There is now a strong and powerful philosophical and scientific movement that advocates the use of current and emerging technologies, like genetic engineering, cryonics, artificial intelligence, and nanotechnology to augment human capabilities and improve the human condition. This may be called transhumanism. Offhand, nothing wrong there, though we have to sort out and clarify the ethical issues involved there.

But thats not all there is. There is also a movement that goes further than this and seeks to use scientific and technological advancements to produce humans with augmented capabilities who evolve into an enhanced species that transcends humanity --the posthuman. This is where a big question mark can be made!

We all know that man is in constant process of development. With his spiritual soul, he is actually poised toward the infinite. But with his corporeal body, he is somehow always limited to some space and time. Thus, it cannot be denied that in our lifelong journey of human development, we have to contend with the tension between the seemingly endless potentials of our soul and the real limitations of our body.

We just have to be clear about what the true and ultimate end, definition, and purpose of man is. And this is where we resort to the deepest belief we hold. Are we Christian believers, or agnostics, if not atheists? Or do we hold on to another philosophy and ideology?

Christian believers are clear about what man is, what the purpose of his life here on earth is, what he is supposed to be in the end. They can make use of whatever they can discover in this life, always respecting the natural law that God the creator has inscribed in the things of this world, but using the things of this world to pursue their ultimate goal.

Christian believers hold that man is Gods image and likeness. He is being tested in this life to see if what God wants him to be is also what he likes to be. That is the purpose of his life here on earth, for which everything that he does in this world can only be the means, the occasion, and the reason to make his choice.

Advertising

Scroll to continue

Christian believers hold that man is meant in the end to be a saint, because that is what is involved in carrying out his duty to conform himself to Gods will to be Gods image and likeness. Thus, everything that he does should be in pursuit of this ultimate goal meant for man --that is, to be a saint, to be Gods image and likeness, sharers of his divine life and nature.

Thus, Christian believers should try their best to have the proper focus, the proper intentions in all their actions. They can do anything as long as they have that proper focus and intention, and as long as they use ethical ways to pursue their ultimate goal.

We are somehow reminded of this truth of our Christian faith in that gospel episode where Christ lamented over an unfortunate tendency of the people then who just ate and drank, marry and had fun, without giving due attention to the real purpose of their life. (cfr. Lk 17,26-37)

Especially these days when we have a lot of distractions, let alone the fact that precisely there are powerful forces that redefine man and nature, altering them according to their own ideas, we really need to strengthen our sense of focus and purpose in life.

Visit link:
Beware of transhumanism and posthumanism - The Freeman

The 2023 shareholder season heralded a new element of shareholder proposals: conspiracy theories. The National Center for Public Policy Research (NCPPR) and National Legal and Policy Center (NLPC) each filed such proposals; both are self-described conservative watchdog organizations. NCPPRs primary focus is public policy research and education, while NLPC promotes ethics in government, advocating for limitations on big government.

NCPPR filed at least seven shareholder proposals containing conspiracy theories or conspiratorial language, demanding a congruency report" on relationships between companies and "globalist organizations -- a demand that could be interpreted as an antisemitic dog whistle. In the supporting statement of its shareholder proposals, NCPPR claims these companies work with globalist organizations, namely the World Economic Forum, who "openly advocates for transhumanism, abolishing private property, eating bugs, social credit systems, The Great Reset and a host of other blatantly Orwellian objectives."

NCPPR filed these proposals at Alphabet/Google, Pfizer, Bank of America, Boeing, Marriot, Merck and Johnson & Johnson. Three of these proposals (at Alphabet, Marriott and Merck) made it onto the proxy ballots, while three companies successfully petitioned the SEC to have the proposals excluded (Johnson & Johnson, Pfizer, Bank of America) and one was withdrawn by NCPPR (Boeing).

NLPC also filed a similar proposal with Johnson & Johnson, though the company successfully argued it should not be included on the proxy ballot.

"Globalist" is a term used by many on the right and the far right. It has been used by mainstream personalities and politicians to refer to people or entities that support multilateralism and cross-border cooperation, but in extremist contexts, "globalist" is used by white supremacists and other antisemites as an antisemitic dog whistle, wielding it as a codeword for Jews or as a pejorative term for people whose interests in international commerce or finance ostensibly make them disloyal to the country in which they live.

Primary conspiracy theories

Several prominent conspiracy theories surfaced repeatedly in these proposals. The first, the Great Reset, is a conspiracy theory that can be used to espouse antisemitism. It warns that "global elites" used the pandemic (or other newsworthy events) to advance their interests and push a globalist plot to destroy American sovereignty and prosperity in favor of a global totalitarian regime. Adherents sometimes promote antisemitism as part of the conspiracy theory. Before it was adopted by conspiracy theorists, the phrase originally referred to an initiative introduced by the World Economic Forum.

The second primary conspiracy theory focuses on transhumanism, the idea that humans can transcend the physical limitations of our bodies -- perhaps even death itself. In its more conspiratorial form, proponents believe a "Satanist" or elite cabal of humans, on a mission to replace humans with machines/governments, are modifying bodies and DNA via secretly inserted chips. It can be and often is seen in conjunction with Great Replacement and Great Reset theory. This conspiracy theory has both antisemitic and anti-LGTBQ undertones, due to the associations proponents make with Satanist transhumanists alleged connections to George Soros and numerous references to the globalists behind the mov. Anti-LBGTQ authors such as Jennifer Bilek claim that transgender folks especially are the vanguard of this foundationally anti-humanity movement to transform the essence of what it means to be a person.

This kind of conspiratorial activism was also evident in the 2023 NCPPR shareholder proxy guide, in which the organization claims, We sometimes forget the UN is the institutional originator of climate nonsense and that the US government and by extension, the American taxpayer is the largest funder of the most prevalent globalist organization on Earth, whose very explicit purpose is to be the one-world government that globalists are trying to bring to fruition.

