Children learn young that the best way to get what they want is to claim that they need it. Often they’re being sincere, not manipulative, believing that the latest smartphone really is essential. Convincing ourselves that we are driven by necessities rather than nakedly selfish desire is a habit many of us take into adulthood…
ReadDiscovering that your childhood idols are now virtually ancient is usually a disturbing reminder of your own mortality. But for me, realising that 5th May 2013 marks the 200th anniversary of Søren Kierkegaard’s birth was more of a reminder of his immortality. Kierkegaard is not so much a thinker for our time but a timeless thinker, whose work is pertinent for all ages yet destined to be fully attuned to none.
ReadWe can and should anticipate getting what we want. But desire and expectation riding in tandem is different from them becoming fused, part of the same blend of belief and emotion called hope.
ReadIt’s hard to resist the pull of military metaphors when talking about the recent battles between religion and the so called new-atheists: Richard Dawkins, the late Christopher Hitchins, Sam Harris et al. Fighting talk is only natural when combatants on both sides have often been vicious in their attacks. And like the western front in World War I, for all the blasts and flashes, neither side ever manages to advance its trenches. Yet in the very definition of madness, both forces persist in trying the same tactics that have never worked before as though they might suddenly prove efficacious….
ReadA whole generation is growing up consuming a lot which it does not think of as stuff at all. But they are still consuming, more than ever. And although experiences may not be things, they are being bought and sold, acquired as memories and treated as commodities. If the transition we are seeing is from ownership to consumption, it may not take us very far in the direction of post-materialism after all.
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