Scientists Do Know Something About Imagination It is not quite accurate to say scientists have no idea what imagination is. Neuroscience has learned a great deal about how the brain constructs mental images, simulates actions, remembers experiences, and creates possible futures. What remains difficult is explaining the full subjective experience of imagination. We know something
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Questioning Is Part of Education If you really want to grow intellectually, you have to become willing to question what you believe. You have to question the status quo. You have to question the assumptions underneath the questions you are already asking. Sometimes education means going down the rabbit hole and following an idea farther
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A Ritual We Learned Before We Knew What Ritual Meant There is something millions of American children have done so many times that most of us probably never stopped to think about it. We stood up in school, faced the American flag, placed our right hand over our heart, and recited the Pledge of Allegiance
The Pledge of Allegiance: Tradition, Ritual, and the Meaning We Give It Read More »
The Belief That Helps Create Its Own Proof Sometimes we think a belief is just a private thought sitting quietly in our minds. We may assume it cannot do any harm unless we choose to act on it. Sociologist Robert K. Merton showed why that is not always true. He used the term self-fulfilling prophecy
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When the Mind Feels Divided There is something deeply uncomfortable about holding two opposing beliefs at the same time. Psychology has a name for that tension: cognitive dissonance. It happens when what you believe, what you value, and what you do do not line up cleanly. You may tell yourself that honesty matters while hiding
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The First Battle Is With Yourself Kendrick Lamar once expressed an idea that has stayed with many people: “Sometimes the greatest struggle is not you against the world, but you against yourself.” That may be one of the hardest truths a man ever has to learn. Every day, we wake up carrying habits, fears, desires,
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Stick With the Plan One of the most underrated skills you can learn is how to stop letting every mood decide what happens next. Some mornings you are going to wake up focused, energized, and ready to move. Other mornings you may question everything, including yourself. You may not feel motivated. You may not feel
Your Mood Is Information, Not Always Instructions Read More »
A Saying That Sounds Impossible There is a saying attributed to Yeshua that sounds almost impossible when you first hear it. In the Gospel of Thomas, he says that the dead are not alive, and the living will not die. Now obviously, every physical body eventually dies, so the saying cannot be understood simply as
The Bible and Beyond: What Does It Mean to Be Truly Alive? Read More »
The Mind Is Always Looking for Patterns Human beings have something close to a superpower, although I would not describe it as supernatural. Our brains are remarkably good at recognizing patterns, connections, repetitions, and changes in the world around us. That ability helped human beings survive long before we had laboratories, textbooks, or computers. We
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We Do Not Experience the World Raw Everything we call reality reaches us through a nervous system. Light enters the eyes. Sound reaches the ears. Pressure touches the skin. Chemical signals become taste and smell. Then the brain organizes all of that information into an experience that feels immediate and complete. We usually do not
What If Reality Is the Version Your Mind Knows How to Build? Read More »