Tag: Critical Thinking

YouTube Videos Worth Watching

This is an unlisted playlist of videos from around YouTube that I think are thought-provoking and worth taking the time to watch. Topics range from politics to music to personal wellness and more. I add to this list periodically…

☆Videos Worth Watching on YouTube☆

I also have an unlisted playlist of videos from around YouTube about professional wrestling that I think are thought-provoking and worth watching. One of my favorite sayings is, “Everything is pro wrestling.” The more you understand how professional wrestling works, the better you’ll understand how things like politics, social media, marketing, etc. work…

☆Pro Wrestling Videos on YouTube☆

I Wasn’t Going to Write About…

I wasn’t going to write anything about Charlie Kirk, partly because this kinda thing isn’t new in the United States. Violence is the norm here, especially gun violence. And as you might know, Charlie’s murder wasn’t even the only school shooting that occurred that day. 

Continue reading “I Wasn’t Going to Write About…”

Killing the Buddha

“If you meet the Buddha, kill him.”

I first heard this saying years ago when, as I wandered around on this fairly new invention called “The Internet,” I stumbled upon a website called “Killing the Buddha.”
As the story goes, a monk deep in meditation experiences what he thinks is enlightenment – the awakening, the Buddha-mind – and reports this to his master.

The master explains to the monk that this is nothing special at all, and can even hinder his real progress. The master then instructs: “If you see the Buddha, kill him.”

While various interpretations of this Zen kōan have been offered over the years, I’ve found value in understanding “the Buddha” we encounter to represent our desire for enlightenment rather than enlightenment itself. Humans long to be right, and we generally hate being wrong. That longing can lead us to convince ourselves we know more than we actually do. It’s a typical human habit to assume or just make something up to fill in the gaps in our knowledge.

Continue reading “Killing the Buddha”

Like a Child

I spent a lot of time in my years of studying theology and philosophy pondering the meaning of this seemingly simple directive found in Matthew 18:3-5…

“Change and become like little children.”

Even now, many years since I last considered myself “religious,” I still think about that verse and what it means.

Continue reading “Like a Child”

The Examined Life

The mise en scène of philosophy, as depicted by Norman Melchert, is a “great conversation” in which we interact not only with each other, but with the great thinkers of history who have also interacted with each other in the search for truth via an ongoing exchange of ideas and arguments about humanity’s deepest and most importunate concerns. I see the pursuit of philosophy as one’s personal quest for truth couched in the language of a pilgrimage which will continue for the remainder of one’s life. The seeker of truth engages in the great conversation during the course of their journey, administering critical thinking as one encounters the truth claims posited by the remarkable (and not so remarkable) intellectuals of both past and present.

Continue reading “The Examined Life”

Rules of Engagement

There are certain “rules of engagement” I do my best to follow when I am having a conversation, particularly with people who believe something I don’t. Keep in mind these are my own personal guidelines, and while I think they are good guidelines, I do not believe they represent everything that can be said about how to engage with other people in conversation. These rules serve as a solid starting point from which productive discussion in both business and personal relationships can exist:

Continue reading “Rules of Engagement”