Every morning I walk over to the local pagoda. After some Qi Gong meditation, I just sit on the swing, drinking in the beauty of the place. Not just the visual beauty, but the sounds, especially some 20 identifiable surround-sound bird songs. My swing at Wat Kandal This right-brained experience leads my left brain to […]
Category: Religion
ARE CAMBODIANS REALLY BUDDHISTS?
Here’s an interesting hypothesis: the behavior of followers of any religion is diametrically opposed to the main principles of their religion. For example, the main message of Christianity is “Love thy neighbor.” But today’s Evangelicals harbor an intense hatred for blacks, Hispanics, Moslems, LGBTQs, and anyone not exactly not like themselves. Not to mention the […]
PCHUM BEN AND SOCIAL SOLIDARITY
From time to time, my wife takes me on deep dives into Khmer culture. Every September we travel to her native village to celebrate Pchum Ben, the highest religious holiday in Cambodia. Very briefly, Pchum Ben is the festival of offering food to the ghosts of ancestors who leave hell for a fortnight. Indeed, when […]
THE SATANIC PSYCHOLOGY OF THE TRUMP CULT
The MAGA cultists surely realize that Trump is all the horrible things the media say about him: 34-count felon, child rapist, grifter, etc. He is the most horrible person imaginable. He is often compared to Satan. Yet his followers still worship him. Why? It is worth examining the literature on the psychology of Satan worshippers, […]
I’M EMOTIONALLY DEVASTED BY TRUMPISM
Trumpism has crushed me – not just intellectually, but emotionally, in my gut. American education ingrained this into me. I was brought up to believe that democracy, the rule of law, due process, equal rights, etc. were sacrosanct. I bought into the whole democracy ideal like a religion. Despite its many failures, I did not […]
MUST A SYMBOL REPRESENT SOMETHING?
Almost all Cambodian homes have a red cloth talisman, called a yantra (or yo-an in Khmer) hanging in their house. It is covered with all sorts of symbols, the most common of which is a squiggly spiral called an ounalome. Yantra with dozens of ounalome spirals The ubiquitous ounalome is a well-known and revered symbol in […]
CREATIONISM DOESN’T MEAN YOU CAN’T EAT PORK
Christians have framed the religious argument as one of creationism versus science. They point to the increasing confusion in science and the weirdness of quantum theory, as opposed to the clear observation that this complex universe couldn’t have created itself. So for the sake of argument, let’s accept that the universe was created. First question, […]
THE SECOND COMING OF TRUMP
I’ve been seeing all sorts of postings on Facebook and elsewhere, pointing to Jan 20th as “The start of a Golden Era”, “the day when eggs are 99c a dozen and gas $2 a gallon,” “the day the world will stop laughing at the US”, “a new dawn”, etc.etc. All this really smacks of an apocalyptic […]
MERRY XMAS CAMBODIA
Cambodia is a thoroughly Buddhist country. I just took my son to school, which is open on Christmas day, as are government offices and most businesses. And yet, I exchanged “Merry Christmas” with the teachers. In front of the school were a Xmas tree, Santas, snowmen, etc. This happens all over Cambodia. No one was […]
WHAT IS INTEGRITY?
Sure, we all know what integrity is: honesty, sincerity, morally upright, etc. Merriam-Webster defines it as: firm adherence to a code of especially moral or artistic values : incorruptibility. But somehow, I feel there’s more to it than that. This essay is the sort of exercise that Plato engaged in: taking concepts as real things, […]