Israel and The Cycle of Abuse, Evading being mindf^%$ed, and Carl Sagan on Books
Hello SW readers,
First, a reminder that my course on the discourses of Rebbe Nachman (Likutey Moharan) is still going strong over at Thinkific, and you can join any time here for access to all the videos so far.
Next, here is a link to a recent essay of mine on the current situation in the Zionist state, Israel, which looks at the situation through the lend of intergenerational abuse: Israel And The Cycle of Abuse. Also, while we’re on the topic Israel has been the scene of many inspiring pro-democracy protests lately. But, asks this Ha’aretz editorial, is democratic Zionism a real possibility?
I recently read this fascinating article—the inspiration for the psychedelic art above— by philosopher and cultural commentator Jules Evans, author of fascinating books, one on Stoicism and one on Ecstatic states. Evans is always worth reading, and this article is on the recent history of psychological manipulation or “mindf&*$.”
While we’re on this creepy but important topic — and I think these articles are more empowering than frightening— here is another article from the same rabbit hole on the Internet and get-rich-quick schemes
Lastly, Carl Sagan’s thought about books:
“When our genes could not store all the information necessary for survival, we slowly invented them. But then the time came, perhaps ten thousand years ago, when we needed to know more than could conveniently be contained in brains. So we learned tostockpile enormous quantities of information outside our bodies. We are the only species on the planet, so far as we know, to have invented a communal memory stored neither in our genes nor in our brains. The warehouse of that memory is called the library. A book is made from a tree. One glance at it and you hear the voice of another person perhaps someone dead for thousands of years. Across the millennia, the author is speaking, clearly and silently, inside your head, directly to you. Writing is perhaps the greatest of human inventions, binding together people, citizens of distant epochs who never knew one another. Books break the shackles of time, proof that humans can work magic.”
-Carl Sagan, Cosmos