Or, Why We Need to See More Grownups in Art and Entertainment There is no doubt that killing people—sometimes all of humanity—was a major theme of the 2026 Oscar-nominated films, from One Battle After Another to Sinners to Bugonia, and even the OBAA homage in which Conan was murdered at the end of the Oscars ceremony for no apparent reason. And we […]
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Essay Categories
Contained in this post are hyperlinks with previews of all essays in each of the following categories: Brain (13) Contemporary Issues (21) Foundational (15) Human Mind (17) New Mammalian Mind (8) Old Mammalian Mind (9) Personal (6) Philosophy (11) Pre-Human Minds (11) Profile (4) Psychology (10) Religion (6) Reptilian Mind (14) Spirituality (12)
How would you rate humanity’s performance at fulfilling our potential, so far, on a pass/fail grading system? Has the pass/fail ratio for various parts of the world changed over the centuries? Are there some places on earth today where people are doing well-enough as a group to receive a “pass” grade? Are there other groups […]
Categories
Categorizing a Continuum
Paul MacLean, the Triune Brain, and the Necessity of Metaphor “Thus, we’ve got the brain divided into three functional buckets, with the usual advantages and disadvantages of categorizing a continuum. The biggest disadvantage is how simplistic this is…. Despite these drawbacks, which MacLean himself emphasized, this model will be a good organizing metaphor for us.” –Behave, Robert M. […]
Ultimate Sacrifice or Ultimate Gift and How Each Mind Acts in the Great Play of Life In this four-part essay, I give examples of how the four minds of the quadrune mind model of human nature can be observed as they function in various day-to-day circumstances. In the final part, I’ll describe how actors of […]
Naïve Realism & Implicit Bias, Punishment & Discipline, Upstream Actions/Downstream Consequences, and You Can’t Change the Game by Winning It In this four-part essay, I give examples of how the four minds of the quadrune mind model of human nature can be observed as they function in various day-to-day circumstances. In the final part, I’ll […]
Disaster and Growth Capitalism, Degrowth Economics, and Irredentism In this four-part essay, I give examples of how the four minds of the quadrune mind model of human nature can be observed as they function in various day-to-day circumstances. In the final part, I’ll describe how actors of each mind would perform their parts on the […]
Tara Westover’s Developmental Journey and Litmus Tests In this four-part essay, I give examples of how the four minds of the quadrune mind model of human nature can be observed as they function in various day-to-day circumstances. In the final part, I’ll describe how actors of each mind would perform their parts on the stage […]
Little do the people comprehend the great–that is, the creating. But they have a mind for all showmen and actors of great things. —Thus Spoke Zarathustra, Friedrich Nietzsche Two ants were in mortal combat over disputed territory. As I watched, it seemed that this battle meant the world to them. But from my perspective, the […]
There is no Christian church with a more direct, intimate relationship with the life of Jesus of Nazareth than the one I was born into: the Antiochian Eastern Orthodox Christian Church. Its roots lie in the same ground that Jesus walked on, and are deeper than the written Gospels. The church, my cultural heritage, and […]