The technique is to manipulate your most fundamental assumptions (the ones that operate beneath the threshold of your conscious awareness to "filter" your perceptions) so that you "see" the world in a certain way. Tags: philosophy politics religion and psychology |
Benützer: philosopher8 |
Cowboys and Vampires.... Dear John, Please help us clarify....Given that Americans are no longer like cowboys, are they now more like zombies...or vampires? Tags: philosophy politics religion and culture |