by Eric Steinhart Our universe began with an explosion of energy; from this explosion, some of the energy rapidly condensed into elementary particles like quarks and electrons. Quarks have a property called color – they come in colors red, blue, and green. And each color has an anti-color. Much like with ordinary colored light, the colors red, blue, and green add up to white. And any color and its anti-color add up to white. Many combinations of quarks are possible. ... Read more
by SNS Guest (Article is by guest writer James Jarrett. See bio below.) I can already guess what you may be thinking. “The 12 Steps? Isn’t that for people with problems? You know, like uncontrollable addictions that lead to things like job loss and jail time? What help are the 12 Steps for us ‘regular’ people?” A little background on the 12 steps. Bill W. was introduced to Dr. Bob S. in Akron, Ohio in 1935 when Bill W. realized that... Read more
by Thomas Schenk In recent posts here, I’ve been developing the idea of a naturalistic equivalent to “God.” In these pieces, I have used such terms as “Source and Ultimate Context,” “Great Mystery,” “Otherness,” “the All-inclusive,” and “Creational Nature,” to refer to this equivalent notion (1). Taken together, these articles argue that the world as a whole is a self-generating, self-organizing process. Simultaneously creator and creation, it is the source of everything. Each of us, ultimately, arose from, is sustained... Read more
by SNS Guest (This article is by guest writer Leigh Anderson. For a short bio, see below.) Living through our current environment of chaos has left me feeling shell-shocked and numb. We are in an election year, and it’s normal to be bombarded by constant political ads. The candidates try to outdo each other in their sensationalism. When you add to that a pandemic where you can’t get consistent leadership messages, you become numb to hearing any public messages. But what... Read more
by Gregory Gronbacher Many adherents of supernatural forms of religion assert that human beings have an inherent, metaphysical dignity because they are created in the “image and likeness of God” as stated in Genesis. This same line of religious reasoning continues, that if it weren’t for that of God within all humans, if it weren’t for the divine spark in each of us, if it weren’t for our likeness to God – humans would simply be just one more animal among other animals. Therefore, the assertion... Read more
by SNS Guest (Article is by guest writer, and former contributing writer, Brock Haussamen. See bio below.) On July 9, 2020, DT Strain presented here a forceful article titled “The Dire Costs of Ignoring Interconnectedness in 2020.” Strain argued that our worst miseries—economic injustice, police brutality, white supremacists, and others—“are rooted in the same foundational sickness: our inability or unwillingness to see, accept, and act in accord with the truth of interconnectedness. . . . The results of not having an... Read more
by Thomas Schenk Photo by Susan Bolke A tablet, dated from the fourth century B.C., was found in a tomb in Southern Italy. It contained instructions on what to do after dying, including what to say when one met the guardians of the pool of Memory: One was to say to them “I am a child of Earth and starry Heaven, but of Heaven is my true lineage.” The idea of a separation between an earthly, bodily being and a celestial... Read more
by Eric Steinhart If we naturalists ever want to escape from irrationality and superstition, especially as they appear in society and politics, then we need to build positive naturalistic cultures. We need people who can help serve as pathfinders or cultural leaders. Cultural leaders are never perfect – and we can benefit by studying their flaws. At least because of the immense popularity of his writings, it’s fair to say Richard Dawkins is a cultural leader. He has his flaws and... Read more
by SNS Guest (Today’s article is by guest writer Katherine Peil-Kauffman. With degrees from University of Washington and the Harvard Divinity School, she writes and speaks on the function, evolution, physio-chemical, and informational nature of emotion, its role in optimal health, development, psychological function, moral reasoning, and spirituality. Katherine is Founding Director of nonprofit EFS International, whose mission is fostering global emotional wisdom.) Philosophers and psychologists alike have struggled to answer the question: What is the nature of human emotion?... Read more
by SNS Guest Source: Wikimedia Commons Artist: Piet Mondrian (Today’s article is by guest writer Tony Wolf. For a brief bio, see below.) Poetic Faiths are those new religions that based on a skeptical, scientific worldview, but go on to ask “now what?” They tend towards: Rationalism/naturalism Creativity/artistry An open-source ethos Anti-authoritarianism They are, in various permutations, simultaneously post-theistic and post-atheistic; beginning with the premise that there is no literal supernatural and then honoring the actual power of myth, symbolism, etc.... Read more
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