The NLPC also echoes this sentiment in a blog post attacking Brian Moynihan, Bank of America CEO and detailing their shareholder activism: Moynihan has been more than willing to place Bank of America in a globalist posture, subjugating shareholders interests under those of the World Economic Forum agenda of transhumanism, abolition of private property, consumption of bugs, social credit systems, and other Great Reset priorities. Paul Chesser, director of the Corporate Integrity Project for NLPC gave remarks at the Bank of America annual general meeting promoting fear of a one world government, a conspiracy theory with roots in the 1990s.

NCPPRs 2022 proxy voter guide is much more explicit, going so far as to detail the organizations understanding of these conspiracies, with subheadings about transhumanism and the Great Reset. Ethan Peck, a Free Enterprise Institute fellow (project of NCPPR), also commented while presenting a 2022 proposal that [Pfizer CEO Albert] Bourla is a globalist leech... And he is using shareholder money to finance his free trips to Davos where he advances the transhumanist agenda.

At this time, there is no evidence to suggest that either organizations agents espouse overt antisemitism, or that these proposals were filed with antisemitic intentions. However, the conspiracies espoused fit neatly into a broadly conspiratorial world view, and in some cases may serve as on ramps to more overtly antisemitic concepts. These conspiracies were once the mainstay of the darker corners of blogs and message forums, and it is of note that they have moved into the mainstream discourse about cultural norms a development antisemites undoubtedly welcome.

View post:
Conspiracy Theories, Some with Antisemitic Roots, Crop Up in 2023 ... - ADL

During a recent appearance on the "Conversations That Matter" podcast, John Cooper, the frontman and bassist for the Grammy-nominated Christian rock band SKILLET, weighed in on "queer theory", a field of study that challenges existing traditional ideas about identity, sexuality, and gender particularly that of heteronormativity, or the belief that heterosexuality is the natural, moral, or "normal" expression of sexuality. The 48-year-old musician, who is promoting his recently released second book, "Wimpy, Weak And Woke", said in part: "I believe that queer theory is literally the end of all things. There will be no meaningful conversations even able to have in the world if queer theory actually becomes as ubiquitous as it seems like it is already becoming. There will be no distinctions between anything. If you embrace queer theory, and you embrace the idea that men can be women and women can be men, or you can be both, or neither, blah, blah, blah, then you will end up having to accept that there really is no difference between mankind and beast. It just follows. And in fact, the queer theorists would probably be, like, 'Yeah, that's right.'"

He continued: "Sexuality, to me, that's the key. If the church does not stand our ground on sexuality, we lose everything. We absolutely lose everything.

"This is just so upsetting to me. A lot of Christians just do not believe that it's as bad as it is They just refuse to believe it. And they keep saying, 'Guys, there's nothing new under the sun. It's always been this bad. You're making it seem like it's worse.' That's just not true. It hasn't always been this bad.

"Transgenderism is the most civilizational-shifting thing that has happened in I don't even know how long. You're talking about something that could change the trajectory of human nature forever. And, of course, if anybody's done the reading, I'm not gonna get into this, and I don't write about this in the book, but if anybody knows what transhumanism is, we're one step away from transhumanism, which we won't even get into," he added, referencing the position that human beings should be permitted to use technology to modify and enhance human cognition and bodily function, expanding abilities and capacities beyond current biological constraints. "And transgenderism sort of makes that possible. It's a sort of Gnosticism that really will bring us into a man-and-machine kind of thing coming in together. It's absolutely horrifying."

Cooper previously warned against transgender ideology earlier this year in an interview with The Daily Signal.

"We don't even believe in objective reality now," he lamented, referring to American society. "We are saying you can be a Christian as you want to, as long as you privatize it. You can be a Christian at your home. Just don't go around telling people. But in the public sphere, [where] we used to be able to talk about religion and objective reality In the public sphere, we are going to make peoples personal subjective feelings be public truth.

"So if you say, 'I'm a boy, but I know I'm actually a girl, and I believe it in my heart,' the public has to say your inner feelings are true," he added. "But if somebody says, 'No. I can see objective reality. You are a boy,' that's not publicly true, though it can be a privately held belief if you want.

"That's the way to end all things," Cooper said. "That is the destruction of objective reality."

In various interviews over the years, Cooper has said that he "always had faith in God" and that his mother was a "Jesus fanatic." He also claimed that he was willing to put his career on the line to take a stand for Christ.

In 2021, Cooper was asked by the "Undaunted.Life: A Man's Podcast" what he would say to someone who says that Satan works through rock music, and thus Christians shouldn't play rock music. He responded: "I would say Satan can work through just about anything. I would say that music is created not by the Devil; [it is] created by the Lord. All things were created by God. So instead of thinking that the Devil owns a genre of music, I would say capture that music and bring it back into subjection under the lordship of Christ."

As for what he would say to someone who says it is sinful for Christians to have tattoos, Cooper said: "I understand why Christians think that, because of the Old Testament. I would say it probably takes a little bit of a longer explanation of Old Testament law and what it meant. But a short version would be there are some things in the Old Testament that were a picture of something in the New Testament. There are some things that are not pictures, like murder we don't murder, we don't steal, so and so forth. Dietary restrictions, things like that, were a picture of something.

"Here's what God wanted: God wants to make his people set apart and holy unto his name," he continued. "And I don't think that God does that any longer from the way that we look; he does that now because of Christ's work on the cross, his resurrection, and he sanctifies us, which sets us apart from the sinner and the pagan."

SKILLET's latest album, "Dominion", was released in January 2022 via Atlantic.

"Wimpy, Weak And Woke" was released on November 14.

John's debut book, "Awake & Alive To Truth", has had over 10 printings and won the Book Impact Award at the 2021 K-Love Fan Awards. His podcast, "Cooper Stuff", continues to grow rapidly as well with over four million downloads and more than two million YouTube views.

