Gambling’s dark underbelly
Problem gambling in Australia and New Zealand is an issue seldom talked about, but we ignore it at our peril.
“Teach us to pray!”
Many people know the Lord’s Prayer, having learned it from a parent or grandparent. But few know that it was given as a response to the disciples’ request for Jesus to teach them how to pray.
Managing screen time
Are you tired of feeling guilty for letting your kid play with an iPad or watch a show on Netflix? Perhaps you’re worried about the impact screen time has on them.
Why much of what we know about ourselves is false
Two groups of participants in an experiment received a set of eight questions similar to those found in IQ tests.[1] One of the groups was provided with the correct answers, which they could use to calculate their final score. Thus, for them, the conditions for cheating were favourable, and the test results showed that the members of this group obtained, on average, a...
The eternal illusion of the fundamental secret
One of the mind’s most pleasant and, at the same time, most tormenting occupations is to dream of a better life. How many times have we tried to generate a change for the better by means of a new purchase, new friends, new house, new job, new relationship or other ideas for a fresh start?
How much do the origins of our errors in judgement matter?
An article in the New Yorker[1] explains why we tend to not change our convictions, not even when faced with contrary evidence.
The discovery of our century: t = t
"There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens" (Ecclesiastes 3:1).
The Kiss of Judah | What remains after trust has been betrayed?
The first time Judas's kiss was heard was in the Garden of Gethsemane. However, its echo is repeated whenever the trust of an unsuspecting soul is betrayed. Betrayal, especially when it wears the mask of faith, tears apart the moral fabric of those who are wounded by it.
Why it’s important to have New Year’s resolutions
New Year’s resolutions are beneficial, according to experts at the Sacramento State University, who found that this method is 10 times more effective for successfully meeting goals over a longer period of time than the method chosen by those who decide to change certain aspects of their lives at another time of the year.
Solidarity: a key to human vulnerability
Natural disasters, financial crises, pandemics, wars and social unrest—each striking society in increasingly rapid succession—serve as stark reminders of our vulnerability.
Ice cemeteries: A market for resurrection, from metaphysics to physics
"Most of us now living have a chance for personal, physical immortality." This is the sentence French biologist and philosopher Jean Rostand (son of the writer Edmond de Rostand) used to begin the preface of a book on cryonics, The Prospect of Immortality, by the physics professor and science fiction writer Robert C. W. Ettinger.
The meaning you find on your way back
In Western tradition, starting with Thales of Miletus, philosophers have always sought answers to questions that transcend the material, tangible world. One of the most burning questions that has lasted for centuries and has troubled many enlightened minds is the dilemma of the meaning of life.
A plea for leisure
"What is this life if, full of care, / We have no time to stand and stare." — from the poem "Leisure" by William H. Davies.
COVID-19: The pandemic that transforms us into different people
In Europe, one in twenty people suffer from depression, and one in four will experience depression during their lifetime. In the United States, major depressive disorder affects about five percent of the population.
Aurelius Augustine
Aurelius Augustine (354-430) is known for the stirring Christian experience he described in his Confessions and for the seminal theological thought that has shaped theology to this day.