On the social value of weird animals
Not the weirdest in the sea, perhaps, but pretty weird nonetheless: Murray’s abyssal anglerfish, Melanocetus murrayi. Source: Wikimedia Commons My Dear Alert Readers, thank you for being so very alert. I am but a small soul adrift in cyberspace, and cyberspace is big. I cannot even for a moment achieve anything close to a global [...]
A creature so obviously in pain
Image source: www.myflyingdoggies.com Thеrе іѕ nοt аn animal that lives οn the earth, nοr a being that flies οn іtѕ wings, but forms раrt οf communities lіkе уοu… аnd in the end they shall all bе gathered tο their Lord. – Qur’an 6.38 We here at psnt.net have become aware of a story which must [...]
HHDL on Buddhadharma and science
HHDL speaking during his 2007 visit to Emory University. Photo by Brett Weinstein For an hour on Monday I sat within about 3 meters of greatness. I’m hoping some of it rubbed off. It was thrilling to be with Tenzin Gyatso, known also as His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama, and listen to him talk [...]
Singular Saturn
Those of you who like to figure things out, figure this out. What in the world? We’ll give you a hint: This is a single undoctored image of a portion of Saturn and its rings. Beyond that, it’s up to you to correctly visualize what’s happening here. Click on the image for a high-resolution version [...]
Atheism: probably not for sad people
Amedeo Modigliani (1884-1920), Portrait of a Polish Woman, 1919. The Polish woman is beautiful. The Polish woman is sad. Is the Polish woman an atheist? Image source: arthistory.about.com I’m sick and tired of thinking about atheism, so this is my last post on that topic for a while. I promise. I just need to say this. [...]
What we have here is a failure to disbelieve
This jolly fellow is Maximus the Confessor (c. 580-662), a Christian monk, theologian, and scholar. He was the first to write serious commentaries on the work of Pseudo-Dionysius, who himself (whoever he was) was perhaps the first true advocate of what has come to be called negative, or apophatic, theology. In negative theology, one builds [...]
Imagine there’s no heaven
Gustave Doré, Rosa Celeste: Dante and Beatrice gaze upon the Empyrean, 1892. The big red X is of 21st century provenance. Source: Wikimedia Commons What makes a Christian, a Christian? More precisely: Must one believe in heaven to be a Christian? A few days ago, I wrote an opinion piece for Religion Dispatches. In this [...]
Om mani padme hum, y’all: HHDL visits Atlanta
Karmym, Open Hearted (2009). Used with permission of the artist. What a dream of a painting. The Tibetan flag‘s sun radiates from his head, the wheel of dharma appears on his chest, and those words! Have you ever seen its equal? While you think about that, here’s HHDL on the Tibetan Buddhist chant Om mani [...]
Five on the fall
Cartoon by M. Shaw. Published in The New Yorker 8/9/2010. Source: cartoonbank.com. Ever since my dear friend Stacy brought this cartoon to my attention, I have been thinking about Genesis 1-3 I think my favorite Bible stories come right up front in Genesis 2 and 3, in which Adam and Eve are created out of [...]
Fear and trembling
Marc Chagall, Abraham Walking with Isaac to the Land of Moriah (1931). Either Abraham is right to climb Mt. Moriah and draw the knife, or he is lost. To live in that paradox is faith And after these things God tested Abraham. He said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” He said, [...]