John Cooper press photo courtesy of The Media Collective

View post:
SKILLET's JOHN COOPER Explains Why He Believes 'Queer ... - BLABBERMOUTH.NET

It was a random night during my sophomore year of high school where I received a text that would forever change the way I would view friendships. This text, sent by a person who I considered to be my best friend at the time, still weaves its way into my head every time I meet someone new.

I dont know why I hang out with you, its exhausting to be around you and to be your friend, the text read. Reading those words, my 16-year-old self didnt know what to do so I stayed friends with this girl until we graduated high school two years later.

Throughout my time in high school, I was around people who didnt value me as a person, and that in turn affected how I valued myself. I was able to convince myself that I was exhausting to be around and that my friends not inviting me to things was totally fair of them to do.

That attitude changed the second I walked across that stage at graduation. Gone were the days of rolling over and being made fun of for my interests and my passions. Gone was doubting myself about my energy and how I present myself. Going to college was going to change my perspective on friends, some for the best and some for the worst.

When you hang out around other people, you open yourself up to being vulnerable and allow them to see your true self. If someone directly challenges how you present yourself, it can greatly alter your mental health. The basic aspect of friends is to find a group that is going to uplift and support you, not make you feel worse about who you are.

Freshman year is the year when everyone is looking for friends, and finding people can be great or it can be rough. In my freshman year, I met some people who I considered friends, but now I can see that we werent meant to be around each other. Thats ok, friendships are a type of relationship; it takes work, and you can tell pretty quickly if its going to flourish or not. The one piece of advice I cannot stress enough is that no matter how much you try, not everyone will be your friend. Dont force a relationship that wont work out; its just going to cause more harm than good.

Friends can come into your life in the most random ways ranging from a direct message on Instagram turned into a sweet treat partner, to a sports section introduction that became inseparable. It is hard to find friends in college, and it can feel helpless at times, but you just have to trust that everything will work out. Talk to that person sitting next to you in class, go to that club meeting and put yourself out there.

You are not less of a human being if you are struggling to find a group to be a part of. It is far more important to find the people that make you whole than forcing yourself to make them like you. Being constantly asked to change or be something different than who you are changes the way you think of yourself, and it could possibly lead you to feel more lonely.

These college years are full of people looking to meet other individuals that they can share their moments with. You deserve to share the best version of yourself with them.

Continue reading here:
Mental Health Journeys: Who you surround yourself with is mental ... - N.C. State University Technician Online

Times of crisis, injustice, and division seem to define our moment. But they are actually defining features of the human experience. The human condition is the same in all times and places. Were profoundly social as a species, but were also defined by self-loveand the tension between these facets of our nature ensure that injustice and chaos will always be part of our lived experience this side of eternity.

Its easy to despair.

I certainly did. I experienced a season of division in Washington D.C. while working at our nations capital. I chose to give up, to flee.

I moved with my husband to Indianapolis, Indianaa city in his home state that I hoped would be free from the polarities of extreme politeness and extreme hostility that I experienced while working in federal government.

While there, I discovered a quiet revolution afoot that is healing our world from the bottom up, one interaction at a time. I first encountered this revolution through an unexpected invitation.

Im Joanna Taft, said the tall, socially fearless woman with a blond bobbed haircut and ready smile. She immediately reminded me of my mother, in more ways than one. Would you like to porch with us sometime? she asked, as we chatted after church one August afternoon.

This marked the first time I had heard the word porch used as a verb.

For Joanna, porching is about reviving the community living room. The porch is a quasi-public third place, a neutral ground where people from different backgrounds can encounter and befriend one another. In a seminal essay for the Palimpsest, Richard H. Thomas documents how between 1860 and 1960, Americans gradually changed the architectural arrangement of their homes: porches moved from the front of the home to the back, becoming the modern patio. Thomas argued that the home is a personal and cultural statement about the way a society and culture is organized and oriented, and that this architectural shiftfrom front porch to back patiotracked a social one: a move from the communal to the individual, from a focus on public life to a preference for the private.

Though originally from the Washington, DC, area, Joanna chose to build a life in Indianapolis with her husband and family. She has used her porch to cultivate community and to provide a haven from the hurriedness of modern life. It is a place to forge new friendships, an incubator of ideas to make the community brighter, a place to encounter and create beauty, a catalyst for further cultural and communal growth, and a venue where those who differ politically, racially, and culturally can form bonds and feel seen, known, and loved.

My husband and I joined Joanna on her porch that afternoon, a decision that would deepen my understanding of the practical benefits of civility. Much as Id seen my mother do with countless others whom we had welcomed into our home growing up, Joanna asked us about our backgrounds, interests, and passions so that she could effectively introduce us to others and plug us into the community. Joannas emotional and practical hospitality helped us discover and define our niche in our new community. Her civilityand the community it builthelped make Indianapolis feel like home.

We live in fractured days, lacking in harmony, civility, and comity. Comity, an old word for courtesy and kindness, is related etymologically to the Sanskrit word for smile. As it often does, etymology here beautifully illuminates a reality, in this case about both kindness and smiling: they unceasingly bring warmth, joy, and a smile to both giver and receiver. I realized that the civility of Joannas front porch, as a place of joy and laughter, was a breeding ground of comity, a much-needed refuge from the broken state of our world.

In this way, Joannas porch and other spaces like it are essential building blocks of civil societyand in turn, contribute to human flourishing.

Other people across history and culture have similarly realized the power that lies in reclaiming their civic and social sphere, and choosing to be part of the solutions themselves in the face of chaos and injustice. Albert Schweitzer and the Chinese Sage Confucius are just a few.

