Another scandal (if that is the appropriate word) has occurred in the philosophy community with a high-profile male academic being reported for sexual misconduct. And my heart sinks when I see these articles – I can barely read them because it feels so sordid to hear the details of people’s lives when this type of behavior is exposed. But the main reason it is so difficult for me is that it is so far removed from my experience with older men – and I know how healing it can be for a young woman to be given attention from an older, high status male. I find myself saying “but young women like older men. We like them paying attention to us!” (although the attention I refer to is not in line with
It occurred to me why I want to explore the interface between science and religion – why I want to explore our thirst to understand the world coupled with our desire for the transcendental. It is this interface that results in the conflict we have between our knowledge about reality, and how we intuitively feel ourselves to be situated within reality. More formally, our third-person understanding of the world conflicts with our first-person experience. This results in a wound – a void once filled by superstition. And this crack in our armor means we are never truly at peace with ourselves – there is a deep schism in our psyches. It is this schism that gives rise to my illness. But it is als
The birds just started squawking outside, cockatoos or galahs. And I know it’s because I have used a tabloid title – lowering my standards to that of the Murdoch press. No, I’m not talking about crazy voices. It’s not crazy to seek – or sit quietly – and hope to hear a voice from within. Often it murmurs, not even in words, but if we are calm it is a feeling we get. And I’m reminded of Dante at the beginning of the Inferno when he finds himself in a dark forest. It is in mid-life that we are called to assess our progress and direction, to reflect on the previous decades. I must say, though, I’m not ‘normal’ in this regard. I never followed the path I was meant to – by the standards of societ
