seeker for truth

I have been working recently on a short article for the School of Architecture 's Platform . I went through an unusual number of rewrites before I found one that worked for the editor but it seems like there were some good ideas in several of the earlier drafts, so I've decided to throw those fragments up on the ole' blog for your gratification (okay, probably mostly for my own gratification, but I would be really happy if you were, after reading, also grateful). So, fair warning, some of the writings below are relatively complete (if not polished), while some are very fragmentary (this is not a post for those easily irritated by incomplete or half-baked thoughts). [FYI a revision of version 9 is going into the publication, so you'll have to wait until after Platform is published to see that version.] For what they're worth: Version 8 3 Observations In my recent work, three key observations have emerged which have begun to form the nucleus ar...

I delivered this sermon today at the First Unitarian Universalist Church of Austin, it is inspired by the book of the same title by Christopher McDougall: Reading - from Born to Run by Christopher McDougall "Unlike any other organism in history, humans have a mind-body conflict: we have a body built for performance, but a brain that's always looking for efficiency. We live or die by our endurance, but remember: endurance is all about conserving energy, and that's the brain's department. The reason some people use their genetic gift for running and others don't is because the brain is a bargain shopper. For millions of years, we lived in a world without cops, cabs, or Domino's Pizza; we relied on our legs for safety, food, and transportation, and it wasn't as if you could count on one job ending before the next one began... Nor could (our) ancestors ever be sure that they wouldn't become food right after catching some; the antelope they'd chas...

It has been over a year since my mother died of brain cancer and I had a moment of realization today about the strength of the ties that bound us. Beginning as we had, by replicating long standing family patterns of codependence, I spent most of the years between moving away to college and my divorce pruning and thinning that connection. And though the thickness of that connection changed from something resembling an anchor chain to something closer to fishing line, its absence has revealed just how much strength was left in that little bit of girth that tethered our lives together. I miss her. Eric

(While reading Karen Armstrong's latest book The Case for God I was struck by a thought - ok, series of thoughts - about our fears of material determinism...) Does our human cognitive tendency to reductionism produce a false fear/rejection/perception of material determinism? Is the fear that we are reducible? That our fullness is, in the end, insignificant? What if we found out that while material determinism is true, the universe (including us) is irreducable? What if our rejection of deterministic ideas is a result of our not believing that we are reducable to simplistic, singular, or trivial physical/chemical reactions?  What if this idea is misplaced because the universe can be both deterministic & irreducible... What if the fullness of our being is, as the sages suggest, fully important, fully interconnected, and fully necessary to the functioning of the universe... does determinism take on a different cast if this is true? does this impact our understan...

Jonathan Haidt - The Happiness Hypothesis Short, accessible, transformative... this book reevaluates ancient wisdom in light of contemporary psychology and social psychology research - a must read for anyone wanting to grasp the cutting edge understanding of the human condition Alasdair MacIntyre - After Virtue Neither short nor particularly accessible - but transformative. His analysis of the root causes of our modern condition of interminable moral disagreement is the most cohesive and compelling that I have (yet) read. It has changed my opinion about certain aspects of enlightenment thinking 180 degrees. Alan Watts - Tao: The Watercourse Way short, accessible, transformative... In under 100 pages Watts has managed to compel the integration of the core precepts of Taoism into my spiritual worldview. Like the other major world religions, Taoism has areas where it provides surpassing wisdom... it is an approach whose capacity to generate peace and humility seem to me second to...

I have been background processing further possible implications of Citizen's United... see what you think... Does the Citizens United case imply any (or some) of the following: The bans and limitations on cigarette advertising are now unconstitutional. The limitations placed on pharmaceutical advertising are now unconstitutional. Television, movie, and video game censorship is now unconstitutional. Restrictions barring 501 C 3 nonprofit organizations from political speech are now unconstitutional. The Equal Time Rule is now unconstitutional. The door is open, I wonder what will come through... eric

I'm afraid my blog posting last night was heavy on rhetoric (and maybe a little hyperbole) and short on analysis, a symptom of the intense emotional impact of the decision. I've spent a good portion of my academic career dealing with issues of legal sociology including supreme court decisions and how jurists construct law using precedents. For me the 'how' of this game changer feels very clear, although I may be mistaken (only time will tell). The first phase of the analysis starts with media markets and media outlets. There are relatively few major outlets nationally and relatively few in most major media markets. Campaigns, which for the sake of argument we will treat as being run by candidates, rely upon funding to produce access to these outlets in the markets where they need to get the message out to voters. I agree with Ginsberg that this ruling will diminish their capacity to get access and to control their message. In fact, I would go one step further and ...