Rituals and celebrations
Rituals and celebrations
idea
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
Ethics
idea
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
Rituals and celebrations
idea
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
Rituals and celebrations
idea
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
Drugs and psychedelics
idea
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
The body and physical health
idea
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
Emerging therapies
idea
Why placebo pills work even when you know they’re a placebo
New evidence of the power of the placebo effect – even without any deception – is raising important questions for medicine
by Darwin A Guevarra & Kari A Leibowitz
Sports and games
idea
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
Identity
idea
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
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
Emotion regulation
idea
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
Stories and literature
idea
On the pleasures of hand-writing letters you’ll never send
Hand-writing letters you’ll never send takes the heat off feelings and lets you look back on drafts of a previous self
by Anandi Mishra