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07.02.09
Purposelessness and Play: Endemic to Our Human Nature
"Stuart Brown even assures me that the rough and tumble play that my son engages in is teaching him empathy and boundaries and trust. He encourages me not to be a 'helicopter mother,' touching down and interrupting when no one is being hurt. Here is the clincher: none of the murderers he studied had ever engaged in normal rough and tumble play. I let him rest his case."
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06.25.09
Where Theology Meets Human Experience
"From his studies of the Earth he knows that fractures, flaws, and weaknesses are as much a part of the vitality of living systems as strength and perfection. They are what allow systems to evolve, to regenerate, and to avoid cataclysmic revolutions. Simultaneously, he is fascinated by the fragility that marks human life at its beginning, its end, and at places in between."
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06.18.09
A Sophisticated Theology Behind the Musical Tradition
"These melodies and words, as Joe helped me understand, convey a sophisticated theology of suffering. It is a theology that leans into suffering — and in surrender, transforms and rises above it, if only in moments. Such moments are nurturing and sustaining."
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06.11.09
Facing the Malleability of Human Nature
"Darius Rejali says there is no question that authoritarian states have practiced torture most viciously. But, he points out, torture is also not incompatible with modernity, culture and education, nor is it a stranger to democracy. […] One of most disturbing — and important — revelations Darius Rejali makes in this conversation is that democracies have their distinctive mark on the history of torture, including the U.S."
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06.04.09
In the Presence of a Teacher
"This is one of the gentlest programs we've created, and one of the most far-reaching and practical in its effect — if e-mail correspondence is taken as a guide. I hope that you find courage, as I do every time I listen with fresh ears, in this program's reflections on spiritual 'technologies' for lived compassion — even in the face of wars of terror and the everyday anger and fears inside us."
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