“The business of philosophy is to teach man to live in uncertainty. Not to reassure him, but to upset him.” ~Lev Shestov A settled mindset is a trap. A trapped mind is a mind that believes rather than thinks. Inside the trap, the believing mind reinforces its beliefs through extreme bias, circular reasoning, lack of imagination, and cognitive dissonance. And then it creates ideologies divorced from reality to reinforce it all. The only way out of the trap is to upset the sett

“Reason is a choice. Wishes and whims are not facts, nor are they means toward discovering them. Reason is our only way to grasp reality. We are free to avoid the effort of thinking, to reject thinking, to reject reason, but we are not free to avoid the penalty of the abyss we refuse to see.” ~Terry Goodkind Everyone talks a big game about being openminded and flexible in their thinking. But when it comes down to it, how often do we avoid the effort of thinking and simply rel

“We abuse the land because we see it as a commodity belonging to us. When we see the land as a community to which we belong, we may begin to use it with love and respect.” ~Aldo Leopold If, as Krishnamurti said, “It’s no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society,” then it stands to reason that remaining “well adjusted” has kept us in a perpetual state of ecocide. Our society poisons the air it breathes, the water it drinks, and the food it eats. And t

“Tradition becomes our security, and when the mind is secure it is in decay.” ~Jiddu Krishnamurti We do not need rulers because we can rule ourselves. We do not need masters because we can master ourselves. We do not need A God because everything is already God. Problems arise when we allow others to rule us or other people. Problems arise when we allow others to master us or other people. Problems arise when we allow others to dictate God to us or to other people. What probl

“Nurtured in freedom and taking their time, there is something dreadfully uncanny about philosophers, something either monstrous or godlike, or, indeed, both at once.” ~Simon Critchley In a world weighed down with status-quo sycophants, partisan puppets, and one-right-way zealots, we need more people who think critically, reasonably, and skeptically. We need more people who can entertain a belief without clinging to it. We need more people who think for themselves rather than