Thought-provoking articles about human nature from diverse thinkers
Parenting and families
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The history of family offers a liberating view of custom and love
Chronicling the families of the past shows just how much family values, feelings and decision-making can morph over time
by Katie Barclay
Mental health
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How to tell if someone is hoarding – and provide effective help
For many, letting go of possessions is intensely stressful, even when the clutter puts them at risk. Here’s what you can do
by Michael A Tompkins
Memory and nostalgia
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Before it was ‘bittersweet’, nostalgia was seen as a parasite
Early modern ideas about nostalgia, infused with the elements of horror, invite us to think more deeply about human longing
by Jac Lewis
Drugs and psychedelics
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Psychedelics are philosophical tools for demolishing assumptions
By shaking up our sense of how things are, substances like LSD or psilocybin have the potential to promote deep learning
by David J Blacker
Trauma and PTSD
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Why it matters that trauma affects women and men differently
They are too often ignored, yet sex differences affect the kind of trauma people experience and the effect it has on them
by Klára Hanáková
Virtues and vices
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Equanimity is not stillness – it is a mobility of the mind
To grasp the power of this lauded quality, think of it less as a mountain than as a flexible, even playful way of seeing
by Michael Uebel
Neurodiversity
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Why we should think of neurodiversity like we do personality
It’s a mistake to frame autistic and ADHD traits as either deficits or mere differences. There’s another way to see them
by Joshua May
Change and self-development
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How to find inner peace like Saint Teresa of Ávila
The 16th-century ‘spiritual rock-star’ shows how seeing your soul as a castle can be a source of strength and consolation
by Skye C Cleary
Knowledge and reason
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There is knowledge in the land as well as in ourselves
Indigenous Australian knowledge systems understand what Descartes didn’t – the natural world has important things to tell us
by Andrew Kirkpatrick
Film
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Hollywood’s fixation on the wrong stories won’t help our world
Today’s global problems are caused by broken systems, but the studios still feed us a diet of movies focused on individuals
by Namir Khaliq
Mind and brain
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Having epileptic seizures gave me newfound respect for the brain
Seizures are often described as both terrifying and enthralling. Mine gave me a wondrous new take on consciousness and agency
by Webb Wright
Addiction
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My great-grandfather poisoned drinkers during Prohibition
In a grim irony, his descendants – my grandmother and mother – struggled with drink. Here’s what I’d tell him about addiction
by Rebecca Lester