Particle-arities
Talking about ‘things’ may make something look like a ‘thing’. Does that make a ‘fundamental particle’ a ‘thing’? [This is an ‘Ultimates’ text. Please, don’t take it at face value.] Mind-games forever I’m just a curious guy, I guess, who sometimes as a hobby likes to think about different ‘things’ in different ways… as a Read the full article…
Burnout Prevention: Burning Efficiently
It’s a question of gears: driving in a gear too high makes you spend a lot of energy in an inefficient way. Moreover, your engine may get into a burnout. That’s even an original meaning of the word ‘burnout’ itself: an engine gets into too high a gear and starts to smoke. It literally burns Read the full article…
Islamic Veil
This is an example of a broader issue. There is nothing intrinsically particular to Islam nor to the veil, besides being a kind-of-religion and a kind-of-piece of cloth. Open Religion I see a huge difference between nonconceptual re-ligion (‘Open Religion’) and any conceptual ‘god-view’ called religion where openness, depth… are barely understood. For more about Read the full article…
There is Still a Dire Need for More Empathy in Leadership
Good leadership is mostly defined as empathic, yet we frequently end up with a non-empathic, ‘coercive’ one. May this be related to ignoring the unconscious? Although a lot of science proves the importance of the unconscious, to many it is ‘the alien inside’, which provokes anxiety when there is even a possibility to have to Read the full article…
How to Become a Strongly Empathic Leader
Empathy gets wrongly confused with weakness. What we need is strong empathy. Empathy can be defined as understanding and sharing another person’s feelings and emotions, accompanied by a desire for action and while not canceling your own personality. It comes frequently together with integrity, authenticity and humility. Empathy is not a weakness. To constantly take into Read the full article…
How to Prevent Your Next Heart Attack – Using Your Mind.
This piece of ‘reverse causality’ might save the lives of millions… including yours. In the US, there are 8 million visits to Emergency Departments for chest pain yearly, while +/- 1.200.000 people have a heart attack, of which 40% end in death. May a mental procedure alleviate much of this suffering? And may it save Read the full article…
From Discussion to Conversation
This is not obvious to many people. Thereby they get into needless difficulties, trying to ‘win’ alone instead of to gain insight together. This is about people talking about some meaningful issue in a domain they both hold dear. Eventually of course, it can be any domain. A (converging) conversation is a being together, talking Read the full article…
Real Goals Point Towards Deepest Motivation.
Goals that really motivate are seldom those that readily come up when asked. Going deep, you may encounter the ones that energize you. There is no motivation but inner motivation. The inner in this phrase is the region deep inside your mind where ‘everything is formless’. If you could go there in your imagination, you Read the full article…
The Difference between Being Alone and Being Lonely
Being (= feeling) lonely is as much related to you as to your situation. Most of all, it is about a meaningful relationship with yourself. A person can be very alone, yet not feel lonely – and a person can feel very lonely, yet not be alone. The fact that this is possible, means that Read the full article…
Is Man Morally Makeable?
Is Man Morally Makeable? IF there is a moral standard, can man be made to approach it? For instance, can one be made into a ‘good leader’? [Man or woman. I just love the alliteration.] For many centuries of course, this has been a main goal of education: to make humans into ‘better humans’. This Read the full article…
Science = Re-ligion
Science is frequently seen as partly or even completely opposite to religion. In the sense of re-ligion however, things get reversed. Science is the quest to know the universe as it is and not as someone of a few centuries or even millennia ago has imagined it. Back then, almost nothing was known on many Read the full article…
Spirituality
In all times, spirituality has been about how people consciously deal with their own non-conscious mind. Has the endeavor been worthwhile and may it lead to a new dawn? Spirit = internal: the way of using one’s mind without immediate crystallizations of ‘thinking’ into ‘thoughts’ – thus: what happens in the mind before conceptualization. Scientifically, Read the full article…
6. Miracoli!
Every miracle cure is an ordinary healing. And each ordinary healing is a miracle. We are living in quite rational times… For example: exorcisms, magic needles, holy healing water, unholy healing water, healing magnets, hypnocus pocus, etc. And, why not, also miracle healings. And even an infallible pope who ‘saw that it was good’. Why Read the full article…
5. Homeopathy : the Hangover from Water
Of course ‘it’ works. Of course ‘it’ is a just a placebo: the patient as medicine. “I can feel it working. Do I need more evidence?…” In essence homeopathy does not appear to be rational (does water work???), however this barely influences the Average Joe. He seeks legitimacy elsewhere. It is recommended by insurance companies. Read the full article…
4. The Final Transition
The symbolic level of palliative care is always of utmost importance. People have the tendency to avoid thinking about death, making it into something strange or even scary… Then we try to ignore it even more, hence it becomes even scarier. However, life without integrating mortality is incomplete. As death draws closer, we look Read the full article…
How to Take Your Painkiller – Mindfully
The placebo effect of painkillers is high. Moreover, you can enhance it for yourself. Note that a psychological effect is of course as real as any other! The placebo effect of painkillers generally amounts to half the experienced effect. Thus of the diminishment in pain, half is pharmacological, half psychological. This is true for an Read the full article…
The Present Moment Is Meditation
The ‘power of now’ is about a state of mind, not about any specific place or time. To live in the ‘here and now’ is looked upon as positive to meditation. Focusing on the ‘here and now’ helps towards not letting the mind go astray in the wherever, whenever – not letting the mind wander Read the full article…