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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21 Apr 2017

Direct Path Project, Ethics Project
In my post of March 1 on the issue of commanded love I noted that some have identified the Ethic of Reciprocity as actually being: “And you shall love your neighbor as yourself.” I emphasize being as opposed to, say, proceeding from. And the question of the identification of that (seeming) command as being the Ethic is as opposed to the Ethic being: “Do unto others as you wou...
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20 Apr 2017

Judaic Topics
On the Shabbat that falls within the Festival of Passover it is customary to read a portion of biblical text from the book of Exodus; Chapter 33 verse 12 through Chapter 34 verse 26. Its general connection to the holiday is clear: it contains specific mention of and commandments related to Passover. But it also contains an interesting textual anomaly. The initial letter nun in 34:7...
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