Everyone must find their own Lambarene: Lessons from Albert Schweitzer

Alsatian-German doctor, theologian, philosopher, and Nobel laureate Albert Schweitzer spent over two decades reflecting on the nature of true civilization. As a young man, Schweitzers conscience was sensitized by the plight of colonial Africa. Horrified by the brutality of colonial powers toward the people of Africa and the European occupiers cavalier disregard of human life, he emerged as one of the twentieth centurys harshest critics of colonialism. He saw the transparent self-interest and imperialism that motivated European colonial powers, disguised beneath the name of spreading civilization to other nations. Schweitzer wrote,

Oh, this noble culture of ours! It speaks so piously of human dignity and human rights and then disregards this dignity and these rights of countless millions and treads them underfoot, only because they live overseas or because their skins are of different color or because they cannot help themselves. This culture does not know how hollow and miserable and full of glib talk it is, how common it looks to those who follow it across the seas and see what it has done there, and this culture has no right to speak of personal dignity and human rights.

He saw the Western worlds hypocrisy: its claims to support human rights and dignity rang hollow in the face of its ruthless colonial legacy. Schweitzer wanted to change the way the world understood civilization and how it viewed humanity. He decided to start with himself. My life is my argument, he was fond of saying.

In 1913, Schweitzer opened a hospital in Lambarene, a small town in what was then a part of French Equatorial Africa and what is today the West African country of Gabon. Immediately upon its opening, thousands of people traveled hundreds of miles to reach the hospital and seek much-needed medical care. When World War I broke out in 1914, Schweitzer and his wife, Helene, were German citizens in French-occupied territory and were placed under supervision by French authorities. During that time, they were able to continue their work serving Africans in need of medical care. In 1917, they were sent to internment camps in France, from which they were released in 1918.

After his release, Schweitzer processed his years of instability and tumult by writing about his experience in Africa. He wrote about the barbarity of colonialism, exposing the sham of this atrocity committed in the name of civilization. He offered an account of true civilization in his book The Philosophy of Civilization. In this work, Schweitzer said that there were two definitions of civilization: the material and the ethical. The material view defined civilization solely according to its creative, artistic, technological, cultural, and other material attainmentsin other words, the sort of superficial attributes that Saddam Hussein thought defined civilization. For Schweitzer, the material view was false civilization. He favored the ethical definition as true civilization, which he defined as a mental attitude premised on reverence for lifea phrase he coined for the view that saw human life, and all life in general, as intrinsically valuable. As Schweitzer wrote, Reverence for Life affords me my fundamental principle of morality, namely, that good consists in maintaining, assisting, and enhancing life, and to destroy, to harm, or to hinder life is evil.

In an argument similar to Martin Luther King, Jr.s, Schweitzer said that to perpetuate and foster life is an unalloyed good; to degrade it is an unalloyed evil. Individuals in a society must adopt a weltanschauunga theory of the universe, or worldviewthat respects personhood and the intrinsic dignity of the human being in order to form a true civilization. Reclaiming a high view of personhood begins with appreciating the capability and potential within each of us. After that, Schweitzer says, we become inspired to realize our potential in ways that benefit our fellow human beings and the world around us and bring about social, cultural, and scientific advancements.

In other words, the things that lead to achievements in culture, technology, and infrastructure are byproducts of a society that values the intrinsic worth of human life. On their own, however, such byproducts do not make a true civilization, one that values the dignity of the person and nurtures his or her potential, makes it. Once a society has lost its reverence for lifeonce it has come to see its value as a civilization in purely material terms, and degraded the personhood of its own citizens or other groupsit begins to decay. Only a vigilant commitment to a reverence for life can prevent civilization from descending into barbarism and chaos, Schweitzer argued.

But how can one begin the process of transforming a society from a faux civilization into a true civilization? Schweitzer, like Joanna, realized he couldnt single-handedly transform society.

He understood that big, heady concepts such as civilization are intimidating and abstract but that everyone has a role to play in preserving and improving these values.

Everyone must find their own Lambarene, Schweitzer asserted. Everyone has their own sphere where they can practice a reverence for life, esteeming and preserving its intrinsic beauty in all of its forms. Each one of us has a humble role to play in defending against inhumanity, cruelty, and barbarism, and in reviving true civilization.

Confucius: The Politician the Wasnt

British mathematician and philosopher Alfred North Whitehead noted that the European philosophical tradition consists of a series of footnotes to Plato. Many have said that the same is true of Confucius in the Chinese philosophical tradition: the entire history of Chinese literatureplays, novels, and moreis a series of footnotes to Confucius and the Analects. His philosophical and ethical ideas have formed the basis of East Asian culture and society.

We know little about the historical Confucius beyond the fact that he led a professionally frustrated life. He yearned to have political influence during his lifetime. He hungered to see his teachings adopted from the top of society down so that they could help people. He had a trickle down theory of social change that began with cultivating the character of leaders: elites with integrity would naturally work toward the benefit of all people. He spent over a decade traveling across China trying to convert rulers to his ideas and persuade them to adopt him as an adviser.

When he failed to do so, Confucius was at first discouraged that he was not able to put his ideas into practice. But he returned to his home of Lu, south of Beijing, and resolved to do what he could with the rest of his life to bring about positive social reforms. He spent the remainder of his life talking with his disciples and teaching his local community his vision of an ethical and humane world.

Confucius didnt let his failure to be a political influence in his lifetime stop him. He focused on what he could control, and he chose to make himself and those around him better and stronger.

And he had more influence than he would ever have guessed during his lifetime.

Confucius would not live to see the effect his ideas would have on government leaders. For many years, the entrance exam to become a government official in China was to memorize the entirety of the Analects! For Confucius, known simply as the sage throughout Chinese history, the best life was the social life, and the social life required developing a demeanor of kindness and benevolence toward others. We find in Confuciuss Analectsa collection of dialogues, maxims, stories, and aphorisms thought to have been compiled by his studentsthat the virtue and kindness of one person can elevate and improve the lives of those around him or herand society, too.

