Recent Articles
Vulnerability and Its Relation To Power
As a therapist, I am in constant dialogue with my clients and couples about the importance of intimacy. Here I am referring to intimacy as the bond which develops between two people that is forged by vulnerability, communication and openness. Without intimacy, a relationship may survive but it certainly will not thrive.
This fact is fairly obvious to those of you who grew up with healthy relationships and had healthy boundaries modeled for you. It is also probably obvious to those of you who are in the beginning of your relationship or spend quite a lot of time focusing your time and energy on relationship.
However, for those of us struggling with healthy relationship, this simple redirection towards intimacy as the foundation for relationship is an important and needed one.
On Making a Difference,
Recently I have been experiencing a tremendous amount of sadness and frustration surrounding the cultural norms and expectations of our country and current generation. I wouldn’t say that this is a new feeling by any stretch of the imagination. However, I feel like the more I know and learn – the more helpless I perceive that I am in bringing about change. This feeling originates from the idea that “knowledge is power” (scientia potentia est), an idea that came from the philosophical work of Sir Francis Bacon.
Despite its origins, I am feeling an incredible, visceral, passion toward wanting to “do something” about the world we live in. To influence our culture; to make a difference in some way. This passion does not go away after getting a long night of sleep, nor does it waver when I am overwhelmed with responsibilities. It sticks with me, as if it was built into my very DNA.
Kierkegaard and Being
As a (non-humanistic) rationalist I have always relished in the works of Aristotle, Plato, Pythagoras, Descartes, Kant and the like. While I may not necessarily agree with all of the philosophical premises or ideas that they have discovered, I greatly admire them for their contribution to human thought and culture. Yet, nothing has been more foundational to my philosophical framework as the writings of Søren Kierkegaard.
Now, don’t get me wrong, Kierkegaard’s ultimate rejection of the authority of the Scriptures due to it’s objective propositional truth was erroneous at best and heretical at worst. This does not mean the rest of his work should be rejected, however. In fact, there is quite a lot of wisdom that Kierkegaard has to give the church and us as Christians.
Personhood and Dehumanization
What dimension of a person do you think would be the most offensive to insult? I’m sure that you do not have to think long to come up with a decent list of things: sex, race, economic status, disability, appearance. Some of you might even say that it depends on the person, their personal sensitivities and/or their history of pain.
While I might agree with all of this, I want to make the case that it is something else entirely. Enter: the ad hominem abusive argument. Its very nature is dehumanizing because it focuses in on attacking the person and does not even address the argument itself. From a psychological standpoint, it is the insult behind the insult that really breaks us. Think about it for a minute. What was it about the insult to your sex, race, or disability that really got to you?
Disclaimer
The ideas and thoughts expressed in these posts do not reflect the beliefs of any organization or individual, except my own. Ironically enough, however, these posts may not even reflect how I currently think or feel. I have grown and changed over the years - and rather than delete or edit old content I have decided to leave my posts as I originally wrote them to preserve their authenticity.