Faith
What’s so terrible about death?
Its been said that nothing is certain apart from death and taxes. But with death, why do we often seek to deny and avoid it? After all, isn't it just part of the natural process?
An Instascam Christmas
Our carefully curated social media profiles rarely match up with our real lives. So why do we persist in presenting a cropped and edited version of ourselves? And what does this basic longing for acceptance say about us?
A Christmas thought experiment
You start off in a strange place with no memory of how you got there, surrounded by hundreds of people in the same situation. You end up understanding the significance of Christmas. Ready?
How I found hope in place of suicide
For years I’d only heard ‘no one likes you’, ‘you’re not good enough’, ‘you don’t belong here’. These seemed so obviously true to life I had thought that they were statements of fact. No amount of compliments or self-love could shift them. I needed something deeper.
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.
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.
Am I the captain of my soul?
I didn’t choose most of the circumstances in which my life has been shaped: my parents, my culture, my influences. How can it be truly said that ‘I am the captain of my soul’ when, in reality, I didn’t even choose to get in this boat?