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Ideas

Rituals and celebrations

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A group of people in white attire and backpacks walk along a wooden path through green fields under a blue sky with scattered clouds.

Rituals and celebrations

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More radical and practical than Stoicism – discover Shugendō

As they train for their own deaths, Japan’s mountain priests develop a form of acceptance that goes beyond the Stoics

by Tim Bunting

Painting of a traditional Chinese funeral, people in white robes mourning around a deceased figure on a table.

Rituals and celebrations

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Rituals create community by translating our love into action

For the Confucian Xunzi, love and gratitude are not just feelings in response to events but possibilities for social action

by Curie Virág

Photo of a man in a confessional booth with a purple curtain in a dimly lit stone-walled church setting.

Ethics

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Why won’t the sin wash away? When thinking ethically goes awry

Is scrupulously thinking about morality in everyday life as pathological as the meticulous, repetitive behaviours of OCD?

by Jesse Summers

Photo of hands handling betting tokens, coins and paper slips on a brick surface with grass in background.

Sports and games

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For players of fafi, dream interpretation is a vital skill

The fafi lottery game in South Africa requires the careful interpretation of dreams and the waking world around you

by Brittany Birberick

Black and white photo of seagulls flying over a calm sea with distant hills in the background.

Rituals and celebrations

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Mourning is a leap to freedom, inviting new dreams of living

Mourning is a leap in the dark, but not into darkness. It’s a leap to freedom that invites us to dream of living once more

by Alexander Hirsch

Bas-relief sculpture depicting the three most important figures of the Eleusianian Mysteries: the goddess of agriculture and abundance Demeter, her daughter Persephone, queen of the Underworld, and the Eleusinian hero Triptolemus, in what appears to be a rite. Triptolemus stands in the centre, the two goddesses stand either side.

Rituals and celebrations

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For Plato, rationalists and mystics can walk the same path

Why did such a keen proponent of reason turn to the Eleusinian Mysteries to explain his ideas about knowledge?

by Sam Woodward

Persian painting depicting a seated figure with followers in colourful robes above a river scene with mountains and skeletal figures.

The body and physical health

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Magic helped us in pandemics before, and it can again

Magic always booms during pandemics, whether past or present – but that response might not be as irrational as it seems

by Matthew Melvin-Koushki

Black and white photo of two women in swimsuits, one lighting the other’s cigarette while holding a towel, vintage style.

Drugs and psychedelics

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Cigarette! Exquisite fiend, ephemeral friend, how I miss you

Melancholic and alluring, addictive and seductive, cigarettes were the excuse for a sweet pause between lovers and friends

by Caroline Eden

Illustration of a closed café with a person sitting alone, chairs stacked, abstract art on walls, dimly lit interior.

Emotion regulation

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Solitude can be profoundly restorative. Here’s how to savour it

Time alone offers unique psychological benefits, once you learn to embrace these quiet moments rather than escape them

by Thuy-vy Nguyen

Painting depicting 16 scenes of diverse families and cultural attire, titled with Spanish casta terms in a grid layout.

Identity

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Why Spanish colonial officials feared the power of clothing

Colonial society depends on a clear distinction between the rulers and the ruled. Clothing could create problems

by Rebecca Earle

Mosaic art with colourful broken ceramic tiles featuring floral and abstract patterns.

The self

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You’re not a computer, you’re a tiny stone in a beautiful mosaic

Let’s ditch talk of computers and bank accounts. Positive mind-metaphors emphasise our embodied inter-connectedness

by Anna Katharina Schaffner

Abstract photo of rolled corrugated paper forming spirals and curves, with light creating shadows on its textured surface.

Emotion regulation

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What geometry taught me about awe, love and grief

I’ve loved geometry all my life. This is what it has taught me about grief, and what grief has taught me about geometry

by Michael Frame