People who have power can make others do something—or make them stop. It’s a simple concept, but the way it works is always changing. Fluctuations in the global economy, politics, demographic patterns, and the Internet have completely restructured how power works in the 21st century. The ever-growing wealth gap in the United States has fed the […]
Heaven on Earth
Today, C.S. Lewis is best known for fictional stories like The Chronicles of Narnia. But in the 1940s, during World War II, Lewis was more famous as a radio personality. In fact, he was on British radio so often that his voice became as famous as Winston Churchill’s. Lewis was offered a broadcast on modern literature, […]
Is the Truth Out There?
On October 19, 2017, astronomers observed an interstellar object that flew within our solar system. It remained there for 11 days. The object was given the Hawaiian name “Oumuamua,” which loosely translates to “scout.” At first, scientists thought Oumuamua might be a comet or an asteroid. But the object was a strange shape, and its trajectory […]
Invest in Gold Now
That’s when Italy said its caseloads had tripled, and more parts of the world began to accept that the pandemic is real. On that day, the stock market fell 3.6 percent. While the dip wasn’t catastrophic, it marked a clear shift in psychology. Market participants finally grasped the global nature of the crisis. Just one month […]
Expand Your Environmental Consciousness
When you pour love into the earth, you’ll get love in return. That’s the powerful perspective of Robin Wall Kimmerer, who marries the scientific knowledge of botany with her indigenous background to tackle sustainability and conservation. Kimmerer says we need to cultivate a healthy relationship with Mother Nature, just like any mother and child. We […]
MLK, in His Own Words
Martin Luther King, Jr. was a famous proponent of peaceful protest. What many people don’t realize is that the civil rights leader took a long time to come around to recognizing nonviolent resistance as a powerful tool for social change. As a college student, King was skeptical of the power of love to cure social ills. He […]
Everyone Deserves the Benefit of the Doubt
For centuries, humans have operated under the notion that we are inherently selfish, violent, and evil. What if this belief is a self-fulfilling prophecy? We need to put the “kind” back in humankind. Author Rutger Bregman says that humans are in fact kind by nature. We are hardwired to do good. One problem is that […]
Reframe Your Setbacks
The ancient Stoics knew that setbacks in life are inevitable. In fact, Stoics believed that setbacks were challenges from the gods to test their ability to deal with adversity. By viewing setbacks as tests of resilience and resourcefulness instead of sheer misfortune, Stoics stayed calm and happy in the face of adversity. Think of it this way: we can’t […]
Should We Legalize Heroin?
Should recreational drugs like heroin and cocaine be legalized? Dr. Carl L. Hart, a professor at Columbia University, makes a compelling case for decriminalization in Drug Use for Grown-Ups. The US government has been embroiled in the War on Drugs since the 1970s. But even with these expensive efforts, the number of Americans who use drugs has […]
Go Ahead, Blame Someone Else
What if your deepest fears, most destructive behaviors, and worst failures aren’t your fault? A new area of scientific research called epigenetics suggests that the traumas of our parents, grandparents, and earlier ancestors may manifest in our daily lives. Any repeating pattern of emotion, including depression and anxiety, may be a tendency you inherited from […]