Toward an Empirical Mysticism

When a traveler returns from a far-off land, we expect to hear fantastic tales. “What was it like?” we…

We Have to Stop Killing God

It is on the question of God’s relation to the world that east and west diverge. In the west, our world stands…

The Day John Henry Died

I was chatting with my family one day and we touched on the subject of sci-fi author Robert Heinlein. I had just…

Death, Sex and the Last Girl

Normally, I avoid movie nights. I hate nothing more than the feeling that death might catch me while on hour…

You Have to Know Why to Die

If you want to silence a crowd, you should ask them earnestly for what cause they would sacrifice their lives…

What Bill Clinton and the Buddha Got Right

In his work The Righteous Mind, Jonathan Haidt observes that our moral beliefs are…

The Infinite Monkey God?

During high school, I worked as a busboy at a fairly posh restaurant. Our manager was an effective but uptight…

To Be or to Become? That is the Question

Douglas MacArthur once gushed about his G.I. cadets, “They’re the best damn kids in the…

Wonder and Baseball

Einstein famously quipped: “The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art…

Black Markets and Bootleg Religion

Perhaps nothing defines the modern era more than the quest to…