Confucius knew that we live in an incredibly complex and social world where roles and duties change all the time. Instead of giving people principles to memorize, he wanted to give them guidelines to live by and to help them navigate the often ambiguous and fluid project of life in community. He understood that changing our disposition toward others was more effective than memorizing a list of rules and would more reliably cultivate a shared effort to elevate social life and improve civility in society.

Lessons from the Original Porch

In 176 AD, Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius, known to history as a philosopher king, endowed four chairs of philosophy in the city of Athens. For the Epicureans, he endowed the Garden. For the Platonists, the Academy. For the Aristotelians, the Lyceum.

And for the Stoics, the Porchor the Stoa.

The Stoics porch was located at the ancient Agora, which for many years had been home to a variety of famous philosophical schools. And for the Stoics the porch represented an important idea: we can each realize our capacity for true freedom and flourishing when we choose to distinguish what we can control from what we cant and decide to make the best of what is in our control.

The stoicism of Marcus Aurelius and that of his intellectual mentor, Epictetus, offers lessons in how to create a more civil future. In short, it starts with us. We cant change society, but we can change ourselves and how we operate in the world around us. And if enough of us decide to change ourselves, we might be able to change the world we live in, too.

Epictetus was a slave and referred to himself as a cripple. Despite his disability and his lack of the political freedoms that many of us enjoy, he made the most of his circumstances and ultimately became one of the most important philosophers in history.

Unlike Epictetus, Marcus Aurelius was born to freedom, privilege, and wealth. Yet as Roman emperor during a time of constant war and plague, he had his own struggles to bear. Like his teacher Epictetus before him, however, Marcus Aurelius strove to focus only on what he could control. He endeavored to treat those around him justly and to live a life of personal virtue.

Its easy to look around us at the divided state of the world and blame our public leaders, the media, our education system, and more. But thats not a productive way to spend our time.

Instead, we should focus on what we can control.

Us.

The Stoic porch of Marcus Aurelius and Epictetus illuminates how each of us can do our part to restore civility to modern life. These philosophers remind us that change in society begins with ourselves. This chapter opened with my story of moving to Indianapolis after a frustrating season in Washington, DC. Soon after arriving, I saw how Joanna Taft sows seeds of friendship and community wherever she goes. She spreads and cultivates the garden of civilization in her wake by focusing on nurturing the individualsthe raw plots of soilshe encounters. The seeds shes sown have already flourished and been fruitful in her lifetime and will continue to do so after it. She is a serial builder of social capital and a deployer of the timeless principles of civility, tools she uses to create new institutions to make her community better.

Joannas front porchher stoais central to the relationships she forms and the institutions that she helps build. Like the Stoics, she focuses on controlling what she can and on making the world around her better. In doing so, she embodies the ethos of the Stoic philosophersthe original porchers.

The attitude of Stoic porchers shows how the disposition of civility is one we can all have anywhere, anytimewith a porch or without one. Anyone can be a part of healing their family life, their community, and even the world, one relationship, and one interaction, at a time.

Cultivating the disposition of civility in our personal gardenand the attitude of porchingmeans meeting people at a human level, cutting through tribes and superficial labels. Civility will enable us to build meaningful human connections whenever and wherever we can. This can take many forms, such as welcoming people into our home, initiating a conversation across political divides, or offering a simple smile and acknowledgment to a stranger on the street. We must resist the temptation to look around at the divided state of our world and feel stuck and helpless. Marcus Aurelius and Epictetus remind us that focusing on what we can do is the answer. And in truth, we can do a lot.

Our interactions with others can leave people better off, and restore faith and trust in society. These strengthened, trust-infused relationships, in turn, strengthen neighborhoods, cities, and countries.

The Joannas of the world are good stewards of the garden of civilization. They build and bind our social fabric. They lead their civility-rich lives to bridge divides and sow seeds of trust. We can choose to lead such lives, too.

In doing so, we can be part of healing the personal and social hurt caused by our tribal, toxic status quo and of moderating the excesses of hostility and atomization and destructive politeness that define our public life today. In choosing to embody civility, we each have the chance to promote individual flourishing, civil society, and our free and democratic way of life.

As Joanna Taft, Porcher-in-chief, is fond of saying, Its not about having a porch. It is a lifestyle.

We can each respond to the chaos, barbarism, and injustice in our world by learning from porchers across time and place, re-locating our center of control, and being part of the antidote to barbaric times in our everyday lives.

This essay is adapted from Alexandra O. Hudsons recent book The Soul of Civility.

Image credit: via Wikimedia Commons

Read more from the original source:
A Tale of Three "Porchers" - Front Porch Republic

How would you define optimism? Would you call it seeing the glass as half-full rather than half-empty? Perhaps say optimism is a positive attitude or the ability to see the bright side of a situation. Or maybe you're a more scientific thinker and prefer a rigorous definition: "A positive orientation toward the future. Optimists are people who have the habitual tendency to expect positive future outcomes even when difficulties arise."1

article continues after advertisement

Have you ever considered that optimism is actually a placebo effect? In fact, not only is optimism a placebo effect, it may be the most powerful placebo effect ever studied. If this sounds implausible, the next few paragraphs may just persuade you to a whole new way of thinking about what optimism is and how it works.

What almost everyone gets wrong about placebo effects.

If there was a "Top 10" collection of the most misunderstood findings in psychology, placebo effects might lead the list. Ask a typical person about placebo effects and you will likely hear examples about sugar pills and pain relief, people acting jittery after (unknowingly) drinking decaf coffee, or people showing signs of intoxication after (also unknowingly) consuming alcohol-free beer. And they'd be right: These are legitimate examples of placebo effects.

However, the first mistake even many experts routinely make about placebo effects is believing they are limited to medicines or psychoactive substances. The second mistake is thinking they are imaginary.

