Thomas Ramey Watson

spirituality

Religion Failed Us—but we Still Need It.

from Samuel Kronen’s excellent essay: To live a religious life, we must engage in a spiritual practice. I don’t think there is any way around this. To remain in contact with that what is beyond ourselves, beyond the domain of our individual thoughts, we must find some way of continually remembering that this connection exists …

Religion Failed Us—but we Still Need It. Read More »

A Growing Movement Of ‘Death Doulas’ Is Rethinking How We Die

“All I can tell you is that from where I have sat there has been a calmness and a sense that I want to be nowhere else but by that person’s side,” Levine said in an interview with HuffPost. Levine is part of a growing movement of nurses, social workers and volunteers who are pushing …

A Growing Movement Of ‘Death Doulas’ Is Rethinking How We Die Read More »

This vision of the world reduces everything to a battle between good and evil, between God and Satan.

From Pope’s Confidantes Pen Blistering Critique Of Steve Bannon’s View of Christianity: Spadaro and Figueroa accused this group of misinterpreting verses in the Bible to fit their own political stances on a wide range of topics ― from war-mongering to climate change to the idea of America as a “promised land” that is to be …

This vision of the world reduces everything to a battle between good and evil, between God and Satan. Read More »

Bannon, Deconstruction, v. meaningful readings of texts and life

Steve Bannon’s love of Deconstructionism has got me thinking that a good dose of traditional sign theory, which dominated Western culture for centuries, would be in order, even if people are not believers. It argues that we can make sense of texts by careful readings, believing that they–and by extension, our lives–have meaning. When I …

Bannon, Deconstruction, v. meaningful readings of texts and life Read More »

9 Things Marriage Therapists Know Almost Instantly About A Couple

A marriage therapist ― even one who’s worked in the field for years ― can’t know a couple’s full story by the first therapy session. They can tell quite a bit, though. (A spouse’s tendency to avoid eye contact, for instance, reveals more than words could ever say.) Below, marriage therapists who have been working …

9 Things Marriage Therapists Know Almost Instantly About A Couple Read More »

Our Brains Are Guided More By Empathy Than Selfishness

As the year winds to a close, gifts and giving are foremost in many people’s minds. And now, two new neuroscience studies suggest that our brains prompt us to act more like Santa than Scrooge. In one study, researchers scanned participants’ brains to identify connections between generous behavior and brain activity. In the other, scientists …

Our Brains Are Guided More By Empathy Than Selfishness Read More »