Monthly Archives: June 2010
A Fictitious-Jesus Salawat
When a Muslim uses the name of Muhammad, they tag on the expression Alayhis salaam (“peace be upon him”). In written English, “Peace be upon him” is abbreviated “PBUH”. “PBUH” is thus a mandatory tagged-on honorific salutation called a “salwat“. … Continue reading
Filed under Atheism, Christianity, Islam, Religion
Contra Kilts
On Father’s Day, my family took me out Contra Dancing (a type of folk dance). We went with another family and had a great time. Some of the men there were dressed in kilts. After the dance my friends commented … Continue reading
Filed under Personal
Toy Story 3: Make-Believe
My 8-year-old daughter has a huge collection of little toy animals which she plays with daily. She has given each a name, a unique personality and its own voice. She can sit for hours and play with them all alone, … Continue reading
Filed under Cognitive Science
My Cognitive Narratives
We all have models or narratives which help us navigate our worlds. To aid in productive dialogue, it can be very useful to try and identify these models. This is an annotated indexes my major cognitive narratives posts. This is … Continue reading
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Filed under Philosophy
My Superstitious Personality
We are all superstitious. Evidence illustrates that superstitious thinking can even provide humans with some survival/reproductive benefits. This will be an index of my posts on superstition. Our Meal Prayer: “Itadakimasu”! My Atheist’s Shrine: My symbolic religious statues My Typical … Continue reading
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Filed under Religion
My Mystical Personality
I am an Atheist but I also have mystical inclinations. My guess is that most “Natural Atheists” (Atheists from birth — those who never really embraced religion as an adult) do not share many of my mystical inclinations. But also, … Continue reading
Hinduism was my Undoing
Months back, anticipating this post, I wrote about how we can deceive ourselves and create an inaccurate self-history when hypnotized by head-nod of others. As a personal example, over the months of writing this blog, I have realized how I unwittingly sacrificed the accuracy in my … Continue reading
Filed under Philosophy, Religion
Linguistics
I love language! This an index of posts concerning Linguistic and Language. My Language Blunders Language Faux Pas: Part I : German & Urdu mistakes Language Faux Pas: Part II : Jewish & Chinese mistakes Language Faux Pas: Part III : Japanese & … Continue reading
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Filed under Linquistics
Bias: A Must Read
Here is a fantastic, 23-page Visual Guide to Cognitive Biases ! It is written by the chap on the right: Martin Poulter. Martin has a Ph.D. in Philosophy and also writes this research blog: Bias & Belief. We all have … Continue reading
Filed under Philosophy
Non-Exclusive Christians
Over the last 2 years of blogging, I have learned much more about the variety of Christians that exist. Due to this learning, I have a post which considers “My Favorite Kind of Christian” which I constantly update. I am … Continue reading
Filed under Uncategorized
Taming the Monkey Mind
Ideas, thoughts and feelings jump around in our heads all day long — like a monkey in a tree. Sometimes we are conscious of them, other times not. Try sitting quietly in a room just counting each inhale and exhale … Continue reading
Filed under Buddhism, Hindu, Philosophy, Religion
The Lord’s Supper (Cannibalism)
From my collection of: Biblical Manipulations The Hebrew Scriptures forbids eating blood in unqualified terms! Below I list some of the verses illustrating this command. With this in mind, why would Christians celebrate drinking the blood and eating the body … Continue reading
Filed under Christianity
James for Jews
I am reading an interesting translation of the New Testament: “The Restored New Testament: A New Translation with Commentary, Including the Gnostic Gospels Tomas, Mary, and Judas.” by Willis Barnstone. I checked it out of my library to give it … Continue reading
Filed under Christianity
Matt 6:11 – Daily (?) Bread
See others: Bible Manipulations Ian, over at Irreducible Complexity, did a fantastic exploration showing how translations of Matt 6:11, the well-known Lord’s Prayer, has been manipulated. The RSV reads: “Give us this day our daily bread”. Here is the Greek … Continue reading
Filed under Christianity
Prayer Methods
Prayer is not prayer is not prayer. When someone says they are praying, we really have no idea what that person is doing in their heads. In Christianity, there are many forms of prayer. Below are just some — please … Continue reading
Filed under Buddhism, Christianity, Philosophy, Religion
The Ex-Lover Illusion
Our brains have receptor sites for morphine, nicotine, caffeine and marijuana. That is because these substances perform functions which our brains do naturally. Marijuana, for instance, helps us forget – and it appears that those receptor sites serve in our memory functions. … Continue reading
Filed under Cognitive Science, Philosophy
The Will to say “No”
Philosophers debate about “Free Will” — some say we have it, some say we don’t. Of course we intuitively feel we have it, but among the most fascinating altered states I have experienced have been several clear visceral insights into … Continue reading
Filed under Philosophy
Selfish Forgiveness
Forgiveness was something I valued greatly when I was a Christian. Forgiveness is a key principle in Christian theology and ethics. And though I have left Christianity, I still look back with fondness for what I learned of forgiveness … Continue reading
Filed under Philosophy
Autistic Souls
“Adam” is an excellent movie about the emotional life of a young man with Asperger syndrome (an Autism variant). The movie blessed me with a warm, joyful smile for almost an hour and a half. The ending is not what … Continue reading
Filed under Philosophy, Religion
My Atheist Buddhism
I was explaining my thoughts on something to a friend the other day when I said, “My Buddhist side would say …”. But my friend interrupted me saying, “What, are you Buddhist?” I answered saying, “Well, in many senses I … Continue reading
Filed under Buddhism, Philosophy
ha-Shem
The other night I watched “A Serious Man” (2009) by the Coen brothers. I did not really like the film but it did offer an informative cynical peek into American Judaism through Jewish eyes. I just want to share a … Continue reading
Filed under Judaism
God Slapped Them Down
Two of my friends clashed with Christianity this week. Sometimes when writing on this blog I write abstract essays so I feel an occasional concrete story may help anchor some of the essays. For that reason I have shared stories … Continue reading
Filed under Christianity, Events
