Building Consensus at the Level of Deep Motivation
Superficial consensus may create resentment. Deep consensus brings people closer to each other… … as well as to their own true motivation. Building consensus is about finding true motivations. What motivates people may be quite different from what they think to be deeply important to them. Much research points to this fact. For instance, at Read the full article…
Teen Spirit
An adolescent brain is not just an immature brain. There is a purpose: daring to experiment in an open quest for meaning. The term ‘adolescent,’ etymologically ‘one who is becoming an adult’ arguably puts the norm on adulthood: adolescence as a preparation for adult life, complexified by hormonal changes and an ongoing cognitive and emotional, Read the full article…
8. Erectile Disorders : Between Legs or Ears?
Between the legs. Between the ears. Between the blankets. The total picture is always important. We observe a swing motion in this. Nowadays the phrase ‘between the ears’ is not much appreciated. Twenty years ago this was different and within twenty years… well, who knows. But not now. However I know – just like every Read the full article…
7. Epilepsychic Reflections
Taking the mind-body unity into account leads to a more patient-friendly environment. State of affairs according to PubMed referenced literature: PNES-patients (Psychogenic Non-Epileptic Seizures) suffer seizures that resemble epilepsy but EEG does not show typical anomalies related to epilepsy. These people are believed to have psychic problems that cause these seizures. According to literature we Read the full article…
Is Empathy a Force of Evil?
Of course not. Still, some describe it this way. The main – but not all – disagreement is one of terminology. Terms matter. Concepts are important. See ‘Landscape of Empathy’. In that drawing, I’ve distinguished some related concepts. Others may put other terms to these concepts. Empathy devoid of rationality is impossible in my conceptualization, Read the full article…
Think Yourself Slim.
If you want a slim body, it’s better to start with a slim mind. You want to fully enjoy eating and you want to slim down… Of course, slim people eat too. They may even enjoy eating. They only don’t eat too much (calories), in the long run. So what is the real job if Read the full article…
You Are an Organism, Not a Mechanism.
The difference is relevant to every aspect of life. You are an organism, not a mechanism. Though this seems the most obvious insight, still we mostly act as if the reverse is true. Even the working of the brain used to be understood as some kind of hydraulic system with pressure valves and the like, Read the full article…
Body-Talk
Whether on stage or in love or in company or before a church or anywhere: the body speaks. Even more: it is heard. [DISCLAIMER: There are experts with far more expertise than me. My broad interest is where my audacity comes from.] The body is indeed heard. Thus, it’s important for you to also listen Read the full article…
Is ‘Open Religion’ the Future?
In a world replete with separate religions, that what overlaps-in-depth may show a way towards Open Religion. Being an adherent of one specific religion at the principled exclusion of others, is definitely not open. ‘Inter-religious dialogue’ is in many cases just a kindly disguised way to (non-)accept each other for some specific common goal. We Read the full article…
Monogamy?
You might not like this. Please bear with me until the end. I will repeat that this idea is not unconditionally applicable. About ‘mono’ in monogamy Is it merely about a one-on-one relationship at a superficial level? As in “Thy Shall not Covet Thy Neighbor’s Consort”? Or is it primarily about a deeper level, as Read the full article…
Against Aggression Against Terrorism
Aggressively fighting terrorism is putting fuel on terrorism. There are other ways. Relatively (!) seen, terrorism is not the biggest problem. Worldwide, there are 11.7K terrorism deaths per year – mostly in Africa, versus for instance 450K through homicide, 1.3M through traffic accidents, 184K through drinking sugary beverages… Of course, each premature death is one Read the full article…
The End of War
War is not inevitable. At some point in the future, there will be no war ever anymore. We can think about what is needed towards that. No war is worth it. Let’s be reasonable. However, an argument against pacifism is that it leads aggressive opponents to seek their chances on war or economic invasion. Right. Read the full article…
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…