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I didn’t expect to find genocide in the Bible. As part of some research I was doing while writing a novel, I had to go back and re-read Ezra and Nehemiah. I knew they existed in the Bible, but never gave much thought to it. The endless list of names that returned from Babylon to Israel is quite mind numbing, like reading the endless rules in Leviticus or Numbers. And it wasn't like Ezra or Nehemiah play a critical role in Christian theology so I've always skimmed it. But this time, because I was forced to, I read the stories for the first time, or should I say I noticed the stories for the first time. And it shocked me to my core. For it was a story of a form of genocide; cultural genocide to be more exact. The Israelites (or more accurately the Judahites) return after 70 years of exile in Babylon. They find the Temple ruined but surprisingly a lot of people. These people welcome the exiles and offer to help with the rebuilding of the Temple and the walls around Jerusalem. It t...

We stand at the edge of multiple crises. Ecological disaster looms as we deplete the world’s resources and poison the land we live on. Global temperatures rise, and adverse weather conditions grow more extreme. At some point soon, we may pass a threshold from which we can no longer prevent the collapse of our environment. At the same time, technology accelerates at an unprecedented pace. Paired with globalization and the relentless machinery of late-stage capitalism, millions are losing their livelihoods to AI and automation. Disconnected from work, from meaning, and from one another, many find themselves alienated in a world no longer built for them. More deeply, we are experiencing a crisis of meaning itself; many of us feel the world and our place in it no longer feel solid . The structures that once held us — religion, philosophy, community — have fractured. Philosophy questioned religion, then turned its skeptical gaze upon itself, leaving us with fractured ideologies and compet...

Decent People I’ve done nothing wrong. I was raised on soil, on names, on truths that built this place. And now you tell me to bow, to doubt, to unlearn. I will not. I owe no apology for the blood in my veins, the stories I keep, the pride I carry. You call it hate — I call it home. You call it fear — I call it knowing where I belong. I am not lost. I see clearly. It is you who drift, who tear down what you could never build. I stand on ground my fathers worked, under a flag they bled to raise. I will not kneel. I will not forget. My beliefs are not wrong. My voice will not fade. And when the time comes, I will rise with all those you tried to silence. But wait — Are we not the decent ones? Those of us who defend the old ways, who honor what came before, who stand for what is right? Then why do I feel this knot in my chest, this whisper in my mind? Why does it sting when I see others called to stand alongside us, and yet we mock them, shame them for speaking truth? Maybe it’s not us wh...

Imagine a young man scrolling twitter, chasing status but feeling hollow. This is the crisis of meaning —a world where old certainties have crumbled. Capitalism turns identity into a product, technology splinters our focus, and sacred stories no longer guide us. Globalization uproots us, leaving us rootless, while our tribal instincts clash with modern life. Yet history whispers hope: humanity has faced such voids before and forged new paths. This is our challenge—and our opportunity. The modern crisis of meaning begins with the collapse of shared metaphysical certainties. As traditional religious, mythic, and philosophical worldviews lost their authority, individuals were left to construct meaning in an increasingly fragmented and pluralistic world. This metaphysical vacuum was deepened by globalization, which disembedded people from place-based, communal identities (human speak: uprooted from local communities), leaving them rootless in an interconnected, placeless world. Into this ...

I am a Catholic. After 55 years, I've only been able to grasp two aspects of God : 1) Entropy , and  2) His Compassion for His Creation --- Hinduism offers a delightful parallel to this belief system. Brahman is God— the infinite, formless totality of all that is. Brahma is God the Creator, Vishnu is God the Nurturer and Protector, Shiva is God the Destroyer and Transformer. Ātman is the divine spark within us, forever craving oneness with Brahman. Śūnyatā (शून्यता) is the realization of this reality—the embrace of emptiness, of nothingness. Karuṇā (करुणा) is our response to this truth—compassion, the only fitting reaction to existence. That is my philosophy. My Übergedanke is Śūnyatā . My Überwerte is Karuṇā . Ralph Waldo Emerson once said,  “ We are all part and particle of God. ” I wholeheartedly agree. --- While I believe there is truth in Hinduism, I don’t agree with all of it —especially the human interpretations. I don’t believe in the traditional Hindu notion of reinca...