It may seem strange to include a post on mathematics on a web site about atheism and spirituality. But questions about the nature of mathematics inform our view of the natural world and our place in it. There are many… Read more ›
To most of us, friendship is valuable. It brings help and joy, endorses our identity, accepts our behaviour, shares our self back with us, and says we are OK. Or tells us when we’re not. It is a mutual mapping… Read more ›
Language normally conveys our meanings. It is our servant. But there are times when it lets us down, and misrepresents our intended meaning. So called ‘false friends’, words which are very similar between two languages but which actually have different… Read more ›
Formerly considered a classic virtue and a hallmark of spirituality, humility gets little press these days. On the contrary, we value assertive behaviour. Self respect and self belief are important to us. We boost our confidence and promote our potential.… Read more ›
‘The love of money is the root of all evil’ Paul’s letter to Timothy in The Bible In our modern society, money plays a major role, not only in the economy, but also in defining people. We are poor or… Read more ›
We seem to have immense faith in markets. We even commonly describe them as ‘free’ markets, implying that markets, and the overall idea of market, are essential to human freedom. We debate how far to allow ‘the market’ to manage… Read more ›
Modernity The Enlightenment of the 17th and 18th centuries was a major ‘paradigm shift’. It defined the ‘Age of Reason’ which was implemented as modernity. Now humanity understood the logic of cause and effect. No longer was some capricious divinity… Read more ›
The Enlightenment led to a new human capability to understand and harness scientific processes and then to re-configure, engineer and apply them in technology. This was a huge acceleration in a very long term process. Without some technology, we would… Read more ›
We don’t ever live entirely alone, but always in some relationship with others. Some of our relationships are close, some more distant, and in some cases we might only know about someone, rather than knowing them ourselves. Our relationships can… Read more ›
When we think of cruelty, we usually think of extreme cruelty. But cruelty is more subtle and pervasive in human behaviour. Kathleen Taylor in her book `Cruelty – Human Evil and the Human Brain’ defines cruelty as `unjustified voluntary behaviour… Read more ›
The Christian religion makes much of its doctrine of the Trinity. So much so that the Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church defines it as ‘the central dogma of Christian theology’. This is despite the fact that the word ‘trinity’… Read more ›
Perhaps cynicism is sometimes necessary. Perhaps we are unwise to trust, to believe, to have positive expectation, to hope, to take things at face value. Perhaps the truth is negative, and what we are told is untrue, what is presented… Read more ›
Stephan Hoeller’s book ‘Gnosticism – New Light on the Ancient Tradition of Inner Knowing’ is a very readable, interesting and comprehensive account of the content and history of Gnosticism. It is also very relevant to the contemporary renewed focus on… Read more ›
By André Comte-Sponville, originally published as ‘Quelle spiritualité en 2050 ?’ in Le Monde des Religions, September – October 2012 In 2050, I will be 98 years old. That’s to say, in all likelihood, that I will no longer be.… Read more ›
For some considerable time now, we’ve seen a strong and at times fierce, divide between religion and atheism in UK society. Gladiators from both sides have slugged it out in public debate ; adverts have been posted on London buses… Read more ›
Myths, or epic stories, have been traditionally important in human society. They reflect a shared concern for values. They address moral dilemmas. They celebrate virtue and hope, and they counsel against vice and despair. The American philosopher Joseph Campbell wrote… Read more ›
The way we rate people says a lot about the spirit of our society. Today we have a very strong tendency to rate people according to their fame, their wealth, their media presence. We are fascinated by superstar status. We… Read more ›