Placebo effects are not what you think

Source: Thomas Rutledge

The table above provides a practical definition of placebo effects, pervasive misunderstandings about placebos, and a concise summary of placebo factsmost of which are directly the opposite of how placebos are commonly perceived. Placebo effects are just as real, and frequently just as strong, as those produced by conventional medicine and treatments. However, rather than the effects resulting from an outside source, placebo effects are produced on the inside; beliefs, expectations, and prior experiences can induce endogenous neurochemical changes and external behaviors aligned with the internal mental state.

article continues after advertisement

This means that the relief a person experiences when taking a sugar pill (masked as a painkiller) is not just in their head. Instead, it is in their whole body, as their expectations trigger the release of endogenous opioids, endorphins, and enkephalins that produce a similar pain-reducing effect.

But what if these same placebo effectsbeliefs, expectations, and prior experiences about what is going to happen in the future, manifesting chemically inside your body and externally through your behaviorcould do more than blunt pain and mirror the effects of drugs? What if they could also lengthen your lifespan, increase your bank account, improve your stress resilience, and enhance your love life? They can.

Each day, millions of people wake up endowed with the most powerful placebo effect scientists have yet discovered. This effect enhances their mood, optimizes their behavior, makes them more flexible, creative, and persistent in the face of obstacles, and improves their communication skills. These people will enjoy these benefits not only today but perhaps even for many years to come, with the rewards they reap actually expanding over time. Best of all, they don't have to take a pill or even see a specialist to get it. This remarkable placebo effect is simply a short- and long-term benefit of developing an optimistic attitude.2-3

Summary

Now that you understand a little more about optimism and placebo effects, you may also appreciate that optimism isn't "just" an attitude or "just" positive thinking. Positive or negative, your thoughts and attitudes have consequences. They up- and down-regulate hormones and neurotransmitter activity, affect pain sensitivity, impact gene expression, alter brain function, and predispose decision-making and behavior patterns that shape the quality and even length of our lives. Placebo effects are everywhere. Choose yours wisely.

References

1. Scheier, M. F., Carver, C. S., & Bridges, M. W. (1994). Distinguishing optimism from neuroticism (and trait anxiety, self-mastery, and self-esteem): A reevaluation of the Life Orientation Test. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 67, 10631078.

2. Rozanski A, Bavishi C, Kubzansky LD, Cohen R. Association of Optimism With Cardiovascular Events and All-Cause Mortality: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis. JAMA Netw Open. 2019 Sep 4;2(9):e1912200. doi: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2019.12200.

3. M.J.C. Forgeard, M.E.P. Seligman. Seeing the glass half full: A review of the causes and consequences of optimism, Pratiques Psychologiques. Volume 18, Issue 2, 2012, Pages 107-120. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.prps.2012.02.002.

Read more:
Is Optimism the World's Most Powerful Placebo Effect? - Psychology Today

The Eva Wiseman column

Sometimes its good to give up the idea that we should be striving, always, for permanent and unblemished contentment

Sun 19 Nov 2023 03.00 EST

Do you know what Ive come to believe? Ive come to believe that its good to feel bad. Not all the time, of course, not continuously. I mean, its not good to lie still, in chronic pain, with horrific memories or insults or bitter thoughts smashing relentlessly against the roof of your mouth. But sometimes, regularly, it is good to feel bad. To feel despair. A little dread. To feel sadness. To give up the idea (one that the wellness industry has long insisted upon) that we should be striving, always, for permanent and unblemished contentment.

Wellness, in fact, goes further: not only should we be free of stress, have optimised our orgasms and our work days, not only should our skin be radiant and our bowel movements exquisite, not only should we give zero fucks, striding across the street confident as an idiot, not only should creativity flow through us like tea, not only should we indefinitely hold off death by means of meditation, cold-water swimming and positive mental attitude, but we should also be HAPPY.

The confidence thing in particular this has irked me, recently. Have you noticed the encroaching mainstream idea that in order to find true empowerment, we women must shrug off all shame and self-doubt and storm through life as if we are Beyonc marching across a stage? Never (the culture says), EVER apologise. Trim the first and last lines from every email, the ones that say, No worries if not, and other such betrayals of weakness.

A transformation will occur. Notice your own impostor syndrome, and in doing so, simply eradicate it. Love yourself with a terrible fierceness, take no shit, eat men like air, and re-emerge from the fragments of femininity, no longer a fallible, questioning person, understandably disturbed by the many pressures of surviving in a distressingly unequal world, but a hair-swishing, strong, modern woman. Or to give her her correct name: a bad bitch. Its bad enough being told how to look and how to behave; must we also be told how to feel? Am I alone in feeling utterly exhausted by this insistence on positivity, on confidence? This pretending that everythings fine?

The whole thing the focus on confidence, on joy, on happiness feels equal parts flattening and insane. Flattening because it is human to feel sad, and to accept feeling sad, and frustrated, and incapable of some things. It is healthy, and it is a clear, if uncomfortable, sign we are alive. To try to eliminate these feelings or, worse, deny them, leaves you unwhole. Leaves you lonely and disconnected from the world, performing a sort of glittering drag.

The wellness industry thrives because it trades on crises, of mental health and womens healthcare, but the people buying its products and buying into its messaging are rarely actually the ones affected by these crises. We, instead, are the ones seduced by the idea that life can be perfected; ironed out like a shirt. That something like empowerment can become fact simply by saying the word out loud. And it feels insane because it is appropriate to feel bad sometimes, worried sometimes, guilty even. It is necessary. It is a result of things like grief, inequality and empathy, rather than, say, gluten. In our governments, in our homes, inside our bodies, terrible things are happening, and we are or we feel, or are made to feel powerless to change them.

Is this an unpopular opinion? Perhaps. It feels bad to feel bad; it is not a state to be welcomed, or sought. But when it arrives, I think it should be met with respect and curiosity, rather than being briskly swept away. Bad feelings and anger, sharpened correctly, can result in bursts of furious creativity. If dread is accurately channelled it has the potential to mutate into a great work of art, or an impossibly clean kitchen. Moments of darkness can focus the mind, and allow us to appreciate the good feelings that sit in between them, barking like puppies.

