09 Jun 2017

Others
I ran across a reference yesterday to the “group mind” phenomenon documented by Thomas D. Steeley in his decades-long study of honey bees. Having no particular interest in honey bees but a long-standing interest in the potential power of group consciousness, I bought a “Kindle Shorts” version of one of his books to see if it might help me understand his findings. Seeley, Thomas D.. Th...
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06 Jun 2017

Ethics Project
In an earlier post I briefly reviewed the ideas of Immanuel Kant, particularly his notion of the Categorical Imperative. Kant’s “Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals”, in which the Categorical Imperative was first proposed, was published in 1785. Roger Scruton, writing about Kant, has said: “The Critique of Pure Reason (published in 1781, 4 years before The Metaphysics of Morals...
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01 Jun 2017

Ethics Project, Judaic Topics
As I write this, the Jewish Festival of Shavuot is about to begin. The Festival is rooted in a celebration of the springtime grain harvest but has also become the time Jews recall and commemorate the giving of the Torah at Mt. Sinai. It is customary to read the Book of Ruth during synagogue services on Shavuot. The custom is an old one, being mentioned in a non-canonical Talmudic work...
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24 May 2017

Direct Path Project, Others
Several influential contemporary spiritual teachers including Ken Wilber, Eckhart Tolle, Deepak Chopra and others have commented on the increasing numbers of individuals around the world who are experiencing rapid evolution in consciousness. Their language might be somewhat different in describi9ng the phenomenon but their fundamental point is the same. We are at or near a “tipping po...
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19 May 2017

Ethics Project, Judaic Topics
Parashat Behar contains the commandment of the jubilee year introduced, famously, with the verse inscribed on the Liberty Bell. ¹⁰ And you shall hallow the fiftieth year and you shall proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you: you shall return, every one of you, to your property and every one of you to your family... ¹³ In this year of ...
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12 May 2017

Ethics Project
In our first post on the subject of intention in Islam we discussed the “Hadith of Intention”: which is stated in its short form as: “Verily actions are by intention and for every person is what he intended.” The word translated as “intention”, is niyyah. It’s important that we understand clearly what that term means in the context used in the hadith. Here are three comments on ...
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10 May 2017

Ethics Project
The issue of intention is central to the study of ethics. Differences among religions, philosophies and ethical systems on the issue of intention are critical to understanding their similarities and their distinctions. I did not expect to address the issue of intention in Islam at this point, feeling much better equipped to address both Jewish and Christian approaches, but I encounter...
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28 Apr 2017

Ethics Project
The subject of this comment is out of order but it’s one that has been on my mind this week so I’ll interrupt the planned flow of posts on the Ethic of Three Metals to make a point. Kant suggests (in loose paraphrase) that we judge all our actions against his proposed standard: is this action expressive of a principle that I would have universally applied in all times, places and situ...
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26 Apr 2017

Direct Path Project, Ethics Project
In an earlier post (See below, "The Ethic of Three Metals; February 22 2017), I cited the Platinum Rule as formulated by the philosopher Karl K. Popper in his book “The Open Society and Its Enemies”. Popper’s reference was somewhat offhand, embedded in the making of a larger point on standards of behavior: “But although we have no criterion of absolute rightness, we certainly can m...
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24 Apr 2017

Ethics Project
What does it mean to restrict the definition of "doing" to acts in the physical realm? Doing clearly includes direct physical action with the intent to affect another. The example cited previously of giving food to the hungry person is direct physical action. How about telling the hungry person where he can get food? Yes, I think the telling is also a doing. If directly communic...
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