Awakening to the Dreams of History By Laura J. Vollmer The COVID-19 pandemic has had a surprising effect: a renewed interest in dreams, as people are sleeping later and dreaming more. Dream sharing and interpretation is thriving, reflected in increased participation in online dream forums, apps, retreats, and group work. Read more
Body Knowledges and Practices (and the Coronavirus) By Lina Aschenbrenner Coming down with the coronavirus reminded me once again of how important it is to take seriously the role of bodies in processes of meaning-making. My creativity was as low as my fever was high, and my body quite literally Read more
A New Approach for Fighting Religious Violence By Sofia Parenti “If we’re going to successfully combat violent extremism, we’d better understand all of the factors because we can’t change minds without knowing what’s in them. And we have to do so mindful of the fact that understanding and acceptance are Read more
The Accidental Simplifier: On Smoking, Animals, and Happiness By Teya Brooks Pribac Truths are as good and beautiful as they promote the flourishing of multiple planetary bodies. – Whitney A. Bauman In his essay on voluntary simplicity, Richard B. Gregg argues convincingly for a shift away from materialism and towards Read more
Decree of Death By John William Bailly Throughout history, art has been critical to the sociopolitical narrative of society. It has been used as a tool of power by governments and religious institutions, as a method of propaganda, and as a means of protest. A chronology of art becomes a Read more
Knowledge Hidden in Plain Sight By Jeff Bowersox Debates over rights, citizenship, and belonging in Germany (as elsewhere in Europe) often revolve around competing notions of history, different bodies of knowledge about the past and how it relates to the present. There is a popular vision of German history understood Read more
Junco Politics By Richard Bohannon I came upon my first dark-eyed juncos on an early Spring afternoon in 2012, new binoculars and a tiny book of Minnesota birds in my back pocket. A small flock had sheltered within a patch of evergreen bushes, one of only four species I saw Read more
Vax Skepticism and Healthy Skepticism By Michael Scaturro German media this week have been puzzling over the story of a vaccine skeptic who refused a jab and then signed a legal document to prevent doctors from treating him should he be stricken with Covid. The 77-year-old man, Hellmut Urban of Read more
Religion and Catastrophe By Mayra Rivera Talk of catastrophe has become ubiquitous in recent years. A global pandemic has harmed individuals, devastated communities, and upended established ways of life. But even as organizations around the world rush to address the Covid-19 crisis, climate catastrophes are raging. There are hurricanes of Read more
Planetary Goodness, Beauty, and Truth By Whitney A. Bauman In many ways the nineteenth and twentieth centuries were marked by a slow slide in western modern thought from transcendent ideals to immanent, relational realities. The universal truths, transcendent ideals of beauty, and moral ideals of ultimate good and evil began Read more