Another benefit of these bad feelings is that they crack us open, exposing the raw pink inside. They show us what we want, and sometimes who we are. And by acknowledging them, by admitting our lack of confidence, our sadnesses, our multiple daily failures, we can connect with each other in ways that sitting in simple contentment rarely allows. As I write, a debate is playing out over the proposed banning of a planned protest in London, so I am thinking a lot about that feeling of powerlessness, and what we do with it. Marching is one thing. Marching your powerlessness through town, giving it some air, taking your horrors and frustrations on a walk to meet other peoples sadness and grief, finding comfort there, in not doing nothing, in feeling bad, together.

Email Eva at e.wiseman@observer.co.uk or follow her on Twitter @EvaWiseman

{{topLeft}}

{{bottomLeft}}

{{topRight}}

{{bottomRight}}

{{.}}

One-timeMonthlyAnnual

Other

Read more from the original source:
Were constantly being told to feel good but feeling bad brings its own kind of power - The Guardian

At any level of sport there is often too much focus on whether youre recruiting attackers or defenders. But Ive always had the attitude that defence wins games no matter how good you are in offense.

To win you need to have strong defence. You dont need lots of sporting talent to play defence well in our sport either, its all in your mental attitude. You need to want it.

There are parallels with business. Offense is the fun bit in business, going on corporate golf days, networking events or launching new services. Whereas defence is the hard work being consistent with your finance, emails and business strategy.

Winning new business isnt going to be worth much if you arent on top of what youve already built. Winning in sport and business means having the right team of people around you.

The Newcastle Eagles Stadium.

What is sometimes overlooked though is how much personality matters. We invest a lot of time and energy into making sure we recruit the right personalities for the Eagles.

The difference between a professional and amateur sportsman is not always how technically gifted they are but their mentality.

We have developed a glass half full culture at the Eagles an ethos that our Head Coach Mark Steutel, also the Head Coach for the British Mens Basketball team, lives and breathes. I also think this is key for any successful business as culture is everything.

We look for people who are in it for the long-game, positive people who want to play for the badge and want to make Newcastle their home.

We are the best supported club in the league and we want our players to fall in love with the city as well as the sport this all plays into a winning mentality.

If you have someone in your team who isnt engaged with the wider vision and instead see their role as a stepping stone you dont get the player trying to win a trophy, you get an individual looking after their own stats.

Creating a strong culture within your business will give your team the motivation they need to work together.

In my playing days my vision for success started with getting on the court in the first place, by being chosen to play the game in a tournament, then the majority of games in the season. It was a process and I had to work hard at each step.

I never got to where I wanted to be in basketball but back then there wasnt as clear a pathway as there is today.

My love for the sport never faltered though, and I didnt let this blip in my vision get me down. I adapted and moved over to the business side of the sport, shifting my vision and realising the opportunities ahead.

Newcastle Eagles encompasses multiple businesses the club, the foundation and the arena we play in.

Even though I am passionately invested in club games I am also involved in the day to day running of all three businesses.

If we lose a game at the weekend even though I really struggle to get over losing games I must find a positive mindset to approach the tasks that need doing for the other businesses on Monday morning.

Remaining positive is a key pillar to winning and staying on the path to achieving your vision. The same applies in business, especially an industry like property where things can change quickly. There are always wins to be found and although its important to look at how we can improve, its not productive to dwell on the negatives.

As long as the changes you make have a purpose, youre on the right path.

Paul Blake is owner of basketball team, Newcastle Eagles. Read more in the latest issue of Iampropertys Tech of a Life

Continue reading here:
BLOG: Here's the surprising link between sport and selling homes - The Negotiator

Washington Examiner op-ed editor Kaylee McGhee White discusses the work habits of the zoomer generation on 'Making Money.'

Gen Z employees have made headlines recently over their issues with the 9-to-5 work schedule, which has prompted sympathy from peers, as well as criticism from superiors who argue America's younger generation needs to toughen up and adapt to the working lifestyle.

Research shows Gen Z, Millennials and Boomers all have different approaches to their workday, including attitudes toward the traditional 9-to-5 work schedule that Gen Z employees take issue with. But, experts who spoke with Fox News Digital argued it's less about their willingness to work and more about their approach to work, which differs from older generations.

Ted Jenkin, the CEO oXYGen Financial in Atlanta, told Fox News Digital that the issue isn't with Gen Z's work ethic, but with expectations.

"Generation Z expects higher pay for fewer hours and more paid time off," he said. "Thus, Generation Z workers don't feel they need to work after 5 PM to earn a higher income. What kids are being told out of college is that they should immediately be making $75,000 to $100,000 a year with their college degree, but the law of supply and demand is really what dictates your salary."

GEN Z HARDEST GENERATION TO WORK WITH, ACCORDING TO SURVEY: THEY LACK DISCIPLINE AND LIKE TO CHALLENGE YOU

In regard to a traditional 9-to-5 job, a recent global study conducted by Adobe, titled "The Future of Time," looked at work preferences of different generations and found Millennials and Gen Z workers, specifically, value flexibility in their schedule.

"Approximately three-quarters of younger generation employees say they would switch jobs for better work-life balance, two-thirds would switch for the option to work remotely, and around 70 percent would take a different job to have more control over their work schedule," according to the study.

Younger employees, including 68% of Gen Z and younger Millennials, report feeling stressed and burnt out a lot of the time, according to a Gallup poll. (Getty Images / Getty Images)

For example, more than twice as many Gen Z and Millennial workers, at 26% and 18% respectively, reportedly said they preferred working late hours from 6pm to 3am, while only 13% of Gen Xers and 6% of Boomers agreed.

Demographic strategist and futurist, Bradley Schurman, is the Founder and CEO of Human Change, which works with leaders to anticipate and solve the challenges of demographic change, agreed with Jenkin. He explained that even though Gen Z approaches work completely differently than older generations, it "doesn't necessarily mean they have a work ethic problem."

