A member of an online community I co-host described a Match.com exchange in which her prospective date, upon finding she was only partially vaccinated, wished her death—the sooner the better. It was one of many similar, she said. Now it is probably a good idea to eliminate from the dating pool people who disagree with […]
Divide, Conquer; Unite, Heal Read More »
The first principle of non-violent action is that of non-cooperation with everything humiliating.– Mohandas K. Gandhi I once read an account of bullying in rural America in the early 20th century. The narrator said, “If a victim did not stand up to them, there was no limit to how far the bullies would go.” He
A Path Will Rise to Meet Us Read More »
I want to share with you a gorgeous rendering of my allegory A Gathering of the Tribe in the form of a 9-minute film conceived by Aubrey Marcus, with animation by Aldous Massie and original score by Jon Hopkins. I narrated the piece, though not quite on purpose—it was part of the podcast last spring with Aubrey.
A Gathering of the Tribe Read More »
Guest post by Darth Sidious Thank you for this opportunity to set the record straight. I don’t expect everyone to believe my alternative account of the events chronicled in the Star Wars films, since it runs so contrary to everything you think you know. I can offer you no proof that my version is correct;
The True Story of the Sith Read More »
Last week I spent the Thanksgiving holiday with some members of my extended family. My brother, sister, and their spouses; nieces and nephews, my father, two of my grown sons, my ex-wife and her husband—14 adults in all—gathered around the table. Despite (or perhaps because of) the passing last year of my mother, the clan
Heute scheint sich die westliche Welt, allen voran die Vereinigten Staaten, inmitten einer klassischen Girard’schen Opferkrise zu befinden. Einst verlässliche soziale Institutionen zerbröckeln. Die Öffentlichkeit verliert das Vertrauen in ihre politischen, finanziellen, rechtlichen und medizinischen Autoritäten. Die neue Generation ist ärmer und kränker als die letzte. Nur wenige, egal welcher politischen Überzeugung, glauben, dass die
FASCHISMUS UND DAS ANTIFESTIVAL Read More »
Wir leben ein Doppelleben, zivilisiert in wissenschaftlichen und technischen Dingen, wild und primitiv in den Dingen der Seele. Dass wir uns nicht mehr bewusst sind, primitiv zu sein, macht unsere gezähmte Wildheit umso gefährlicher. – Hans von Hentig Die natürliche Ordnung gerät aus den Fugen. Seuchen, Überschwemmungen, Dürreperioden, politische Unruhen, Krawalle und Wirtschaftskrisen folgen eine
Das Fest ist tot, es lebe das Fest Read More »
Die Überwindung der erlösenden Gewalt Diese Essayreihe soll einen Weg aufzeigen, das alte Muster zu überwinden, bei dem die Gesellschaft ihre Wut, Ängste und Rivalitäten an einer entmenschlichten Opfergruppe entlädt. René Girard nennt dieses Muster opferkultische Gewalt. Diese unterschwellige Kraft wächst in Zeiten sozialer Spannungen, wie während einer Wirtschaftskrise, Hungersnot, Epidemie oder bei politischen Unruhen.
Die Erde als Tempel Read More »
Psychiatrist Norman Doidge, MD, has recently published a long, four-part article entitled Needle Points, in which he examines vaccine skepticism in America. The author, who got vaccinated “early and voluntarily,” is solidly pro-vaccine, yet he displays what is in these divisive times an unusual willingness to see the issue from the perspective of those with whom he
Elements of Refusal Read More »
Republishing from last year, for obvious reasons A few years ago at a retreat I was outlining the dark side of the triumphalist mythology of progress. A man raised his hand and shared the following story. “When I was a boy in the early 1960s,” he said, “my father took me aside one day and
The America that Almost Was and Yet May Be Read More »
