55. Making medicine 80% cheaper? No problem
Health is money (and vice versa). At least, that seems to be the message if you read the world in a pharmaceutical company’s handbook. The problem is that money is to many people still a rather scarce commodity. In the US, 30% of personal bankruptcies are due to the out-of-own-pocket costs of medical care. In Read the full article…
54. This is madness!
I have to confess. I have spent 2 years in psychiatric hospitals… in acute care (acute delirium, psychosis etc.) as well as in long-term psychiatric wards (chronic schizophrenia, dementia…). I have direct experience in how it is to be there, the ups and downs, the longings, the treatments. All of it. ◊◊◊ If you haven’t Read the full article…
53. To ‘carry on’ is what makes us human
“The task is almost impossible and we surely face a certain death… So what are we waiting for?” It’s a phrase that has a curious ring for me. It’s morbid for sure, but it’s heroic at the same time. It’s the stuff that leads to legendary performance. It’s what makes the true artist leap beyond Read the full article…
52. Is getting sunburned a genetic disease?
I bet you haven’t yet thought of sunburn as a genetic disease or condition. At the same time, it’s probably obvious to you that a skin type that is more prone to sunburn has everything to do with genetics. The daughter of a red-haired, fair-skinned person has a genetically determined higher chance to be red-haired, Read the full article…
51. Jesus! What do you think of all these stigmata?
“I have it in the palm of my hand… I used to have not the least sign of a wound. Then the lord Jesus came to me and blessed me with these signs of His own passion. Now I have the same signs as He had after being nailed on the cross.” ◊◊◊ What should Read the full article…
50. Placebo: I will please… whom?
Let’s journey a bit on the well-known placebo-effect: getting better from medication until you discover it’s a sugar pill or otherwise doesn’t work in itself. You have probably heard of it. But do you think it’s far from you sickbed? Think again! There’s no medication coming on the market unless it’s been scientifically compared to Read the full article…
49. Mind and body: no strangers, Sir, no strangers at all
Even to this day, to many -most?- people, mind and body seem to be very much NOT profoundly connected to each other. Mind being unphysical and ‘volatile’, body being only physical and very, very concrete. So how can the unphysical influence the physical? ◊◊◊ That’s the question. And what an incredibly weird question it is! Read the full article…
Deciding Together, a Leader Gains Responsibility
When the decision has informally been made, the leader says what will be done. At least, this is the preferred scenario of Open Leadership. Taking a decision together with others. Being able to really listen to another person. Empathy is an art. What do others want and what do they really want? The latter may Read the full article…
Are You Your Brain?
There is no simple answer to this question – but there is a very interesting one. Take the Mona Lisa by Leonardo Da Vinci. Let’s agree this is art. Now set it on fire. What remains are ashes. Yet nothing materially has vanished. The same atoms are present as there were in the Mona Lisa. Read the full article…
Is God Conscious?
If God, then: it would be unimaginable for him to not be conscious. However, it would also be unimaginable for him to be conscious. What with a nonconscious God? We humans generally associate ‘free will’ with the presence of consciousness. A person without any consciousness at all would be in deep sleep or in a Read the full article…
Lady Justice’s Blindfold
Will in the future all criminals be seen as in need of coaching rather than punishment? Lady Justice, also known as Themis in ancient Greece As a goddess, she didn’t need a blindfold. She could see everything anyway. Themis also didn’t have a sword (of punishment). Both were added in the 15th century. The blindfold Read the full article…
48. Is hypnosis more than reading a good book?
Have you ever been under hypnosis? Have you ever read a very good book? If your answer is ‘yes’ to both questions, then think back of both experiences. They have a lot in common… I dare even say that they are principally of the same nature. ◊◊◊ There is no clear definition of hypnosis, neither Read the full article…
47. Are alternative medicines ‘alternative’?
In this age of rationalism and self-declared enlightenment, ‘alternative medicines’ (AMs) are seen by most adepts of ‘non-alternative medicine’ (NAM) as those kinds of medicine that are not based upon precious science, in contrast to NAM. And that is indeed very true. If something from an AM or even a complete AM can be scientifically Read the full article…
46. Is there life beyond conceptual thinking?
Here’s the picture. On the one hand, we think with or by way of concepts. A concept can be anything like <tree>, <grandmother>, <character>. It is not ‘this tree’ but <tree>. The concept of <tree> can be filled in by any specific tree (called then an ‘instance’ of the concept). The concept of ‘tree’ has Read the full article…
45. We all heal of cancer on a daily basis
In a simplistic view upon cancer, everything is very straightforward: there is a cell in your body that degenerates into a cancer cell and starts to multiply very quickly. Indeed, much more quickly than all its healthy sister cells. At first, this passes unnoticed of course but in due time, the growth is discernible and Read the full article…
44. Puberty: the time for respect
Children in their puberty ask (in many cases very loudly) for respect, although they can have a huge difficulty in giving it themselves. The voice of protest is never far away… and I think they are essentially right. I also think that to become a grown-up in a profound way means to keep one’s own Read the full article…
43. Why people cry
People cry because they are sad. People also cry because they are happy, sometimes. Do you know this first-hand? I do. Actually, I haven’t cried out of sadness for many years. But I do cry sometimes out of happiness. Am I therefore just a very lucky fellow, or just a very weirdo? I don’t know Read the full article…