GEN Z WANTS LESS SEX IN MOVIES AND TELEVISION; EXPERTS SAY TECHNOLOGY AND DELAYED ADULTHOOD COULD BE WHY

Younger employees, including 68% of Gen Z and younger Millennials, report feeling stressed and burnt out a lot of the time, which can lead to the "job hopping" phenomenon Gen Z is known for, according to a Gallup poll. The study also found that younger generations value flexibility in their jobs, including greater work-life balance and the opportunity to work remotely, which can be an important consideration for employers as Gen Z and Millennials now make up 46% of the full-time U.S. workforce.

Schurman viewed these sentiments as indicative of the way Gen Z grew up.

"Like the generations before them, Gen Z is a product of the environment they grew up in: - Gen Z lived through 9/11 and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan - They saw the economic pain inflicted on their parents during the Great Recession - And they began working during the pandemic when flexible or remote work was the norm," he said.

A majority of younger generation employees say they would switch jobs for better work-life balance and schedule flexibility. (iStock / iStock)

"Gen Z is also the first generation to talk openly about their problems with their managers, including physical and mental health," he added. "Gen Z is also working in the tightest labor market since the end of World War II, which puts them in a unique bargaining space with their employers. They can get more from their employers because demand is high and supply is low."

Gen Z reported various factors that made it harder to work, including mental health issues, a hostile work environment, access to transportation, physical health issues and access to housing close to where they work, according to a McKinsey survey of 18 to 24-year-old Americans.

For example, 55% of Gen Z respondents reported having either been diagnosed with or having received treatment for mental illness, compared with 31% of respondents ages 55 to 64, according to the study. In addition, Gen Z respondents also reported "alarming levels" of negativity about themselves, their confidence in the future and their ability to be happy in American life, citing concerns that the pay they receive for their work will allow them a good quality of life, which was exacerbated by the pandemic that ushered in a period of economic instability.

GEN Z OPTING FOR TEXTING DUE TO PHOBIA OF PHONE CALLS, RESEARCH REVEALS

Piper Hansen, a Gen Z employee at the YMCA, lamented in an essay published by Business Insider that her day job is rewarding, but "difficult" because it takes up too much of her time. Hansen graduated from college in spring 2023 and while she has only been working full time for a few months, she said it is depressing to work a 9-to-5 schedule.

Hansen explained that she wakes up around 7 a.m. for her 10-to-7 job, but by the time she gets home, she barely has time to walk her dog and make dinner before it gets dark.

"How can I make sure I'm eating well and seeing my friends and taking time for my hobbies?" she asked. "How am I supposed to fit my whole life into a 9-to-5 work schedule?"

"Generation Z workers don't feel they need to work after five pm to earn a higher income," one expert told Fox News Digital. (iStock / iStock)

"Then I have to make sure the coffee pot is ready for the next morning, and I have something to take for lunch the next day," she wrote. "I'm home for just a few hours before I get ready to go to bed by 11 p.m."

Hansen mentioned the viral video of another Gen Z employee who posted a tear-filled rant where she complained about the demands of a 40-hour work week. While some viewers were sympathetic to her complaints, others believed her sentiments were a larger indication of the weak work ethic and attitude of the younger American generation.

GET FOX BUSINESS ON THE GO BY CLICKING HERE

In the TikTok, the young college graduate questioned how people are supposed to make time for friends or to date.

"I want to shower, eat my dinner and go to sleep," she said. "I don't have time or energy to cook my dinner either. Like, I don't have energy to work out, like that's out the window. Like, I'm so upset. Nothing to do with my job at all, but just, like, the 9-to-5 schedule in general is crazy."

See the rest here:
Gen Z attitude toward 9-to-5 job sparking debate about the difference in generational work ethics - Fox Business

Updated Nov 25, 2023 | 08:00 PM IST

Optical Illusion Personality Test: What You See First Reveals Whether You are Carefree or Reserved (Picture Credit - Instagram)

This optical illusion personality test claims to reveal others' perceptions of you and your life perspective.

The vibrant, eye-catching optical illusion invites a brief glance at an image where you'll spot either garments on a washing line or a farm animal like a horse or cow relaxing in a meadow.

Depending on whether you first notice the clothes or the farm animal, the illusion aims to indicate whether you lean towards a positive or negative outlook and how this influences your trust in others.

This intriguing optical illusion was initially introduced in a social media video by Mia Yilin, an expert in the field, who has gained online popularity for her engaging and swift psychological imagery.

Optical Illusion Personality Test: What You See First Reveals Whether You Are Carefree or Reserved (Picture Credit - Instagram)

Clothes

Spotting clothes hanging on the lines first suggests you generally have a positive outlook, rarely allowing life's challenges to overwhelm you. Your caring demeanour and vibrant personality make it easy for you to connect with almost anyone. You tend to focus on living in the moment, steering clear of dwelling on the past or fretting about the future.

However, this laid-back attitude might lead to feelings of being overwhelmed when facing significant decisions, and you could easily become stressed when pushed out of your comfort zone. It's observed that you might hesitate over minor details but maintain an optimistic view, always looking for the best in every situation.

Animal

Seeing a farm animal first indicates a tendency towards a more negative perspective on life. You are practical and prefer to depend on yourself, preparing thoroughly for any of life's challenges. While you may come across as stoic, you possess a kind heart and are always willing to assist others, as you dislike seeing people in distress. Nonetheless, it's crucial to guard against being taken advantage of or placing trust in someone who might not deserve your compassionate nature.

You're known to be easily trusting and sometimes a bit naive. Additionally, you often lean towards pessimism, habitually bracing for the least favourable outcomes.

Go here to see the original:
Optical Illusion Personality Test: What You See First Reveals Whether You Are Carefree or Reserved - Times Now