All Articles
Does science require faith?
When physicists heard the sound of two black holes merging over a billion years ago, humanity cheered. Our response to that cosmic tug is evident everywhere, and emotional investment in scientific discovery is just one flavour. Whether deliberately or subconsciously, the human spirit reveals itself in pursuit of intangible rewards.
An eye for an eye, unless it’s mine
Justice isn't always so appealing-namely, when you’re on the receiving end of it. But why are we prone to such a double standard? Perhaps it has something to do with the way we choose to take responsibility for our actions.
Conversations and cringing embarrassment
Embarrassment begets embarrassment, and because embarrassment is infectious, it pulls a veil over the important conversations in life.
What’s wrong with the world? I am
On a near daily basis, we find ourselves confronted with news of violence, conflict, suffering and death on a global scale. We’ve seen bombings in Brussels, shootings in Paris, car bombs in Ankara and countless atrocities across the Middle East and Africa. I find myself only half-digesting the facts of one horrific act, when, before long, news emerges of some other tragic loss of life in another part of the world....and so, we are faced with the great unsaid question: ‘What will fix it?
The sweetness of a sugar-free Easter
The word ‘addict’ may seem extreme, but there is no denying it: I was completely dependent on sugar. I couldn’t go a single day without consuming the stuff. This was partly chemical...but also, as I gradually came to realise, something much deeper.
The Trump inside all of us
If we are interested in the truth, especially where we already have strong opinions, we have to be more skeptical than our feelings prompt us to be. But the fact is that it’s very difficult to question the things we take for granted...It's here that we are in danger of becoming another Donald Trump.
Beauty betrays eternity
What is that phenomenon we call ‘beauty’ and why does it lie at the core of both collective civilisation and individual desire, even as we value it precisely for existing outside of practicality?
Why are we so addicted to work?
For some of us, success has become part of our identity. We have constructed a narrative about ourselves—which others have reinforced to us—that says: ‘You must be successful. You must be an achiever’. We feel a pressure to conform or live up to this identity...But if we don’t want to base our identity on what we do, what are the alternatives?
Kurt Cobain and the problem of guilt
While Cobain and Augustine both end up famous and well-regarded in their respective fields of philosophical musing—one in music and the other in writing—somewhere along the way one experiences a tragic hopelessness leading to despair and suicide, while the other encounters life-changing hope and a new start. And what made the difference?